Visit the Market

Purchase fresh ingredients such as mint, jasmine, lemon, ginger, berries and lavender flavour tiles.

You’ll also collect a gold coin!

Visit the Pantry

Collect pantry items such as milk, sugar, honey, vanilla and masala spices for tea recipes.

Blind draws from the bag are okay too…

Reserve a Customer

You’re allowed up to three private reservations.

When a new customer is reserved, choose a special ability to get a chai up on the competition!

Designed by Dan & Connie Kazmaier, Chai is the first title in Steeped Games Chai series that draws players into the exotic world of tea blending.

Players take on the role of 1-5 Tea Merchants competing across 5 rounds to fulfil customer orders represented by recipes with required items listed on each Customer Card.

For each turn you’ll choose from visiting the Market to purchase flavours, selecting Additives to fulfil your orders or reserving Customers to bring into your private hand to earn potentially larger points.

At the end of each turn a player can complete an order from either the Public Pool, or from Reserved Customers in hand by combining the ingredients shown on that card.

By completing an order you’ll receive a cash tip (and Victory Points) and then advance to the next round.

Once 5 rounds are complete for each player you’ll add up all VP and remaining coins, with the potential to receive additional points via awards for fulfilling more complex tea recipes.

With game play in mind, the round structure and overall objectives of Chai is low-entry, meaning it’s just so quick to learn and this adds to the family-friendly atmosphere of the game.

While Chai may be simple to learn there’s some truly great mechanics at play…

Visiting the Market is without doubt the highlight of the game; ingredient tiles will slide and change position as players purchase items and this not only adds a sequencing puzzle to the mix but also a quirky economic system…

You see, akin to a Tetris/Columns style flow, ingredient tiles populate the Market and their position along the track determines price – but as you buy ingredients this causes gaps and tiles will slide along to fill these gaps. This not only brings fresh ingredients into play but also moves products into cheaper areas of the market!

Added to this is a nifty economic layer where ingredients of the same type that line up can then be acquired in a single purchase; this makes purchases way more efficient… if you can anticipate these patterns forming you have a great engine to work upon!

Thematically the Market system works so well, as goods that are left will potentially reduce in value as they linger and new ingredients will (hopefully) lineup to form multi-buy opportunities.

This mechanic just highlights the atmosphere that is injected into the DNA of the game and “Steeped in Atmosphere” is such an appropriate term for Chai because every component of this game is saturated with theme and exudes energy that makes this a truly engaging experience with stunning table presence.

In terms of player interaction while it’s not obvious at first glance, there’s certainly an aspect of “Take That” at play through denying opponents lucrative customers by opting for the Reserve Action and stowing several valuable customers in your hand.

That said however, the average audience we played Chai with is not one to invoke complex strategy and more likely leans toward acquiring ingredients and fulfilling orders as quickly as possible – as such Reserving a Customer may feel like a slower and wasted action depending on who you play with.

Overall there’s so much that works with Chai and its apparent its been tested thoroughly as its tight, efficient and scales with ease from Solo upto 5 players. As their first title (and as a Kickstarter project) Dan & Connie have taken a topic they clearly have passion for and poured everything into a fun and engaging production and it really shows.

The Artwork alone in Chai is a treat for the eyes, both vibrant and playful it features dozens of characters to add plenty of variety and in that mix are some fantastic Easter Eggs (such as a certain Starfleet Captain with a penchant for Earl Grey!)

But when combined with components such as double-layered/recessed boards, life-size ornate tea cups and even metal coins in the deluxe version, you have a game with so much texture and theme that simply oozes elegance and is oh-so unashamedly indulgent…

But anything less would be a dis-service to the vision and passion Dan & Connie wanted for Chai and their Communi-tea…

This has clearly been a project of love and they’ve surely delivered on every level as Chai has production quality expected from large studios, yet comes with so much heart and personality that only a partnership like theirs could deliver.

Chai is a game we’d highly recommend for friends & family, one that’s suitable for any occasion and makes it one of our most re-played games of the year by far.

Anyone for another brew?