Description

Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqpo0kTN6Y0&t=482s

NB: This is the nicer version of Century Spice Road with better art and plastic gems instead of wooden cubes but is NOT compatible with Century New World and Century Eastern Wonders game. Century Golem edition cards have identical card values but are not compatible due to the difference in coloured gems used in that game. Please see my Century Spice Road review below:

Century Spice Road is a 45 minute light strategy game for 2-5 players where players are spice merchants trying to gain prestige by collecting and trading 1-4 types of spices with the aim of meeting contracts that provide honor. Each turn, players choose from the 4 available actions of taking a trading card from a central market, using a trading card to gain or convert spices from one type to another, complete a contract card by turning in the stipulated number of spices, or taking back all used cards into their hand. The game ends when 1 player has completed 5 contract cards. The game combines with Century New World and Century Eastern Wonders separately to form a long and complex eurogame.

Century Spice Road plays like trading spice merchants that are looking over their shoulder at other (gem) merchants like jealous girlfriends. There is some outrage, some insecurity, but also some desire to flatter in the form of imitation.

The best part of Century Spice Road is figuring out which opponent are in position for which contracts. Given that the top contract awards extra prestige points, players want to either fulfill the top contract before anyone else, or prepare their inventory for the subsequent contract, so that they have one hand on the contract card that come with extra points.

The worst part of Century Spice Road is not being able to get the right spice conversion cards from the market in hand early, and being stuck trying to get more cards even when other players have built up an self-sustaining engine of trading, resting, and fulfilling contracts on their turns.

While Splendor is the game both mechanically and thematically compared to Century Spice Road, Gizmos, Wingspan, Imaginarium, Dice Forge, Century Eastern Wonders, and Century New World are all very similar light engine building games that play in about the same time. For a longer and more complex engine building experience, Race for the Galaxy, New Frontiers, Terra Mystica, and Gaia Project are excellent choices that combine engine building with other mechanics such as hand management and area control.

Card Size

94 70x120mm cards