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Die Säulen von Venedig (Pillars of Venice)
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Finally there are three profession cards with which a player can speculate. All three function more or less the same. With the speculator, from three player and up in the game, a player hopes that some other player will play an architect; if so, he advances 6 points on the score track. The inventor (from four players) gambles on the presencce of a tar worker, and the trader (from four players and up into play) on the councillor. In any of these cases 6 points may be added, if the speculation proved to be right. At the end of a round the starting player only moves to the right if a councillor or architect has been played.

The rules are simple, the game is explained in no time, so it has a low entry level that however is disproportionate to the high level it can be played on. In a first game, at start all goes in an orderly fashion: poles are placed, each player builds in his own corner, and noone really bothers another. But within a few turns this changes quickly. The game has more to it than the linear placing poles, taking and building city tiles: the spy enables a player to search the hand of another player of which is known he has one of the speculator cards. The spy now only has to take a glance on the table to see whether the role in question has been played to earn the 6 points for it. This makes it necessary to remind which cards are with which player. The beggar too can gamble on the play of any of the speculator cards: he only has to copy it to also qualify for the 6 points.
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Marker discs can be used to guard and allocate the placed poles, but can also be used to be placed between the poles of others to earn points when they get build on. Hard lines on a player, when the lawyer gets played and the marker gets build on without earning the points for it.

A player has a very slim chance to stay very long in the position of gondolier, moreover because the gondolier card shifts to the next player. Hopefully this next player has other things to consider than to enter the gondola. This is one consideration, another one is when to play the gondolier card: when being the starting player or the one left from him, as in this way the card has the most effect if their is much building, preferably next to the Canal Grande, in the current round.

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And the profession cards can be held, so other players can not use or benefit from them. Especially towards the end, when the poles get scarce, players who are behind in points may decide to keeep those cards and try to make points in other ways to link to the pole position. Playing the saboteur instead creates new free spots that otherwise would need the tar worker card and the placing of what might as well be the last pole. The spy and the beggar are by their strength very desirable cards; each starting player will want to draw from a players hand in which he knows or suspects such a card.
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Through the use of these cards, and the accompanying considerations, ‘Die Säulen von Venedig’ raises from the average family game. The atmosphere around the table is fine, there is the necessary interaction, the gut feeling plays a part, and the straigthforward planner also gets his share. The game can be played with two players, but wins considerably in both fun and interaction when played with four or even more players. The game looks really nice with the gondola being an additional feature that was not physically needed for the game, but hey, we want atmosphere in a game, and Goldsieber kindly delivered, knowing what we players want.
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So there is enough atmosphere in the game, but on a reality level noone should bring the city map of Venice and compare it with the mapboard as he will not find any resemblance. We don’t need that kind of reality, we only want a good game, and with ‘Die Säulen von Venedig’ we definitely got one!
© 2007 Richard van Vugt

Die Säulen von Venedig, Christian Fiore & Knut Happel, Goldsieber, 2006 - 2 to 6 players, 10 years and up, 45 to 60 minutes

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