Nautical

A board game with a nicely realized island group, which offers protection for either four nations or four pirate bands (depending on the edition) and indigenous people. Components: 300 plastic markers, 150 tokens, 8 ships made of metal with 2 masts, 55 cards (3rd edition only), 3 six-sided special dice, 1 rules booklet.

Between the second and third edition, the theme of the game changed. The first and second have a theme of four nations exploring and colonizing new land, while the third edition has a pirate theme. The third edition also adds 55 action cards, resulting in more chaos and - possibly - less strategy (at least that's what is suggested in the rules).

The board shows an island group composed of five smaller island groups separated by ocean. There is a large island group in the middle and four smaller ones in the corners. The four smaller island groups are the homelands of the four nations in editions 1 and 2 and the pirate bases in edition 3. Nations / pirates set out to explore and conquer the big island group in the middle (or each others' homelands).

Every round, each nation / pirate group has 10 action points. With these you can accomplish various actions: move, load ships, explore unknown areas, attack your opponents, etc. Most important action is probably exploration, in which you roll two special dice which determine how many natives and how much gold there is in a neighboring, unexplored land. You'll have to fight the natives to conquer that land and get the gold. The gold itself you use to muster new armies / pirates. Conquest ultimately decides the winner.

In the 3rd edition, you can use special cards to optimize your course or counter the actions of opponents. Thus you have a large freedom of movement, unfortunately your opponents do also.

A winner of the 1986 Concours International de Créateurs de Jeux de Société.

Two to five players act as leaders of different peoples and command them to explore, send out fleets, build trading posts, and generate the highest possible profit. Poseidon contains most of the basics of 18xx games and due to the relatively short running time of two hours is as suitable for 18xx-newbies who want to explore this wonderful world as it is for experienced train gamers.

The 18xx basics included are:
1) Instead of running a corporation, players control a country/people
2) The goal of the game is personal wealth, the wealthiest player at game end is the winner
3) Players create trade routes similar to railway lines in 18xx games
4) Trains are replaced with common modes of transportation at the time (i.e. ships) with varying types
5) 18xx type stations are replaced with trading posts

Game Contents: game board, eight "possession sheets", play money, lots of wood pieces, cards, 1 rule book

At the end of the 17th century, Macao – the mysterious port city on the southern coast of China – is a Portuguese trading post in the Far East. The players take on the role of energetic and daring adventurers. Many exciting tasks and challenges await the players, whether they are a captain, governor, craftsman, or scholar. Those who chose the wisest course of action and have the best overall strategy will earn the most prestige at the end.

Macao lasts twelve rounds, and in each round players select one new card from a display specific to that round, two of which were revealed at the start of the game and others that were revealed only at the start of the round. The deck of 96 cards includes all sorts of special abilities, with the more powerful actions costing more resources to put into play.

One player rolls six different-colored dice, then each player selects two of those dice (possibly the same ones chosen by opponents), then places cubes equal to the number and color of the two dice on a personalized "ship's wheel." For example, if a player chooses the blue die that shows a 5, he places five blue cubes on the ship's wheel position five spots away from the current round. (A player can never claim more cubes than the number of remaining rounds).

Players rotate their ship's wheels each round, then use the cubes available to them in that round to perform various actions: activating cards selected in that round or earlier rounds, buying city quarters and collecting the goods located there, moving that player's ship around Europe to deliver those goods, acquiring gold coins, taking special actions with card previously activated, and advancing on a turn order track.

Players score points by delivering goods, paying gold coins, using the powers on their cards, and building in Macao. Whoever has the most points at the end of twelve rounds wins.

Macao is number 13 in the alea big box series, with an estimated difficulty on the alea scale of 6/10.

A variation on Bingo, this children's game consists of moving about the North Atlantic, capturing Merchant Vessels and turning then in at the Pirates Market. The Merchant Vessel cards each have a number. When turned in at the Market, the number is announced and each player will mark said number on their BINGO card. The first player to get 5 in a row wins. The introduction of Magic Cards and several spaces on the board with various effects adds a random element to the game.

Contents:

1 game board
6 pirate ships
10 double-sided Bingo cards
54 Merchant cards
14 Magic cards
120 blue transparent Caps
1Merlin chip
1 die
rules (English, Traditional Chinese)

The players are building a research station at the bottom of the sea, trying to find Atlantis, recover sunken treasures, and extract raw materials. The board shows the sea floor as a grid with shades indicating the levels of depth.

Each round consists of three phases :

-expanding the station : extra research stations will be added, these give advantages depending on their type, cost to build depends on the underwater landscape on which they are placed. More stations in use of the same type give better advantages. They must be occupied by a scientist before any advantage can be enjoyed.

-deploying scientists : players must pay to bring them into the game. They can be moved around to start using the research stations. Once deployed they remain at this station. When using a station built by another player there is a cost.

-exploration : Up to 3 submarines can be launched when certain requirements are met. These explore outside the base searching for scientific and financial treasures as well as trying to find remains of Atlantis. The amount of built research stations and deployment of scientists greatly aid in the performance of the submarines.
All players have special goals, consisting of sea discoveries that provide more points when recovered.

The game ends when certain tiles or all of the Atlantis tiles are found, when nobody buys/builds anything to expand the base and when not a single sea discovery was recovered.

Points are scored for recovered Atlantis chips and sea discoveries. Discoveries corresponding to the player's special goals score more points. The total of the discoveries is multiplied by the points gained from the stations. Extra points are given for left over money.