Maracaibo Review with Tom Vasel

Tom Vasel takes a look at
a economic game from Alexander Pfister!
00:00 - Introduction
01:09 - Game Overview
13:55 - Final Thoughts
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BGG Link: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2...

[@alexxpfister]

Finally I made it, a seal of excellence!! Thanks, Tom for this early Christmas.😀

[@AthexTube]

Great Game Alexander, but please re-print with better player boards!

[@c.w.2000]

You can't please everyone, but this game seems to please a lot of people. I haven't played it yet, but the praise seems well-deserved.

[@Vadimaster]

Congratulations Alexander. Well deserved!

[@theblart4196]

You deserve it Mr. Pfister. An amazing game... unfortunately my personal copy is stuck inside of a broken mail box and am waiting for the lock to be replaced 😂🤣

[@Skarpo89]

Congratulations!

[@alecgalbraith5604]

This seems like a greatest hits album of all his previous games. I look forward to trying it out once it becomes more widely available!

[@greggersgreggers3990]

Nice overview of a game with a lot going on! The rules overview was a bit crunchy but helped. I don’t think you talked about theme much. I’m hoping here for a bit of the theme to come through. Thanks for all your reviews, they are so helpful!

[@NazgulGamer1]

I love it “themes about pfft whatever...” shows the gameplay is what’s important and fun about this game.

[@MeepleMentor]

I've been waiting for your review!

[@GamingRulesVideos]

Excellent review. Glad you enjoyed it. Just doing my review now and watched this to see if I'd missed anything :)

[@Mark-jagger]

For me the theme, for a Euro, is very strong. Perhaps that’s because I’m very familiar with the map from my many hours playing Sid Meier’s Pirates, but actually it’s more than that. Alexander has done an absolutely stellar job of balancing Euro mechanisms with some story elements and it works so well. This is my favourite Pfister too, by some margin, and that’s saying something.

[@69robtaylor]

Possibly my favourite game of the year.

[@snnagg4027]

I wait this review so much.

[@Shuckleking87]

9:26 the adventure card is actually a misprint and theres an updated version of the adventure card on bgg

[@raglan_road]

Yeah it was kind of strange that he decided to show exactly that particular card

[@hatchimmmmm]

Why? What's the problem of the card?

[@MattHew-ic4zq]

The point and money rewards should increment for each goal (i.e. influence in two nations reward should be 2, 2, 2 and number of ship upgrades reward should be 3, 3, 3)

[@ziomalZparafii]

This feels like GWT, tiles on the cities, going through them, gathering goods (cows), new abilities under goods (tokens), country track (engineer, cowboy track). Looks like slightly redesigned GWT. And GWT was overwhelming to me, I sold it after one game.

[@evanmoday]

I got this because of Great Western Trail but it definitely feels different enough from it to have both.

[@69robtaylor]

Evan O'Day definitely

[@benlauson555]

Good to know awesome! I've heard people say it takes like an hour to teach, has that been your experience?

[@69robtaylor]

ben lauson around 30 minutes to teach yes. Once you’ve played the first round, everything clicks.

[@andreasoranno]

that was my hope. I love GWT but this offers solo option, which may bring it to the table more often... great!

[@Trae_Lenox]

Evan O'Day I played it and that’s a accurate assumption.

[@theshogunstein6475]

Interesting how quickly "the cult of the new" when from posting about Tapestry to posting about this. Both look like great games, but it is hard to keep up with all these games and even tougher at these prices. Too many games!

[@TheTrout9000]

This is where I just remember to try not to worry about FOMO. Or any of these cults. I just play what I can, and try enjoy myself along the way.

[@felixchu7656]

I have to stop buying new games... .... ... mantra for 2020

[@Crs9072]

Well, it is understandable that people move away from a disappointing mess of a game.

[@spiozke]

Well, couldn't be different

[@antidinosaur]

The only downside: Too expansive...

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Enjoy it too and I usually only like his lighter stuff. An 8 for me, not enough to make Top Ten Material but in the mid teens I reckon. Those discs are a pain though and I'm surprised you didn't mention the rope border on the cards, I find that really irritating too when separating the cards. The odd thing is that it gets compared to GWT but I absolutely loathe GWT, boring, dull and full of random mechanics for no reason. Yet I envoy this one. I think it's down to that hand of cards, I like multi use cards and this has that element plus you burn through them really quickly.

[@nuuqbgg]

Game itself is fascinating, but I find it to be sooo ugly... Everything looks, somehow, weird. I will get it, nonetheless.

[@anab0lic]

seems unnecessarily convoluted.

[@cabalpaxiarch7239]

Ι can't believe Tom is still whining about a lack of theme in euro games, it's been over a decade, let it go man. They're management simulation games, it's almost impossible to make them feel thematic, you're only going to see the theme figuratively. Like in this game, sailors help with combat, adventurers have compasses, THAT'S THE THEME.

[@thedicetower]

Well, that's not quite true. There are plenty of excellent euro games with great themes.

[@FranzBazar]

I guess Tom isn’t allowed to have his opinion?

[@cabalpaxiarch7239]

@@FranzBazar Either we both are or neither of us is, you can't have it both ways, sorry.

[@anthonymeffe3723]

Yeah I agree, the theme is strong in lots of euro games, I think Tom just doesn’t click with euro game themes

[@williamgarcia-medina9989]

A colonial theme with no people of color IN THE CARIBBEAN is outrageous and unacceptable. Hard pass for me.

[@giannisc.5254]

"Don't discriminate based on colour, we are all equal !" --> "WHAT ? No people of colour ? REEEEEEEEEEEEE"

[@evansj18]

@@giannisc.5254 Nice strawman argument. No one said what you are quoting.

[@giannisc.5254]

@@evansj18 Are you referring to the second part of my reply ? If so, i urge you to re-read William's Post and then read it again. If you still can't see that it is the exact same thing, then keep reading it until you see it. Also, i am not sure you understand what a strawman is. I did not change the subject and i did not attribute a different meaning to the original post that better suits what i say. William disregards the game and everything about it completely just because there are no people of colour in it. So, he judged a work based on political beliefs and personal views without touching on anything else. How am i strawman-ing here ?

[@benlauson555]

Haha - there had to be one! The comment section wouldn't be complete without! Thanks!

[@evansj18]

​@@giannisc.5254 He didn't say don't discriminate and we are all equal. It sounded to me like he was tired of seeing another game where you play as colonizers and the indigenous people are reduced to resources to be exploited. And so expressed his intent to vote with his wallet and pass on the game. Pretty straightforward. You are welcome to buy an extra copy in his place though if it's that important to you!

[@EricBarbman]

The boring paper version of Sid Meier's Pirates.

[@JerreMuesli]

"The boring paper version" Trololo!