In Chai, you will step into the shoes of a tea merchant, combining tea flavours to make a perfect blend. Specializing in either rooibos, green, oolong, black or white tea, you will buy and collect ingredients to fulfill your customers’ orders.
As a tea merchant, each turn you will do one of the following: Visit the Market, Select Additives, Reserve a Customer.
At the end of each turn, a player may complete a tea order from one customer card in their hand or visible in the customer pool. A base tea token, tea flavours and additives shown on the card are needed ingredients, and placed in an empty tea cup. The player flips over a tip and receives a coin bonus, moving the thermometer round tracker up one notch if all cups are filled.
The game ends when five rounds of cups have been fulfilled. When the final order is completed, other players complete their last turn so that each player has played the same number of turns.
To score, players add up their victory points from fulfilled customer orders, and add their leftover money to this total. In 3-5 player games, additional points are awarded to the player(s) who fulfilled the most orders and most diverse tea recipes. Award ties are friendly with each winner receiving 5 points.
The player with the most victory points (from customer orders, money, and awards) wins the game as best tea merchant! In the case of a tie, the person with the least number of fulfilled customer cards wins. If still tied, the person with the least amount of money wins. If that does not break a tie, the victory is shared.
—description from the publisher
Chai in about 3 minutes
- thematic and visually appealing tea theme
- easy to teach and accessible to new players
- clever market/purchase mechanic with cascading choices
- high production quality and deluxe components
- strong card art and diverse representation
- no explicit major drawbacks noted in the review; potential for light depth for some players
- tea commerce and order fulfillment
- tea market with ingredients, flavorings, and customers; center board and pantry areas for resources
- abstract economic-management flavoring system
- Candy Crush
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — three primary actions per turn (pantry, market, reserve) plus optional end-of-turn fulfillment
- Compound Scoring — fulfilling orders reveals tip tokens that contribute to scoring
- market pricing / simultaneous purchase — purchase ingredients from a market with scalable pricing and sliding availability
- Market Pricing/Manipulation — purchase ingredients from a market with scalable pricing and sliding availability
- Reserve mechanic — reserve a customer card to secure high-value orders and deny opponents
- set collection — collect tea leaves, flavorings, and pantry items to satisfy customer orders
- set collection / resource management — collect tea leaves, flavorings, and pantry items to satisfy customer orders
- tip jar scoring — fulfilling orders reveals tip tokens that contribute to scoring
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the theme of this game is awesome a theme I mean it game all about tea I love tea
- production quality of this game was phenomenal it's just really really good
- it's pretty easy to play and it's pretty easy to teach
References (from this video)
- intrigue of a hidden/lesser-known title in wsbg
- low familiarity and interest from presenter
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- tile/area mechanics — abstract or tile-based placement with light interaction
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Castles of Burgundy oh my goodness I love this game so much
- Cascadia is definitely one of the lighter of the bunch
- I would freaking love in the future to compete in this
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
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- I'm absolutely hooked on it. I love Primal.
- If I add something to my collection, ideally I want to see it there a year from now, at least a year from now.
- It is such a good implementation of the Glass Road system.
- It's not forever, but it feels like a forever game for me.
References (from this video)
- family-friendly feel
- accessible to play sessions with friends
- less depth for heavier players
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- no one's made a game about that
- decorum is a co-op yes it is not too co-op
- we would shut the game down
References (from this video)
- Light and fun
- Easy to learn
- Beautiful aesthetics with teacups
- Good entry-level game
- Tea trading and preparation
- Tea house
- Splendor
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Play
- worker placement — Placement-based mechanics
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's getting our board game coffee seal of approval that's how good
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- foundations of Rome is one of my like favorite games of the year
- we just need a name for it
- thanks for joining us if you like this video and you want to see more subscribe to our channel
References (from this video)
- welcoming and lightweight
- beautiful artwork in deluxe versions
- family-friendly and classroom-adaptable
- may be too light for players seeking heavy euro-style strategy
- tea, hospitality, light economic management
- Running a tea merchant shop and fulfilling customer orders
- family-friendly, approachable
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Order Fulfillment — Acquire ingredients and fulfill customer tea orders to score points.
- resource management / set collection — Gather ingredients to complete various tea orders with scoring bonuses.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- gaming is not simply a hobby but a home let's make it both inclusive and diverse
- please remember to be kind and welcoming to everyone it's so important now more than ever
- it's more than just fun and games when you sit down at the table... there's more there's a science there's an academic to it
- one board game at a time
- be nice because it doesn't hurt to be nice
References (from this video)
- Strong theme integration with components
- Fast to teach and play
- May feel light for players seeking heavier euro gameplay
- tea house service in a bustling market
- light, thematic, cozy
- Santorini
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Resource management — Balance tea types and customer demands for optimal fulfillment.
- set collection — Gather and reserve customers to fulfill tea orders.
- worker/turn-order optimization — Plan turns to maximize reservations and fulfillment efficiency.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- family first
- it's a beautiful board with beautiful components
- please put care to your components do it do it
- the sweet spot is three
- open your mind you can play it
References (from this video)
- Beautiful production and deluxe presentation (teacups, art on cards).
- Easy to teach drafting and set collection mechanics.
- Strong family-friendly appeal and cozy theme
- Tetris-like puzzle feel for selecting flavor tiles
- Deluxe edition is visually appealing and well-presented
- Limited depth for more serious gamers; no engine-building
- Table hog and moderate setup time
- Price point described as hobby-gamer level
- Progress can feel predictable once players learn the board
- Tea shop management, flavor blending to fulfill orders
- A cozy tea shop environment where players brew and serve tea to a stream of customers.
- Light, whimsical, family-friendly
- Splendor
- Viticulture
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Contract fulfillment / Order fulfillment — Fulfill orders to score points, and manage special actions.
- drafting — Draft tiles, tokens, and cards from central displays.
- Resource management — Use coins to refresh displays and obtain items.
- Resource management / Currency — Use coins to refresh displays and obtain items.
- set collection — Build sets to complete orders.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- chai is a beautiful looking lightweight drafting game with a family friendly theme
- the best thing about this game is the tetris puzzle for selecting flavor tiles
- however, for more serious gamers chai will feel a little thin there isn't any engine building
- it's presented very much as a hobby gamer's game price tag
- it's quite a table hog and requires a lot of setup
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- we are back on it
- we will be at cardboard caucus in des moines
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- oh that was such a great trailer i'm so excited to be among all these people
- we are going to be featured in the film series the first 20
- super thanks button on our videos