This week at the shop we played Tiny Towns, a new release from AEG. Play as the mayor of a small, developing forest town. Collect resources and construct buildings and earn victory points to win the game! The design of Tiny Towns is simple, yet charming and complex enough to appeal to most board game players. We will have Tiny Towns on our demo table all weekend, so come check it out!

Tiny Towns is pretty simple to learn, and there are also some variants to the game, which we will talk about later. At the start of the game, randomly choose someone to become the active player, also called the “Master Builder.” The Master Builder chooses a single resource, and all players must take one of those resources and place it on their town mat. Resources cannot be move spaces later, so choose wisely. Resource placement will later help you to construct buildings.

Once you have matched your resources to a pattern on one of the building cards, remove your resources and place your building in one of these spots. The building cards on the board each have their own features and ways of interacting with each other to score points. Repeat this, with each player taking turns as the Master Builder. The game concludes when there are no players left to place resources or buildings. Add up your points, and the player with the most wins!

Tiny Towns is quick, simple, and super charming. There is enough strategy needed to keep seasoned gamers engaged, but simple enough to allow a new player to jump right in. Plus at $40 MSRP, it is a fantastic value. Tiny Towns is also very re-playable. There are plenty of building cards that will rotate each game. The rulebook also includes rules for variants of the game, including a solo variant! Another variant offers players their own building cards, called Monuments, to build in addition to the standard pool. Another variant changes resource selection, restricting players to select from a pool of cards instead of at their choice.

Join us next week at the shop to play Godsforge! Play as elite spellcasters battling for control over the land. Craft spells and creations to defeat the other players and be the last one standing! Join us next week to play this simple, gorgeous game.