How to Play

Chinatown

3-5 players 60-60 min 7.4 Board Game Geek Rating

Players obtain city block sections and build businesses using tiles. Each tile provides income, but connecting three to six matching tiles creates more profitable complete businesses. Since resources are randomly distributed, victory requires strategic trading and negotiation with opponents to acquire the right combinations of matching tiles and suitable locations.

Published 1999

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place the game board and set the year marker to 1992

Each player takes 30 game markers in their color and $50,000

Place shop tiles in the bag

Shuffle building cards and place them in a deck

First player

The player who most recently visited the Old Town takes the first player card

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

*Turn Sequence

Deal Building Cards

- according to the player tableau

Select Cards

- Players choose which cards to keep (per player tableau) and discard the rest face-down back to the deck, which is then shuffled

Reveal Cards

- Players reveal their building cards and place ownership markers on corresponding board spaces

Draw Shop Tiles

- according to player tableau; reveal drawn tiles simultaneously

Trading Phase

(use a timer to speed up):

Place Shop Tiles

- Starting with first player, going clockwise, each player may place all, some, or no tiles on their owned buildings (ownership marker stays on top of tiles); players keep unplaced tiles

Collect Income

- Each player earns income from their businesses based on size and completeness

Advance Year Marker

- Move one year forward and begin a new round

*Business Rules

A business = orthogonally connected shop tiles of the same type owned by the same player in one district

12 shop types exist; each type has (maximum size + 3) total tiles

If a group exceeds maximum size, it counts as two businesses (one at max size, one with remainder)

Larger and completed businesses earn more income

Players' money is hidden information