Tiny Towns

I liked Tiny Towns a lot: it is one of those designs that looks spare, yet hides enough depth to make me want to come back. It also has that rare flexibility to work with young children as a game of colours and shapes—“let’s build our town”—without losing its interest once the table decides to play much more competitively.

Everyone builds their own little town, managing colours and shapes in order to put together what they need. The foundation is simple and clean, but the problem is that choices do not always arrive when you want them: you have to adapt your plan as the town fills up and the available space starts putting pressure on you.

The important thing is that the other players’ choices directly affect your own plan. When somebody picks a colour that wrecks what you were preparing, you can either get annoyed by the randomness or enjoy it as the reason to change direction—or, better still, look for ways to do exactly the same thing to everyone else. That is where the game’s pleasant, slightly spiteful chaos lives.

Overall, I will happily put it into my rotation more often. It is a happy filler with substance: accessible enough for anyone to sit down with, but sharp enough not to become merely a cute placement exercise. I did not get to try the expansions because it was late, so I am keeping that pending for next time.

Updated session

The second play confirmed my first impression: it was perfectly good again. With three players, though, it felt noticeably less frantic than it had with four or five. I do not understand BGG’s preference for two players; for me, managing the other players’ unpredictable choices is much more fun when the table is full. Then every colour that ruins your plans deserves a Littlefinger look and a calm, “It’s fine, darling—chaos is a ladder.”