Händler Der Karibik

Fit

Teach 2.3

Teaching signal

Replay 4.0

High replayability

Interaction 3.6

Highly interactive

Scaling 4.0

Scales well

Strategy 4.5

Deep strategy

Control 3.2

Luck-sensitive

Table feel

Moderately interactive game with a good balance of direct and strategic confrontation. Players need to pay attention to each other's actions frequently, but cooperation is not a major focus.

Replay value

Händler der Karibik has a high variability gameboard, with multiple paths to victory and variable setups. The presence of expansions adds new content and gameplay elements, enhancing the replay value. The game offers deep strategic possibilities and allows players to improve their strategy over time. The player interaction score is moderate, and the game scales well with different numbers of players. While it may take some time to learn, the game offers a good balance between easiness and depth. Overall, Händler der Karibik has a strong replayability score of 7.9.

Luck profile

Händler der Karibik has a moderate level of luck influence. Random elements have a notable but not exclusive impact on the game outcome. Players have substantial ability to mitigate randomness through strategic decisions and planning. The game outcome is primarily determined by player strategy and decisions, with luck playing a moderate role.

Overview

The merchant players in Händler der Karibik, which won the Austrian Game Designers Competition, are trying to earn as much as they can out of the Caribbean Sea, but if they set their goals too high, they might take home nothing for the day. The 110-card deck depicts a coin on the back of each card — with players earning and paying coins throughout the game — and different items on the card fronts. On a turn, a player can first draw as many cards as he likes, one at a time from the deck, placing them in the harbor (an area near the deck). Each card shows one of the following: Person, who stays in a face-up row next to deck. Ship, which the player can attack immediately if he has enough swords on his people cards, after which the ship is discarded; otherwise, the ship stays in the harbor. Expedition, which remains above the harbor until a player fulfills it by discarding people who have the items required for the expedition. Tax Increase, which forces everyone with twelve or more coins to discard half their money, after which the card is discarded. If the player draws a ship with the same name as a ship already in the harbor, he's spent too much time dilly-dallying and his turn ends (after using the ship to attack, if possible), with all the cards in the harbor being discarded. Otherwise, the player can stop whenever he likes, then use/acquire one card if three or fewer ships are in the harbor, two cards if four ships are present, and three cards if five ships are present. Players rob ships, collecting the number of coins shown on them, then discarding the card, while they hire people, paying the number of coins depicted. After the active player takes his 1-3 cards, each other player may pay the active player one coin in order to take one card in the same way. When one player has at least ten influence points — which are on both people and expedition cards — and has fulfilled at least one expedition, the game is played to the end of the round, giving everyone the same number of turns, then the player with the most influence points and at least one Expedition wins.

Mechanism

3

Open Drafting Push Your Luck Set Collection

Family

2

Game: Port Royal Mechanism: Tableau Building

Type

1

Family

Media