Economic

Modern Society is a game about our time, the world we live in. It covers aspects from Equality to Organic Food, from War in Iraq to Torture Scandal, to Youth Culture, Women's Priesthood and beyond. Those are but few aspects the players wrestle with as they try to convince the deep rows of the people behind their own agenda.

The players all live in the same society and seek influential power to leave their mark on the surrounding world. The people's opinions, what they feel and think, is determined by four societal values – militarism, economy, human values & green values.

The players have game cards which become ”hot topics” in the society once they are played. They will become the issues the imaginary townsfolk talk in coffee tables, what they read from the news and what shapes their view on the world. These issues then shape the four values, but also bring points through them. This means that the more militaristic the society is the more militaristic influence points you get from cards like 'Raise in Defence Budget' or 'War on Terrorism'. With these points you then push through laws that focus on that value. Only these law cards that the players have pushed through with their political influence they get victory points. And as each value has limited amount of laws there is a race who stands as the best advocate for each value.

Most cards have special abilities that makes them stronger with certain other cards (i.e. Feminism with Equality) or for example prevent certain points to be scored (i.e. Torture Scandal on militarism points or UN in Crisis on Human value points).

As the game proceeds the players try to sell their world view to the masses. But whether the well-being of the people is trampled as the players thirst for power and whether that society is still worth defending for? That is what the players decide all over again during each game they play the Modern Society.

Buying and selling paintings is a very lucrative business, at least that's what Hollywood's led us to believe, and that's the premise of this game. Five different artists have produced a bunch of paintings, and it's the player's task to be both the buyer and the seller, hopefully making a profit in both roles. He does this by putting a painting from his hand up for auction each turn. He gets the money if some other player buys it, but must pay the bank if he buys it for himself. After each round, paintings are valued by the number of paintings of that type that were sold. The broker with the most cash after four rounds is the winner.

Part of the Knizia auction trilogy.

Merkator is about the rise of Hamburg after the Thirty Years' War.

You visit cities to collect goods or fulfill orders. The collected goods are added to the cities when a player visits a neighboring city. Fulfilling an order provides you with another better, but more complex order additional to the fulfilled order which you keep and can fulfill again, although the number of orders you can own is limited. Each order itself is worth a certain amount of points at the end of the game. Also you can exchange these points for special cards which provide additional goods in certain cities or more victory points if you fulfill certain conditions at game end.

Depending on the city you want to enter you either receive a resource called "time" or you have to spend it. By paying a certain time-fee you are allowed to accompany another player on his trip to a town to fulfill your orders in this town (but not to collect goods). The game ends when a player receives the order with the highest value by fulfilling the order one level below.

A Medieval game of trade and commerce, Die Händler is set in Europe, where trade wagons carry wares between six cities on the board. Essentially, players buy goods, load them onto wagons and send them for maximum profit in other cities.

The whole game looks very inviting. The medieval cities depicted on the board, together with the player crests, cardboard coins, money pouches, sticker decorated wagons and wooden commodity pieces, immediately creates the right atmosphere for the players.

There are six cities - Paris, Cologne, Brugge, Gent, Vienna and Genoa - which are interconnected by roads. Three wagons carry goods from one city to another. No-one owns the wagons or controls any of them single-handedly, and in principle a player can put commodities on any transport. There are six different commodities - salt, iron, wine, silk, cloth and food - all of limited supply.

The goal of the game is to make money by delivering goods to the towns, and use the money to buy increases in status. The game ends after a certain number of deliveries have been made and the winner is the player with the highest level of status.

From the back of the box:

Venice, the 1400's. You are a young merchant trying to make your name in this legendary port of vibrant commerce. Trade in spices, silks, gems, iron, and grain can bring great wealth... if you can bend the market to your will. Buy goods as they enter the city docks and sell them to the tradesmen who need them. Increase your profits by buying shares of the shops that use the goods in which you trade. Gain gold and prestige by fulfilling the orders of the Guild Hall craftsmen.

But Venice is a city of fickle demands and mercurial politics. Spend your ducats wisely and look for help from powerful people such as the Guildmaster, the Harbormaster, the Tax Collector... or perhaps a Thief. Even the humble Gondolieri have powerful connections in Venice. In the end, the most important thing to remember is the simple rule of commerce... buy low and sell high! Only those with the most gold and the highest prestige can truly become... Masters of Venice!