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There's hustle and bustle at Istanbul's grand bazaar as merchants and their assistants rush through the narrow alleys in their attempt to be more successful than their competitors. Everything must be well organized: wheelbarrows must be filled with goods at the warehouses, then swiftly transported by the assistants to various destinations. Your goal? Be the first merchant to collect a certain number of rubies. In Istanbul, you lead a group of one merchant and four assistants through 16 locations in the bazaar. At each such location, you can carry out a specific action. The challenge, though, is that to take an action, you must move your merchant and an assistant there, then leave the assistant behind (to handle all the details while you focus on larger matters). If you want to use that assistant again later, your merchant must return to that location to pick him up. Thus, you must plan ahead carefully to avoid being left with no assistants and thus unable to do anything... In more detail, on a turn you move your merchant and his retinue of assistants one or two steps through the bazaar, either leave an assistant at that location or collect an assistant left earlier, then perform the action. If you meet other merchants or certain individuals at the location, you might be able to take a small extra action. Possible actions include: Paying to increase your wheelbarrow capacity, which starts the game with a capacity of only two for each good. Filling your wheelbarrow with a specified good to its limit. Acquiring a special ability, and the earlier you come, the easier they are to collect. Buying rubies or trading goods for rubies. Selling special combinations of goods to make the money you need to do everything else. When a merchant has collected five rubies in his wheelbarrow, players complete that round, then the game ends. If this player is the only one who's reached this goal, he wins immediately; otherwise ties are broken by money in hand.
| Year | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Designers | Rüdiger Dorn |
| Artists | Andreas Resch |
| Publishers | Portal Games, Hobby World, Swan Panasia Co., Ltd., Devir, Hobby Japan, Matagot, Pegasus Spiele, 2 Pionki, Albi, Grow Jogos e Brinquedos, Piatnik Distribution, White Goblin Games, Asterion Press, Alderac Entertainment Group, Lex Games |
| Players | 2–5 |
| Time | 40–60 min |
| Status | Previously owned |
| BGG Rating | 7.5 |
| Categories | Economic |
| Mechanics | Dice Rolling, Race, Modular Board, Grid Movement, Network and Route Building, Variable Set-up, Market, Contracts, Pick-up and Deliver, Worker Placement, Mancala |
| BGG Rank | 192 |
| Complexity | 2.58 / 5 |
| Language | No necessary in-game text |
| Date | Location | Duration | Qty | Players | Scores | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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2014-11-10 | – | 1 | – | – | – | |
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2014-10-20 | – | 1 | – | – | – |
My BGG Comment
2-4 players. Bought this blind at Essen because for 24€ and with "Kennerspiel 2014" it should be worth it. So far 1.5 plays. The material is nice and the artwork is pretty. The theme is well done. Overall I like the gameplay, not very complicated to explain except for the movement mechanism. On my first try I had to go to the Well quite a lot to reset my helpers, on the second try I managed to win the game without going to the Well at all. It's a little low on interaction in a two player game. It plays quite fast. A nice, accessible euro game. Not overly complex. Very few random elements (which is a plus). Next time though I'll try the more complicated layout. Oh and the rules don't really explain how to move the smuggler and the governor - the die roll is a sum and there are 16 tiles and they never explain that it's a sum - of course what else can it be. I deduced that some tiles are just not part of the random movement.