500 games - 1 Year - #12 - Town 77

‘Town 77’ is a tile placement game designed for 1 – 5 players that revolves around the theme of constructing a town of houses. Essentially, what each player is aiming to do in the game is add tiles to a shared grid of 7 x 7, without placing a duplicate of either the house type or colour in that row or column. The game progresses with each player taking a turn and then drawing from the bag (with discard options available) to reach the end game. The winner is the player who has either been the only player to have gotten rid of all their tiles, or if that’s a tie, the player who played longer into the game. So for a case study, if you get rid of your last tile on turn 9 but the game continues with two other players and someone else gets rid of their last tile on turn 13….they win.

 

As with the majority of Oink Games titles, this game is quick to learn and easy to set up. The game consists of just one bag, a set of tiles and 5 tile racks meaning it is ideal as a portable/travel game as all you need is a table big enough fore a 7x7 grid of tiles!

 

The box states this is suitable for players aged 9+ but I would certainly suggest a much younger age will be able to enjoy it. My four year old can easily play the core mechanics of the game, and whilst she can’t strategize towards the end game, I imagine players of 7 plus can/

 

Town 77 also includes a fun solo mode that shifts the gameplay a little. In the solo mode you draw from three piles, adding to your town, and as soon as you cannot play from the top tiles of each pile, the game ends and you score up earning a skill level based on what is listed in the instructions.

 

Overall, I really rate Town 77 highly as a portable, quick to play and fun tile placement game that works well at all player counts. Strategy elements come into play the more you get to know the game, and playing with 4 adults who know the game is certainly a different experience to playing with those who may not be playing with tactics in mind. But either way, I highly recommend Town 77 and will be adding this to our bag on our next travel trips and think this will rank very highly on our end of year play count lists.

 

8/10