PLAYED FOR YOU
CARGO NOIR
FREIGHT, SMUGGLE, SHIPS AND HARBOR
Victory points can be acquired by sending freight ships to the most lucrative destinations, by smuggling freight tiles from the harbors into you own cargo holds and by unloading freight in time. If you have the highest total of victory points on your cards at the end of the game you win.
A turn of a player comprises ship actions, trading freight for victory points and discarding of surplus freight as well as sending out ships to new destinations. Implementation of ship actions depends on sending the ships out in the previous rounds, is also implemented the first time in round 2. Each player implements the action in the order of his choice, and then the ship is taken off the board. Ship actions are Casino, Black market or Harbor. In the Casino you collect money, in the Black Market you can trade goods or draw a random good. In the harbor you can buy all goods with the highest bid or must raise your bid or must withdraw. Ship destinations for phase 3 are – in consequence, Casino, Black Market in Macao or neighboring harbors. In the harbors you place your ships and add the amount of money you are willing to bid for the freight in this harbor. To trade goods for victory points you discard the necessary combination of freight cubes. Some cards offer special effects and in the last round you can buy victory points for coins.
Cargo Noir tries to transport gangster and smuggling atmosphere with the help of comic graphics, but the mechanisms are too abstract. The real tension comes from bidding for the harbors, otherwise the game offers an absolutely family-friendly “take x for y in an optimum way” mechanism.
Players: 2-5
Age: 8+
Time: 90+
Designer: Serge Laget
Artist: Miguel Coimbra
Price: ca. 35 Euro
Publisher: Days of Wonder 2011
Web: www.daysofwonder.com
Genre: Placement game with a trade topic
Users: For families
Version: de
Rules: de en fr
In-game text: some
Comments:
Abstract game despite very attractive design * mix of standard mechanisms like bid and swap * good family game despite the topic
Compares to:
All bidding games with a „swap x for y for points“ mechanism
Other editions:
Currently none
Chance (pink): 2
Tactic (turquoise): 2
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 0
Communication (red): 2
Interaction (brown): 2
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0