On the trail of Marco Polo

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On the trail of Marco Polo
Game data
author Daniele Tascini , Simone Luciani
graphic Dennis Lohausen
publishing company Hans im Glück Verlag
Publishing year 2015
Art Board game
Teammates 2 to 4
Duration 40-100 minutes
Age from 12 years

Awards

In the footsteps of Marco Polo (Italian: Sulle Tracce di Marco Polo ) is a board game by the Italian game authors Daniele Tascini and Simone Luciani , which was released in 2015. The game won the German Game Award 2015 and was included on the recommendation list for the Kennerspiel des Jahres in the same year . It also won the Multiplayer Award at the International Gamers Award 2015 and was awarded the Nederlandse Spellenprij's expert prize in 2016.

Background and material

In the game On the trail of Marco Polo is the historical journey of Marco Polo up to China and its achievements. In the role of different characters with different special characteristics, the players follow in the footsteps of Marco Polo on his travels from Venice to Beijing and use their skills to trade and to increase their fortune. The game is played over five rounds, in which the players must use the dice values ​​available to them in order to receive the maximum number of victory points by the end of the game.

The game material consists of the game instructions with a sheet in several languages:

  • a game plan
  • ten character cards
  • a starting player marker in the shape of an hourglass
  • four player boards
  • 12 wooden figures (3 each in the player colors blue, yellow, green and red)
  • 26 dice (5 each in the player colors blue, yellow, green and red, 5 in black and one in white)
  • six city bonus tokens
  • ten account bonuses
  • 40 coins (20 × 1, 10 × 5, 10 × 10)
  • 44 different orders
  • four 50/100 point cards
  • 18 destination cards
  • 31 city maps
  • 15 gold bars (12 small and 3 large)
  • 15 bundles of silk (12 small and 3 large)
  • 16 pepper sacks (12 small and 4 large)
  • 27 camels (20 small and 7 large)
  • 38 trading posts (9 each in the player colors blue, yellow, green, red and 2 in black)
  • five overview cards

Style of play

Game preparation

At the beginning of the game, the game board is placed in the middle of the table and the playing field is set up. The 50/100 point cards are placed next to the 50 on the scoring track. The six city bonus markers are distributed to the 6 small cities according to their identification, then the ten trading bonuses are shuffled and one is placed on each larger city, excess bonuses are removed from the game. The 31 city cards are also shuffled, then one card is placed face up on each of the nine city card spaces on the game board, excess cards are also removed from the game. The 18 target cards are shuffled and laid out as a face-down pile. The money, the camels and the goods (silk, gold, pepper) are each placed as a supply next to the game board. The start orders marked in blue are set aside for the time being, the remaining order cards marked in red are shuffled and placed face down in five stacks of six cards each under the game board, the remaining cards are placed apart from this stacks next to the game board as a special stack. The first of the five stacks is laid out face-up with one order each on the six order fields on the game board. The five black dice are placed on the space on the board that shows a black dice. The ten character cards are also laid out face up next to the game board.

After the playing field is completely set up, each player chooses a color and receives the corresponding player board, which he places in front of him. Then each player receives five dice in his own color and places them on the corresponding field of the tableau. Each player receives nine trading posts in his or her color and places them on the fields shown. In addition, he gets two camels, which are placed on the camp, as well as coins, whereby the starting player receives coins worth 7 coins and then each player clockwise receives one more money. Each player now draws one of the start orders marked in blue and places it on his order field. In addition, each player receives two target cards from the stack, which he looks at and discards face down. In addition, each player takes two pawns in his color and places one on space 50 of the scoring track and the other on the city of Venezia. Finally, each player receives a character card that gives the players special special abilities. For the first game, four characters are recommended; in the professional version, one character can be selected from the ten available characters:

character property
Rasheed al-Din Sinan Recommended for the first game; The player with this character does not roll the dice and can determine the number of his dice himself, even with black dice. He does not get any dice compensation at the beginning of the round, he has to pay like everyone else if he wants to use a field that is already occupied.
Matteo Polo Recommended for the first game; At the beginning of the round, the player with this character receives a white die and the topmost order from the special pile.
Berke Khan Recommended for the first game; The player with this character does not have to pay if he wants to use a field that is already occupied. Like all other players, he may not use occupied city cards.
Johannes Caprini The player with this character may jump from one oasis on the board to any other oasis, the jump costs one movement point. He also gets 3 money at the beginning of each round.
Niccolo & Marco Polo The player with this character gets a second figure that he can move on the map. Both figures start in Venice; the number of steps can be divided between both figures, the cost of the journey must be paid for both figures before the move. In addition, the player receives a camel before the start of each round.
Kubilai Khan The player with this character starts in Beijing and places his character there. He also gets his first trading post and places it on the field with the 10 in Beijing.
Wilhelm von Rubruk The player with this character receives two black trading posts in addition to his own. If he manages to distribute all 11 trading posts by the end of the game, he gets 10 additional points in the final scoring. He drops a trading post in every city, big and small, even if his journey doesn't end there. Only after the complete movement does he receive the corresponding bonuses for all trading posts set in this movement. He can also move back and forth, but can only have one trading post in each city.
Mercator ex Tabriz Recommended for the first game; the Mercator ex Tabriz occurs three times and has different properties depending on the number of players:
  • In a game with four people, every time another player goes to the market, he gets a good of the kind that the other player took. This also applies to camels that are not considered to be goods in the rating.
  • In the three-person game, in addition to the features of the four-person game, the player gets a camel every time a player performs the favor of the khan.
  • In the two-player game, in addition to the features of the three-person game, every time a player takes 5 money, 2 money.

Game flow

A game runs over a total of five rounds, each with several moves, in which the players all place their dice. In the course of the game, the players can decide for different actions in each round, in which they place their dice on the different action fields. You try to get as many points as possible for the final scoring by completing orders. In doing so, they have to do business, make money and reach their goals by visiting the cities and offices on the game board and gain further advantages.

At the beginning of each round a starting player is determined who receives the hourglass as the starting player marker. From the second round, the player who was the last to carry out the “Travel” action always becomes the starting player. If nobody made a trip in the previous round, the starting player who was there in the preliminary round remains. Then all players roll their dice and place them with the rolled values ​​on the player board. If a player has fewer than 15 dice eyes, he receives a camel or money as compensation for each eye under the 15. From the second round, the city and character bonuses are distributed at the beginning, if any. In the round, all players roll the dice in turn until no player can use any more dice.

In the individual turns of the round, the player carries out one of six possible actions as well as any number of additional side actions. For each action, he must always place as many dice on an action space as are shown on it. He places the dice on a free brown or blue or on an already occupied blue action space and carries out the corresponding action. If a blue action space is already occupied, he places his dice on the existing ones and has to pay money to still be able to use the action space. In this case he pays as much money as his lowest die shows. Each action space may only be used once by the same player color, but a player can also use black and white dice. After placing the dice, the action is carried out immediately. The dice with the lowest number indicate how often an action can be carried out or how much the action brings the player to the maximum. He may, however, choose to perform the action less often or use less for an action, but must perform it at least once.

The possible actions are indicated by the fields on the game board:

action execution
Take five money To get 5 money, the player must place a die on the action space “take 5 money”, the number of the dice is irrelevant and the player always takes 5 money. If this field is already occupied, the player still has to pay the cost of adding it before using the field.
Go to the market In the market, players can get goods and camels to complete their orders. These goods can also be converted into money, camels and victory points using individual city cards, or they earn points in the final scoring. In order to receive goods, the player places as many dice on one of the four associated action spaces as the action space indicates and uses the lowest die to determine the maximum number of goods he receives. He places the goods received in the warehouse on his tableau. To get camels, the player places a die on the “Camels” action space and takes a maximum of as many camels from the general supply as the number on the die shows.
The favor of the Khan In order to obtain the favor of the Khan, a player must place exactly one die on the action space "The favor of the Khan". He receives a commodity of his choice and two camels from the general supply. The following rules apply here: The first player places a dice of his choice on the lowest space, the next player must place the dice on the next space, which must show at least the same number. There are only four dice spaces available on the action space, after which the action can no longer be used. In addition, each cube color can only be present once.
Take orders A player can receive order cards via the “Orders” action field. For this, the player has to place exactly one die on the field and can then take one or two orders from the order fields. He places these on the fields for active missions on his player board. The number of points decides the position of the order cards that may be taken. If the player takes an order below 5, he can either take one more money or a camel, and if he takes an order below 6, he can take two money or two camels. As soon as a player has taken an order, the remaining orders are pushed to the left on the lower fields. If there are no more orders on the action space in a round, two orders from the special pile are placed on spaces 1 and 2. Orders may only be taken if the player has space on the corresponding fields on the tableau or places a card for it.
to travel In order to travel on the game board, a player must place two dice on the corresponding action space and pay any additional travel costs. He may take a maximum of as many steps as the lower of the two dice shows, in addition he pays the travel expenses indicated for the respective number of steps. If camels or an amount of money are drawn between the locations on the map, the player must also hand in the camels and / or the amount of money. When the player has paid all costs, he can move his figure to a place (oasis, small or large place) and place a trading post at the destination; he cannot stop between two places. If the pawn lands in a large city, he must set a trading post there (exception: Venice) and from his next turn can use the card there as a city card action. If he lands on a small town, he must also set up a trading post and immediately receive the bonus indicated there as well as this in addition at the beginning of each new round.

Each player can only have one trading post in each city and can only place it when the city is the end of his turn. If a player places his eighth trading post, he immediately receives five points, for the ninth trading post he immediately receives another 10 points. The first player to place a trading post in a large city also receives the office bonus there and then removes the tile from the game. He also sets up a trading post in Beijing, but always places it in the free space with the most points that will be credited to him at the end of the game. The player who traveled last in a round becomes the starting player for the next round.

City map campaign In order to use the function of a city map, the player must have a trading post in the respective

City have. The player must then place a die on the action space of the city card and can use the corresponding action. Each city has a city card on the game board that can be used. A city card can only be used once by exactly one player in a round. The die used usually determines how often the action may be performed.

Before or after the action, he can carry out any number of the five possible additional voluntary actions:

Side action execution
Take three money A player can place a die on the bag on the game board and receives three money for it. In this field there are no additional costs for dice that are already on the table and the action is independent of the number of pips on the dice. This action may also be carried out several times in a round by the same player and with the same die color.
To do a task As a side action, a player can carry out one of his orders from the player board at any time if he has the required goods. If the required goods and camels are paid for, the order is carried out and the player receives the respective reward for this order. Then the player places the completed order face down on his drawer on the right of his player board.
Re-roll one die A player may re-roll one die for a camel.
Turn a cube up or down For two camels a player can turn one die up or down. The die may not be turned from 1 to 6 or vice versa.
Take a black die For three camels a player can take one black die for the current round. This side action may only be carried out once per round.

At the end of a round, all missed jobs are cleared and replaced with six new jobs.

End of game and scoring

The game ends when 5 rounds have been played, after which the scoring takes place. The last round is initiated when the last stack of 6 orders is placed on the order fields on the game board.

In the final scoring, players receive victory points for various successes:

  • For each completed goal card he receives the corresponding points.
  • For every ten money there is one point.
  • Every player who has a trading post in Beijing receives the points for the place where his trading post is located.
  • Every player who has a trading post in Beijing receives one point for any two goods (all players who are not represented in Beijing receive no points for their goods; camels are not goods).
  • the player or players who have completed the most tasks receive seven points

The player with the most points wins the game. If there is a tie between several players, the one with more camels in front of them wins. If there is again a tie, the biggest camel wins or there are several winners.

Rules change for two and three players

With two or three players, the rules are slightly changed in order to limit the usage options of individual actions to the corresponding number of players.

In a game with three players, only four black dice are placed on the board when setting up the game. At the beginning of the game, a die with a 1 of the player color that is not in play is placed on the first space of the action “The favor of Khan” and remains there for the entire game.

In a game with two players, only three black dice are placed on the game board when setting up the game. At the beginning of the game, a die with a 1 of the two player colors not in play is placed on the first spaces of the action “The favor of Khan” and remains there for the entire game. In addition, a die of one of the player colors not in play is placed on the action “Take 5 money”. Again, all these dice remain in place for the entire game.

Professional version

For the game with players who are already more experienced in the game, the rules of In the footsteps of Marco Polo recommend small changes compared to the normal game as a professional version:

  • The blue city bonuses are distributed randomly to the small cities, the letters are ignored.
  • Eight different characters are shuffled and then the players reveal cards corresponding to the number of players +1. The player whose turn it will be last chooses a character, then the other players follow up to the starting player.
  • At the beginning of the game, each player takes four instead of two target cards from the stack, and after considering them, they can choose two of these target cards.

Mini expansion The new characters

After the award of the German Games Prize, the expansion The New Characters appeared at Hans im Glück, adding more cards and four new characters to the game. The following are added as new game material:

  • a city bonus marker
  • an additional Fratre Nicolao tile
  • four characters
  • four orders
  • 15 gifts

Some additional rules are introduced with the new material. The new characters are mixed with the other characters, then as many character cards as players and an additional one are drawn and laid out for selection as before. Alternatively, you can only play with the four new characters. The new city bonus marker is shuffled with the remaining city bonus markers, then a random marker is removed from the game and the remaining ones are placed on the spaces provided. The four new orders are mixed with the other orders and five stacks with six orders each are formed again, the special stack thus receives four more orders.

The 15 presents are shuffled and placed face down next to the game board. When a player receives a gift from the new city bonus marker or one of the four new missions, he takes the top gift from the gift pile and looks at it. If it is a gift with a lightning bolt, the player must immediately take the bonus printed on it or use the tile, then he puts it back face up next to the gift pile. If no lightning bolt is shown, he must take the tile and can then use it at any time during his turn. This tile also comes back face up next to the gift pile after use. If the gift corresponds to the player's character trait, he discards it and draws a new one. When there are no more presents, the discard pile is shuffled.

With the new cards, some new symbols are also introduced, which definitely enable actions. The new characters are the following:

character property
Khan Arghun The player with this character receives six city cards at the beginning of the game and may choose and use one of these city cards once per turn as an additional action. To do this, he places a virtual die with a 6 on the card, but does not need his own die and now uses the card as if it were a 6. After use, the player puts the card back in the box.
Gunj Kököchin
(= Princess Kököchin)		 The player with this character gets two of his own dice fields that only he can use. To use it, he places his own die of his choice on one of the dice fields, the number of pips does not matter. The bet counts as an action for this turn and at the beginning of a round the dice are cleared with the other dice and rerolled. Thus the player can use these fields anew every round.

When using the first dice field, he immediately receives two camels and two goods of his choice, in addition all other players get a good of their choice from the supply.
When using the second dice field, he immediately gets a step.

Altan Ord
(= Golden Horde)		 The player with the Golden Horde receives an additional reward for the first seven trading posts. If he places the first trading post, he receives one victory point, for the second trading post one victory point and money for the third trading post one victory point, one money and one camel, and up to the seventh trading post one more commodity. The eighth and ninth trading posts no longer bring additional bonuses.
Fratre Nicolao The player with this character receives three presents at the beginning of each round, can choose one of these and places the other two face up next to the pile of presents. He also receives the additional Fratre Nicolao tile, with which he can keep two of the three presents once in the game. The token goes back into the box.

Extension The Companions of Marco Polo

The expansion The Companions of Marco Polo appeared in 2017 with two new modules: The City of Venice and The Companions , which expanded the game's content. At the same time, the number of players is increased to a maximum of five players.

In addition to the rules of the game, new game components include:

  • 6 new orders
  • 5 new characters
  • 5 dice tokens
  • 3 new city bonus markers
  • 8 little camels
  • 11 bonus cards
  • 4 new city cards
  • 4 new destination cards
  • 9 companions (for the module The Companions )
  • 1 two-part Venice city map (for the module The City of Venice )
  • 16 trading posts (in four player colors, for the City of Venice module )
  • 1 player board
  • 3 wooden figures (player color purple)
  • 6 dice (five in the player's color purple, one in black)
  • 13 trading posts (player color purple)
  • 50/100 points card

The modules The City of Venice and The Companions can be integrated into the game independently or together. In a game with five players, however, the City of Venice module must be used.

The city of Venice

For the module The City of Venice , the game is set up according to the basic game. The Venice city map is placed to the left of the basic game board. When distributing the city cards, one city card is placed on each of the three large palazzo spaces on the Venice map. All available city bonus markers are shuffled and then distributed, placing one marker on each of the three small Palazzo spaces in Venice. Each player receives the additional four trading posts of his color and places them above the game board.

The Venice card has an additional action space through which players can place trading posts in Venice. There is always one field less available than there are other players. The dice fields are filled in the same way as the field "The favor of Khan": The first player places a die of his choice on the first field, the next player must place the die on the next field that must show at least the same number and so on , each player color may only be represented once.

When a player places a die on the action space, he may place a trading post on the Venice city map. The first trading post of each player must always be placed on the large palazzo next to the action space and he takes the trading post from top to bottom as usual. Further trading posts are placed on connected palazzi, the costs being paid on the connecting lines; the city bonus markers of the small palazzo spaces and the city cards of the large palazzo spaces are treated in the same way as in the basic game; the last palazzo space has two action spaces that can be used separately. At the end of the game, the player receives the points indicated on the palazzi on which he has trading posts.

The fellows

For the module The Companions , the game is structured according to the basic rules. The Companion Tiles are shuffled and placed face down in a pile at the bottom of the game board. The six or more tiles are laid out face up next to each other.

The face down pile has an action space for a die on the back, which can be used multiple times; this enables a player to activate this field and then receives one of the depicted raw materials and one of the face-up companion tiles. A player may have several companions in his display in a game round and activate them with one die each. The companions each have specific properties and may be used as often as they want during the player's turn, but sometimes only once.

At the end of each round, the players have to return all companions. These are shuffled and laid out for the next round.

New characters

The expansion The Companions of Marco Polo introduces five new characters to the game, some of which can be used both in the game with the new modules and in the basic game:

character property
Papa Gregorio X. The character can only be played with the The Companions module . The player with this character may choose a companion from the open display at the beginning of each round and use it. After taking it, he places a new companion face up.
Donata Badoer,
Marco Polo's wife		 At the beginning of the game, the player with this character receives the five dice tiles with eyes 2 to 6. He must and may use exactly one of these tiles like a die every round. He also gets a camel at the beginning of each round.
Bellela, Fantina & Moreta,
the daughters of Marco Polo		 At the beginning of the game, the player with this character card receives five characters drawn at random from the rest of the characters that were not distributed. In each round he decides which character he wants to play before rolling the dice. These are used in a slightly modified form according to their characteristics and removed from the game at the end of the round.
Piedro Tartarino,
Marco Polo's Mongolian slave		 At the beginning of the game, the player with this character places his figure on one of the three villages shown as the starting point. In addition, he may clear one action space exactly once each round and then use it.
Rusticiano The player with this character card receives six randomly drawn bonus cards at the start of the game and can use them in the game as additional actions. Each bonus card can be used once and is then removed from the game.

Expenses and reception

In the footsteps of Marco Polo was developed by the Italian game authors Daniele Tascini and Simone Luciani as Sulle Tracce di Marco Polo and was published in 2015 by the Italian publisher Giochi Uniti and in German by Hans im Glück Verlag . The illustrations and the cover design were done by Dennis Lohausen . Further editions were published by Devir in Spanish and Portuguese and in 2016 in a version for Brazil, by Albi multilingual in Czech, Polish and Slovak and later in a Polish version, by Filosofia Éditions in French, by Z-Man Games in English, by 999 Games in Dutch and in Arclight in Japanese.

The game won the German Games Prize 2015 and was included on the recommendation list for Kennerspiel des Jahres in the same year . It also won the Multiplayer Award at the International Gamers Award 2015 and was awarded the Nederlandse Spellenprij's expert prize in 2016.

After the award of the German Games Prize, Hans im Glück released a second edition of the game in which the action fields are kept in uniform colors: normal fields are blue, single-use fields are brown (on cards) and special fields have their own colors. The new edition can be recognized by the "Deutsche Spielepreis" logo. In addition, a mini-expansion appeared after the award under the title The new characters . The first official expansion of the game was released for the International Game Days in Essen 2017 under the title The Companions of Marco Polo . An online version of the game In the footsteps of Marco Polo is made available on the Internet platform Yucata and can be played in the browser.

In 2019, Marco Polo II: On behalf of Khan, an independent successor to the game was released.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Official rules of the game ( Memento of May 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) for In the footsteps of Marco Polo , 2nd edition; Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b c d Rules of the game and description ( memento of April 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) for In the footsteps of Marco Polo: The new characters ; Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Official rules of the game for The Companions of Marco Polo , 1st edition 2017.
  4. ↑ a b Versions of In the footsteps of Marco Polo in the BoardGameGeek database; Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b In the footsteps of Marco Polo ( Memento from April 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the Hans im Glück Verlag ; accessed on April 13, 2017.
  6. ^ Winner of the German Games Prize ( Memento from August 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) on the website for the International Games Festival in Essen; accessed on April 13, 2017.
  7. ↑ In the footsteps of Marco Polo on the website of the Spiel des Jahres eV; accessed on April 13, 2017.
  8. ↑ Expertprijs 2016: winnaar - Marco Polo wint de Nederlandse Spellenprijs - experts van 2016. on the website of the game of the Nederlandse Spellenprijs; accessed on April 13, 2017.
  9. ↑ yucata.de with online version of the game Cacao ( [1] ), accessed on April 23, 2017.

Web links