This ship is very small, THIS ship is far away

Constonopolos is the grown up cousin of Puerto Rico. Bohemian and edgy, what Puerto Rico wishes it could be

If you’ve played Puerto Rico you’ll be in familiar territory. It’s worker placementy but with a different cock blockery. If you haven’t played Puerto Rico you’ve missed out on a classic game and should get thee to a game shop and try it.

Constantinopolis is a five player game that in theory can be played in 90 minutes, by a silent order of monks on speed who have spent the last several years learning the rules. Our group didn’t tick any of those boxes. I refuse to be drawn on how long it took to play out and I ask the jury to disregard any evidence they may have heard

The game plays out over ten turns in which a number of sub steps happen. The first is like Puerto Rico where you pick a role however in this case roles are bid on so it’s very possible to force others into overpaying

Buildings are bought which come in a variety of forms and functions. Resource producing, ones you cash in resources for money and fame (the games score), ones that give you a few extra swapping abilities or cost reduction. Ones that score you bonus points at the end

Key to the game as well are contracts which are drawn in various quantities and take the form of supply this or that resource or transport this person. In what you wonder. In ships of various sizes I say which you previously purchased.

Each turn ships are loaded and launched with contract goods and previously launched ships move closer to harbor and payment in fame and money

There are half a dozen ways of scoring fame and money and no foolproof strategy to secure victory. It’s fast (ha) and scoring is close from start to finish which I really like.

I got to play this game a few months back and was instantly hooked. I acquired a copy of it soon after as a swapse. My copy was in German but it’s multilingual and all icon driven. We as per tradition got a few rules wrong but not enough to effect our evenings entertainment.

I prefer this game to Puerto Rico and I’m a big fan of Puerto Rico so I highly recommend it. If you only buy one worker placement Puerto Rico type game this year make sure it’s Constantinopolis

I’ll be wheeling it out at brocon if you want to take it for a test drive

Huzzah!

Vic