Javier B
United States
Ohio
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Masters of Venice is a game of selling and buying commodities and trying to make your stocks multiply their value.
The components are quite nice: the design is impeccable, and the illustration work is gorgeous. There is a nice glossy quality to the cards and the board itself that brings out the visual quality of the illustrations. The use of pegs that go into the holes in the shop boards is successful, containing a lot of information in a small space. I must admit that, at first, I did not find the plastic pegs (and the plastic pawns) aesthetically pleasing; once everything was set up on the board, however, it all looks terrific. The rest of the components, like the Gondola pawn, the dials, and the character cards are all visually satisfying as well.
The instructions are not overly complicated, and, in fact, they really try to make it feel like it's not an overtly complex game; however, even though they do a great job of explaining the details, one can feel a little lost about the big picture. If you are the kind of person who sits down and reads the instructions up to down before playing, this should not be a problem; if you just half read them (like I do) and jump to play, the game will make sense once you go through an entire game. I believe there is a printable sheet that summarizes the action; printing it could be a wise decision.
The gameplay seems a little daunting at first, but after a while things do fall into place. Basically, you want to buy shop stocks cheap and either sell them when they are expensive or hold on to them to get victory points. At the same time, you are collecting resources at different locations (docks, shipping offices, market), which you can sell (for cash) or deliver them (satisfying the requests from the Guild Order cards) to the Guild Hall. Resources prices go up when they are sold, delivered or bought; they go down when placed on the board. Stocks go up when you deliver goods to the Guild Hall, when you buy more stocks or when you sell resources at a shop; stocks prices fall when someone sells a stock.
In addition to this, there are six different characters in the game, each one with a different ability: The Gondolieri, The Guild Master, Harbor Master, Tax Collector, Thief and Trader. There are 4 bidding phases in which the players bid for turn order and which character they would be for the next 3 rounds. There are also different locations where actions take place. So basically, what you have is a lot of options in your turn but only twelve turns in your hand. When a player uses certain locations (like the Stock Market) all players can use them as well (even if they did not move their pawn there), whereas other locations are not shared. This allows the players some flexibility, being able to carry more then one action per turn, which is rather useful given the limited number of turns.
The game is for 2 to 5 players. Is it fun with 2 players? I say, yes it is. Unlike other games like Pillars of the Earth in which 2 player means more options, in Masters of Venice the 2 player game is pretty tight. This means picking a couple strategies and sticking with them since there is not much time to change gears in the middle of the game. Nonetheless, I found the 2-player experience satisfying; in fact, a two player game can be full of drama.
In conclusion, Masters of Venice is a well-balanced game: actions create chains of effects, and what you do affects everything. This makes the game feel very well integrated. Despite the fact that the players never trade between each other, there is a decent amount of interaction, and it does not feel like each person is playing solitaire. The box does say "ages 15 and up," and I would certainly not try to play it with an 11 year old. Nor would I open it when my mom is visiting. Masters of Venice is a game worth playing, but perhaps not worth explaining to someone who will just play it once—also, I cannot conceive that someone who has not played it before could win (or get close to winning). In any case, I think the game is worthy of the time spent learning to play it. Besides, for $35 you get a lot for your buck.
  
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Mitch Willis
United States
Kathleen
Georgia
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Nice review. This is one I'll definitely be picking up, but the distribution of this game seems sort of strange. I've read where several FLGS have it in stock (one as early as last Friday) but I've only seen one on-line retailer (Coolstuffinc) here in the states list it as available. The other on-line sites have it listed as either for pre-order or as out-of-stock. If you don't mind my asking, did you pick this one up at a local store? Thanks...
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Javier B
United States
Ohio
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I've been looking at this game for awhile on the internet and thought it sounded interesting. I live in NYC and was visiting the Compleat Strategist and saw it there and decided to pick it up. Definitely worth it, it's a very good game and I can't wait to play it again. I really can't believe how inexpensive it was compared to other games.
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Claudine Finlay
United States
Herriman
Utah
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boardgamerevolution shows it as being in-stock
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Brian Cherry
Canada
North Bay
Ontario
Obligitory Smart-Ass Comment Here
Shhhhhhhh!
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This weekend and my FLGS is the first time I heard about this game. I thought I better do some research before picking it up. Now, I'm starting to wish I had taken the leap.
thanks for the review
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Robert Ramirez
United States
San Antonio
Texas
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Thanks for the review.... anyone else thinking of writing a review? I just would like to hear more about the 4 and 5 player games.
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Mitch Willis
United States
Kathleen
Georgia
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r3gamer wrote: Thanks for the review.... anyone else thinking of writing a review? I just would like to hear more about the 4 and 5 player games.
I'll probably do a review (unless a lot more are written beforehand) before too long, after I've played the game a couple more times. We played for the first time this past Friday and we had 4 players. Like the reviewer stated, the rules did seem a bit daunting to begin with and we were scratching our heads for the the first third of the game...but then the light switched on and we began to get the hang of it. We had a very tight finish but I think our scores were fairly low (probably due to the fact that we weren't sure what we were doing to begin with). There's a lot going on in this game and my initial impression is that this game has a lot of promise, but I'll need to play some more to get a better idea. We got a couple of rules wrong but the designer was very prompt in answering my queries and hopefully we'll get it back to the table very soon...
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Great review! I picked this game up today based on your remarks, the really ridiculously well-done components and artwork, and the fact that it was 8 dollars at Barnes and Noble.
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