Archipelago — board game details

About the game

What is Archipelago

In Archipelago, players are Renaissance European powers competing in the exploration of a Pacific or Caribbean archipelago. They will explore territories, harvest resources, use those resources in markets both internal (for their use and that of the natives) and foreign (to sell it in Europe), build markets, harbors, cities and temples, and negotiate among themselves (and maybe betray each other) – all this to complete their secret objectives. They will also need to guess the secret objective of the other players to be able to benefit from them.

But players also need to be careful of the natives; if they make them too unhappy or if too many of them are unoccupied, they could revolt and declare independence. Then everyone will lose!

According to the author, what he's tried to create is a "German" economic worker-placement game, but without the two things he dislikes in them: the superficial theme and the lack of interaction. Indeed this game includes a very present theme and a lot of negotiation and potential backstabbing.

The game includes three sets of objectives, enabling players to choose between a short, medium and a long game. Solo play is also possible with an expansion.

Specs

Game details

Players: 2–5
Age: +14
Duration: 240 min
Difficulty: Heavy
Type: Board game
Year: 2012
Mechanics: Area Majority / Influence · Auction: Sealed Bid · Auction / Bidding
Categories: Civilization · Economic · Exploration
Designer: Christophe Boelinger
Publisher: Asmodee · Ludically

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Community data

Archipelago on Meeplay

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142Plays logged

27Own it in their collection

7.6Average rating

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Reviews

What the community says about Archipelago

D

David_Trovador9.6/10

Juegazo juegazo MAYUSCULO, de los mejores de gestión de recursos/acciones! Parece un eurogame pero tiene elementos de otros juegos. Muchísima variedad, bastantes cosas que recordar y muchas opciones en tu turno, pero todas ellas basadas en reglas sencillas e intuitivas. El arte gráfico muy bueno, varias partidas de 2 a 4 y una a 5 jugadores, que me han dejado encantado y reafirmando que es un diseño de juego sublime! Una de ellas con semi-jugones. Escala bien, y la duración pues es muy variable, pues depende de que se cumpla uno de los objetivos de fin de partida. A 5 jugadores no lo recomiend