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shannon_aThe Traders of Genoa, the sixth Alea game (and the last release before they rolled out their Small Box line) went back to the trends of the third and fourth boxes: more complexity, denser gameplay, and less randomness. At the same time it also returned to the mechanic of negotiation, last seen in Chinatown, one of the earlier, lighter games in the series.
In Genoa, you're trying to earn as much money as you can. You mainly do this via three methods: delivering mail from one point to another, delivering a small order of one good to a location, and delivering a large order of three goods to a location. I could imagine many different methods to turn those three goals into a game, and Genoa does none of them. Instead at the start of each player's turn he throws some dice to see where the "trading tower" starts, then he can move just a few spaces from that starting location, setting up opportunities for mail delivery and also providing the opportunity to take actions from various buildings. The negotiation comes in two parts: trying to influence where the trading tower goes and trying to purchase an action at some of the locations it'll visit.
In any trading or negotiation game, the question is always how you encourage the player interaction. Genoa uses a very simple mechanism: each player can only take one action each turn. Thus, as the active player, you (usually) want to use one of the actions to really benefit yourself, but it's usually in your best interest to sell off as many other actions as you can.
I find it interesting to examine Genoa in part by comparing it to Chinatown, which I wrote about two months ago.
They both have random elements, but in Chinatown it can make or break the game, with the locations you draw having a major impact on how well you do. You can similarly get a nice block of tiles in Genoa, but I think it's easier to trade for a comparable set and beyond that, the adjacent locales are just one part of the game.
Genoa also feels like a much wider game to me. In Chinatown you're just trying to collect businesses and locations, while in Genoa you're balancing 8 goods, various types of orders, ownership markers, and mail. There are many more paths to victory in Genoa, and I think that makes it a deeper and more fulfilling game.
The other thing that I really like about Genoa is the fact that you can meaningfully bluff. This is allowed because there are so many overlapping ways to earn victory points. You might pay someone 10 or 15 to deliver a small order very late in the game, but if you also deliver some mail at the same time, your gross of 40 turning into 70 can really turn the game in a way surprising to your opponents.
I also like the fact that to do well in Genoa you have to stay on your interpersonal toes. If other people are offering more profitable ventures, sometimes you have to leave aside your own plans for a while. It feels like real business, writ large.
If people don't like Genoa, it's probably because it's too much of a good thing. The negotiation is intense and repeated, and if you can't take that, you won't like the game. It can also vary a lot from one group to another. One of my recent opponents told me the horror story of a 5-hour long Genoa game: it can really drag on if you're in the wrong group.
In the right group, however, it's probably the best real negotiation game I've played.
At this point, it's getting increasingly hard for me to rate the games in comparison to each other, since they're so different, so I've just started offering grades:
Although recently out-of-print, this game was just rereleased in a brand-new edition called simply, Genoa.
In Genoa, you're trying to earn as much money as you can. You mainly do this via three methods: delivering mail from one point to another, delivering a small order of one good to a location, and delivering a large order of three goods to a location. I could imagine many different methods to turn those three goals into a game, and Genoa does none of them. Instead at the start of each player's turn he throws some dice to see where the "trading tower" starts, then he can move just a few spaces from that starting location, setting up opportunities for mail delivery and also providing the opportunity to take actions from various buildings. The negotiation comes in two parts: trying to influence where the trading tower goes and trying to purchase an action at some of the locations it'll visit.
In any trading or negotiation game, the question is always how you encourage the player interaction. Genoa uses a very simple mechanism: each player can only take one action each turn. Thus, as the active player, you (usually) want to use one of the actions to really benefit yourself, but it's usually in your best interest to sell off as many other actions as you can.
I find it interesting to examine Genoa in part by comparing it to Chinatown, which I wrote about two months ago.
They both have random elements, but in Chinatown it can make or break the game, with the locations you draw having a major impact on how well you do. You can similarly get a nice block of tiles in Genoa, but I think it's easier to trade for a comparable set and beyond that, the adjacent locales are just one part of the game.
Genoa also feels like a much wider game to me. In Chinatown you're just trying to collect businesses and locations, while in Genoa you're balancing 8 goods, various types of orders, ownership markers, and mail. There are many more paths to victory in Genoa, and I think that makes it a deeper and more fulfilling game.
The other thing that I really like about Genoa is the fact that you can meaningfully bluff. This is allowed because there are so many overlapping ways to earn victory points. You might pay someone 10 or 15 to deliver a small order very late in the game, but if you also deliver some mail at the same time, your gross of 40 turning into 70 can really turn the game in a way surprising to your opponents.
I also like the fact that to do well in Genoa you have to stay on your interpersonal toes. If other people are offering more profitable ventures, sometimes you have to leave aside your own plans for a while. It feels like real business, writ large.
If people don't like Genoa, it's probably because it's too much of a good thing. The negotiation is intense and repeated, and if you can't take that, you won't like the game. It can also vary a lot from one group to another. One of my recent opponents told me the horror story of a 5-hour long Genoa game: it can really drag on if you're in the wrong group.
In the right group, however, it's probably the best real negotiation game I've played.
At this point, it's getting increasingly hard for me to rate the games in comparison to each other, since they're so different, so I've just started offering grades:
- #1: Ra, A+. (Plays: 15) [ Read my Review ]
- #2: Chinatown, B-. (Plays: 1)
- #3: Taj Mahal, A+. (Plays: 7)
- #4: Princes of Florence, A. (Plays: 4+) [ Read my Review ]
- #5: Adel Verpflichtet, B. (Plays: 2) [ Read my Review ]
- #6: Traders of Genoa, A+. (Plays: 3+) [ Read my Review ]
Although recently out-of-print, this game was just rereleased in a brand-new edition called simply, Genoa.