Feld continua a proporre al pubblico di appassionati un altro german family oriented, in grado di coniugare aspetti gestionali tipicamente europei con quel pizzico di azzardo e mancanza di controllo che lo rendono entusiasmante e rigiocabile. La meccanica (astratta) della produzione risorse è sicuramente l'impianto più interessante (e originale) per il resto un ottimo prodotto, non troppo complesso, moderatamente contenuto nei tempi e discretamente profondo. Niente di eccezionale si intende. Come detto però è più family oriented tra il parco titoli di Stefan perchè alcune carte permettono delle combo abbastanza pesanti, aspetto che i gamers esigenti solitamente non tollerano. Ma tenete sempre a mente a che tipologia di mercato si rivolge. Per giocatori più inclini al controllo c'è sempre l'Anno del Dragone, mentre Notre-Dame resta sempre il mio preferito, a patto di sistemare quel difettino delle carte passate sempre dal giocatore a fianco che di fatto condiziona le tue scelte...
Ah dimenticavo la qualità dell'Alea. Assumere almeno un grafico no?
At the end of the 17th century, Macao – the mysterious port city on the southern coast of China – is a Portuguese trading post in the Far East. The players take on the role of energetic and daring adventurers. Many exciting tasks and challenges await the players, whether they are a captain, governor, craftsman, or scholar. Those who chose the wisest course of action and have the best overall strategy will earn the most prestige at the end.
Macao lasts twelve rounds, and in each round players select one new card from a display specific to that round, two of which were revealed at the start of the game and others that were revealed only at the start of the round. The deck of 96 cards includes all sorts of special abilities, with the more powerful actions costing more resources to put into play.
One player rolls six different-colored dice, then each player selects two of those dice (possibly the same ones chosen by opponents), then places cubes equal to the number and color of the two dice on a personalized "ship's wheel." For example, if a player chooses the blue die that shows a 5, he places five blue cubes on the ship's wheel position five spots away from the current round. (A player can never claim more cubes than the number of remaining rounds).
Players rotate their ship's wheels each round, then use the cubes available to them in that round to perform various actions: activating cards selected in that round or earlier rounds, buying city quarters and collecting the goods located there, moving that player's ship around Europe to deliver those goods, acquiring gold coins, taking special actions with card previously activated, and advancing on a turn order track.
Players score points by delivering goods, paying gold coins, using the powers on their cards, and building in Macao. Whoever has the most points at the end of twelve rounds wins.
Macao is number 13 in the alea big box series, with an estimated difficulty on the alea scale of 6/10.
- Macao
