American water game Marco. Express review of the game The Voyages of Marco Polo

Games The Voyages of Marco Polo, dedicated to the travel of the famous Venetian merchant across Asia. This is a very beautiful Eurogame with worker placement mechanics, which is suitable not only for fans of this type of game, but also for those who just want to get acquainted with it. The material was translated into Russian Sergey Sintsov.

The Voyages of Marco Polo

• Creators: Simone Luciani, Daniele Tascini
• Artist: Dennis Lohausen
• Publisher: 999 Games, Hans im Glück
• Number of players: 2- 4
• Time per batch: 90 minutes
• Price: 3 5 €

The Italian merchant Marco Polo lived in the 13th century and is famous for his travels around Asia. After a long absence, he returned safely to Venice in 1295. At that time, Venice was at war with Genoa, and Marco Polo was captured. There he spoke about his amazing adventure to another prisoner who wrote down everything he heard. This story is now known as the book The Travels of Marco Polo. In Game Simone Luciani And Daniele Tascini you can also follow the route of this famous merchant.

Review

What do you get for your 35 €?

Game board, starting player marker, 4 player mats, 10 character tokens, 6 bonus city tokens, 10 bonus major city tokens, 44 contract tokens, 26 dice, 40 coins, 4 50/100 victory point tokens, 18 objective cards, and 31 maps of major cities. In addition, there are 15 figurines of gold, silk and bags of pepper, 28 figurines of camels, 38 figurines of trading posts and 12 wooden figurines of Marco Polo. And, of course, cheat cards and game rules.

Rules of the game

The participants of the game play the role of characters traveling with Marco Polo. They need to fulfill the terms of trade contracts, purchase goods and travel halfway across the world to get as many victory points as possible.

The game has five rounds. Each round, players take turns making moves, placing dice on action spaces and immediately performing those actions. After the fifth round, the travelers' personal goals are checked. The winner is the player who scores greatest number victory points.

Now let's talk about this in more detail. At the beginning of the game, each participant receives a character (with a unique ability), a player tablet, nine trading post figures (placed in special area tablet), five cubes of the same color, some goods and money, the first contract, two objective cards and two Marco Polo figures of the same color (the same color as the cubes and trading posts). One figurine is placed on the victory points track, and the second is placed in Venice.

At the start of each round, players roll their dice. They then take turns placing one or more dice on an action space and taking that action. The value on the die shows what action the player can perform, or how useful it will be. The player can always choose an action with less utility if he deems it necessary. Remember: you can only place your dice on each action space once per round.

There are action spaces on the playing field in which you need to place several dice. In this case, only the cube with the lowest value will be taken into account. Look at next photo. If you want to get silk from the general supply and place dice with values ​​4 and 6 in the cells, you will only be able to get three silk figures, and not four, as indicated in column number 6.

Often the action you need will already be taken. Don't worry: you can do it too, but you'll have to pay for it. Contribute to the general supply an amount of coins equivalent to lowest value on the dice you place.

You're probably already wondering what you can do in this game. I'll tell you. I'll start from the very beginning simple action. You can place one die in the corresponding cell and receive five coins. If you have already chosen this action, do not forget to pay coins according to the scheme described above before doing so.

You can also go to the market to get gold, silk, pepper and camels. To get pepper and camels, one cube is enough, for silk you need two, and to get gold, you will have to part with three cubes at once. The higher the dice values, the more goods you will receive.

Another action is the patronage of Khan. This action gives the player a camel and any goods of his choice, but to perform it, a cube with the same or great value than the cube already in the cell ( here you don’t need to pay coins for being “late” - approx. translation).

All these goods are needed in order to fulfill trade contracts. When completed, contracts give you victory points, other goods, and sometimes special bonuses (such as an extra die). To gain contracts, place your die on the appropriate action space, and take one or two contracts that are in positions equal to or less than the value on the die. Received contracts must be placed in free contract slots on your game board (if there are none, you cannot take new contracts until you discard contracts from occupied slots or complete them).

Another important action is travel. Place your two dice in the appropriate action space, pay the indicated travel expenses, and move your Marco Polo figure along the trade routes, making sure to set up a trading post in the city where you are staying. The journey can end in an oasis (just a place to rest between two cities), a small town (will give a bonus at the beginning of the round if you place a trading post in it), or a large city. The first player to open a trading post in a major city receives a bonus token from that city (tokens are randomly placed on major cities at the beginning of the game and give a bonus to their owner). Placing a trading post in a major city also provides the opportunity to use it as an action space.

These are all the basic actions you can take. There are also several additional actions available that can be performed before or after the main one. You can complete a contract, take three coins by placing a die in the appropriate cell, reroll the die, returning a camel to the general supply, increase or decrease the value on one of your dice by 1, returning two camels to the general supply, or receive an additional black die for three camels.

At the end of the game, after the fifth round, players receive victory points for the trading post in Beijing, for the money they have in hand, and (if they have a trading post in Beijing) for the goods they have. The player who completes the most contracts receives 7 victory points. Players then check the objective cards. Each such map has two cities. If both cities have a player's trading post, he receives the victory points indicated on the map. Points are also awarded for the number of mismatched cities on objective maps that contain the player's trading posts.

The player with the most victory points is declared the winner.

Impression

Gameplay

The Voyages of Marco Polo - good game with the mechanics of worker placement. Using dice as workers is nothing new, but action spaces are never blocked by other players. If the cell is occupied, you can simply pay money and still perform the action “occupied” by another player. This means that as long as you have money, no one can completely ruin your plans.

Luck is a good idea when rolling the dice, but if you have a few camels in hand, you can always re-roll or change an unlucky value.

In the first game, it is recommended to play with a set of predefined characters. They are well chosen, but then you should play with all the heroes. This option is more interesting, since the characters have different characteristics, and you need to change the game strategy to suit them in order to get from them more benefit. Some heroes (for example, Guillaume de Rubruk) require more attention, while others (for example, the Merchant of Tabriz) fit into the overall strategy quite easily.

The advanced version of the game is more varied. There are more characters to choose from, and small town bonuses are distributed randomly. Bonus major city tokens are also distributed randomly, but this is also the case in the base game.

The main focus of the game is on completing trade contracts. They cannot be ignored, otherwise you will lose too many victory points and goods.

Traveling also earns victory points and opens up the possibility of gaining additional points by setting up trading posts in major cities. Typically, you will only be able to travel five times per game, since each action can only be performed once per round. If you're focusing on travel, you'll need to find a way to move from city to city more than once per round. This can be done precisely by choosing and executing trade contracts.

I really liked that this game requires you to clearly decide where you want to focus your actions. There are only five rounds in the game, and they will end before you are ready for it. Therefore, look at the field, at the open cards, at the bonuses that may be useful to you, and plan your moves in advance. Going with the flow and hoping for chance will not work.

As I already noted, the game ends before you are ready for it. Sometimes it really is before the moment you would like it to end. You've just warmed up and it's already the last round. This is a drawback, but it is minor.

The game scales perfectly. If you are familiar with it, a duel will take a little over half an hour, and a game for four will take about an hour and a half. In total, we have a deep strategic game that does not require much time.

Thematic

Does the game transmit research nature travels of Marco Polo? I think so! You travel from one city to another, trade different goods- very similar to other games with worker placement mechanics. This is a similar dish to the new Marco Polo sauce.

Decor

The game looks very good. Not only in terms of the beauty of the illustrations and components, but also in terms of functionality. It seems to me that all the action cells are very clear, and anyone will immediately understand what is what.

Component quality

The quality of the components is good. You'll get nice cardboard tokens, thick cards, nice wooden components, and some unique Marco Polo meeples.

Fun

I really liked this game. I generally like dice placement games, but this particular one is very interesting. You can always perform any action. Sometimes you have to pay a little money for this, but your opponents cannot completely block the cells you need.

I'm not saying that every dice placement game should be the same. Blocking opponents' interests is one of the main characteristics of games with worker placement mechanics. However The Voyages of Marco Polo feels less stressful due to the absence of this aspect.

I also really liked the presence different characters. It's very interesting to try to tailor them to your strategy using special abilities.

I don't think this is an innovative game. It's just a good combination of familiar mechanics. However, this is not important to me. The Voyages of Marco Polo is a deep and fun strategy game with a relatively short game time. Since a player can only place one die in each action space per round, it does not matter whether there are four or two people at the table. Of course, in the duel version you can do more for less money, but what I'm trying to convey to you is that the game is fun with any number of participants.

Related Posts

First, I’ll briefly tell you about the game. “Marco Polo” is a cube euro, in which the cubes act as workers - they are placed on different cells playing field, activating the corresponding actions. The values ​​on the dice play a significant role, so if a player rolls a total of less than 15 on the dice, he receives compensation in the form of resources. The game lasts exactly five rounds, with the bulk of victory points awarded for visiting the cities indicated on the route cards issued at the beginning of the game (hello, !), for completing contracts that require spending a set of resources, and for visiting Beijing - the final goal of Marco Polo's journey. At the beginning of each game, bonus tokens are also randomly placed on the playing field, many of which allow you to profitably exchange resources for victory points.

Overall, nothing new. Why then so much enthusiasm? It seems to me that the main feature of the game is the characters that the participants take turns choosing at the beginning of the game. Each character has its own unique properties, which determine a certain style of play. For example, there is a merchant who receives resources for free every time when other participants make purchases in the market, there are travelers Nicolo and Marco Polo, who move around the map with two chips at once, allowing them to visit several cities in one turn, there is Rashid ad-Din Sinan, who generally ignores dice rolls, simply setting them to whatever values ​​he needs.

It seems great, you play in a new way every time, the replay value is great! But there is also back side- there is a strange feeling that you don’t need some elements of the game, as if all the participants are playing different games. One collects sets, another lays out routes, the third builds an engine for processing resources into victory points.

But the game has another, much more important, feature - it is absolutely linear and deterministic. Once the field is laid out, the element of randomness almost completely disappears. Already at this stage the game is calculated, and experienced players build optimal routes for their characters. “I’ll go to that city, visiting these ones along the way, and I’ll trade resources there.” All. The rest of the time the player does just that. Yes, the result of the dice roll and the actions of opponents may make small adjustments, but the player’s strategy will not change. I don't like that in board games.

A similar situation exists in "Tzolkine"- another game by the same author duo. But in "Tzolkine" you are not limited to a certain role and bonuses on the map (they are not there), you choose the strategy to your liking - you play either through buildings, or through corn, or through skulls. It may turn out that several players will choose one strategy, competition will arise, you will have to turn around and think - this is great! This is not the case in Marco Polo. Therefore, for me she is stuck somewhere at the junction between hardcore euro and family board game. For hardcore Euro, the imbalance introduced by different map layouts is too significant, which is why some characters become noticeably more profitable than others. And for a family game, in my opinion, it is overloaded with actions and nuances - at first your eyes run wide from the abundance of possibilities.

So it turns out that the game is well designed, quite thematic and interesting, but if we consider its individual elements, then it loses to its competitors in everything. IN "Tzolkine" deeper strategy "Castles of Burgundy" Cubes work better, and moving around the field is more interesting "Concordia". And, most importantly, I already have all these games.

Marco Polo is fun game in a swimming pool. Ideal for water parties and can be played with three or more players. Some people think that the game is named after the great Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, because, like "Marco" in the game, he did not always know where he was going. If you want to learn how to play Marco Polo, or understand the game's features, see Step 1 to get you started.

Steps

Game Marco Polo

Choose one person to be "Marco". This player will try to catch the others. "Marco" can also be called "It". Think of it as a game of catch - in the water! The "Marco" player must keep his eyes closed at all times.

Marco must count to ten before heading out to find the others. All players start the game in the pool. Marco stands still, loudly counts to ten, giving the players time to run in different directions. They should stay as far away from Marco as possible to avoid getting caught - unless they are risk-takers who love the thrill. As soon as Marco has counted to ten, he can begin to search, but his eyes must be closed.

Marco shouts “Marco”, the others must answer him “Polo”. Marco can scream as often as he wants. Answering “Polo” helps you better understand where other players are, allowing you to approach or swim closer.

• Players running away from Marco must respond with "Polo" every time he shouts "Marco." The only exception is when the player is underwater.
• If the player above the water does not answer "Polo!" and Marco is sure who it is, he can say “I know that (player name) didn’t shout Polo!”, if other players agree with him, then that player becomes the new Marco! The game starts again!

1. Marco must follow the sound and try to give the patch to other players. You can swim or just walk in the water. Keep your hands in front of you for own safety. You definitely don't want to suddenly hit a wall. You can even hold onto the edge of the pool with one hand so you know exactly where you are right now. And also, if you walk around the pool, remember that you can go into deep place and be prepared to swim.

   The remaining players must run away from Marco so that he does not catch them. If you are running away, you must be fast and ready to jump away at any moment. You can also swim underwater in any direction after shouting "Polo", this will confuse Marco. If he is close behind you, suddenly change direction to throw him off.

   • Before you start playing, agree on the rules whether you can play outside the pool. Some versions of the game allow this, other rules mean that you can play outside the pool, but at least one part of your body must remain in the water. This can add even more fun to the game, but don't run around the slippery pool, it's very dangerous!
   • You can also use another rule of the game “Fish Out”. According to this rule, if you allow players to be out of the pool, Marco has the right to shout "Fish out" at any time. Once he does this, he can open his eyes - if he sees a player outside the pool, then he is right and that player becomes the new Marco and the game begins again. If several players are outside the pool at the same time, then Marco has the right to choose any of them!

2. When Marco touches someone, he or she becomes the new Marco and the game starts over. The new Marco must close his eyes, count to ten and catch the rest of the players, all over again. Play until you get bored - it usually takes a few minutes until Marco catches another Polo and the fun starts all over again!

   • You can customize the rules as you like, such as patch touching during the game. This can be done by catching someone with your hands, or touching the person with your palm, or just randomly touching with any part of the body, then the other player will understand that he has been caught.

   Blind catch game

   1. Set boundaries. Game of catching blindly, for lack of better name, is played in a swimming pool like Marco Polo, except the players don't make much noise. The game takes place in the shallow part of the pool. You can somehow isolate the deep part of the pool from the shallow part.

      Decide on the rules. How long will the catch count before the game starts? Is it considered that you have been given a patch if you are touched with a foot? Can players leave the pool at all or do they have to stay in it at all times?

      Select your catch. You can choose a random player, everyone shout “one, two, three, no catch!” or you can choose the first volunteer. It doesn’t matter who will be first, and most likely all participants will become fishers.

      Fishing counts underwater. Players usually count to 10. He can also count over water if that works better for him. Once the counting is over, the fun can begin! The remaining players must take advantageous position, not to be locked in a corner and at the same time not too open, as far as possible from the catch. Unlike Marco Polo, players running away from catch do not shout or talk, they try to be as quiet as possible.

   2. Play until the player is given the patch. Since the game is played in silence, the catch will try to identify the players by the sounds in the water. He will hear you giggling or breathing if you are nearby. It's hard not to make sounds in the water! The catcher must be careful not to move too fast and keep his hands in front of him to avoid crashing into walls.

      • As soon as the patch is transferred to another player, the new catch begins to count to ten and everything starts all over again. The fun can go on as long as you want. It's best to play when no one is around - if you catch each other blindly, and there are strangers nearby, you will only annoy them! Enjoy playing blind catch as much as you like!
   • Game option: “Marco” can use “crocodile eyes” and open his eyes under water (only without glasses), works best when there are not many players.
   • Game option: Those who shout "Polo" can get out of the pool and run around if they want. But “Marco” can shout “Fish out” and the person outside the pool will become the new Marco.
   • If you are Marco, shout "Marco" as often as possible.
   • Marco may shout "I can't hear you!", which causes the others to respond with "Polo". If you don't answer, you become Marco.
   • The more players, the better.
   • If Marco wears glasses, have him pass them on to someone who doesn't, especially if they are tinted glasses.

   Warnings

   • You play all games at your own risk. It is highly recommended that all games be supervised by an adult. There is a potential risk. Precautions are necessary before starting any game.
   • Sometimes lifeguards at public pools will answer "polo" while standing guard. Don’t try to give the patch to the rescuer, firstly, you won’t be able to reach them from the water, and secondly, they won’t become Marco in any case.

The slot machine, dedicated to the famous journey of Marco Polo through Asia, is one of the games in the “golden” series of Novomatic Multigaminator and is in fantastic demand among visitors to modern online casinos. This convenient emulator provides people's love high quality design combined with a simple and understandable game algorithm. Launching slot machine Marco Polo online, you will get a lot of pleasure from contemplating interesting pictures on the reels, regular winning combinations and the presence of useful additional functions.

Is it possible to master the Marco Polo slot machine for free?

To the delight of novice players, this slot machine is available in almost all more or less popular online casinos in free mode, which does not require registration on the site. This means that you can simply go to the site and start playing without downloading any additional software and without wasting time on registration. The game will be played for play money, but even in this case, the Marco Polo slot machine will allow you to fully enjoy the process!

Device characteristics

The machine has five reels and nine paylines. You can bet on each of them, so that as a result the player can get a tidy sum in his hands. The symbolism of the game Marco Polo, which you can play for free online, echoes its name, so you will have to meet the traveler himself, and the Emperor of China, and even funny Camels. By the way, it is the “ship of the desert” that is the scatter: a combination of three or more Camels triggers a series of 10 free rounds, during which you can significantly increase your assets!

The portrait of Marco Polo himself plays the role of a wild, replacing all other symbols (except scatters) if necessary. The slots also have standard card symbols, which give not so solid, but still pleasant cash prizes. The emulator is also equipped with the favorite function of many players to double the amount won: it is available after each successful spin of the reels. If you decide to download Marco Polo to play for free, you can safely participate in the risk game: you don’t risk real money, but you will definitely get an adrenaline rush! Bright and interesting game Marco Polo gives everyone a great mood!

Each player takes on the role of one of the travelers who accompanied Marco Polo on his travels or explored the world around the same time. Players try to earn victory points by completing contracts and visiting rich cities. Completed contracts not only provide victory points, but they also provide discounts and special privileges in the cities visited. Moreover, participants can complete secret objectives to gain additional victory points at the end of the game. The one who scores the most victory points wins.

Players take turns making moves, passing the right to move clockwise. At the beginning of the round, they roll dice, and during the round they occupy action spaces on the playing field. Players continue making moves until they have used up all their dice, and then the round ends. The game lasts 5 rounds, after which the final scoring takes place.

Game move

The concept of “making a move” is to take 1 or more dice from your player board and place them on the selected action space. (Dice can be placed in either an empty or occupied space.) You then immediately perform that cell's action.

Before and/or after performing the main action, you can perform 1 or more additional ones, but this is not necessary. A description of all additional actions is given in the memo.

As long as you have unused dice, you must choose and perform 1 main action. When you run out of dice, you automatically pass and make no further moves in the current round (once you have the right to move, you simply pass it on to the person on your left). Players continue making moves until all of their dice occupy action spaces. After this the round ends.