There are a few new to me games on Board Game Arena (BGA) that I could write about. But the one that I’m going with today is Jaipur. This is a two player only game all about set collection and trading those things you collected in for points. The game is simple and one that often shows up on two player game lists as one of the better ones. But is Jaipur a good game? Join me as I tell you how to play Jaipur and what works or doesn’t work for me.

How to Play Jaipur

Jaipur is a set collection and set selling game where you collect goods and then sell them for points. In the game there are four different types of items. Three common items and three rarer items. They work the same, for the most part, with minor differences as to when you can sell them. But the rarer items are worth more to sell than the common items. And there are camels that you can get as well, which aren’t worth points until the end of the round. Then whomever has the most gets some bonus points.

Turn Actions

On your turn you take one of three actions. You either take a single card, trade to gain multiple cards, or sell cards. Take is simple, it is just taking a card to add to your hand. Or taking all the camels in the middle market row which don’t go to your hand and thus don’t count to your seven card hand limit. Then a new card is flipped out to fill that row.

Trading is not much more complex. You select the items from the center row and you trade that many items from your camels or cards in hand back into the center row. When you do that, no new cards are added to the center row.

Finally you can sell goods. You can sell as few or as many of a single type of good as you want. There is an exception for rare goods. You need to sell at least two of them. But for either type of good, rare or common, if you sell three or more you gain a bonus tile. And the more you sell, the higher value the bonus tile is. You also take a scoring token of the type of good to add to your scoring for that round per good that you sell. You can sell beyond the number of tokens, you just don’t get a token for that.

End of Round and End of Game

The round ends when one of two conditions is met. Either three of the piles of goods are gone, any combination of rare and common. Or when all the cards in the draw pile are gone. Then players compare to see who has more camels. Whomever is holding a larger herd will gain the camel bonus token that adds five to their score for the round. Player tally up their total score and whomever has the higher for the round wins the round.

The game is played over up to three rounds. Aka the game is best two out of three. If someone wins two rounds in a row, they win the game.

What Doesn’t Work

There is some luck in this game. Though, I want to say that it is pretty limited. The luck is going to come from the cards that are flipped up. You might take a card and then flip into a rare good that you want. But of course, it is a rare good, so your opponent is likely to take it as well. Or it might be a board of only camels. And your opponent will get a free board of new goods if you can’t sell anything.

What Works

The simplicity and speed of the game is great. Even as a turn based game on BGA, it is a fast game. Jaipur with it’s simple actions goes very fast. And I say simple actions, but really it is that combined with limited options that makes the game go fast. As a two player in person game, I suspect I would play this game a few times in a single sitting.

Now, I talk about how simple the game is and how fast it plays. That is not meant to hide the fact that the game offers interesting decisions. And I like that it does that while not being a complex game. I either take a single card or multiple. But as my hand reaches it’s limit, how do I navigate that. It is possible to just trade in a single common good to buy an extra turn to get what you really want. Or you might trade in some of the common goods, giving your opponent a chance for a bigger set, but you get more rare goods. It is just enough strategy for the game.

How the winner of the game is determined is very good as well. There is a bit of luck, so it is possible to just have a really bad round. Now, there is a lot you choose to do to mitigate that, but it is possible. But even if you find yourself having a bad round, there are more, likely. I think this game could have easily gone with, play a round and whomever does best wins. But the best two out of three feels like it offers more to it and balances out that luck.

Who is Jaipur For?

This is a great game for people who like two player games. In particular, I might get this game because it is one that my wife and I could play in an evening. It is simple to learn, set-up, and play. And because it is fast, it is going to be a game that could get played after a kid is in bed. Or maybe you play with someone who works a different type shift, it is an easy game to fit into a busy evening.

Final Thoughts on Jaipur

I like Jaipur. I was not sure how much I was going to like it the first time that I played it. But as I play more, I find that there is more strategy to the game and less luck than you expect at the start. In particular, how you manipulate the center row is really interesting. And I find that there are different strategies that both seem to work for it.

And I really can’t say enough how quickly this game goes. Even with playing a best two out of three rounds, this is a very fast game. I play turn based on everything I do for BGA and this is so fast even in turn based. I imagine it is going to fly by in person. And like I said, I think this is a game that you play two or three times in a single sitting.

So, as I said, I like Jaipur. I think this is a game that I am likely to pick-up. It is a good two player game and like a game like Hanamikoji, it is so fast and easy to teach that it works really well. And I think it is the type of game that my wife would like as well.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B
Strategy (out of 10): 6
Luck (out of 10): 6

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