rEVIEW
MORE VALUABLE THAN GOLD
Century: Die GewürzstraSSe
curCuma, SafFrOn, cardamom und cINNAMON
Century is the header name for a trilogy of games featuring historical trade routes from the 15th to the 17th century. Die Gewürzstraße / Spice Road is part I and features this spice trade route and the trade with rare spices, much in demand and coveted in the 15th century, in a time when spices were more valuable than gold.
We play with Curcuma, Saffron, Cardamom and Cinnamon, represented in the game by colored cubes in varying amounts, in relation to their value: Curcuma -> Saffron -> Cardamom -> Cinnamon. What we can do with those spices, is determined by two kinds of cards in the game: Market cards with a purple backside feature varying amounts of spice in one or several colors, with or without an arrow among them. Those cards provide action options. Victory Point cards with an orange backside are the second kind, also showing varying amounts of spice cubes in one or more colors plus a number value for victory points at the end of the game.
Two starting cards for each player are extracted from the Market cards and each player receives a set of two cards, then you display six Market cards openly in a row, the rest is draw pile. From the stack of Victory Point cards, you display five in a row above the row of Market cards, and heap the gold coins, worth 3 points, and silver coins, worth 1 point, above the first and second card from the left.
Then, every player receives a Caravan card with room for maximum ten spice cubes and we receive spices, beginning with the starting player, who receives three Curcuma; player II and III receive four curcuma each and player IV and V 3x Curcuma and one Saffron.
We play rounds in turn; each player has one turn and you have several options for your turn. You can either
- play a Market card and resolve it, or
- buy a Market card, or
- discard spices to acquire a Victory Point card or
- rest and take all cards you played back in hand.
Playing a card from your hand offers several options, the card you play remains on the table open-faced:
- Acquire spices - you play a Market card showing a number of spices of one color, without arrow; you take the depicted number of cubes from the stock bowl, for instance 2x Curcuma for the two yellow cubes on your starting card #1.
- Upgrade spices - You play a Market Card for upgrade, that is, a card showing grey cubes and an arrow pointing up; for each grey cube, you can upgrade a spice by one step; for the two cubes on your starting card #2, for instance, you can upgrade 1x Curcuma to Saffron and then Saffron to Cardamom, or Saffron via Cardamom to Cinnamon, or 2x Curcuma to 2x Saffron or 2x Saffron to 2x Cardamom or 2x Cardamom to 2x Cinnamon.
- Trade spices - you play a Market card for trade, featuring spice cubes in varying numbers and colors with an arrow pointing down somewhere in between; you can trade the spices depicted above the arrow with the spices depicted below the arrow; for instance, 3x Curcuma can be discarded for 1x Saffron and 1x Cardamom.
- Buy a Market card - If you choose this option, you acquire a Market card from the display. The left-most card in the row is free of charge; you simply take it. If you want to buy a card in any other slot in the row, you place on spice cube of your choice on each of the cards in slots to the left of your intended card; for instance, one spice each on cards #1, #2 and #3 if you want to buy card #4 in the row. The gap is closed by moving up the cards to the right of the gap und the row is replenished with a card from the draw pile. If you acquire a card with spice cubes on it, you get those spices, too and place them on your caravan; if you then have more than ten spices, you must discard spices of your choice accordingly. This rule applies to any situation which gives you more than ten cubes for your Caravan. The card you acquired goes to your hand and you can use it in your next turn. There is no limit to cards in hand!
- Buy a Victory Point card - You discard the spices depicted on your intended card back into the stock bowls and take the card from the row; for cards taken from position 1 or 2 in the row you also receive a gold or silver coin. Again, the gap is closed by moving up the cards to the right and adding a card from the draw pile to the right of the row. When the gold coins are gone, the silver coins are moved up to position 1. Victory Point cards are kept face down.
- Rest - you do not do any of the above actions and take all cards you played back in hand.
If someone has collected the number of Victory Point cards necessary for the number of players - five cards in case of four and five players, six cards in case of two and three players, you win at the end of the round with most points from Victory Point cards and coins.
Did someone just mention Bazaar? Yes, the game is evoking associations of Bazaar, but is miles away from it, because each player has his own exchange with trade or exchange rates, depending on the Market cards that you acquire, supplemented by the Market cards for upgrade. This results in a learning curve on the interaction of card combinations.
This is also where the interesting deck building mechanism comes into play - I always have my cards at my command to make use of combinations; each card is either instantly available when in my hand or available in the next turn if I must rest first to take cards back in hand.
And yes, you are right, cards differ in their powers, and as the order of their appearance is governed by chance, you cannot necessarily do long-term planning. But you observe what other players have amassed on their Caravans and which cards they play. If you can assess, that another player will acquire the card that you yourself planned to take it might be worth your while to spend spice to acquire a good Market card in the middle of the row for beneficial use later.
And this is the beauty of this game - you can play it without observation and tactics, more or less for yourself, or closely watch your fellow players and their options and maybe sometimes forfeit a turn and maybe even spices to buy up a Market card that they might need. Despite such observations and consideration, the game plays quickly and without long thinking gaps, because if it is your turn it is usually clear what you can do or must do, as you have - due to sequential play - enough time to come up with an alternative in case someone gets in before you with a Market card or a Victory Point card.
After that much praise, I should mention one negative aspect; when the starting display of Market cards turns out to be somewhat grotty, players must buy up cards quickly to get good cards into play; if they do not do that the game can drag until you have assembled the necessary spice combinations for Victory point cards.
But that was the only negative thing about the game and I am back to praise again, because much praise is due for the harmonious and lovely components and especially for the extremely professional, concise and precise rulebook, which leaves no question to ask, and achieving this on two pages, including examples!
Century: Die Gewürzstraße is a very felicitous premiere for the new publisher Plan B Games, easy enough for a family round and with more than enough tactical depth for experienced players, including a learning curve for card interactions.
Dagmar de Cassan
Players: 2-5
Age: 8+
Time: 45+
Designer: Emerson Matsuuchi
Artist: Fernanda Suaréz
Price: ca. 35 Euro
Publisher: Plan B Games / Abacusspiele 2017
Web: www.abacusspiele.de
Genre: Cards, trade, deck building
Users: With friends
Version: de
Rules: cn de en es fr hu it kr nl pl pt
In-game text: no
Comments:
Amazing graphic design
Concise, very precise rules
Simple basic mechanism
Lots of tactical depth
Compares to:
Bazaar and other games with exchange rates, deck building games
Other editions:
Asmodee (it), Broadway Toys (cn), Cube Factory of Ideas (pl), Devir (es, pt), Mandoo Games (kr), Piatnik (hu), Plan B (en, fr, nl)
My rating: 6
Dagmar de Cassan:
Emerson Matsuuchi has taken standard core mechanisms - exchange rates and deck building - and combined them into a marvelous game, in which chance and planning combine into tactical depths.
Chance (pink): 1
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