Ben brought a new game for us to play this week called Navegador. It says that this game is inspired by the Portuguese Age of Discoveries in the 15th-16th century. I didn’t realize the Portuguese had an age of discovery, but then I’m American. So what did those Portuguese do back in the 15th and 16th century? Apparently they contracted men, acquired ships and buildings, and sailed the seas. While on the seas they establish colonies in the discovered lands and traded the goods found there in the market. All this gained them certain privileges that gained them victory points. Ok, maybe they didn’t gain victory points, but we did. We each started with only two ships and three workers. From this we endeavored to expand our empire (and gain victory points.)
A couple of interesting things to note about the game: The market is where you sell goods from your colonies (driving the prices down). Your factories process the goods into marketable items (driving the prices up). Your clever use of factories and colonies can get you tons of money. Workers and ships are an integral part of the game—you must have them. As the game progresses they become very expensive unless you invest in buildings that lower their cost. This is another game where on your turn you have more things you want to do than you can do.
Ben had played this game a couple of times before and offered many helpful hints and suggestions…of which he followed none. Those of us who did follow them ended up somewhere at the bottom of the victory point totals. Score one for Ben’s insidious and crafty game playing. Oh, and he tried to cheat several times, But Mike called him on it. We love Ben. He’s so predictable…except when he’s being insidious and crafty. And even then, we should have known better.
My game started off fabulously well and I was soon rolling in the pazoozas, or whatever the Portuguese called their currency back in the 15th century. Owen and Mike went after colonies to score the big victory points. Ben and I cornered the sugar market and built factories.
Victory points are only scored at the end of the game. This makes it a little hard to judge just how well you are doing compared to everyone else. Especially since everyone else is most likely going after different ways to score points. As our game came to a close, Owen thought he had done poorly, but ended up being only 9 points off from the winner. Mike followed Ben’s suggestions from the beginning of the game and came in last. (What did we learn here?)
Ben won with 82 points. I came in second with 76 points. Owen had 73 points and Mike had 71.
We liked this game. Even with all of the pieces and options available on your turn, it’s a pretty easy game to pick up and play. Of course, learning the nuances of winning may take a little longer—especially if you listen to Ben.
Chaos Steve
