Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Can you ensure a garam (hot) cup of chai (tea) is served to your ever-growing customers on a rainy day? Get ready to dive deep into running a chai tapri (tea shop) by ensuring that your customers get their specific chai and snack orders on time.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Open Drafting
Select cards or items from a shared face-up display.
Contracts
Complete specific requirements to earn rewards, income, or victory points.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Read the full game description
Can you ensure a garam (hot) cup of chai (tea) is served to your ever-growing customers on a rainy day? Get ready to dive deep into running a chai tapri (tea shop) by ensuring that your customers get their specific chai and snack orders on time. Earn their appreciation for every correct order, but be quick as another player might steal a few of them away. Run the most successful shop, and be the wealthiest player at the end of the game! Each turn in Chai Garam, players take one mandatory action, either selecting up to three ingredients from the display (tea leaves, additives, water, milk, godown power cards, etc.) or serving their cooked tea to the grid of customers in the central board and collecting money. Additionally as free actions, players need to cook tea, compete for goals to improve their star ratings, attract customers to their own shops, or play a "Chai Garam" card to take a double action! The game continues until a special "evening" customer triggers the end of play or any player achieves five stars. At that point, whoever has the highest value from money as well as stars wins.