Karigar-e-Taj

On your turn you either move your workers or use an Alliance card's power. Workers move in straight lines along a row or column of the bazaar, never diagonally and never onto a space another player holds. Each worker carries one item, so where they land decides what you collect or exchange: blue merchants give basic materials, yellow merchants give precious ones but need at least two workers, and trading spaces turn goods into silver and gold mohurs. Workers can also buy Alliance cards, special vendors with a power and end-game points.

When you have what a section costs, building it is a free action: pay the goods, place a Taj tile with your marker and take the top Taj point token, so earlier builders score more. You also draw a Bakshish card, the emperor's gift, or two if you finish a level. The merchant card linked to that section is replaced, so the bazaar keeps shifting. Finishing level 1 lets players hire an elephant that carries any amount, and finishing level 2 gives everyone a third worker.

The game ends the moment the last section is built. Add up Taj point tokens, Bakshish and Alliance card points and your Blueprint bonus; the most points wins, with ties going to whoever built more sections. To play solo, or to fill out a small table, the Ustad cards run one or two automated rivals who reserve bazaar cards and build according to their own blueprint.

The history is handled lightly. Shah Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal in 1631 after Mumtaz Mahal's death, and the complex took about two decades and more than 20,000 workers and artisans; the game turns that into a race of 12 tiles, and the rulebook adds short notes on the real materials, such as white marble from Makrana in Rajasthan and lime mortar mixed with ingredients like molasses, curd and urad dal.