User blog comment:Paula1978/Ideal village arrangement/@comment-5109847-20120613183929

I've followed similar setups to Androly-San and TravelBitten, in that I've grouped same sizes together into rows. I've also tried to keep all XP/crystal/resource/misc. non-coin items in specific areas to make chains easier. I used to have everything symmetrical around the Magic Rock, but that made chains too hard because I'd constantly be trying to move the screen to get more on and losing my chains. Now I have all my Sapphires in lines, all my stores grouped, etc. so that I can fit as many on the screen at one time without moving it.

It is sort of sad that they implemented the chains in a way, because now there is even less reason to make your village look "nice." Making it look good just makes it harder to chain.