Istanbul (game)

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Istanbul
The game board during a game situation
The game board during a game situation
Game data
author Rüdiger Dorn
graphic Andreas Resch, Hans-Georg Schneider
publishing company Pegasus games
Publishing year 2014
Art Board game
Teammates 2-5
Duration 40-60 minutes
Age from 10 years on

Awards

Kennerspiel des Jahres 2014

Istanbul is a board game from Pegasus Spiele . The aim of the game is to generate money (lira) and goods by cleverly placing pieces (merchant, assistant) on different places on the game board, which are then exchanged for rubies . Depending on the number of players, the player who was the first to collect a certain number of rubies wins.

Game flow

At the beginning of the game, each player has five game pieces (a businessman and four assistants).

Movement and action phases

Each turn is made up of a maximum of four sections:

Move

The player whose turn it is moves his merchant and his assistant from their current location on the playing field to a location that is a maximum of two paces away, with diagonal moves not permitted. If the player wants to carry out the respective action at the new location, he places one of his assistants next to his pile of assistants and leaves it at this location. If there is already an assistant at the destination, the player takes this assistant back into his assistant pile. In both cases he can now carry out the action available locally. If the player can neither leave nor pick up an assistant, his turn ends immediately.

encounter

If there are already one or more merchants from other players at the destination, the player whose turn it is must pay two lira to this or these players. If this is not possible, his turn ends. The location “Brunnen” is excluded from this rule.

action

Each location offers the possibility of performing a specific action. These actions are enough a. from filling the stock symbolized by a handcart with goods (cloth, fruit, spices) to exchanging goods for lira or precious stones to purchasing handcart extensions.

Encounters with other characters

In addition to the merchants and assistants of other players, there are three other types of pawns on the playing field.

  • “Family members” are pieces that are assigned to the respective game color of the other players, but cannot be actively drawn by the respective player. Nevertheless, they can trigger the respective action when they are moved to other locations. If a family member is in a place to which a player of a different color moves, they will be transferred to the “police station”; the player chooses either a bonus card or three lira from the game supply as a reward.
  • If the “governor” is on a space on which the player whose turn it is moves moves, he may take a bonus card in hand. He then decides whether he wants to keep the bonus card and pays two lira or whether he discards one of his bonus cards.
  • If the “smuggler” is at the destination, the player whose turn it is may fill his handcart with any goods. Then the player decides whether he wants to keep the goods and pays two lira or whether he surrenders one of his other goods for it.

Playing

As soon as the first player has collected five rubies, the current round is played to the end. With two players, the number of rubies required for victory increases to six. All players still have the opportunity to play their bonus cards on their turns. If there is a tie between the players, the money supply, number of goods and number of bonus cards are used to determine the winner.

matchfield

Location maps

The playing field is divided into 16 locations, where different actions can be carried out.

Warehouse

In the three warehouses, players can refill their supply of cloth, spices or fruit up to the maximum capacity (base value: 2) of their handcart. Extensions to the handcart can be purchased in the wagon shop so that up to five goods can be collected from the respective warehouse as the game progresses.

Wheeling

For a payment of seven lira, the player whose turn it is can expand his handcart so that he can now carry one additional product in his handcart per product category. Each player can expand his handcart up to three times in this way. If he has purchased the third expansion, the player receives a ruby ​​and places it in his handcart.

Post office

Different combinations of goods and lira are available at the post office, which the player taking an action here can pick up free of charge. The combination is then changed by moving display tiles so that the next player is offered a different combination of goods and lira.

caravanserai

The player who lands on the “ Caravanserai ” field can pick up two bonus cards, of which he chooses one and keeps it in hand. He discards the other card.

Fountain

If a player lands on this field, all of his assistants distributed on the field immediately gather under his merchant. Encounters with other players' merchants do not cost him any penalty.

Black market

In addition to the free choice of goods, the player whose turn it is can roll two dice. Depending on the result of the throw, he can pick up up to three items of “jewelry” in his handcart.

tearoom

The player first announces a number between 3 and 12 and then throws both dice. If the throwing result is equal to or higher than the announced number, this is paid out to him in lira. If the result is below this number, the player receives two lira.

Small and large market

On the field of the small and large market there are game tiles with different combinations of goods. The player can now decide which of the goods displayed on the tile he would like to sell on the market. It is up to him whether he wants to sell only one or all five of the goods displayed. The more goods he sells, the more lira he receives in return. The small and large market differ in the rarity of the goods in demand and the higher proceeds from the latter. After the sale, the game tile is moved under the stack, so that the next time you visit the respective market there is a different demand.

Police station

If there is a family member of your own color here, this can be sent to any destination, where it can now carry out the respective action. The movement restriction of a maximum of two steps, which exists for merchants and assistants, does not apply here, as does the regulation on encounters with other merchants.

Sultan's Palace

At the Sultan's Palace, the player whose turn it is can pick up a ruby ​​by handing in the goods displayed. Each time a ruby ​​is picked up, another goods display field is revealed, so that the next player must now hand in another goods in addition to the goods previously requested.

Small and large mosque

There are tiles on the small and large mosques that offer the owner various bonuses that give him an advantage in the game. So he can z. B. place a fifth assistant under his merchant, call an assistant once per turn for a payment of two lira, take any additional goods at warehouses for a payment of two lira or change his die roll on the black market and in the tea room. The player must own the goods displayed on the respective tile and hand over one of them. The next player who wants to purchase one of the bonuses offered must now hand in an additional item. Two different bonuses are available at both the small and the large mosque. If a player has both bonuses of the respective mosque, he receives a ruby.

Gem dealer

In exchange for the payment of the displayed amount, the player in turn acquires a ruby. Each time a ruby ​​is picked up, as with the Sultan's Palace, another display field is revealed, so that the next player now has to pay a higher amount to purchase a ruby.

Bonus cards

Bonus cards give the player in turn a temporary advantage in the game. So he can z. B. take any commodity or lira from the supply, perform an action again at certain locations, do not move against the basic rules , move 3–4 steps instead of 1–2 steps, an assistant to you call or sell any goods at the small market instead of the goods in demand.

variants

As an alternative to the field structure listed in the basic rules, the author names a few variants for starting positions that affect the level of difficulty, the tactical approach and the playing time. The individual locations can be arranged in such a way that the players have to cover longer distances, since locations that can be easily combined are now further away from each other. A random arrangement of the locations is also possible, although individual basic principles must be taken into account.

Awards

Web links