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Die Goldene Stadt
Author: Michael Schacht
Publisher: Kosmos
Year: 2009


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What could be so appealing about an island? Is it its size? The world in a nutshell, understandable and manageable? It likely is the small size that causes the compassion: bonsai trees, little polar bears, and yes, coodycoody coo, little children too: how cute they are, and just look at them!
An island could also appeal because its borders are easier to cross. It might be surrounded by water, but the washed-out visitor, throwing off his continental corsage, belligerently walks towards the watery horizon. Away from the land, with its tight rules! Some diversion in the water, and then it’s back in the chair on the beach, watching the wild sea he will take on again in a little while!
That the inland has a golden city, we only just got this information; we get our ticket handed out at the start: a landing card, and another blind card that depicts one of the four terrain states on the island, or a second landing card.
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Against two identical terrain cards a business house may be built that either has to be placed on a landing spot, or must be connected with another already built business house. These business houses earn little bonuses such as additional terrain cards, but their real value comes when the golden city gets reached. The most succesful trader at the end of the game - obviously having the most trading papers at his disposal - has won.
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Now all seems to turn on the golden city itself, but in fact any location on the island scores one thing or another. At the beginning of each round a card is turned face up that gets scored at the end of the round, so players know beforehand what the stakes are. Such a card could give trading papers for the players that have one or more business houses along the river, or score for the possession of certain wares.
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These wares can be acquired by building a business house on one of the spots that depict the wares symbol - one wares card then may be chosen from a window of three. Yes, it is a thin story line; nonetheless the description of the game becomes more abstract!
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To be allowed to build in the Holiest of Holy of the Golden City, the center, players need a key that the keepers of the city have put quite sloppy and showy - the last word on this is still out, and so these keys can be found near each of the four rivers. It satisfies to build a business house on that spot to claim a key.




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Building a business house in the Golden City earns instant trading papers; some more for the first, a little less for the second player, and nothing for the rest. In the centre the bonuses are forced up to double revenue of trading papers.


















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So, the building materials for a business house are the terrain cards, two of the type of terrain the house will be build on, or just one if it is a landing ccard for building a business house at the coast. At the start of a new round players get two additional terrain cards in a simple bidding. Per player, two cards are turned face up; the start player chooses first and claims one of the sets by placing a hand in his player colour on it.
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The next player in line may choose another or the same set, but has to pay an additional coin if he does claim an already claimed set. Additional, because each time any other player claims any occupied set, he has to pay one more coin than the previous player. This continues until each player has claimed an undisputed set of cards.
The scarce coins can be acquired in dribs and drabs by building a business house on a spot that depicts one or two coins.
When the last card has been scored, or when a player has built all his business houses, the game ends.
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The two terrain cards a player are dealt at the start of the game, can make the difference in getting bonuses or not in the first round, so whether or not a player is able to build a business house on one of the bonus locations from the scoring card. This may not make much of a difference in the course of the game, but it just feels not right when this early bonuses are rewarded solely on luck. Apart from this, bonuses are doubled when a player is the only one qualifying for a bonus. In a game with fairly restricted building possibilities, this feels rather arbitrary as players only get two cards per round; they may pass and save their cards - up to five - for later rounds, but meanwhile they have not built where other players meanwhile may have built on the desired location.
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One needs to get used to terms as trading papers, and not just call them money, and the coins gold; it really does not make a difference so why bother as the thin story line is made up anyway? The ugly trading papers by the way mismatch with a further nice production.

The game plays swift and has not too many difficult choices to make: through the left and the black quarter, or maybe first build a business house in the green area? In the resupply phase a player could claim a pair of identical cards with the risk that he gets overbid; the alternative would be to claim the less wanted set of cards.
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In this way the game continues without too much excitement; it is like a soccer game in which no goals are scored. Towards game end the game has a tendency to become dreary as most locations are already occupied and players have to save cards for ‘their’ desired location. The end condition that the game also ends when a player has no more room to build a business house - having lost the game! - is a bit of a cheap trick that signals a hick up in game mechanics.
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So we can tick off the island on which the Golden City is located from our destination list; we were there, it was nice, the service was good and the people were friendly, but we don’t necessarily need to return there; it is just a matter of more diversion and excitement elsewhere.
© 2009 Richard van Vugt

Die Goldene Stadt, Michael Schacht, Kosmos, 2009 - 3 or 4 players, 10 years and up, 60 minutes


Too little possibilities towards game end
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