Tiny Towns Review: Building Blocks
Intent: Inspire you to try playing Tiny Towns
As you places cubes town, the world doesn’t seem as tiny as it once was! As each turn passes, a four by four empty grid begins to grow with variety of resources, which eventually become vibrant structures filled with life. Tiny Towns designed by Peter McPherson, illustrated by Matt Paquette and Gong Studios, and published by Alderac Entertainment Group is a resource management game for 1-6 players in which you compete to build up the most illustrious town. You really have to plan ahead, or else your city can become an urban nightmare.
Overview
Score the most points by building the best tiny town to win! Players will be given an empty grid of four by four squares and two monument cards, one of which they must discard (remaining monument card can only be built and benefit that player.). Seven different types of buildings cards are randomly selected for the game, which are the public buildings everyone can build. These are variable each game and are used for construction and scoring. Each turn begins with a player calling out one of the five resources (wheat, brick, glass, stone and wood). All of the players pick up the resource and place it in one of the empty squares on their grid. Players then check the building cards to see if they have matched any resource patterns, if so they can choose to build that building. The player who chooses to build must discard the used resources on their board and place the building on one of the spots of which the resources were discarded from. The next player then repeats the steps and tiny towns begin to form. The game ends when every player has a full grid, no longer being able to place resources. Points are tabulated and the winner is declared. As you score you realize that your town is no longer as tiny as it once was.
First Game Impression
Even though our first game was a year and a bit ago, I still remember it to this day. “It left a strong impression” is an understatement.
You know when it’s raining and you see a puddle in front of you, and you think “I can make that.” You proceed to jump, but not only do you miss, you trip, face-planting into the puddle, which concludes with laughter from every possible direction. When I first played Tiny Towns, I had a similar experience. I thought “This is going to be so easy, I have the best plan and I’m obviously going to impress everyone with my great skills.” Well, let’s say the game didn’t quite go the way I wanted. It went something like this:
0:00 The game has begun, rules are pretty clear, I have a strategy in mind. Piece of cake.
0:05 Everything is going well. This board will be flawless, what an easy game.
0:08 Darn it! I placed the wrong resource cube there. Oh well, it’s only one square.
0:10: … Oh no, because I messed up that cube it means I cannot build my Factory in this other space. Silly of me, I’ll adjust though, no big deal.
0:14 OH NO! I adjusted and messed up plans for my other buildings. I have too much glass and nowhere near enough wheat, why is nobody calling wheat!
0:18 ANOTHER GLASS. WHY?! I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO PLACE THINGS. MY OPTIONS ARE LIMITED.
0:27 This is the worst town I have seen in the history of existence. My layout is atrocious and hope is lost.
0:35 At this point, I’ll be lucky if I get another building.
0:40 I’m finished. I have seven empty squares. Why?
I lost miserably. I learned a lot though. I did not account every player having a different strategy, which means they may not choose the cubes that will benefit me. My brain began to explore options and over-analyze how I could do better next game. Tiny Towns was definitely more difficult than it seemed. I’m thrilled to try again, learn, improve and master my Tiny Town.
Thoughts After Seven Games
What a joy! Each game is significantly different as the buildings play so much off of each other. It’s near impossible to build the same strategy because of the variability, which makes this game an absolute blast! You’ll be pleased to hear I’ve improved and won a few games, although definitely got last place a few times too. What I love, is that this game isn’t often won by the same person; anyone can win as strategies, monument and building cards provide a different experience each game.
It’s such a fantastic feeling when resource placements work out perfectly. It is definitely possible to build something to be proud of. I also thoroughly enjoy the suspense, as you look at your opponents hoping they pick the resource you want; it feels great when they do and slightly frustrating when they don’t but the tug and pull creates an immersive experience. Just a bunch of rambling architects arguing over bricks and wood.
The one thing I don’t enjoy as much as that it is possible to complete your board and be done early, which definitely isn’t as fun and can sometimes feel defeating even if you score a decent amount of points. This only really happens when you are playing with fire and pushing for a risky play, so it’s an easy feeling to overcome as the main person you have to blame is yourself. You certainly learn when to take risks or when to play safe. Super keen to continue exploring the different combinations of cards and buildings, the variability is fantastic!
MERIT Report Card
Overall Letter Grade: A-
Strengths: Variability. Each game is different because of the variation in building and monument cards. Extremely easy to teach this game to anyone, fairly accessible and welcoming design. We’ve enjoyed it with family, board game enthusiasts and those who don’t often play games. The buildings are charming and the game feels great to play.
Areas of Improvement: I wish the boards themselves were a bit more thematic and illustrated a touch more than they are, there’s definitely an opportunity to vary the boards and have thematic tiny towns with different climates, themes or experiences just from the board alone.
Memorability: A-
How often do I think about the game? The wonderful part of Tiny Towns is that it’s incredibly rare to have a “perfect” game. There’s always room for improvement. I often think of ways I could have adapted or played differently to score more points. I love reflecting after every game and wonder what I could do differently to improve as an architect of this tiny municipality.
How often is the game brought up by the individuals I play with? People generally love this game, it’s extremely rare that we play this game only once. As soon as we finish playing, players immediately want to try to beat their own score and contest the claim of the best tiny town.
How many memories can be built from this game? Surprisingly many, I have many fond memories of this game because although we make mistakes, we grow, laugh and are often entertained by them. One of the best rules we’ve implemented is the individual with the Master Builder token, which is a white hammer must USE the hammer to hit one of the resources cubes to declare their choice. It’s so dramatic and I find it extremely entertaining each and every game.
Education : B+
I have a confession. As I love living in the moment in many of my life experiences, I often lose the ability to think ahead for a specific experience. (As a tangent, this is a blessing in disguise for movies because no matter how obvious they are, I NEVER see the twists coming. I just turn off the thinking ahead part of my brain and enjoy the experience as it happens. Tylor is often shocked by this because as the twist happens my jaw drops and I turn to him and the reaction I usually get is “You really didn’t see that coming? It was obvious because XYZ.”)
Well, my board game weakness is definitely planning ahead. I love using intuition and adapting but I’m definitely not one to plan many moves in advance. This game really pushes me to plan and think ahead, which I respect. It is also fairly fast paced so you won’t have all the time to think ahead through all the possibilities. Thinking on the spot is a crucial element of the game and provides great learning moments throughout.
This game does an incredible job of putting to practice strategic thinking, planning out variability between resource placement, and learning from what your opponents do. I do wish there was an extra layer of fun facts about construction or even some of the monuments. I did enjoy learning all the different types of houses and buildings though, I’ve never heard of an Almhouse before.
Replayability: A
Replayability in games is quite common now and almost a golden standard of a good board game. Many games have modules or differing conditions that change game to game. Tiny Towns may be one of the best games I’ve played in terms of variability. Not because the modules are different, but because of how they interact with each other. You don’t only have to think of how this one building will change my strategy, it’s more of how will this one building affect the rest and how will I need to adapt in order to be successful.
There is a cottage, which is present in every game. The other six buildings are each chosen out of a set of four. This means there are 360 different combinations of how this game can be played! The monuments also add variably with fifteen different buildings that can change up the game play each time Tiny Towns is played. Absolutely wonderful job in this category. (The one element, which would push this over the top is thematic variability with different player boards.)
Each games feels significantly different, if you love the mechanics, this is a game you’ll want to keep coming back to.
Imagination: B+
Who wouldn’t want to design and build their own town? As the builder you will compete with other players to build the most glorious town. I imagine sitting around the table and planning what to do with the resources at hand, with one builder who just really loves building with brick frustrating everyone else as they’re overstocked!
A wonderful addition to this game is the Master Builder token, actually using it to hit the resource called next is the best thematic rule we’ve implemented. So entertaining!
I wish the boards were slightly more thematic and even variable in theme, I would love to see a town for each season, or with maybe rivers running in between some tiles, there’s definitely an opportunity to enhance the game slightly with differing player boards.
The one element that sticks out every time is the variability in the physical buildings themselves, they’re such a joy to pick up and place! Allows each play to immerse themselves further into their own tiny town.
Target: A-
This is an incredible way to introduce individuals to board games, Alderac Entertainment Group publishes games that are extremely accessible and often enjoyed by all ages, board game enthusiasts and beginners alike. This is a staple in that category, I often use Tiny Towns to welcome individuals to the hobby. It’s a beautiful game box with charming illustrations on cards, and colorful buildings, just bringing so much excitement and joy as soon as you open the box.
The illustrations are incredibly inviting and fun. I want to immediately pick up the box when I see it, but the ease or majority of gameplay isn’t conveyed on the front of the box as I wish it would be. Adding the element of construction would be important in my opinion. This game is well known and received but I wouldn’t guess that I would build a tiny town as a builder just by looking at the box.
Tylor’s Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I’ve always been a sucker for games where you have to plan for your perfect space placement while being thrown some unwanted pieces at the same time. This game really makes you think, you feel pretty good the first couple of buildings but as time passes the stress starts to hit, your plans start to change and things sometimes go sideways. I also appreciate how easy it easy to introduce to friends.
There is definitely a strategy aspect to it but you have to be pretty adaptable to what you are given which helps push you to make fast last minute decisions. Overall, one of my higher rated games. Even though it is not really a worker placement game, it reminds me of one and in my books that’s an instant winner!
Final Thoughts: This is a wonderful game to introduce individuals to board games with, it’s friendly, easy to learn and tough to master. Variability is a strength of this game, it will be tough for you to get bored of playing this as each game feels like a new experience. I would highly recommend adding this to your collection as not only is it variable in gameplay, it’s variable in who you introduce it to!
MERIT Report Card Letter Grade: A-