Tabriz Components Overview and Impressions
Tabriz has been a game on my radar for a long time, but after checking it out at GenCon 2025, I knew it was a game I needed to purchase sooner rather than later. The game looks phenomenal, and I love the cover art a lot. But can this game about a carpet maker in a Persian Market hit the right notes? I think the components says it will!
Inserts are king, and Tabriz comes with one. That’s enough to make me say this is one of the greatest productions ever, but I’ll hold off saying that until we get through all the content. That said, having an insert for your game is pretty important to me, so I’m glad to see that Tabriz does ship with one. This is much more common with games that come via Kickstarter, but I still think it’s worth celebrating and highlighting whenever I see one. There is space in the box for absolutely everything, with some room to spare. Future expansions, may be?
The player pieces are really nice, silk screen pieces. Each player is not only a unique colour, but gets three unique characters as well. I love when games go the extra mile to make player pieces just a bit different, and that is the case here. Each player also gets a small wooden piece to track their skill level as well. The different materials you will be collecting are a bit less impressive, though. In 2025, I had hoped we moved past cylinders and cubes for resources, but that isn’t the case here; in fact, I’m a little bit surprised that there wasn’t a bit of screen printing on these pieces to just add to the overall feel of the game. I understand the shapes and why the exist – they need to fit into the slotted market tiles – but a bit of screen printing here would have gone a long way to improve the overall table presence of the game. I get it, it might be hard when you are trying to recreate wool and dies, but may be it could have worked? I’m not holding it against the production, but rather saying it could have may be been elevated.
The market tiles are phenomenal, though. While not dual layered, they do have slots to hold the resources so if someone where to bump the table, they are not going anywhere. The resources staying put in their places is also an important mechanical elements too, so glad to see this level of thought put into the production. The fact that you lay these tiles onto the game mat (more on that soon) allows the company to add extra choice into the box based on what stalls you might want in play. There are also different stalls (dual stalls) that will or won’t be used with specific player counts.
Instead of cardboard player boards, the design team has opted for a heavy cardstock mat instead. If you asked me a few years ago I would have cried foul about this, but as game boxes become egregiously big, I’m all for limiting player boards to mats to save on space in the box. 4 cardstock mats is a lot thinner than 4 cardboard player boards!
I am also a big fan of productions that replace game board with neoprene mats! Not only does Tabriz come with a neoprene mat, but this is the only version available to purchase in North America (where I got mine). That means this is a base feature of the game, and I love it. The artwork on the mat is a bit muted, as neoprene mats tend to be, but that is ok for a Persian Market setting I think. The edges are stitched as well, so this will last a good long time.
Overall, this is an impressive production, and a game that looks PHENOMENAL when out on the table. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more buzz around this game, but hoping that even with our short components article and upcoming review, that more people will be drawn to this fantastic experience.
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Article By Adam
