Tiny Towns: At the mercy of a cute, little hammer

A few months ago, I started seeing a lot of buzz online about Tiny Towns, a new game from AEG. It wasn’t until recently that I got a chance to play it, and, what can I say, this game is delightful. If I’m being honest, I initially dismissed it because it seemed too light for my group, but after playing it multiple times, I discovered it’s a great crunchy, puzzly short game.

In Tiny Towns, each player gets a 4×4 cardboard grid in which you’re building out your little town. Each square can hold exactly one resource or building. On your turn, you become the Master Builder — yes, there’s a cute little hammer included in the game — and you choose one of the resources: wood, wheat, brick, glass or stone. Then, everyone grabs that resource to place in their town to place on a square that’s empty. After everyone places their cube, they have the option to build any of the buildings in play for your game.

There are seven buildings in play every game. One building is always the Cottage, and, for the other six, players randomly select one card from four of that type to use. Players also receive two monument cards, and they keep one of them to potentially score in the game.

Each building has resource and spatial requirements that must be fulfilled, and if a player has laid out their resources in the exact pattern on their grid, they can remove those resources and place that building on any of the spaces those resources occupied. After everyone builds (or not), the hammer moves to the left, and the next player starts their turn.

The game feels like a mix of Patchwork and Bingo (and I mean that in the most positive way because I love Bingo!). You’re anxiously awaiting the caller and hoping they pick the resource you need so you can place it in a beneficial location. Or you hope that you can place a resource you don’t need at the moment in a space that won’t mess you up too badly.

Game play continues until everyone fills up their grid, either with buildings or resources. There’s player elimination, but the entire game isn’t very long so it’s not a big deal if you’re eliminated early. When everyone is done, you remove all the unspent resources on your grid, and any unused space is -1 point. Players then calculate their VPs based on the building’s benefits.

Tiny Towns, which plays in 45-60 minutes, is for 1-6 players, which is great, as I’m always on the lookout for solid games that satisfy large player counts. And the best part, it keeps all the players engaged throughout the game — at least until they’re eliminated.

The game also offers opportunities to be a just a teeny bit mean, as you can pick to see which resources your neighbors are waiting for, and then select something else. There were more than a few moments during our games when someone would yell, “Why did you pick that??” The one complaint I’ve encountered so far was that you were at the mercy of the Master Builder’s selection, which, to me, adds to the puzzle of the game. You have to be flexible in placing resources but also deal with unwanted cubes.

You also don’t want to build in a way where you’ll trap yourself in a corner, unable to clear cubes for a future building. It’s the perfect mix of resource gathering and pattern building. When you plan and place your buildings perfectly, it’s so very satisfying. But more often than not, you’re staring at your 4×4 grid saying, “Gah, poor choices were made!”

Have you played Tiny Towns? What are some of your favorite crunchy short games?