Review: Tangram City (Capstone Games)

The name on the box declares the game’s basic idea right from the start, but Uwe Rosenberg’s Tangram City from Capstone Games still keeps plenty of surprises under wraps.

This light weight puzzle game takes the classic 7-piece tangram puzzle concept in a big, new direction by quadrupling the number of pieces for each puzzle and giving each player a unique starting board. The pieces are also double-sided, which adds an interesting twist to the game’s strategy.

It’s time to see if you’re up to the challenge, so here are the top five things you need to know for some puzzling geometric fun while building Tangram City!

Matching Tiles for All

#

Players in Tangram City start the game with identical sets of double-sided playing pieces. Each set contains the same 23 basic shapes, plus six triangular fountain tiles. The tiles range in size from half-square triangles and single squares to larger rectangle and trapezoid-shaped pieces that cover multiple squares on the board.

All of the pieces are double sided, showing a green side and a black side. The green and black artwork comes into play during the bonus scoring at the end of the game. (More about that later.) Fountains look the same on both sides because they’re neutral.

Same Pieces, Unique Puzzle

#

Tangram City supports 2-5 players, as well as solo play. Regardless of the number of players, the setup and gameplay work the same way, which is pretty miraculous in our book.

The game begins with each player taking one set of pieces, one player board, and a scoring marker. Players also take a pair of green and black balance markers to track the number of green and black squares in their city.

The player boards each show the same starting piece, but in five different positions on a 7x7 grid. The boards are double-sided, just like the pieces, with one side showing the starting piece in green and the other in black.

Shared and Hidden Info

#

Tangram City challenges the players by both giving and withholding information about the tiles available during a round.

Play begins by shuffling the 23 card deck (one card for every tile in the game) and dealing four cards. Through a very clever design move, the number of players governs how the cards are dealt and whether they’re face up or face down. In a two-player game, for example, two shared cards are dealt to the middle of the table — one face up, one face down — then each player gets one of the remaining cards.

In our example, both players can see the face-up card but neither knows what’s face down. Each player also knows the card in their hand, but not the card held by their opponent. The combination of shared, private, and unknown knowledge sets up the game’s most interesting strategic moments.

Each card displays one tile that all players must add to their city. After playing that tile, players continue revealing cards one by one and placing the indicated tiles until they use all four cards for the round. Now, it’s time to score for the round.

Making Big Rectangles

#

The game’s backstory establishes two key things players must do so their cities earn the best score. First, they must assemble their tiles into rectangles on their player boards. Second, the squares in their city must show a balance between black and green sides.

Scoring rectangles happens during each of the game’s six rounds. Balance points are tracked each round, but only scored at the end of the game.

Once players position all four tiles in a round, they look for the biggest complete rectangle in their city. Players get one point for each square in the rectangle. Regardless of color. A 4x5 rectangle, for instance, would score the player 20 points. Players mark their points on the shared scoring board.

Balancing Green and Black

#

After scoring the round, players carefully count the green and black squares in their city. Here’s where Rosenberg builds yet another level of strategic tension into the game.

If a square is fully black or fully green, it counts toward its color. Every square that’s black or green on one side and has a fountain on the other also counts toward its color. But if a square is half black and half green, then it’s neutral for balance purposes.

Players record the number of black and green squares by positioning the black and green markers mentioned earlier on the balance track of their player board. Once the players go through all 23 cards, they check their green/black balance. The closer the markers are to each other, the more bonus points the player earns. The player with the most points wins.

Verdict

#

Tangram City may seem simple at first glance, but it delivers an engaging strategic experience on several levels. You need to think about the positions of the pieces you’re going to play, since you score points for the biggest rectangle six times versus one bonus score for balance.

You can also earn bonus points if you fill every square of the board, but we never accomplished that during our play testing. (We both wish you good luck on this one. Neither of us got close to this goal.)

Rosenberg’s design skills shine brightly in Tangram City. We think it’ll hit our table quite often, especially thanks to the excellent solitaire play. We happily recommend it!