The port city Carthago, capital of the Carthagian republic, was a leading centre of commerce shortly after it's founding by the Phoenicians around 800 BC. The players represent senators who want to increase their wealth and improve their position in the palace. With the help of our servants, we sell and ship goods and buy ourselves into the palace.

The latter is the most important: not the wealthiest player, but the player with the most servants in the palace wins the game. But, since a lot of money is required to enter the palace, he who has the most Talents, in this case referring to the local currency, has a serious advantage.

For example, one can purchase goods from the market, claim a dock by placing two servants, place a captain on a charter ship, move goods from the warehouse to a ship or dock, or place servants in the lighthouse or the temple.

The ship cards indicate which colour good the ship wants to load. When a ship is in a dock with a good of the correct colour, the good is immediately loaded onto the ship. The owner of the dock receives the indicated sum of money, and one trading point. He removes his servants from the dock, and places the ship card in front of him: many ships show a privilege that can be used later in the game.

Instead of loading a good onto a ship, it is also possible to charter a private ship and sell it on an unnamed foreign market. As soon as a good is loaded onto a charter ship, the top card from the stack of ship cards is revealed. The 'danger number' indicated on the card symbolizes the extent of the trouble the charter ship runs into on its journey.

This number has to be lower than or equal to the number of servants in the temple, praying for the ship's safe return. If so, the player receives two trading points, and the indicated sum of money, subtracted by one talent for each servant in the temple. But if the dangers are too grave and the ship perishes, not all is lost: the educational experience is still rewarded with one trading point, and half of the indicated sum of money.

Depending on the chosen action, players may subsequently place a servant in the palace, provided that they can pay the indicated sum of money, and possess the required number of trading points.

When all players have performed five actions the decade is over. The servants on the action cards return to their owners for use in subsequent decades. The income of the players is equal to the number of servants in stock, and the player with the most servants plays first in the new decade. Whoever has the majority of servants in the palace after five decades wins the game!

The sequence of buying goods, selling them for money and trading points, and spending those to place servants in the palace (victory points) has a familiar feeling, and the thematic logical order makes the game easily accessible.

And this is a second disadvantage of the game: each sequence to ship a good takes three actions. Purchasing the good, claiming a dock or charter ship, loading the good. If anything at all goes wrong along the way (not enough money, the correct good is not available, a fellow player is bugging you) and you need additional actions to solve the problems, the whole sequence won't fit into the five actions of a decade. And all servants that are still on the board at the end of a decade do not count for your income!