Pyramid Review
Silk Road
Published by Z-Man Games
Designed by Ted Cheatham & Bruno Faidutti
Art by Jonny Scull, Patrick McEvoy, Mike Jackson, & Benjamin Barnett
Full-color boxed set with board, six player shields, 75 wooden goods (15 cubes in each of five different colors), 90 action tiles, 45 gold and silver coins, five turn tokens, caravan pawn, caravan leader pawn, cloth bag, & rules; $49.99
Not everyone is Nixon, so not everyone gets to go to China. Maybe if they're Marco Polo, sure . . . or if they're playing Silk Road from Z-Man Games.
The object is to have the most points at the end of the game.
Three to six merchants (players) receive a small stake of money and trade goods, and a shield. That last item is a screen to keep players' possessions a secret, so once underway everyone must rely on memory to recall who has the most coin, and educated guesses to know how dangerous it is to let this player or that get his hands on certain products.
Starting out at Chang'An, a caravan moves across China and Asia to Antioch, haggling as it goes. One player is chosen as its chief for the turn, and he gets the leader pawn and a set of turn tokens. He decides to which city the company travels next. Sometimes there's only one place to go -- little arrows point to available choices -- while other cities allow the team to proceed to multiple locations. The leader also gets first pick of the action tiles in the target metropolis.
Actions are usually . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: January 11, 2008
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