Alubari A Nice Cup of Tea Board Game | Worker Placement Strategy Game for Adults and Teens | Ages 14+ | 1-5 Players | Average Playtime 45-120 Minutes | Made by Studio H

A nice variation of the game Snowdonia with a colorful board and excellent options for play. My favorite aspect is the extensive Solo Variant Achievements Table. With so many possible goals to check off, I may never successfully finish the list. I forsee many more plays in the future!

The game itself is fun! Just had minor cosmetic damage to the box I received.

In the Indian State of West Bengal lies the town of Darjeeling, which is known for its tea industry, Mount Kangchenjunga (the worlds third highest mountain), and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. In 1856 the Alubari tea garden was opened and was quickly followed by more than 80 tea estates. It is your job now to cultivate your own tea garden and assist in the building of the Himalayan Railway, from Siliguri Town to the summit at Ghum.Designer: Tony BoydellNumber of Players: 1-5Play Time: 60-90 minutes-Setup-First, you lay out the board into the middle of the playing area. Give every player 2 of their workers (the third goes into the tea house space) and all of their ownership markers. You need to shuffle the contract cards and lay out the top 3. Place a number of tea estates and action cards on the board according to the number of players. For each space on the tea Estates card, fill it with rubble cubes from the supply. Shuffle the equipment cards and draw 7 of them to be used in this game. Then fill the supply bag with the proper amount of resource cubes according to player count. Draw 12 cubes out of the bag and place them in the appropriate space of the game board. Add the event cubes to the bag. Finally, the player to last drink a cup of tea is the start player.-Gameplay-Alubari is a worker placement game. You take turn placing one worker down at a time on action spaces label A-G. There are various amount of spots in each section number from 1 to 4 depending on player count. After everyone has placed their workers for the round each action space is activated in alphabetical order.The actions you can take are:A)Take cubes from the stockyard - You can take up to 3 cubes here from the options of Iron, Stone, and Chai.B)Excavation - Workers here dig rubble from the tea estates according to the excavation rate.C)The Foundry - You can take up to 3 of the mini actions: Convert Iron ore into iron bars, convert/smash stone into 2 rubble, and make stone by returning 2 rubble.D)Lay Track - You can lay track here according to the lay track rate and for each space you must pay an iron rail.E)Building - You can construct buildings along the railway by spending resources or you can take an equipment card which will give you a bonus power and allow you to possibly use your third worker every round.F)The Post Office - You can take contracts for end game scoring and bonus actions on your turn.G)The Chaiwala - You can harvest tea leaves according to the Tea Leaves harvest rate or you can turn tea leaves into Chai tea.Chai Tea in this game can be very powerful, not only is it worth bonus points at the end of the game but it also allows you to boost the action you are taking. For Example, if you use chai while performing action D (Lay Track) you can add 2 to the lay track rate for your action only. This is thematic because you are letting your workers drink Chai tea to give them a boost of energy.The game ends when the last rail has been laid or in a 2 player game when someone has placed their last ownership marker.-Components-In the box there are: 8 tea estate cards, 30 contract cards, 7 action space cards, 8 equipment cards, 67 tea leaf tokens, 40 iron ore cubes, 24 stone cubes, 14 chai cubes, 5 event cubes, 54 rubble markers, 15 workers, 100 ownership markers, 9 weather discs, 16 iron rails, 1 score pad, 1 cloth bag, and 1 game board. The board and cards have these gorgeous hand drawn images that really add to the games aesthetic. The cards are good quality. I do think the board is a little larger than it needs to be but nothing too drastic.-Final Thoughts-Alubari is a spiritual successor to Snowdonia. From what I understand it started out as an expansion and just continued to grow until it was its own beast entirely. I like the changes that were made for this game but I am not sure this has the staying power that the original Snowdonia has. Chai is an incredible bonus because you are able to boost your action right when you need to. And, let me tell you, timing is critical in this game. On the back of every contract card is a weather type and weather affects excavation, laying track, and harvesting rates. It is important to time your actions at just the right moment to get the most impact. This game also uses event cubes for the game to compete against you as an opposing tea mogul. I do think, and what I am about to say can be common for worker placements, that as the game goes on some spaces lose their usefulness and players stop going to them.I would give Alubari: A Nice cup of Tea 4 tea leaves out of 5.Board or Bust Scale:1 - I would never play this again. I would not give this away as a gift.2 - I would play this game if someone else had a copy, and asked to play, but I would not buy it for myself nor suggest it.3 - I would ask to play this game on occasion. Would be happy to receive as a gift or in a trade.4 - I would purchase this game for myself. I can see this getting to the table a few times a year. Always enjoy myself when playing.5 - This is exactly what I want out of a board game. Would never turn down a game and would ask to play regularly. Hard to imagine ever getting rid of this game.