Maracaibo Review - Follow-up to Great Western Trail

[@alexxpfister]

Thanks for doing this great video! Appreciate your comments and I’m happy you enjoyed Maracaibo! I see the theme more like the film „Pirates of the Caribbean“ without trying to present an accurate historical setting. I agree regarding the people, there should be more natives in the game. I want to fix this in possible upcoming expansions! Thanks again, Efka.

[@Atlas-FM8]

Another suggestion for the expansion if you're leaning more into the romanticized version of the pirate era is to maybe include things from Pirate/sailor myth of that time. Things like Mermaids, Sea Serpents, calypso, the flying dutchman, etc. For example Seafarers were very superstitious and would often brings cats with them for good luck on voyages which coincidentally also helped keep down the rat population on board.

[@42Randomise]

Alexander Pfister I don't mind a romantisied Caribbean but I think that can be seperate to diversity and would like to see more variety aside from any indigenous peoples.

[@alexxpfister]

I understood what Efka meant see also the statement in the rules regarding this period of time. I respect opinions still feeling uncomfortable with the theme. I will never include slavery in one of my games. That’s my opinion.

[@Norm-R]

I also just want to say thank you for taking the time to recognize and respond. I think its an important thing that a lot of designers won't even bother with. Love your work. Great Western Trail is one of my favorites. Can't wait to try out Maracaibo.

[@ichifish]

@ Alexander Pfister: Thank you for commenting on the video and engaging in the discussion. I'd like to tell you frankly that as much as I respect you as a designer, I don't play your games specifically because of, as Efka gently puts it, "the blithe ignorance" and "tone deafness" towards the deeply problematic issue of colonization (as evidenced in Western Trail as well). There are plenty of games that my group can play that don't romanticize historic exploitation. I hope that in the future yours will be one of them.

[@philipariens6007]

Terrific review, game analysis at its best. Kudos!

[@reinaldfratti8919]

I have to admit I have been following the 2 of you for a few years. You kept me away from a few game sharing your tastes almost at 99.5%. I can't imagine enough the amont of work behind every single of your reviews. Long story short Thanks to the two you. With many channels beihing more and more sponsored with the boom of the board game world you are with the few, on top of the montain. 👏👌☝️👫💙

[@jeffmcleod3829]

9:55 - Major shout out from me for your “The Good Place” Chidi reference (including his last name!)

[@feekygucker2678]

Catching up on youtube after a while away... forgot how much I love your work. I love Pfister's games, but they can sound dry, yet you manage to give it life; well done dude!

[@AhJong0]

Grand review and I’m pleased that you’re keeping high expectations of both game mechanics and theme/content from one of the hobby’s best. There is a trend across all three of the Psifter games emphasised in this review that makes for discomfort from the perspective you discuss.

[@ShelfOfOpportunity]

Loved the review! Whether I agree with you or not about your opinion of theme, I respect it. Everyone should heed their moral compass as they see fit.

[@drdanielbirch]

So excited about this game!! Love the Vancouver Desktop pic

[@Filthyy1]

playing this on tuesday with my group after getting it cheep of boardgame trade and chat uk facebook group (cheap plug); saw your review pop up on my feed after looking up playthroughs. I'm glad it did, it was a plunder full of great puns and banter!

[@photoben]

The industry needs to catch up and realise the importance of good writing, I'm hearing of so many games these days let down on this front. When Half-Life was being developed in the late nineties, they hired a horror author to help them develop the story of the game, look how that turned out. It's not like there are aren't plenty of writers looking for work....

[@Drprophetius]

Half-Life doesn't have a great story, it's the way it's told trough gameplay. People need to start taking unnecessary story OUT of games and focus on the actual games more. No, I am not going to read your event card, just tell me how many resources I get, I am going to use those resources to play the game and create my own story.

[@awesome_claw]

@@Drprophetius AKA the pandemic legacy effect - the story is basically one paragraph spread over a dozen cards and the players are left to fill in the blanks with their imagination.

[@showmicr]

@@Drprophetius an interesting thread, as I agree with both your perspective and the one of the original comment.

[@z-beeblebrox]

@@Drprophetius Yeah but in this case, we're talking specifically about a game that wants to have a story campaign. And if they're gonna do that, they should try to do it right and not bite off more than they can chew

[@alexxpfister]

I want to add, that per round (4 rounds are per game) probably 1 Story Card is read. There are about 4 sentences per card, so there is not much reading in the game. While testing it was important for me that both, people loving a story and those who don’t like reading during the game, are happy with the campaign.

[@bailarin8282]

The Caribbean setting and the look of the player boards instantly reminded me of Merchants and Marauders... how do they compare?

[@MrKing0fTown]

Yeah yeah, game looks amazing and all....but where did you get those little horses for Great Western Trail?!? I need those!

[@benlauson555]

HahA thought the same thing

[@stepanxol]

@@raglan_road Seriously, we all need those.

[@stepanxol]

guys, if you're in Europe, check this out! www.spielematerial.de/en/horse-for-meeples.html

[@NoPunIncluded]

We got ours exactly from this website!

[@aonline_abridged]

@@NoPunIncluded I was mid-comment asking this same question!

[@gerasimos5491]

It seems like a more complex marco polo speaking of town cards and bonus from entering the cities etc.

[@mark_midmark]

Best reviews in the business!

[@lexodius]

Who as a native card character do you specifically suggest?

[@nkorppi]

Lisboa does the theme justice And uses brilliant mechanisms. I expect the same of On Mars,

[@aonline_abridged]

Not from AF but Vital, who wisely sticks to very specific and unique themes and even some that are fiction ;) - Co2

[@jonridley]

The ‘deluxe version” of Puerto Rico suggests that the problem prevails…. It’s a long time since the review but I heard that the expansion tried to resolve some of those historical problems

[@juvigoat2168]

Am I the only one who googled “rhizomatic explosion of causality” ? Enjoyed the review, And always Love NPI’s courageous opinion.

[@whoisbatman]

Chunky Rules Talk is literally my nickname, how did you know?

[@edifanobbonafide]

We love Mombasa. My wife does not like Oh my Goods!. We both were not interested in Blackout Hong Kong. It took me a year to decide to buy Great Western Trail and after that only a few days to get the expansion Railways to the North which is such a great expansion. When I got the first information about Maracaibo I was sure I did not want it because it sounded more like GWT 2.0 . Fortunately I decided to buy Maracaibo and now we love this cornucopia of decisions after I managed to get through the rules. Once you are in the iconography it goes well. For us Maracaibo shows enough theme to set our imagination into motion. Can't wait to play it the next time. Thanks a lot for the review!

[@aluminumchew]

Eurofied Merchants and Marauders?

[@z-beeblebrox]

Okay, but during the course of play, do you end up constructing a message to send into space?

[@niland1848]

I loved the fact that Elaine Mande you use the pirate puns! Also, enjoyed the Star Wars reference while you were wearing that shirt. Great video!

[@lewisgoesgoblin]

How do I find those little foldable trays? They look similar to the collapsible dice trays, but more rubbery and bowl like 🤔

[@NoPunIncluded]

the BoardGameGeek store.

[@lewisgoesgoblin]

@@NoPunIncluded Thanks I'll take a look

[@AlexNguyen]

Amazing video dude!

[@ClockworkWyrm]

Just dropping a comment to say I adore the black and white Twilight Zone Mystic Seer on your hearth mantle.

[@redsands1001]

The collector in me has been wanting to get one of Pfister's games. Got a bunch of stuff coming in soon so may wait till later this year so i can get it played but thanks for the review and giving me a great view of it.

[@dennissein2119]

I agree completely and I can appreciate how you can say it is a great game, but aspects of it are total rubbish (rulebook, theme, etc.). You were spot on with this review.

[@thomasellysonting3554]

Two things: First - Pfister noted that Euro games did tend to whitewash the horrors of colonialism in Mombasa. So its not as though the designer himself isn’t aware of the weighty nature of the subject matter. Second, and more importantly, is the fact that the general public still clings to the notion that colonialism and empire were good things. A lot of hay has been made of how “wrong” Phil Ecklund’s “defense of colonialism” essay was; and he certainly has many questionable claims in that essay. But there seems to be a curious lack of realization - especially among boardgame reviewers - that Phil’s views are in fact enormously popular in the general public. Phil is not some lone wolf maverick trying to defend outdated notions (albeit he may believe that of himself). His views are instead very common among the general public, and indeed is a view heavily pushed by many historians (which should bring to light how ridiculous the notion of “unbiased” history is to begin with. There is no such thing, and the closest to “unbiased” history the world has ever gotten is history not written in English). Don’t believe me? Take a look at this poll then: yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/07/26/britain-proud-its-empire People in Britain who think their empire was a force of good outnumbers those who don’t 3:1. Indeed 1/3 of respondents think the empire should still exist today. Comparable figures for Japan by contrast show that only 10% of Japanese believe their empire did “nothing wrong”. And yet many Western historians and the media loves to hammer home this idea that the Japanese are the people who are most in denial about their past history. In short, its not a designer or development issue. That Euros are whitewashed instead reflect the ugly reality that most people in the “developed world” have a white washed view of their history, and indeed cling to these views. Trying to sell a game that tackles these issues will generate controversy, because the public doesn’t want to be told that their national myths are based on exploitation, genocide, and vilification of others. Thats why Euros prefer to avoid controversy altogether and just tack on the theme. Too many potential customers are in fact too narrow minded to even trying a mechanically great game, if it dares to try and question and make people doubt their long-held stories about the “greatness” of their nation.

[@cadenlaptad3247]

Phenomenal comment. Thanks for sharing!

[@ichifish]

Thanks for the insightful comment, Thomas. I think something that Efka was getting at but didn't quite state directly is "given that the theme for most Euros could be nearly anything, theming the game as exploitation in an obviously controversial period was a poor choice." That's not the same as saying "designers should tackle controversy." Designers shouldn't be expected to address the controversy of colonialism or revise history, and I don't think people are calling for that. But they can reasonably be expected to avoid controversial themes and stereotypes, especially ones that the community has identified as problematic. Themes are frequently chosen for the affordances they offer. Common themes like zombie apocalypse, vikings, Cthulhu, or Sherlock Holmes come pre-packed with thematic elements, and that allows the designers to avoid the difficult task of world-building (this is one of the reasons Scythe and Root are such remarkable games). They also allow players to intuitively rationalize mechanics. Common anti-hero themes like burglars, mobsters, and mad scientists where it's clear players are the bad guys also provide affordances, but not with the presumption of benevolence. The theme of colonization does provide a few affordances, but not so many that it couldn't be reskinned for another period. Maracaibo could take place in a Star Wars or Firefly -esq setting, or a post-post-apocalyptic dieselpunk setting, a fictional medieval setting, or trading between pacific islands with very few affordances lost. In any of those settings players could easily assume that the resources were not generated through slavery.

[@thomasellysonting3554]

Josh Wilson the thing is, most media actually touches upon controversial topics all the time. They just largely ignore the controversial bits for the sake of “entertainment”. Maracaibo for instance came off to me - and Pfister has since confirmed - as themed off the swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean movies rather than the historical Caribbean. And yet were there any widespread questions as to why there was no a single native among the lead cast in the original movie? There was not. Indeed, the movie was so lacking in diversity all the heroes were English, with only later installments remembering the Caribbean was also full of Spanish, French, and other European nationalities, aside of course from the natives. That the production was done by an English-speaking crew - and targeting first and foremost an English-speaking audience - indeed should clue you in as to how the movie’s casting decisions were motivated by audience pandering. In short, like it or not, empire, slavery, and colonization are central to every story told about nations. Even ones that are entirely fictional - such as those set in sci-fi - are allegorical to past historical events. Firefly for instance is in many ways a romanticized retelling of the aftermath of the American Civil War. Malcom’s speeches about freedom indeed reflect much of the same language used by Confederate veterans... albeit with all the bits about how they fought to keep their slaves edited out despite it being their actual prime motivation for fighting. There is no avoiding controversy if people are willing to remember the whole, uncomfortable story. The thing is, most people prefer to only selectively remember the bits that make them feel good, and get mad when they realize that their nations / beliefs enable the suffering of others.

[@sunlioness1]

Thomas, looking at the amount of bum-hurt white dudes screaming "Don't you lecture me, I just want to have a good time" I'd say you're right!

[@thomasellysonting3554]

Ailurus Ludens except historians are also told all the time to “leave out moral judgments”, especially when they come to conclusions that run contrary to “popular” beliefs. It is a myth that only entertainment media is subject to whitewashing and editorialization in the face of a public unwilling to confront its nation’s past sins. Again, the bigger issue is the fact that people don’t want to be contradicted from their editorialized view of their own history. Its not a designer issue, its an audience issue.

[@benlauson555]

Great video! Looks like an awesome game. Not bothered in the slightest bit about the possible historical inaccuracies or the possible insensitive approach to the struggles of the time. If I want historical accuracy I'll read a book, if I want super sensitive I'll watch the news.

[@benlauson555]

@@feelingveryattackedrn5750 Is this a comment towards my comment? Or about Efka's dialogue towards his concern about the accuracy in the games weak portrayal of colonialism?

[@benlauson555]

@@feelingveryattackedrn5750 Good grief. Typical.... Well thanks for the comment and direct insults! Merry Christmas to you! Enjoy your realistic board games haha! 👍

[@timdertim]

The traditional german way? Please elaborate

[@SeroSish]

Are we going to see a review of tsukuyumi ? At least on the podcast

[@NoPunIncluded]

When the lockdown is over, sure.

[@SeroSish]

No Pun Included makes sense , you can’t fit those wales inside your house. They are massive.

[@Santanilla]

loved the review except for the theme critique, I believe the story is being kept similar to Disney’s pirate of the Caribbean because this fantasy sells, the last thing I want to be is depressed when a game is trying to remind me of all the injustice in history during this period, that is why I watch history documentaries and read books about the topic. But please don’t mess with the games, make them virtuous with aspirational characters same as pirate’s perspective nowadays which has nothing to do with the real thing , we all know it wasn’t disney like back then but please don’t add history lessons to games, keep them disney like and let us feel like jack sparrow.

[@RandomPerson-nd2ey]

Perhaps there's room for both? On one hand, I do agree with you about playing as a "Jack Sparrow" like character is a lot of fun. I know that I much prefer the "politics" of a game like "Abyss" over playing out actual politics. On the other hand, I can see how being historically accurate can make for a different yet enjoyable experience. Take the computer game "Oregon Trail" for a mainstream example. Losing a family member to starvation, dysentery, etc was par for the course. My gaming group and I include people who enjoy True Crime and Murder Mysteries so "Letters From Whitechapel" was a hit for us. Other examples I've heard good things about (though can't recommend as I haven't tried them myself) would be "Black Orchestra" and "The Underground Railroad". I don't wish to argue but simply point out the existence of an alternative point of view. To each their own. Enjoy what you like and let's all have a great time in our own way since that's what this hobby is all about. :)

[@Santanilla]

Random Person check out the game This war of mine , that’s definitely a more real life story oriented game, it all depends what do you prefer, either fantasy or real life history. Imo mr Pfister is starting to build around a deeper story to his games ( maybe because he is following the legacy trend in games) but even so, I don’t think his passion lies in telling a pirate’s story or teaching pirate’s history ( it is just good but not great imho). His focus is in creating games that just amazes and entertain with a perfect balance of mechanisms and just the correct amount of options that take the player to the ideal step below breaking point. Even the art of his games isn’t that amazing , same as the story it is just ok , what we are here for is for the euro game itself. It would be great to have this game produced by stone Meier games though 🤔

[@tawnyarasmussen1965]

Agree that the rule book was tough!

[@mahna_mahna]

Really enjoyed this one. Found it less punitive and arbitrary than GWT ("Will there EVERY be a cowboy available when it's my turn to deliver cows???") As the game barrels towards the end, your engine just gets more and more fun. GWT has some aspects that are this way, but the ever increasing amount of buildings your opponents throw in your way (often charging you for the privilege of passing them by) are kind of a drag. I like the assistant mechanism better than the buildings.

[@tristanruff3546]

U mean "will there EVER be a cowboy, when I'm at the neutral (or my own) building where I can buy workers" otherwise it makes less sense, u get now workers for deliver cows...

[@mahna_mahna]

Yeah, sorry, been a while since I played.

[@TorIverWilhelmsen]

Was considering thumbing down for including Jimmy Carr's laughter.

[@drbasseri]

I love Jimmy Carr

[@redsands1001]

@@drbasseri do you love his laugh?

[@xfoolsgoldx]

Looks amazing❤

[@MikePanov]

Another great review

[@davidaldinger3666]

So where is Mombasa on your scale vs Madeira or even Great Western Trail?

[@klasmoberg1381]

Good Review! However I'm starting to get fed up with everyone feeling the need to Point out what themes are OK or not OK to use in a boardgame. YEEES it was a terrible situation for the natives of these new lands who were discovered by europeans and they did horrible things to them and I do not defend the actions that were taken against them. But is it really necessary to bring this up every time? I also find it to be a bit starch to comment this when you guys have played and reviewed games were this complaint is more relevant. Take games like star wars rebellion, scythe, twilight imperium and Civilization were you actively try to exterminate eachother. The implications would have been the same for the people/aliens you kill in those games.

[@spiozke]

Isn't Alexander Pfister an Austrian person? Is it even possible to compare "dry" euro style German games with his vision?

[@pierrewhite2062]

Nice call out dude.

[@ehall2877]

You should do Nemesis. Best game I played all year, and it's just oozing with flavor.

[@brandbryson3616]

Jumped on this game last week due to the mechanisms and card play. Appreciate the commentary on theme and falling behind on the times - something us consumers should be more mindful of these days. The call to arms to step up your game and delegate to improve product is spot on!

[@claptrap22]

The sociological insensitivity of euro's has long been a turnoff for me and it is genuinely heartening that more and more reviews are holding designers and publishers to account. Many people say gamers are only in it for escapism but it's can be hard to feel escapist when the hobby reminds you of longstanding practices of erasure. Wonderful review all-around. And despite my comment I remain interested in the game - a reprint would land high on my acquisition list.

[@edwardrice9170]

Hold to account? Make your own game, your misplaced entitlement of being able to play editor to others productions is perplexing.

[@billjensen51]

Wait is this a board game or a book?

[@rajarasaful]

TSUKUYUMI - Awww man I backed that one at 10$ but ultimately couldn't get myself to splurge 200$+ on the whole shebang, despite all that glorious plastic.

[@zhiwiller]

Ugh you have the wooden box Mombasa and I need that extra share track :-/

[@lukerazor1]

It is possible to PnP the extra track.

[@chrisjohnphillips6352]

Top 3 Pfister games?

[@cammy1273]

Brilliant review!

[@lukerazor1]

I'm 100% down for this.

[@bojanbrankov886]

Can't believe you used reference to Chidi Anagonye's indecision :D Also, Jimmy Carr is not "just" annoying. He's OK.

[@vonwoolf9963]

Donkey Doug and Pillboi would like to know what is the timestamp for the Chidi reference :-)

[@rp7390]

@@vonwoolf9963 scroll down :)

[@vonwoolf9963]

@@rp7390 Thank you :-) Here is a molotov cocktail.

[@twotonesmybones]

Loved the good place reference!

[@iamspamus8784]

You go through a TON of cards in a game. I think you don't worry about most of them. Save and play a few and then deal with the rest!

[@rexloupgaroux4833]

A hearty "Well done!" for challenging game designers to think beyond design mechanics and to make gaming socially relevant. It's time gaming started to more fully engage in meaningful themes the same way that graphic novels have done in the past few decades.

[@arturbeznosyuk7984]

Do you have any thoughts on how game changes with the number of players?

[@NoPunIncluded]

It plays pretty well at all counts, faster at two.

[@KristoVaher]

Good game, but darn how low budget 90s artwork it carries :/

[@markhaessler4395]

This might be my favorite game of the year, very fun

[@filiplazov5895]

Excellent review, I think NPI is becoming THE example of what a review should look like.

[@AdamLindell]

I'm so excited for this game! But I'm bummed about the art. Those cards look like they were designed in 1994

[@benlauson555]

That was a great year

[@ichifish]

Thank you for calling out the problematic theme.

[@kingxerocole4616]

Eh, sometimes you're ready for a history lesson. Sometimes you want to dress up like a pirate without getting a lecture. Same thing with board games.

[@Drewkas0]

I really hope that fair representation doesn’t feel like a lecture.

[@brianjoshuamanuel6259]

@@Drewkas0 There are ways to make it not feel like a lecture. However in this video it is very clearly a lecture and the preachyness is off-putting.

[@stepanxol]

There are literally dozens of board game reviewers; Efka is my favorite because, among other things, he's not afraid to tackle serious issues among his analysis of mechanics, components and other gamey stuff. I wouldn't want every single reviewer to do so, but I'm certainly grateful to have him!

[@sunlioness1]

Efka, Pfister doesn't care that his themes are problematic, just have a look at BGG how he blatantly dismissed similar comments on Mombasa. Of course, when you make a comment about it he has to show up and pretend he cares so thank you Efka (and Elaine) for having the courage to voice this, even though you knew a lot of the comments would be "Don't you lecture me, I just want to have a good time". Can they though imagine anyone from Jamaica or Tobago "enjoying" this game or any East Africans actually wanting to play Mombasa? THIS is why Three Minute Board Games listed Spirit Island as the most important game of the decade and as long as it rates higher than Pfisters games, it means there's hope.

[@etherprime]

p 2e crushes 5e. time to clean up your shelves! Happy Holidays!

[@phillipmillman3290]

RE: theme. I found a much more deft touch in Mombasa than in Maracaibo though I liked the mechanic more. More historical research would have been really appropriate.

[@NeilY1000]

Julius Caesar et al conquering northern europe killed 2 million people, and enslaved hundreds of thousands. Time to reflect this in every roman game ever made I think. Down with any roman empire game ... Bored with people apologising for history ...its history and we learn from it rather than having it changed for a 21st century taste. I hate racism and all of its rival human degeneracy, but please do not rewrite history, keep it raw and real and learn from it.

[@toastbrot21016]

Here are a lot of puns included. This doesn't make sense. The cake is lie. ... .

[@ArnoVdVelde]

I don't know how it plays just yet, but it kind of looks like a mess. It doesn't have a great look, it being so messy doesn't help.

[@meenki347]

👍

[@aonline_abridged]

Thank you for 'the talk'; just like with Santa Maria...I bought the game but really wish this aspect would just stop appearing like an ugly mole that seems to be considered a mundane yet classical inevitable feature of a 'serious' Euro.

[@PentaHousen]

I think we should stop treat euro games as history books. It's setting not history lesson and i play in fictional world with fictional characters that sail around some island and get imaginary victory point for some reason. (they don't even are called glory or whatever just straight victory points) If i want to read about how bad people in past were bad i would rather choose a history book that talk about history not a game/video game. Yes, some games can talk about history and real events, but they still try to recreate just setting NOT actual story. (or you telling me that half stuff doesn't happend in pax because i didn't played card) If we go to mission component of the game, i would rather prefer NOT to talk about real events. You can easily miss represent story, even with hard research or implementing some agendas into it. Game looks really intresting and i wonder what mission deck brings into a game. The only problem so far are icons and some tokens that you get in game.

[@MozilloGames]

Whenever a euro game of this ilk is reviewed I think I realise that I'll just never like them... ever. Their layouts and iconography all looks so impenetrable where the board is trying to say so much information at once, but says literally none of it. Sub boards within sub boards all laden with their own tiny symbols and effects and basically the ability to strip ALL of it away to a simple white and black, dry mathematical problem that I'm sure is a great puzzle, but has never once looked engaging enough to actively entice S: I'm still glad for the reviews though, I'm always interested in them and want to one day maybe find one that'll woo me to their wiles.

[@NoPunIncluded]

Try Concordia! I think it will charm you with it's straightforward nature and very tight mechanisms.

[@MozilloGames]

@@NoPunIncluded Thanks! I have definitely heard great things about it, so I'll have to try and track down a copy I can borrow at some point xx

[@TheRealMrWolf]

Efka I love many of your reviews, but you can be SOOOO nitpicky I just roll my eyes and because of that it's sometimes hard to take the whole thing seriously.

[@shawnpatterson9599]

Nitpicky is literally the job description of reviewers.

[@Spelpojken]

Great review. PC as F*ck. Just the way I love it. Thanks!

[@tristanruff3546]

I don't really like the game... at no point in the game I really know what the best next turn is... I always have so many options and most of them I don't care about... I can take another chip from my ship? oh maybe I should start getting the points, I can jump up to 7 spaces again? mmmh I can bye one more card for only the points or figth some random pirat fight for maybe more points in the end... it just feels so bad

[@alexxpfister]

Tristan, I can only give you the advice to focus on your career (card), because this gives you a direction: E.g. your career card tells you to get influence? Then fight for a nation and get sailors. Or it tells you to upgrade your ship? Than try to hire an assistant, which lets you upgrade your ship and visit cities before others do to deliver there. However I understand with all the rules, the career card just seems to be another option. But in the end, it helps you decide what to go for.

[@tristanruff3546]

@@alexxpfister thx for the answer, but the career card is just so easy to fullfill and those 10 points I get there are just peanuts... last time I got 66 with influence... I just wanna be more restricted like in Cooper Island or Great Western Trail, there my last turns feel like oh now I have to do this than this ok now this or this, but this is risky and I really need to deliver etc... In Maracaibo the fourth round feels like the first, but with more money and more options... but I can't use my crazy cool expensive building or got the perfect hand of super cows... I just do the same like in round one

[@alexxpfister]

This comes from how fast you travel. It’s the same in Great Western Trail, if everybody moves slowly, you get everything done, but this helps one player more than the others. So in Maracaibo you usually have just 5 actions per round, because there is a race for quests and for delivering to a city. With only 20 actions in a game, it’s hard to fulfill the career. It’s difficult to buy a Prestige Building. Everything is tight and in the 4th round there is so much to do, but only few actions left. You have to set priorities. But in the end, there are so many great games out there. I can fully understand, that if a game doesn’t thrill on the first try, you go to the next one. I do the same :-)

[@TheBrothersMurph]

I am so bummed to hear that the theming and storytelling went the tone deaf route because the game looks incredible. Opportunity missed and gonna have to pass on this one looks like

[@evergreen_monster]

Though I wholeheartedly agree with you on the tone-deaf issue (really, German publishers, wtf), the actual review starts 1 minute before the end. Kinda dropped the ball on this one.

[@corradoalamanni179]

You tell me that pirates and colonials where from europe? The schock!!

[@jccusell]

Thw written language was developed in societies who didn't even consider slavery or serfdom as a moral issue let alone an issue at all. Slavery, classism they were common place in every civilization untill the 19th century. But sure, single out this period as being objectionable.

[@TomRauhe]

God I hate Euro games. If you played one, you played them all. Just choose... Dunno... Arler Erde or something. Still a thumbs up, no worries.

[@johncorrigan268]

What games do you enjoy?

[@TomRauhe]

@@windyhillbomber they differ in theme and slightly in mechanics, but it's all about "is my way better than yours" with almost zero interaction

[@TomRauhe]

@@johncorrigan268 Santorini, Raxxon, Sub Terra, Fog of Love, Paper Tales,...

[@benlauson555]

"If you played on you've played them all" Thats funny, I think the same for Ameritrash and miniature games. People are fascinating!

[@TomRauhe]

@@benlauson555 I would also kind of agree on both accounts. I am mainly interested in innovative game mechanics. I have zero clue how anyone would want to own more than maybe two euro games. And I have over 120 board games. The only ones that come closest to a euro is Photosynthesis and Tales of Glory.