Qin

Place two-landscape tiles, seize and steal territories, and be the first to get all your pagodas on the board.

Designer: Reiner Knizia
Published by: eggertspiele
Editions by: Pegasus Spiele, White Goblin Games, Lautapelit.fi, Delta Vision Publishing, Gigamic, R&R Games

In Qin you colonize the Chinese hinterland with tiles and pagodas. Each tile shows two landscapes, and a turn is simple: pick one of three tiles from your hand, place it on the board grid, draw a new one. Make an area of at least two matching landscape spaces and you seize that territory. From there you can expand it, take territories away from rivals and connect your lands to villages on the board, and every one of those achievements lets you place pagodas. The first player to get all pagodas onto the board wins. Think of a tile-laying land grab where the cruelty comes from enclosing what your neighbor wanted. Thirty minutes, two to four players.

Tiles with two landscapes eachSeize, expand and take over territoriesRace to place all your pagodas

Who it's for

You like tile-laying and area control with an ancient setting and light conflict, and you want a game that fits into half an hour.

Not for you if…

You want peaceful building with no interference, or deep resource engines. Rivals can and will snatch your territory.

Vibe's take

Quick, tactical and sharp-elbowed. Every tile placement can claim an area and threaten someone else's, and the race to empty your pagoda supply is always one clever enclosure away.