Murano the game is set in Murano, a small group of seven islands near Venice that's well-known by tourists for its glassmaking. As in Venice, the islands of Murano are separated by canals, so gondolas and transportation are at the heart of this game.
The game board depicts the islands of Murano, with the islands being divided up into building sites and walkways. Surrounding the islands is a series of action spaces, with gondolas being present in some number of them at the start of play. On a turn, you move one of the gondolas in the direction of play to an empty space, then take the action shown there. You can't pass another gondola while moving or land in an occupied space, but for a coin you can move a gondola that's in front of the gondola you want to move, and you can pay to move multiple gondolas, if needed.
Some actions place shops on the islands, with shops coming in different types. You mark a shop to show ownership, and when tourists show up later, they will shop at various stores depending on their proximity and the goods they offer. You also need to take actions to move your personal gondolas to islands so that you can take actions there.
Why are you doing all of this activity? To score victory point cards in hand, and actions on the board will let you gain additional VP cards to give you direction to your actions or let you profit from what you've already done.
You can also use some of the buildings to create glassworks, and those glassworks come into play on the VP cards, through tourist sales, and via an action space shown at the bottom of the game board image that lets you sell different types of glass for money.
The Complete Edition from 2020 contains Murano: Promo Cards and Murano: The Christmas Tree packaged inside the box and may be found here: Murano: Complete Edition.
- beautiful components and art
- gateway-friendly entry into a puzzle-like game
- engaging set collection and contract system
- puzzle can be challenging for some players
- order restrictions on cards may feel rigid
- glass production, contracts, and color/shape matching
- Murano/Venice glassmaking in the 13th century
- historical puzzle with artistic components
- Calico
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- contracts / income management — fulfilling contracts provides income and scoring opportunities
- hand management — cards come in specific orders, forcing strategic planning
- set collection — players collect glass pieces to fulfill contract cards
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a deck building Adventure
- it's a lot of fun we have a lot of fun with it
- the components are gorgeous
- you know it's a gateway you can really learn it real quick
- it's a really fun game of set collection and work of placement
- paradox everything stops and you lose the points of the tricks
- we had a playthrough of Clank yes we did
- it's a really unique trick-taking experience
References (from this video)
- Deep rondelle implementations
- Strategic tension from blocking/timing actions
- Can be expensive to execute long-term plans
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- rondelle with gondola tokens — Tokens move around a track to perform actions; price increases as you progress.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- actions selection it's a very hard thing to pin down
- there are so many options but some players will find this totally overwhelming
- one of the most ill-defined sort of category of games
- the clever action selection mechanism here relates to the sharing of these dice between the players
- in Dominion a player has their own personal deck of cards
References (from this video)
- Solid, medium-weight Euro with clear tension between goals and resources
- Luck-like elements in token draws can swing outcomes
- Congestion and perceived fairness issues reduce satisfaction
- Gondolas, buildings, and pedestrians with income management
- Private objectives and gondola routes
- Mid-weight euro with tight economic tension
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- income_management — Tight money economy requiring careful planning and pacing
- private_objectives_and_building — Aim for private goals while constructing buildings and pathways
- roundel_and_shared_actions — Rondelle-based movement and shared action economy with potential congestion
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I did like the way that two of these mechanisms synergize with each other.
- the card mechanism did not do it for me and it was enough for me to part with this one
- it's a very smooth game, very definitely fine-tuned
- A series of mini games here are held together through that core tile placement system
- it's a hell of a lot of fun
- the gimmick and the novelty wore off pretty quickly
References (from this video)
- distinct board flow with outer gondola track that defines action economy
- strong push-pull between planning and chaos due to other players' actions
- excellent production quality and clear iconography
- high replayability from many endgame scoring cards and varied island layouts
- good scalability across player counts with dedicated setups for 2-4 players
- random gem bag luck can swing outcomes and feel unrewarding when cards don’t align
- can suffer from 'takanoko syndrome' where some endgame cards line up perfectly with minimal effort
- player interaction is often indirect and can feel frustrating when traffic blocks key actions
- some islands can become congested, requiring expensive moves to navigate
- urban development and trade across floating islands
- Venetian-inspired island city network with gondolas
- abstract/strategic
- Takanoko
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- building acquisition and placement — buy or search for buildings, place adjacent to roads, and place pavement tiles for strategic layout
- gondola movement — move gondolas around the outer track, with the first step free and subsequent steps costing increasingly more money
- income and shop matching — income actions based on shops on islands and matching customers on roads to earn coins
- objective cards and endgame scoring — draw objective cards to guide endgame scoring; placing gondoliers on islands locks in scores for those cards
- resource bag draw and gem trading — draw gems from a bag to match colors on buildings, with options to trade groups of colors for coins
- special buildings and powers — building special buildings grants ongoing powers and potential scoring bonuses; drawing from a special deck to gain unique effects
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this game certainly does feel different to anything else that I've played before
- I think you're going to fall in two camps in this game or whether you're going to like it or not
- I love the flow of money in this game by matching the customers with the shops
- it can become a bit brain burnery at times
- it's just a little bit too wild for me