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Rating 9/10 after 5+ plays
by Franz-Benno Delonge
art Victor Boden
publish Zoch / Rio Grande
players: 3-5
duration: 60 minutes
type: medium board game
PACE: QUICK. The nice thing about this game is once you get past the rather overwritten rules, you discover a quick exciting game. On your turn, plop down one of your workers into one of the possible job options and pay for the placement.
COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM. Like I said above, the rules are very hard to wade through, but the game is actually not all that hard...I can teach it in less than 5 minutes. All you do is plo workers down, and the only tricky part is learning what benefits each job has. Though the game is lucky, it is very tricky to play well, and so, despite its ease of play, I'll slap the "Mediumweight" label on it.
LUCK: HIGH. Or should I say "Absolutely"? The boats move by dice, and nearly everything else depends on the movement of boats. But there are a lot of things to consider, and several mitigators that give the players a sense (illusion?) of control. Still, this is a gamblers game.
TENSION: MEDIUM. Trying to make each of your workers count is tricky, and those dice rolls are what stand in the way of your planning all working out. It gels nicely.
CONFLICT: MEDIUM. The player who has the role of Harbormaster can give certain boats head starts, and the pilots can slow down or speed up the boats, and the pirates are always set to plunder. All this allows for some measure of hosage.
VISUALS: EXCELLENT. From the colorful riverland and well-depicted worker spaces, to the chunky plastic coins and the shipping boats, this game just drips with excellent production. Score another one for Zoch!
THEME: HIGH. It is, at heart, a gambling game (only no real money to lose) but only because the game does an excellent job of capturing the idea of shipping goods through treacherous rivers aboard old boats. Every machanic in the game is well chosen and fits very well, from the bumbling pirates, to the shipyard workers, to the insurance agent!
PLAYERS: Best 4-5p. With 3 players, and 3 slots for workers on the boats, too often the pawns go 1-2-3 from each player taking much of the tension out of the game. This game deserves to have 4 or 5 players at which point it shines as everyone tried to find income from jobs around the board.
GAMER APPEAL: PROBABLY. As long as everyone understands this is a gambling game with player actions, and likes that type (think Royal Turf on steroids), this will be a home run.
CASUAL GAMER APPEAL: PROBABLY. This game won't work with little kids because they won't understand how to work everything together to make money, but adults and older kids should love this game.
REPLAY: High. I just don't get tired of playing this game. It's short and light, and has a tremendous payoff of enjoyment, despite of (and partly due to) the luck in the game.
My 2 cents | This game looks fantatic, about what you'd expect from Zoch, but looks can be deceiving (I'm not a fan of the equally lavish Niagara from the same company). But looks don't deceive here. Manila is a fun, wild ride that does a great job of packaging an exciting and interesting game around what is essentially a die-rolling mechanic. Yeah, I know, I criticize American games for their heavy dependence on dice, but let me tell you, it's all in how you use the dice. And Mr Delonge has used the dice well in the fantastic game.