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Chinesische Mauer
Author: Reiner Knizia
Publisher: Kosmos
Year: 2006


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The Great Wall of China, one of the seven world wonders, so large that it can be seen from outer space with the naked eye... or at least, that is how the story goes; some astronauts, however, claim that they have not been able to spot it and Google Earth does not reveal any of the landmarks either. One way or another, it is still a pretty impressive piece of work, and a terrific theme for a game. In this Knizia card game, the players represent Chinese princes who are ordered by the Emperor to build on what will become the Great Wall. Of course they are all trying to impress the Emperor with their contributions to the wall. Their efforts are translated into victory points, and the player that manages to collect the most victory points wins the game.
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Depending on the number of players, there are two to four construction sites where players can build on the wall. Each location is marked with two victory tokens of 1 to 8 points; these tokens go to the players with the most valuable contribution to this part of the wall. Each player receives a set of cards in their colour that depict parts of the wall of 1 point, gates of 2 points or towers of 3 points. The decks are shuffled and each players starts with five cards.
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In a player’s turn, first all the construction sites are checked to see if the player has a majority of points in any part of the wall. In that case, that part of the wall will be scored. Subsequently, the player has to perform two actions. He can choose between drawing a card from his pile, or placing a card at one of the construction sites. It is also allowed to play more than one card during an action, provided that the cards played are identical. For example, a player can decide to use action one to draw a card, and action two to place three identical cards at one of the construction sites. This is a very important element in the game, because it allows players to play a lot of cards in only two actions.
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The set of cards all players receive also contains some special cards: a nobleman reduces the value of all cards at the construction site to 1 point. The five soldiers are especially powerful when they stick together: the first soldier of a specific colour has a value of 1, the second one of the same colour has a value of 2, and the fifth soldier has a value of 5 points. The horsemen are very quick: it doesn’t take an action to play a horseman. The dragon can be placed on top of another card, preferably a valuable card of an opponent. This card is then ‘concealed’ and doesn’t count in the scoring.
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If at the beginning of his turn a player has more points in one of the construction sites than any of his opponents, this wall will be scored. He can choose one of the two victory tokens and place it on one of his cards to prove his ownership. This token now temporarily counts as minus points: if a player had four points in this wall, and he chose a victory token of 8 points, his new total would be 4-8= -4. The chance that he will also have the majority of points on his next turn, thus entitling him to the second victory token at the same construction site, decreases significantly with this.
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When the second victory token gets claimed, by the same or another player, all of the cards of that specific wall are removed and the victory tokens go to the players that claimed them before. From that point, the value of the victory tokens counts as victory points. Two new victory tokens are placed at the construction site, where players may start a new wall. The game ends as soon as all victory tokens are finished, or when one of the players plays the final card from his deck. The players add up the points on their tokens, and the player with the most points wins!

'Chinesische Mauer' has very simple rules. The claimed victory tokens temporarily counting as minus points can be confusing at first, but once playing the game it all makes sense. The Chinese princes are a very competitive bunch: the top priority in this game often seems to be to prevent that the next player in line can claim a victory token. Especially when the two tokens are very different in value, everybody wants to prevent that an opponent can claim the token of 8 points, while he is left with a mere 2 points. Sometimes there’s such a violent struggle at one of the construction sites that another player can get his victory tokens relatively easily at one of the other construction sites.
Players that other people suspect of scoring well are hindered all the time, while a player that manages to remain low profile and score a couple of 4 or 5 tokens can be the unexpected winner. It is crucial not to run out of hand cards, because that makes it impossible to react to other player’s actions; iIt then becomes very easy for your opponents to claim a majority if you don’t have any hand cards to try to prevent this! The horsemen are therefore powerful cards, because they allow players to use both actions to draw hand cards, but still play a card at one of the construction sites to make life a bit harder on the fellow-builders. Also, the option to play multiple identical cards as one action allows players to exert their influence at the construction sites, but still replenish their hand cards.

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For such a simple game it offers a lot of tactics, no complaints on that. Of course a player can be more or less fortunate with the drawing of his hand cards; a house rule could be that players are allowed to select their five initial cards. Bluff and gut feeling also play a role, which makes it an interactive game. And the game plays in 30 to 45 minutes; a lot faster than it took to actually build the Great Wall. 'Chinesische Mauer' may not have any unique elements but it plays very well and is a challenging and well functioning majority game.
© 2006 Barbara van Vugt

Chinesische Mauer, Reiner Knizia, Kosmos, 2006 - 2 to 5 players, 10 years and up, appr. 30 minutes

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