[originally posted (with photos) at: Board Games with Flartner
Marco Polo is the newest game from <PERSON> and <PERSON>, the designers of the hit, Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar. In Marco Polo, players recreate the journey <PERSON> made from Italy to China. Each player will have a unique character with a special ability. The game is a dice placement game, like Kingsburg or Alien Frontiers.
The game board is separated into two main parts - the action selection regions take up the bottom half of the board, while a large map of Eurasia occupies the top half of the board.
Each round begins with players rolling their dice. Then in turn order, they will place a group of dice (or a single die) at an action location, and immediately executing that action. Players are able to place their dice at places where other players have placed already that round (for a cost), but each color dice can only be placed at each location once - so repeating an action during a round is not allowed.
The action spaces allow players to gather resources, gain new contracts, or move their character token along the paths on the map. There are a few ways to earn points in Marco Polo, but one of the main ways is to fulfill contracts, which involves discarding the required resources on a contract you own to gain rewards (usually resources and points).
The other main way to gain points in Marco Polo is to use resources to travel across the map, visiting both large and small locations along the way. When players end their movement in a location, they immediately get to build a trading post there. When a player has built a trading post in a small location, they get an immediate benefit, as well as that same benefit at the beginning of each round, as income. 597
When players have built in a large location, they are given access to an additional action location they can use to dice activate on their turn.
After five rounds of play, the player who has completed the most contracts gets a bonus 7 points, anyone who has reached Beijing can trade their leftover goods (not camels) for points 2:1, and whoever has the most points is the winner!
I was immediately drawn to this game after watching <PERSON> video overview of it in February. The main thing that caught my eye (aside from the beautiful production) was the way the dice are used. Most action spaces have tiers of effectiveness. When using an action space that requires multiple dice, only the lowest die is considered when determining which tier benefit a player will receive. So for example, using a 1 and a 6 on a two die space would only net the player the 1 pip benefit. On the flip side of that, when players place dice on action space where other players have gone, they have to pay money equal to the lowest die they are placing - so high rolls are good, but those low dice still very much have a use.
Traveling is my favorite part of the game. It is very exciting to look at the random set up of each game, and deciding which income bonuses and which large city action space are worth going for each game. I love the engine building feel of this part of the game. This is one of those games where the end comes, and I wish there was 1 or 2 more rounds so that I could really get my point generation going!
Marco Polo is a wonderful game that you should certainly keep an eye out for when it hits in the next few months.
So - was this review helpful? Do you want to try Marco Polo? Are you going to be sure to steer clear? Or do you need to know more? Let me know in the comments below! 629