Simultaneous Action Selection

From the back of the box:

Venice, the 1400's. You are a young merchant trying to make your name in this legendary port of vibrant commerce. Trade in spices, silks, gems, iron, and grain can bring great wealth... if you can bend the market to your will. Buy goods as they enter the city docks and sell them to the tradesmen who need them. Increase your profits by buying shares of the shops that use the goods in which you trade. Gain gold and prestige by fulfilling the orders of the Guild Hall craftsmen.

But Venice is a city of fickle demands and mercurial politics. Spend your ducats wisely and look for help from powerful people such as the Guildmaster, the Harbormaster, the Tax Collector... or perhaps a Thief. Even the humble Gondolieri have powerful connections in Venice. In the end, the most important thing to remember is the simple rule of commerce... buy low and sell high! Only those with the most gold and the highest prestige can truly become... Masters of Venice!

Zeus, the greatest of all gods, has decided to build a universe that he can gaze upon from high atop Mount Olympus. He has enlisted the help of several unknown gods to do this for him - and they have 5 days to finish the job. The god who performs the best while building this universe will be elevated in status and receive admission into Mount Olympus.

The game progresses over the course of 5 rounds or "Days". Each day has three phases (a morning, an afternoon, and an evening). During these phases, players will select actions such as making planets, placing planets, etc. After these three phases are completed, night happens in which scoring occurs and Zeus gazes upon the work of the players. Players receive Prestige Points for things such as having the most planets in an orbit and for constellations (connections of planets) they have built.

At the end of the 5th day, whoever has earned the most prestige wins.

First, you decide on what finished goods you want to sell and how much, based on your capital. Based on that, you buy the raw materials necessary to do that. You combine raw materials to make finished goods. You sell the finished goods.

You have to bid on the purchase price of the raw materials and the sales price of the finished goods. When supply exceeds demand the prices drop. When demand exceeds supply the prices rise. If you bid less than the going price, you get nothing.

Easy to learn, but interesting strategies. Somewhat mechanical, but a good game by Sid Sackson.

Part of the 3M Bookshelf Series.

Dixit Odyssey is both a standalone game and an expansion for Jean-Louis Roubira's Dixit, which won Germany's Spiel des Jahres award in 2010.

Game play in Dixit Odyssey matches that of Dixit: Each turn one player is the storyteller. This player secretly chooses one card in his hand, then gives a word or sentence to describe this card – but not too obviously. Each other player chooses a card in hand that matches this word/sentence and gives it to the storyteller. The storyteller then lays out the cards, and all other players vote on which card belongs to the storyteller. If no one or everyone guesses the storyteller's card, the storyteller receives no points and all players receive two; otherwise the storyteller and the correct guesser(s) each receive three points. Players score one point for each vote their image receives. Players refill their hands, and the next player becomes the storyteller. When the deck runs out, the player with the most points wins.

Dixit Odyssey contains 84 new cards, each with a unique image drawn by Pierô and colored by Marie Cardouat, artist of Dixit and Dixit 2. The stand alone version also includes a folding game board, 6 new rabbit scoring tokens (12 total) and a box large enough to hold all the Dixit cards released to date. The stand alone version of Dixit Odyssey includes enough components for up to twelve players and also has variant rules for team play and for new ways to play with the cards.

Integrates with:

Dixit
Dixit: Journey

Expansion versus Stand alone versions of the game.

Stand alone version is in a square box (released in 2011 but may still be available).
Expansion version is in a rectangular box (available from 2013 onwards).

This classic game of pure negotiation has taken many forms over the years.

The first Avalon Hill version has perhaps the widest release, but Avalon Hill (Hasbro) re-released the game in 1999, complete with a colorful new map and metal pieces. They recently released a 50th anniversary edition with a new map and cardboard pieces representing the armies and navies.

In the game, players represent one of the seven "Great Powers of Europe" (Great Britain, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia or Turkey) in the years prior to World War I. Play begins in the Spring of 1901, and players make both Spring and Autumn moves each year. There are only two kinds of military units: armies and fleets. On any given turn, each of your military units has limited options: they can move into an adjoining territory, support an allied unit in an attack on an adjoining territory, support an allied unit in defending an adjoining territory, or hold their position. Players instruct each of their units by writing a set of "orders." The outcome of each turn is determined by the rules of the game. There are no dice rolls or other elements of chance. With its incredibly simplistic movement mechanics fused to a significant negotiation element, this system is highly respected by many a gamer.

Avalon Hill Complexity rating - 3

Re-implemented by:

Colonial Diplomacy
Diplomacy: Classical Variant
Diplomacy: Hundred Variant