Collection Status
Your Rating
Description
In Genoa (originally published as The Traders of Genoa), players take the part of Renaissance traders, moving about the city acquiring goods and filling orders for goods. Messages need to be delivered and privileges obtained. Of course, none of this can be accomplished on one's own. Much negotiation and deal-making is the order of the day in an effort to become the richest deal-maker in Genoa. Flexible rules allow for negotiating almost everything in the game.
The Traders of Genoa version of this game is #6 in the Alea big box series.
Year Published
2001
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment:
pos 4 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video vMRWkVcjSlc
Unknown Channel game_review at 0:26 sentiment: positive
video_pk 9528 · mention_pk 28182
Click to watch at 0:26
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Engaging trading and bluffing dynamics
- Good player interaction and negotiation
- Rulebook with images and examples
- Nice production quality
- Fun with more players
- Clear, well-illustrated setup and reference rules
- Dynamic tension from merchant movement and offers
- Balanced mix of luck (dice) and strategy (negotiation and building)
Cons
- Loud at times during negotiation
- Mood-dependent; not ideal for casual or small groups
- Optimal experience with a larger number of players
- Can feel punishing if you get short on duckets early
- Rule depth can be intimidating for first-timers
- Turn-by-turn pacing can slow down with heavy negotiation
Thematic elements
- Merchant trade, delivery contracts, and city-building
- The port city of Genoa during the medieval mercantile era
- Economic negotiation with bluffing and interaction around a central merchant mechanic
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Building adjacency and end-game bonuses — Owning adjacent buildings yields bonuses; higher end-game duckets when buildings are owned.
- Card-driven objectives and deliveries — Each player holds objective cards; delivering required items to marked locations grants duckets.
- City-building and map economy — Acquiring buildings adjacent to each other creates synergies and end-game value.
- Contract and order management — Orders can be larger (three items) or smaller (one item) and influence strategic planning.
- Dice-driven merchant movement — Two eight-sided dice determine the starting merchant location; a limited number of moves per turn with discs left behind.
- End-game scoring via duckets — Most duckets wins; additional points come from orders and building ownership.
- Market tiles and special actions — Five special tiles grant extra actions, trades, or substitutions.
- Messenger and delivery routes — Certain cards allow delivering items via a messenger to specific locations for rewards.
- Negotiation and bidding — Players bid duckets or offers to influence merchant movement or actions in buildings.
- Resource and tokens management — Duckets, wood discs, and market tokens are tracked to perform actions and scoring.
- three-phase turn structure — Each round has starting location, movement/actions, and building acquisition phases.
- turn-based action economy — Players perform one action per turn; the merchant's location governs available actions.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I think this game is best played with more players
- this game is a fun strategy game with some good trading elements and a whole lot of bluffing
- the rule book is nice with images and examples
- production quality is good
- we enjoyed it
- we're giving it a 7 on 10
- it's a fun strategy game with some good trading elements and a whole lot of bluffing
- you can trade it in for any Goods you want
- the cards you get are your objectives and you deliver to specific locations
- the coach tile and other special tiles add interesting twists
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video _rWPdy6-EUU
The Secret Cabal top_50_list at 10:26 sentiment: positive
video_pk 8178 · mention_pk 24033
Click to watch at 10:26
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- innovative action-selection via wheel and tower
- thematic depth of wheeling and dealing
- engaging player interaction and negotiation
Cons
- older design may have a steeper learning curve for newcomers
Thematic elements
- wheel-and-deal, bribery, and negotiation
- Genoa, a mercantile Italian city-state
- economic intrigue
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action spaces — actions are resolved where the tower is positioned and where disks are left behind
- Bribery — players can influence moves by offering or accepting bribes
- wheel-and-deal — move a central Tower of disks to access actions; leaving a disk behind as you move
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's just a wonderful deck building game with fantastic artwork thematically and replayability
- Core Worlds is one of my favorite deck building games of all time
- the board is gorgeous the territories the way they're laid out it just makes for well-done territory control
- I love the card building concept in these games this one and blood rage as well you buy your monsters and your monsters for the game
- Defenders of the Realm fantastic cooperative game you can't miss with this one plus it's got Larry Elmore art gives me that nostalgic feeling of Dungeons and Dragons in the 80s it's gorgeous
- it's such a cool territory control game and these trilogy uses the cube tower for combat
- combat what I love about the combat is the fact that it feels like medieval warfare because it takes a long time
- it's a very cool war game
- Terraforming Mars fantastic game
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video uKNM5tNYTyg
Jamie's Board Game Channel game_review at 3:04 sentiment: positive
video_pk 3961 · mention_pk 11564
Click to watch at 3:04
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Innovative movement mechanism
- Deep negotiation
- Modern feeling design
Cons
- Requires negotiation-friendly group
Thematic elements
- Resource Management
- Medieval Trading City
- Economic Negotiation
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- negotiation — Players bid and trade action permissions
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm gonna be talking about older games
- Games you may have forgotten about
- Could have been designed yesterday
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video SkNAZ409DrY
Foster the Meeples general_discussion at 2:18:42 sentiment: positive
video_pk 2007 · mention_pk 5709
Click to watch at 2:18:42
Overall sentiment (raw)
neutral_to_positive
Pros
- deep strategic planning with satisfying long-term payoff
- excellent classic Euro with strong tension in bidding and expansion
Cons
- heavy and can be intimidating for newcomers
- requires careful rule study to optimize early decisions
Thematic elements
- infrastructure expansion and resource management
- electric grid economy; power production
- serious euro-style economic planning
Comparison games
- Agricola
- Terraforming Mars
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- auction/bidding — players bid on power plants to acquire capacity and fuel contracts.
- network/grid building — players connect cities using a map network while balancing fuel costs.
- Resource management — fuel and resource usage drive efficiency and scoring.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a mean game.
- We are playing Perch, everybody.
- Zip, zap, Zork.
- Are Jeff and I on the same wavelength?
- We are going nuts for donuts.
- Tinder blocks and barbecubes!
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–4 of 4