In the early 1950s, the Indian government set out to design and plan a new capital city for the Punjab region, and they recruited the famed Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier to do the job. That city, and the name of the game we're going to review today, is Chandigarh. In Chandigarh, players take on the role of urban planners assisting Le Corbusier in this colorful, think-y game. I got a chance to check out and playtest a review copy of the game, so read on for my Chandigarh Board Game review to learn more.
How Do You Play the Chandigarh board game?
Chandigarh is a pattern-building, point-to-point movement game for two to four players. The game's designed by Toni López and illustrated (gorgeously) by Edu Valls, published by the Spanish gaming company Ludonova and distributed in the USA by Asmodee North America.
In the game, players will collect cards, building materials, and the help of specialists as they move around the city of Chandigarh collecting prestige points.
The buildings come in four different colors and the game ends when any one color of a building runs out. At the end of the game, the player with the most prestige points wins.
And while this may sound simple, the core mechanics of the game create a much more in-depth, and at times potentially brain-burny experience that my gaming group and I were surprised to find.
Let's take a quick look at the core mechanics of Chandigarh. Normally I don't love getting into the nitty-gritty of how to play a game when reviewing it, but I truly believe understanding the basics of how to play the game here are central to understanding if this game is going to be a hit with your group, or come crashing down.
Move and Build in Chandigarh
On your turn, you can do one of two different available actions, the first of which is the Move and Build action. Take a look at the image above, these are the cards you'll be drawing and collecting in the game. And these cards, which you'll hold in a tableau of up to three in front of you (called your project), tell you everything your pawn on the board can do.
First off, the footprint symbols at the top of cards represent how many spaces on the board your character can move, and you gain colored buildings whenever you play a card in front of you (those buildings are on the bottom of the card). Those buildings are your key resource in the game.
So based on the cards in front of you, you'll move from intersection to intersection on the board, laying down buildings in your collection. But why? Well that's where the second action comes in...
Add a New Card to Your Project and Score in Chandigarh
This second action, Add a New Card to your Project and Score, controls one of the main ways you gain victory points, influences how far you can move on the board, and controls the buildings you gain. When you add a new card to your project you'll add it to one of the outer edges of your cards. You can only ever have three cards in front of you, so if you do already have three cards, the incoming card will "push" the card on the opposite side of your project off, and you'll score that pushed off card.
Each card contains scoring conditions - like having two blue buildings in adjacent city blocks - and you'll score for each time that condition is met on the board. Pushing cards together also gives you buildings to add to your reserve.
How does it feel to play the Chandigarh board game?
Here's what's so interesting about Chandigarh - those descriptions of the core game above will either leave players scratching their heads, or salivating at the prospect of forethought and planning required to make moves in the game. There are other elements that add complication, like the benefit of being the last person to place a building on a city block.
There are also four randomly selected specialists in each game, which give you little game-breaking abilities if you build the right building on a block they're occupying. So here's how it feels the play the game: you move from intersection to intersection, carefully laying down buildings to try to hit one of your cards' scoring conditions.
But then you need more buildings, so you'll have to bump one of your scoring cards off your project. Maybe you weren't quite ready to score that yet, but you really need a yellow building - so that card's got to go. These pressure-points, and complex (but not complicated) moments make Chandigarh a unique experience that may overwhelm some gamers.
The Look and Feel of Chandigarh
By far the best part of Chandigarh is the artwork, design, and colorful elements of the game. Edu Valls, illustrator of the lovingly crunchy Bitoku, uses charming hand-drawn illustrations throughout the game to give this a warm, inviting, and sophisticated look that perfectly blends a midcentury look with colors and tones you'd expect for a game about Chandigarh. Le Corbusier would be proud.
The components are also all solid, with wooden tokens representing buildings. Each of the four different color types of buildings also reflect real-life buildings in Chandigarh, which is a very nice touch!
Chandigarh Board Game - Final Thoughts
As I've mentioned above, this is a game that is more chunky than you might expect for the mechanics and illustrations, but it does fit in well with like other pattern-centric games with cute themes, like Calico or Tiny Towns. And while Chandigarh won't be for every gamer, there's so much here to recommend it.
The decision tree logic you have to make on every turn may burn out some, but it's core to what makes Chandigarh so much fun to get into. If you're looking for a game that blends limited movement, limited resources, and careful planning, while still clocking in at around 45 minutes, you can do no better than Chandigarh.
To learn more and grab a copy for yourself, check out the official Chandigarh board game page on the Asmodee USA webstore.
The copy of Chandigarh used in the creation of this review was provided by Asmodee USA. Images courtesy of the author save for the close-up of artwork from the rulebook.
Review Summary
Pros
- The artwork and illustrations are phenomenal
- The decision trees present in this game keep players engaged every turn
Cons
- Sometimes it can feel like you have to plan too many steps ahead
- Inexperienced gamers may bounce off of this game