Mombasa (game)

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Mombasa
Game data
author Alexander Pfister
graphic Klemens Franz , Andreas Resch
publishing company Eggert games
Publishing year 2015
Art Board game
Teammates 2 to 4
Duration 75-120 minutes
Age from 12 years

Awards

Mombasa is a strategy and board game by the Austrian game designer Alexander Pfister , published by Eggertspiele in 2015 and distributed by Pegasus Spiele . Thematically it is a trading game that is set in Africa and deals with the rivalry between four trading companies. The players earn money, among other things, by buying shares in the trading companies and thus participating in their activities. The game combines various game mechanisms such as the use of a deck (deck building) and the placement of action pieces (worker placement).

The game was included on the recommendation list for Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2016 and won the German Games Prize in the same year . When International Gamers Award 2015 won the game as the best multi-player strategy game, also it was with the Portuguese Games Price Jogo do Ano Award and was nominated for several other awards.

Style of play

In the game Mombasa the players have to acquire shares in four historical competing trading companies in Mombasa , Cape Town , Saint Louis and Cairo and thereby gain influence on the trade in Africa. They help to set up trading posts for the companies and thus increase the influence of the respective parties. At the same time, they use their cards to trade in bananas, coffee and cotton and mine for diamonds. The players do not play their own trading companies, but acquire shares in these companies and can thus increase their profits. The winner of the game is the player who has the most money and therefore the most victory points after the final settlement of the game.

In addition to the game instructions, the game material consists of:

  • a game board with a map of Africa,
  • four double-sided company bars that are placed on the game board,
  • four player boards in the four player colors,
  • 44 action cards,
  • 36 action start cards, 9 each in the four player colors,
  • four 1s expansion maps,
  • four strip cards,
  • 72 book plates,
  • 10 starting tiles,
  • four bonus tiles,
  • 60 coins (40 to 1 pound, 20 to 5 pound)
  • 60 trading posts, 15 each in the four colors of the trading companies,
  • 16 share markers, 4 each in the four player colors,
  • 20 bonus markers, 5 each in the four player colors,
  • four inkwell markers,
  • four diamond markers,
  • a starting player marker,
  • a scoring block,
  • four overview maps.

Game preparation

At the beginning of the game, the game board is placed in the middle of the table and set up according to the instructions. The four company bars are placed on the four color-coded sides of the game board and the 15 trading posts are placed on the corresponding fields. The 44 action cards are sorted according to the letters A to E, the resulting stacks of cards are shuffled individually and then placed face down as an action pile, with the A pile on top. The 12 fields of the card display are filled with the top cards of the action pile. The fields 2 to 7 of the round track are covered with coins depending on the number of players, underneath the book display is openly covered with four random book tiles with the designation A to C. The remaining book tiles, the four bonus tiles, coins and the action pile are placed next to the game board.

Each player chooses a player color and receives the corresponding player board, an inkwell and a diamond marker, his bonus markers and the corresponding card set consisting of nine starting action cards and a pound coin. The respective share markers are placed on the starting space of the company tracks. As soon as the entire game board and the player boards have been prepared, a start player is determined and receives the start player marker, then the 1 expansion markers and the start tiles are distributed according to the order of play. The starting tiles are placed on the player board, the inkwell is placed on it and each player receives the corresponding starting bonuses and places the three cards from his set of cards indicated on the tile above the board.

Game flow

Game flow
  • planning phase
  • Action phase
  • Preparation phase
    for the next round

The game runs over exactly seven rounds, with the current round being displayed on the round counter bar and the coins on display. At the beginning of each round, all players plan their respective moves and choose three cards from their hand that are to be used in the round. These cards are placed in the three free slots below the player board and revealed at the beginning of the action phase. In the course of the game, the bookmaker's progress in the book display (inkwell marker) and the number of diamonds won (diamond marker) can reveal two more slots for use. The display takes place in any slot and has no effect on the sequence of actions, but it is always connected to the respective collection rows above the tableaus in which the cards are placed after the action phase.

Starting with the starting player, the players start their action phases. They can use one of the actions available to them in any order that result from the display of cards on their tableau and their bonus markers. Used cards are turned over in the corresponding slot after the corresponding action.

During the Action Phase, players can take the following actions:

action Effects
Use goods cards Some of the cards show units of goods for the respective goods coffee, cotton or bananas as well as an indication of the respective box values ​​of these units. The player can use single cards or several cards of the same type of goods to use the box values
  • to buy a card corresponding to the stated card price from the action card display and put it on his deck, or
  • to increase the shares in a trading company and to advance the corresponding share marker.

If excess value arises from a purchase, this may also be used to increase the stake in any trading company.

Use dispersion maps Cards with hat symbols can be used to expand any trading company. The corresponding trading posts on the Africa map are used for expansion, starting from the location of the trading company and then to existing trading posts in neighboring fields. One hat is required to cross a single limit and two hats are required to cross a double limit. If there is already a trading post of another company in the target region, another hat is required to displace it.

The trading posts are taken from the respective pool, with three columns being processed from top to bottom to the lowest field. The coins revealed represent the multiplier for the subsequent final evaluation. Displaced trading posts are returned to the columns, but only if the bottom field is not already free.

The symbols in the regions into which the companies expand indicate one or more rewards that the players will receive:

  • Coins: The player may take the corresponding amount from the bank.
  • Diamonds: The player may advance the diamond marker accordingly.
  • Shares: The player may move the share marker of the company that has just expanded.
  • Books: The player may take books of the specified value and the coins associated with them from the display and place them in his book display. For each accountant point he may alternatively take one coin.
Use accountants The accountant is used on your own player board to advance on the book bar. The inkwell can be drawn forward over all books for which the player fulfills the corresponding conditions in his current action display. Before he plays, he can also decide whether to turn over a book for the cost of 2 pounds and then not have to meet any conditions. At the end of the action, the player receives the reward for the last book on which he places his inkwell, as well as the accounting points on the accountant card, which he can invest in new books from the shelf or cash out in coins.
Use diamond dealers The diamond dealer is not on the starting deck and must be bought or activated via a bonus marker. If it is used, the player may move his diamond marker forward according to the information and receives a cash bonus. Some diamond tokens also activate the mines of individual trading companies, while a player may advance one further diamond for every 2 mines of the respective company.
Activate bonus marker Each player can use all bonus markers available to him and thus activate an action on the game board (bonus field). There are different options:
  • Majority bonus: There is a bonus field for each of the three commodities and the hats, in which the player can receive a majority bonus according to the cards of this type on display. He may only use this field if he actually has the majority of these goods on display at this point in time.
  • Starting player: A player can use this bonus field if he wants to be the starting player in the next round. If this field is not occupied, the order of play in the next round does not change.
  • Buying cards: A player can use this bonus field if he does not want to pay for an action card in the display with a box value, but with pound coins. He has to pay an extra pound to the bank for this.
  • Coin bonus: A player can use this bonus field to dispose of a card from his hand and to have the box value paid out in pounds.
  • Bonus tiles: With the help of these bonus spaces, a player can receive bonus tiles (an additional box, a diamond dealer, an accountant, 2 additional expansion points). The bonus tiles can only be used like action cards in the following round.

When all players have performed all the actions they want to play, the action phase is over. Each player takes one of the collection rows above the tableau in hand, then the hidden cards below are placed face up in the respective rows. To prepare for each new round, first distribute the coins on the lap counting strip to the book strips below. Then the front row of the action card display is emptied and filled with the following rows, the resulting gaps are filled with new cards. Finally, all players get their bonus markers back.

End of game and scoring

The game ends after all players have completed their seventh round action phase. Then the final scoring takes place, in which all players get their victory points and write them down on the scoring pad:

  • One point is awarded for every 1 pound.
  • The victory points for the individual trading companies result from the multiplication of the value of the respective shares (open coin symbols in the respective base) with the shares that result from the share track and any additional shares on action cards.
  • For the diamonds, the players get the number of points that the marker on the diamond track last exceeded.
  • For the books, the players get the number of points that the accountant marker on his track last exceeded.

The player with the most victory points wins the game. If several players are tied, there are multiple winners.

Expenses and reception

Mombasa was developed by the Austrian game designer Alexander Pfister under the name Afrika 1830 and won the 2011 Hippodice Spieleclub's authors' competition. It was published in 2015 by Eggertspiele in the distribution of Pegasus Spiele as a German / English and only as an English version. The illustrations and the cover design were done by Klemens Franz and Andreas Resch . In addition to the normal version, Eggertspiele also released a special edition in a wooden box. Further editions appeared in Italian in 2015 and in Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Japanese, Hungarian, Dutch, French, Czech and Chinese in 2016.

The game was included on the recommendation list for Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2016 and won the German Games Prize in the same year . The jury of the Kennerspiel des Jahres described the game as follows:

“The players compete in order to generate profits in Africa during the colonial era. You invest in four trading companies and exert influence, so that these companies spread across the continent. This increases the value of your own shares in the companies. In addition, in this challenging strategy game, the players trade in goods such as bananas, coffee or cotton, work with diamond dealers and even ensure that the bookkeeping is correct. It is important to have the right action cards (again) ready at the right time. That requires good planning. The interlocking of different mechanisms in "Mombasa" proves to be elegant, the multitude of tactical possibilities ensures tension right through to the final settlement. "

When International Gamers Award 2016 won the game as the best multi-player strategy game, also it was with the Portuguese Games Price Jogo do Ano excellent. At the Austrian game award Spiel der Spiele it received the award “Games hit simply the best for experts” and it was nominated for several other prizes.

However, the game was also critically commented and discussed , mainly because of its theme and location in the time of colonialism in Africa. Topics such as the economic exploitation of Africa, the lack of critical handling of racism and the fact that the game mechanics are not embedded in this historical context were criticized. Tom Felber , then chairman of the Game of the Year jury , wrote in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung that the game “takes a look at the colonial times from a dry accountant's perspective” and asks the provocative question: “Who is most efficient at exploiting the continent [sic ]? ”Both the game designer and the publisher respond to these reviews that Mombasa “ is NOT a historical simulation, but a fictional game with fictional trading companies. The only thing that is not fictional is the location: Africa. We actually thought about relocating the game with the publisher, but it would be a shame if you can't make a fictional business game in Africa because everyone thinks of the colonial era. Africa is a beautiful and economically well-emerging continent - of course there are big regional differences. "

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Official rules of the game for Mombasa ; accessed on January 6, 2018.
  2. ^ Winner of the authors' competition on the website of the Hippodice-Spieleclub eV
  3. ↑ a b Versions of Mombasa in the BoardGameGeek database; accessed on January 6, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b c Mombasa on the website of the Spiel des Jahres eV; accessed on January 6, 2018.
  5. ↑ https://www.spiel-des-jahres.com/de/tom-felber
  6. ↑ Tom Felber: The colonialist in us . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, February 19, 2016; accessed on January 6, 2018.
  7. ↑ Alexander Pfister: Mombasa - A fictional game . on Alexander Pfister's blog, July 30, 2015; accessed on January 6, 2018.

Web links