OUR REVIEW

Off to the Bazar!

Istanbul

Have Spices, want rubies!

Istanbul, the metropolis at the banks of Bosporus, one of the centers of world history since several millennia - it is a bit astonishing that it took till the Year 2011 to make the city a topic in a modern board game.

In this game, however, the topic are not power play and intrigues as in so many other games with a historic context. The game Istanbul restricts its topic to the Bazar of Istanbul. Players take up the roles of merchants who, with the help of their assistants, try to get rich by bartering and swapping goods as fast as possible. But rich in this game does not mean the biggest wealth, as is appropriate for a reputable merchant in other mercantile games - money here is only there for a purpose. Aim of the game is to be the first to own five rubies; in a game of two players you need to have three.

How the beautiful red glittering baubles are acquired is left to the individual players, the game offers several different options:

At the start of the game 16 location tiles are arranged in 4x4 grid. Those tiles make up the game board. Where the tiles are placed in the grid is entirely up to players' choices. The rules offer some suggestions for placement, ranging from easy to difficult, but also allow for a random distribution for some variation.

Those 16 location tiles depict one individual location each. Every one of those locations allows players to perform one definite action upon entering the tile. Those actions provide players with new goods, enable them to roll dice for money, and allow to trade in goods or money for money, rubies or other advantages, for instance additional assistants or bigger storage facilities, or send family members to far-away or blocked location to use the actions there.

The game is played in turns and rounds. In your turn you move your merchant up to two locations and are then entitled to resolve the local action. But to do so two conditions must be met:

1. You need an assistant. Each player starts the game with four assistants, represented by discs in player colors. Those discs are stacked at the start underneath the merchant, represented by a somewhat thicker disc. If you want to resolve an action at a location you must leave an assistant at that location, that is, remove him from the stack and deposit him at the location. Should an assistant already be in place at the location, you take him back into your stack and then implement the action.
2. When other merchants should be present at this location, you must pay 2 Lora to every one of those merchants before implementing the action.

Should there be another player's family member, the governor or the smuggler be present, the player visiting the location receives a small bonus.

The rules are therefore rather simple and if you do not ponder too long, the games plays quickly. In-game depth results from the different options to acquire the rubies you need. You can buy them for money, trade them directly for goods, but you also receive a ruby if you acquire all advantages available in a location. In general the rule applies that rubies get more expensive in the course of the game. Thus you have an advantage if you are faster than your opponents. It is recommended to watch your opponents and to foresee their actions: maybe you can block the targeted location, because even if it only costs the player 2 Lira, this can be a welcome additional income. Furthermore, you should plan your steps several turns ahead, because your movement range is limited and the number of assistants as well.

The designer of the game is Rüdiger Dorn, not an unknown designer, let me mention Goa or Die Händler von Genua, which are also designed by him. The very pretty graphics come from Andreas Resch and the publisher, Pegasus Games, has done his part well so that from the rules the the components all the game is done in very high quality.

Markus Wawra

Players: 2-5

Age: 10+

Time: 60+

Designer: Rüdiger Dorn

Artist: Andreas Resch

Price: ca. 35 Euro

Publisher: Pegasus Spiele 2014

Web: www.pegasus.de

Genre: collect, barter

Users: With friends

Version: multi

Rules: de en

In-game text: nein

Comments:

Well-working mechanisms

Good components

Nice graphics

Little room for strategic variation

Compares to:

Händler von Genua

Other editions:

Matagot, Asterion Press, Alderac

My rating: 4

Markus Wawra:

I like Istanbul. Playing time and in-game depth come in a good ratio and the mechanics of the game are a refreshing remake of standard mechanisms. As an experienced player I am missing strategic variants, and therefore Istanbul will become less interesting in the long run. But, as I said, I like Istanbul …. Still!

Chance (pink): 2

Tactic (turquoise): 3

Strategy (blue): 1

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 2

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0