15 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams for an evening of trading games, marketplaces and bazaars

IN: Steve & Sandy, Ethan & Amy, Tim, Armando, Zach, Nicole, Julie, Reimi, Rachel P, Rob, Danny, Chris, Carol

 

Bazaar (led by Sandy) 1967 Sid Sackson classic trading and puzzle game where players attempt to gain the right combination of colored tokens/stones/cubes through skillful trading to purchase the wares displayed in the Bazaar. Values of the various wares are determined by the number of tokens the purchaser has left over following the transaction. Trading is governed by the current rates posted at the Exchange. When the wares from two stalls have been completely sold, the Bazaar is closed, and the game ends. The player with the highest score wins!” We played on the original 3M bookshelf edition….still the best, though least thematic version.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/287/bazaar

Archaeology: the New Expedition (led by Tim) 2016 Phil Walker Harding designed combination of set collection, drafting and push your luck card game re-implementing 2007’s Archaeology: The Card Game. It was expanded to 5 players and added tent cards as well as additional treasures and monuments. Players are archaeologists, working the dig sites of the Egyptian desert. Search for the right pieces to complete torn parchments, broken pots, and other priceless artifacts. Explore an ancient pyramid in the hope of uncovering a huge stash of treasure! Trade shrewdly at the local marketplace to increase the value of your collection. Sell treasures to the museum at just the right time for maximum profit. But beware, the desert also has its dangers! A devastating sandstorm can throw one’s expedition into disarray, and cunning thieves lurk around the dig site ready to steal a prize discovery!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/191300/archaeology-the-new-expedition

Catan (led by Rachel P) 1995 SdJ winner that ushered in the era of modern Eurogames. Players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine which resources the island produces. Players build structures by ‘spending’ resources (sheep, wheat, wood, brick and ore) which are represented by the relevant resource cards; each land type, with the exception of the unproductive desert, produces a specific resource: hills produce brick, forests produce wood, mountains produce ore, fields produce wheat, and pastures produce sheep.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13/catan

At the Gates of Loyang (led by Zach)  2009 Uwe Rosenberg designed trading game in which players produce goods by planting them and later selling them to customers. Fields, customers, helpers, and miscellaneous objects are represented by cards. Each player receives two of these cards per round distributed by a bidding/drawing mechanism in which they end up with one of the cards drawn and one of the cards of a public offer filled by all players. Additionally, players always receive one field for free each round. Placing one good on a field fills the complete field with goods of this type. Each round, one unit per field is harvested. After planting, harvesting, and distributing cards, each player can use as many actions as wanted, only limited by the number of cards or the number of goods they own. At the end of his turn, players can invest the earned money on a scoring track, where early money is worth more than late money. The game ends after a certain number of rounds, and the player who is first on the scoring track wins.

This is part of Rosenberg’s Harvest trilogy – along with Agricola and LeHavre.

Tabriz (led by Nicole) 2025 blends contract engine-building with worker placement in an accessible rich cultural setting where players are rug weavers and sellers. Players gather rare materials like silk, camel hair, and plant dye as they weave Persian rugs to fulfill commissions and earn prestige. Players use their three assistants to navigate a bustling bazaar, time their moves with shifting market prices, and build a powerful action engine that grows with every rug completed.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/349369/tabriz

Oltre Mare (led by K-ban) 2004 set collection, hand management and trading game where players are ancient Venetians sailing the mediterranean and looking for the most precious wares and exchanging them with other merchants, loading their ship and selling at the market; but at the same time trying to escape the ever-present pirates. In turn, players can trade Goods (wheat, olives, wine, salt, spices, silk, and scrolls) for other Goods or for money (which also doubles as victory points) with fellow players. Players  then play cards from their hand to perform certain actions that allow them to earn money, to draw cards, or to move their ship on the map (where they can obtain special powers). But there is also a dreadful Pirate action that you have to look out for! The cards played also represent the Goods that are loaded as cargo on one’s ship. The more cards of the same Good type shipped, the more money (and score) players will gain at the end of the game. The cards played will also influence the next turn – a delicate balance between hand size and number of cards that can be played on a turn. In order to win, players have to trade wisely, choose the right cards to perform the best actions, and maximize the profit from their ship’s cargo!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13551/oltre-mare

Bohnanza ( led by Nicole) 1997 Uwe Rosenberg bean trading classic game that has been reprinted several times and expanded even more. Players plant, then harvest bean cards in order to earn coins. Each player starts with a hand of random bean cards, and each card has a number on it corresponding to the number of that type of bean in the deck. Unlike in most other card games, you can’t rearrange the order of cards in hand, so you must use them in the order that you’ve picked them up from the deck — unless you can trade them to other players, which is the heart of the game. On a turn, players must plant the first one or two cards in their hand into the two “fields” in front of them. Each field can hold only one type of bean, so if a player must plant a type of bean that’s not in one of their fields, then they must harvest a field to make room for the new arrival.  Next, two cards are revealed from the deck, and the player, on turn, can then trade these cards as well as any card in their hand for cards from other players. After all the trading is complete — and all trades on a turn must involve the active player — then the turn is ended by drawing 3 cards from the deck and placing them at the back of one’s hand. When beans are harvested, players  receive coins based on the number of bean cards in that field and the “beanometer” for that particular type of bean. Flip over 1-4 cards from that field to transform them into coins, then place the remainder of the cards in the discard pile. When the deck runs out, the discards are shuffled, playing through the deck two more times. At the end of the game, everyone can harvest their fields, then whoever has earned the most coins wins. The key to this 45-minute classic is the trading. 

Pit (led by Ethan) 1903 frenetic commodity trading game. Players offer trades by crying out the number of cards they want to swap (“One! One! One!”, or “Three! Three! Three!”) but not their identity. The winner of the hand is the first to collect all of one commodity, declaring “Corner on Wheat!” or whatever commodity has been collected. The winner of the hand scores points equal to the value of the commodity, and the winner of the game is the first to 500 points.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140/pit

Compile: Main 1 (led by Tim) 2024 dueling game where players are competing Artificial Intelligence factions trying to understand the world around them. Two players select three Protocols each to test. Concepts ranging from Darkness to Water are pitted against each other to reach ultimate understanding. Play cards into your Protocols’ command lines to breach the threshold and defeat your opponent to Compile. First to Compile all three Protocols grasps those concepts to win the game. The base game includes a dozen protocols and there is a first ‘Aux 1’ expansion which adds Love, Hate and Apathy to the mix. Each protocol has 6 cards of various strengths. 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/406652/compile-main-1

Steve