Hi. Last night I played my first Maharaja game... too bad we couldn't finish it, one of my friends had to leave the table (why people start games they know they can't finish?)

At least, it was enough to learn the game. This game seems to be too permissive. I mean, you can move as much as you like (as long you pay for it), you can split an action and travel between, even you can change your character and use the hability of both for that turn!

This remained me some kind of family game, where there is no pressure at all. One of my friends told me "this game isn't for you, it has nothing to do with Puerto Rico". Yeah that was funny. In fact, I liked the game, but I'd like to know how all these things come together in terms of strategy. While the rules are relatively complex, is it a light game?

Thanks.

Maharahjah should be a game of constant economic and logistical pressure. You can't get the money to build a palace next turn without winning the scoring round this turn, so you are constantly optimising strategy- but your opponents can change things dramatically! Every gold piece counts. Even if you have free movement (the Monk), you are still giivng away money to your opponents when you move via their settlements.

You only have 2 actions each turn, so using an action to swap Character is a major decision...

Yes, don't confuse plenty of choice with an easy game. How many rounds did you play through? It may have been you did not feel pressure because everyone round the table was taking things slowly. Try playing when somebody is building a palace per turn (heck, aim at doing that yourself). The pressure when you are a palace or two behind is massive.

Just a few ones... not as much as I should, I'm affraid!

Every time you pay to move you have less money to buy palaces. The game gives you quite a bit of freedom, but being essentially a race for 7 palaces, it becomes tight since everyone's got this freedom. It can be a tough game, specially when you factor what other players do.

Also, play it with 4 or 5.

And play without the Yogi and his chips.