OUR REVIEW
WHEN AMERICA WAS SPANISH
Mundus Novus
DOINGS AND DEALINGS WITH COLONIAL GOODS
A new „game universe“ in a small box; when you open the box one is enchanted at first sight with the very beautifully designed goods cards, which make us realize what we Europeans have looted from the colonies: Sugar Cane, Coffee, Vanilla, Tobacco, Cocoa, Corn, Potatoes, Cotton, Indigo and Inca Relics. With the re-selling of these goods we are supposed to make our fortune or at least the most money in the game.
As a basic supply all players receive a random and varied selection of five of
those cards in each round. The aim of game play is, in each round to form
combinations of either identical or completely different goods with your cards.
For this purpose co-designer Serge Laget has adapted his exchange mechanisms
that we have already encountered in “Mare Nostrum”: The starting player of the
current round – in this game he goes by the name of Trade Master - names a
number, either two, three or four, all players must lay out this number of
cards und reveal them all at the same time. The (old or new) Trade Master then
is the first to pick up a card from any of the other players, then this player
takes a card from any other player, and so on, until all cards have been
distributed again (for instance, A takes a card from B, B from C, C from B, B
from A and so on); finally, all players should again have five cards in hand
Already from Round 2 on the starting hands of players can be made up from a different number of cards. In order to avoid that the trade is turning into “unfair trade” you must only check if the last cards from the starting player / Trade Master has been taken – when this did not happen, he must give one of his cards to the last player for the purpose of equalization. Furthermore, you must take care that two players can only trade to and fro twice, that is, when A takes a card from B and B takes one from A, A must then take a card from C or D – this restriction of course is not valid in a two-player game.
The big advantage of this really refined trade mechanism: All players are involved in the events almost simultaneously and it happens rather fast. But it is only barely possible to keep an eye on more than on one’s own interests. On the one hand one can only roughly guess which cards the other players really want to collect, and on the other hand it is equally difficult to remember what players have already picked up – of course you can always pick up a cotton card that is still available when
Then each player then can turn cards into money = victory points. Especially in the first part of the game it could suit your purposes better to buy one of the development cards: To acquire such a card you need at least a triplet. In relation to the kind of goods and the number of identical cards the cards can be swapped for the first or for one of the first three or for any of the five development cards which are always on display. So, for instance, three Vanilla cards are of higher value than three Cocoa cards. You need not memorize the frequency of occurrence for the various goods; this is easily recognizable from the numbers and colors on the various goods cards. Inca Relics can be either sold separately or be used for a triplet, quadruplet or quintuplet, but not as a joker for the sale of different cards.
As regards to the selling of goods there is a (awkwardly worded) ambiguity in the rules, which cannot be cleared up up comparison of the passage with the corresponding part of the French or English rules; anyway, each player – if possible – can do three sales per round: So, for instance, with eight cards spend a triplet for a development card, four different card for money and one Inca Relic for doubloons. Cards cannot be saved for the next round, in this “waste land” everything spoils quickly, even relics.
For the main part, development cards introduce additional goods cards in each round (one for each Caravel), or you can save one or two goods cards for the next round with a Warehouse, or a Merchant allows you to change one card into another, e.g. turn Cocoa into Vanilla or a 1 into a 9. Furthermore, there are nine different character cards – who achieved a certain kind of fame with their more or less gruesome actions when squeezing out the Indigenous People – who earn you certain special privileges.
Besides the amassing of money there is a second rather enticing way to win the game, you manage to collect the „perfect combination“! A perfect combination is a hand of 10 different cards, from 1 to 9 plus 1 Inca Relic, which cannot be used as a joker, too. This, of course, is not easy to achieve, in addition to Caravels and Warehouses you need one or more merchants and a hefty amount of luck. At least, one is not forces to choose a strategy early and stick to it, you can change your strategy in the course of the game – any number from four to nine goods cards can be turned into money without any problems.
As regards to playability the game is widely useable in the best sense, at least when you have weeded out a few additional ambiguities in the rules, and nicely relaxing for your mind. Basically, you do the same in every round, but all players are nearly permanently busy playing, so that the downtime to play does not come over as too long. The distribution of cards on the other hand can, as long as you have only five cards at your disposition, as frustrating and disadvantageous, that a player might not be able to achieve a useful combination at the end of the round and must discard all his cards without having accomplished anything. When others at that point already move ahead with development cards the fun with the game can be heavily diminished for such a player. Otherwise it is a really challenging task to combine one’s hand cards as best as possible and to play for loads of doubloons or with the „perfect combination“ in mind or at least hope for this, very often the decision is made within a very narrow margin. On top of the luck with the cards there is another chance element in the game due to the various events, which can happen in each round – but there are tactical possibilities to influence the event to your own advantage. And, by the ways, there are already five promotional cards as a supplement for the game, which at first glance might influence the strategy to go for doubloons.
At long last, there are a few faults to find with the game components: The event markers are too small and the coin markers have only been printed on one side. On several character cards the information is missing, with which number of players the card should be used (for instance, it seems that „Francesco de Coronado“ should only be shuffled into the development cards stack for a game with six players. It is also a bit off that Cocoa and Tobacco are treated as common goods, whereas Potatoes and Indigo appear as rare goods; and, basically, the box is too big.
Players: 2-6
Age: 13+
Time: 45+
Designer: Bruno Cathala, Serge Laget
Artist: Vincent Dutrait, Stéphane Gantiez
Price: ca. 20 Euro
Publisher: Asmodee 2011
Web: de.asmodee.com
Genre: Set collection game with cards
Users: With friends
Version: de
Rules: de en fr
In-game text: no
Comments:
Beautiful card design
Fancy and quick trade mechanism
Frustration due to chance element possible
Checking of rules against French and English versions necessary
Compares to:
Mare Nostrum for the trade mechanism, Rummy, Poker and many more for the set collection aspect
Other editions:
French and English editions
My rating: 5
Harald Schatzl:
A game of collecting and trading cards, which has – due to the beautiful graphic and the nice flair – a relaxing and challenging experience to offer, even for experienced players.
Chance (pink): 2
Tactic (turquoise): 2
Strategy (blue): 1
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 1
Communication (red): 1
Interaction (brown): 2
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0