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Place the four red spice ‘pinch bowls’ (thematic, we like it!) in a vertical row. Pour the yellow spice cubes (turmeric) into the bottom bowl, then the red spice (safran) into the bowl above it. Next, the green cardamom, with the brown cinnamon into the bowl at the top. Put twice as many gold coins as there are players playing above the leftmost scoring card. C Place the same number of silver coins above the second card from the left. D Century: Spice Road is a 2017 table-top strategy game designed by Emerson Matsuuchi and distributed by Plan B Games. The game is a simulation of fifteenth-century spice trading, and each player competes for points as they buy and sell spices represented by colored cubes. If you play a conversion card, you may convert spices on your caravan into the next most valuable spice (i.e. yellow (turmeric), red (saffron), green (cardamom) , brown (cinnamon)) the number of times depicted on the card. There’s a wonderful moment in Century: Spice Road when everything comes together. You’ve spent the first few turns slowly filling your caravan with the dinky coloured cubes that represent the four spices – turmeric, saffron, cardamom and cinnamon – being traded, exchanging them for more valuable seasonings using upgrade cards and filling out your hand of dealers, who allow you to swap one combination of cubes for another. You may have even cashed in a handful of your spices for one or two of the scoring cards, perhaps claiming a gold or silver coin from the two leftmost slots for bonus points.
One card, for example, provides the trade of two cardamon cubes in exchange for one cinnamon and two safran. If you (eventually acquire and then) play one of these cards, you’ll trade the spice(s) shown, for the spice(s) promised – again, returning spices to their bowls and taking the relevant ones onto your Caravan card. These coins are metal (just try to resist that delightful clink) and, like everything else in the box, contribute to Spice Road’s universally breathtaking visual panache, from its gorgeous cards to the spices, which come with four diddly bowls to tidy up unruly heaps of cubes. The game-end triggers once any player completes five Points cards (in a four- or five-player game; six Points cards in a two- or three-player game). Play resumes, however, until the end of the round – so each player has the same number of turns. Now the value of each player’s Points cards are added up. Additionally, gold coins earned are worth three points each; silver coins are one point each; and any non-turmeric cubes left in player’s Caravans are one point each, too. Most points wins! Sage Advise If you take the first or second point card from the left, take 1 gold or silver coin from above it. If you have taken the last gold coin, move the remaining silver coins from above the second card above the first card. Caravan LimitExample: Tom would like to acquire the 4th trader card from the left A so he places one spice on each card to the left of it B.
The clever thing about these three games is that as well as being excellent gateway games in their own right, any two of the three can amalgamate, providing a new bumper-game, entirely. However, in this tutorial we’re only focusing on how to play the one that set the ball rolling – Century: Spice Road. So clamber onto your camel, join the caravan and let’s trade some spices… Century: Spice Road – Set-Up To play a hand card, place it face-up in front of you and trigger its effect. There are three types of trader cards that you can play: Spice Card Therefore getting spices and, more importantly, the orange Points cards is kind of a big dill (groan) to winning. But how do you accomplish that, we hear you ask? Rules Breakdown An often-forgotten rule is that this action can be repeated multiple times in one turn, providing you have the appropriate cubes. So, using the example above, if you played that Trade card and had six cardamon cubes, you could do that trade three times. As a result, you’d receive three cinnamon and six safran.
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Overall, I am very pleased to add this to my collection and always have a great time when it hits the table. I will be looking forward to the next installment of the Century trilogy and it will be great to see how they all work together. At the end of your turn, if you have more spices on your caravan than you can transport, you must return spices of your choice into the bowls until your upper limit is reached. Century: Spice Road has quality components and the artwork is great. The only bad points I can see to this game is that the theme is a bit on the bland side (pun intended) and at no point do you feel like a spice trader (Splendor has the same problem) and the game does feel like a solitaire experience as no real player interaction is involved.
If a player has his fifth point card (with 2 or 3 players, his sixth), the game ends after the current round. Each player earns the points on their scoring cards. To get the most out of your time with Spice Road, we’d recommend playing with around three or four players, opening up the more interesting interactive aspects of the design while keeping play time a comfortable length.You do not have to execute all conversions that are possible according to the card. In the illustrated example, you were allowed to turn a yellow turmeric into a red saffron and do the same again, or convert the converted saffron into a green cardamom. Century: Spice Road is played using the actions above, players will collect spices buy market cards and trade for point cards. The game ends when the first player gets their fifth point card. Turns are fast and even our first play only lasted 45 minutes. Final Thoughts The simple setup and playtime helps keep her interested and even though the theme is not one that really shines through, the game has enough fun and depth to keep all levels of gamers invested throughout the play time. Which brings us neatly to the second action a player could decide upon: acquiring one of the six Merchant cards on display. The left-most card is free. If you want the second card, it costs one spice of your choice. The third card costs two spices, and so on.
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