Godspeed the Punchline
United States
San Joser
California
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So what is Greentown?
Greentown is a pleasant little game about planning bus routes for tourists. Players lay tiles and build buildings which tourists visit on their bus tours. Players are paid money when tourists visit buildings that they own. Since players can exercise a certain amount of control over the routes by placing tiles, the object of the game is ultimately to build routes that force other players to pass by buildings you own, while being able to pass by your own buildings when you lead a tour. In addition to all of that, tourists will want to see certain things on their tours.
These things are dictated by some cards, which dictate the length of the routes as well. As the game progresses, the routes grow longer.
If the tourists don't see everything they want to, you'll lose money. Losing money is bad. The winner is the person who has the most money at the end of the game.
What's fun about it?
Lots of things, depending on what you like in a game. The opportunity to watch someone else sweat as they attempt to plan a profitable route, only to discover at some point they are going to pay you money if they want to visit a 'Nature'' site (represented by trees) is quite delightful. The strategic replacement of tiles to give yourself the most profitable routes later in the game.
What's not to like?
It's thinky, and probably more than it lets on. I've seen comparisons to 'route planning in 18xx'. Since I've never played any 18xx games, I don't know if that's true, but I hear 18xx games are not noted for their lightweight nature. If you don't like brain melty games, this isn't the one that's going to change your mind about them.
It's tough to recover from a disadvantaged position-- early bad placement, or placement of buildings in areas which only you are going to be interested in visiting means you're going to be last, and there isn't much you can do about it.
I'm a total bits junkie! What are they like?
Serviceable. The tile art is whimsical and amusing, with cows and flowers and things. The buildings are wooden cubes, discs and houses. The cards and other components are in German, but they are single words, and you'll remember what "Bauen" and "Reisen" are after a minute or two. This is a limited edition game, and the rules are a simple xerox.
What do you think of it? Will I like it?
I like it a great deal. It's surface charms give way to a game of surprising depth and strategy. There's a lot of possibility at the beginning of the game, and it packs a lot of thinking into roughly an hour. It's not a nice game, despite the pleasant pastoral feel of the tiles. You're attempting to screw other people out of profitable routes while getting them to help you make money. If you don't like that sort of game, then Greentown isn't for you. It's also not a great game to play with people who suffer from analysis paralysis; there's a constant nagging feeling that you somehow 'could have' made another buck by planning something better-- it may be true, but you'll die of old age waiting for someone to take a turn.
Greentown is a pleasant surprise, a light goofy theme fronting a solid, thoughtful design with plenty of open-ended possibility with each play. There are even alternate 'set ups' for you to try if you feel the initial one is becoming played out. Each group of people I have taught it to seemed to have enjoyed it as well. A real gem.
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