❥ Kilim
2 - 5 players
30 min
Age: 8 +
Weigh: 1.67/5
Publisher: Jyde Games
The Sultan has asked the weavers of the city to make their finest work for him. The one who weaves the most beautiful becomes the High Weaver of the Sultanate. You can't ignore this and that's why you go to the market to participate in the auctions to buy the best carpets and weave them together to make the most beautiful Kilim!
The carpet tiles are placed in three piles, each pile also contains torn carpets. Each turn begins by turning over a carpet tile. Each player has a choice of the following actions, all of which are performed during that bidding phase:
⌘Make an offer with your money cards
⌘ Spy another player
⌘ Look in the bag of carpet remnants
⌘ Call on the craftsman
> You can bid to buy a tile. For this you have cards with a value. Players reverse their bids at the same time. The player with the best bid wins the carpet! Please note, if several players have made the same bid, the player with the second highest bid wins.
> Three times in the game (1x per round) you can spy on the others with the Spy card. When all cards are turned over, the player who played the spy card may play any coin card of his choice.
> Three times in the game (1x per round) you can use the card to search the bag of carpet remnants, which you can use, for example, to make a damaged carpet. The player who wants to use the Bag of Scraps card must pay a card with a higher value than the winner of the bids.
> The Craftsmen can help the players with their Kilim. If you play the Artisan card, you must pay a card with a lower value than the winner of the bids. There are four action tokens on the game board from which you can choose. These are: Rotating one of your carpet tiles, removing one of the tiles, moving a tile or taking the Perfect Carpet.
After you have chosen one of these actions, it is also time to weave your Kilim. If you bought a carpet tile, place it in front of you to start making your Kilim. You can place the first carpet tile as you wish. Next should always be placed so that 1 cartridge is in contact with at least 1 other of the same cartridge.
When the market round is over and the Kilims have been woven, a new carpet tile is turned over and the actions can be performed again. Weaving the Kilim is the most important element to impress the Sultan. The game ends when all the tiles, from the three piles, have been bought and placed. This is after three rounds (days). After that, the Kilims are scored on the following points:
⌘ The Kilim has a rectangular or square shape
⌘ The Kilim has only 3 types of patterns
⌘ The Kilim has all 5 types of patterns
⌘ For any group with adjacent similar patterns
⌘ For the player with the most tiles of a pattern
At the end you also get minus points for the open/visible torn carpets. The player with the most points wins!
❥ MY Thoughts
Kilim is a game with a combination of cards and tile laying. A game that is easy to learn and easy to play. I like the principle of bidding on the carpets in this game, especially that bidding high doesn't necessarily make sense. If several bid the same high amount, you will not get the carpet. In addition, the other cards, such as the Spy card, also give some unexpected moments in the game.
I'm not always a fan of tile-laying games, but Kilim does change that. I think that is mainly due to the short game time, which is 30 minutes. It's just a fun, easy game for in between. Perhaps a bit simple for the experienced players, although you sometimes have to play well to get the carpet tiles you want. Making the Kilim is of course also a kind of small puzzle.
Jyde Games provided me a review copy