In Marrakech each player takes the role of a rug salesperson who tries to outwit the competition. Each player starts with an equal amount of money and an equal number of carpets.
On your turn, you may rotate Assam 90 degrees. Then roll the die and move him forward as many spaces as showing (d6: 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4). If Assam reaches the edge of the board, follow the curve and continue moving in the next row. If Assam lands on another player's carpet, you must pay that player 1 coin per square of the contiguous carpet area in that color. Then, you place one of your carpets orthogonally adjacent to Assam (but may not directly overlay another carpet).
The game ends when all players have played all carpets. Each gets 1 coin per visible square of carpet. The player with most coins wins! Tie breaker: most carpet area visible.
- Widely accessible Feld title in a compact footprint
- Good for family and lighter-heavy players
- Falls between lighter abstracts and heavier Feld titles
- Some players prefer more thematic depth
- Tile placement and route-building through a city market
- Moroccan bazaar-style market
- Mechanistic with spatial puzzle
- Gallerist
- Castles of Burgundy
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area_control_and_control_points — Position influences to score based on market sections.
- tile_placement — Arrange tiles to construct market paths and earning opportunities.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- there are hundreds and hundreds of board games he has set up, alphabetically the way they were organized was unbelievable
- The Gamers Ranch... Bland, Missouri... you ain't got to bring a game, there are hundreds of games here
- Inventions... the board is laid out in such a way that it's one of those I'm not even trying to explain what it is
- Terminus... the heaviest game that Vital has asked to play, and it's going to come out on Kickstarter in June
- karaoke night... a lot of show tunes... it was amazing
- shrimp and grits was amazing, but the texture was surprising; grits look gross but taste good
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice drafting / tower interaction — Drafting and dropping cubes into a central tower; multi-use actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "Adam experience at The Gamers Ranch"
- "we played 18 games this weekend"
- "it's heavy but we loved it"
- "I won Vienna; I love this game"
References (from this video)
- Central decision to adapt playing space
- Meaningful directional choices
- Elegant integration of roll and move with spatial strategy
- Rug placement, trading
- Moroccan marketplace
- abstract
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- directional movement — Players choose direction (straight, left 90°, right 90°) before rolling dice
- roll and move — Directional choice before rolling, moving shared pawn Assam on grid-based board
- Rug Placement — Players layer rugs on board to create connected areas, opposing players pay coins for landing on rugs
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Where once randomness ruled modern games prioritized player agency designers strived to incorporate meaningful decisions into their games and role and move became a dirty word among the modern tabletop community
- I myself put out a video called dicer not the answer back in 2017 one of my most watched lamenting role and move
- In 2022 i feel like maybe just maybe we've tipped too far in the other direction thrown the baby out with the bath water
- This video is a quest for redemption
- When done well roller move is one of the most intuitive exciting mechanisms out there
- In a pure roll and move game the player rolls a die or spins a spinner and moves their playing piece according to the result
- In talisman you roll the die and then you choose to move clockwise or anticlockwise around the board that one deviation from the purest role of move games the decision to go left or right immediately put talisman head and shoulders above most board games on the market at the time
- Hero quest showcases the strength of the roller move mechanism its elegant simplicity and the excitement of a successful role outrunning an ogre
- It can be really frustrating to lose a long game which you were totally invested in purely because you rolled badly
- Spooky stairs is a great example of a game where the roll and move mechanism itself isn't tampered with but the basic race mechanism is turned on its head by incorporating a chaotic memory mechanism
- This game beautifully highlights the intuitive nature of roll and move as a mechanism
- More than any other on this list this game demonstrates how such a simple mechanism can create agonizing decisions and a hugely interactive variable board game experience I can't recommend this one enough
- Roll and move games don't have to be devoid of meaningful choices
- Formula d has a great roll and move mechanism which i haven't seen replicated in any other game
- Push your luck and roll and move complement each other nicely
- Among hobby gamers roll a move is widely considered something of an untouchable mechanism in 2022 and that's a shame
- Roll and move isn't a cursed mechanism
- Like every mechanism roller move has strengths and weaknesses
- It can be used effectively to create an exciting intuitive system or it can be used ineffectively to create a wildly random experience which feels primitive and unfair
References (from this video)
- appeal of Marrakech family weighting
- easy to show in demos
- not described in depth
- market trading and city building
- demo session
- economic/resource management
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- set collection — gathering sets for points
- tile placement — tiles placed to acquire routes or buildings
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's the board game convention about 300 people
- click that that's that that's the point that makes it worthwhile
- obviously without you gridcon can't happen
- it's the financial contributions of my Patron supporters which are actually contributing not to gridcon they're contributing to me keeping the channel going
- Beck gave up her weekend to basically come and help support the event
- we raised four thousand five hundred and five pounds actually
- grid con 4 as I mentioned earlier on we're hoping to announce the dates for that early next year
References (from this video)
- Tightly designed, fast rounds
- Presents a satisfying puzzle in a compact package
- Some players may find it repetitive after multiple plays
- area control, pattern building
- Marketplace city vibes in a North-African-inspired setting
- abstract
- Alhambra
- Kingdom Builder
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- tile placement — Players place tiles to create routes and score points.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's a Twist y'all it's a Twist.
- I am the librarian custodian of our game.
- Need some help, I can help you.
- We gotta match Creature Comforts for me too.
- Ding, ding—we're matching our creature comforts.
- The heart of the episode... we're going to talk about relationships and board games.
References (from this video)
- tight, quick two-player engine
- clever carpet placement mechanic
- pacing supports tense decision moments
- thematic setup may feel abstract to some
- interaction is indirect but sharp
- tactical resource placement and route control
- carpet merchants in a market town
- thematic flavor via carpet trades
- Seven Wonders Duels
- Splendor (duel variants)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area control / area majority — players compete to control lucrative market spaces via carpets
- card/resource placement with penalties — placing carpets affects future moves and punishes over-extension
- roll-and-move with choice — you roll and decide where to move to begin your action, with strategic choices
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's definitely on my top 10 of the year
- two-player editions by Bruno Cathala kill it
- it's so good
- this is one of my all-time favorite
- it's really smart; the three win conditions were a big perk
References (from this video)
- Feld pedigree and fresh take on cube tower
- Simultaneous play and thematic weight
- High price mentioned in discussion; may deter some buyers
- cultural/trade-focused urban development
- City-building in a cube-tower style environment
- reimagined classical euro
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cube_tower — Cube tower mechanic with simultaneous, secret action selection.
- simultaneous_action_selection — Players secretly choose colored cylinders and reveal them to perform actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the publisher track record is appealing
- this could be a big big hit
- something with a bit more of an edge a bit more cutting like this does appeal to me
- this is going to be a big production