Istanbul Review

In Istanbul, the players are competing to be the first to acquire five precious rubies. To do so, they dash around a Turkish bazaar trading goods, coins, and influence. The final round is played when one player gets their fifth ruby. Then, the player with the most rubies wins – with coins breaking any ties.

The market of Istanbul consists of 16 thick cardboard tiles that can be placed in a four by four grid in (almost) any order. Each player gets a merchant disc and a stack of slightly slimmer apprentice discs. Four apprentices go under your merchant and your merchant starts at the fountain.

On each player’s turn, they can move their merchant up to two orthogonal stalls. They may then drop off an apprentice at the stall. If they do, they can take the stall’s action – whether getting goods, gambling, or making trades. On the next turn, the player then picks up his merchant stack – less the apprentice left behind – and moves up to two more spaces. However, if you return to a market stall at which you previously left an apprentice you can also take the action if you pick him back up and add him back into your stack. Part of the game, then, is in planning your route so that you take the action again at the right time, pick up your apprentice, and keep moving.

Of course, there can be times when you didn’t plan right and you find yourself with a lone merchant disc, unable to take the action you want because he has no apprentices to drop off. In that case, it’s best to go to the fountain. That allows you to scoop up all of your apprentices back under your merchant. “OK, guys. If we get separated, then we all meet back at the fountain.”

Istanbul also includes a number of touches that provide not only mechanical variety, but also reinforce the setting. The governor and the smuggler are also milling about the bazaar and if you happen to bump into them at a stall, you can get an additional opportunity from them. The smuggler is especially useful as he provides one of the few ways to get blue goods – jewelry. Blue goods are the most difficult to come by, but they can also be sold for the most at the markets and are critical necessities when exchanging goods for rubies.

You can also visit the local jail where your good-for-nothing brother-in-law resides. A kind word to the warden can get him out on bail and he’ll do an immediate job for you. Of course, if someone else catches him skulking, he’ll go right back to jail. And that person will also get a reward for apprehending him. The space is both thematically enjoyable and mechanically functional. It allows you to take an action that might be clear across the board. And the reward is also a nice touch. Without it, players might not kick the brother-in-law back to jail. After all, if he’s back in jail, you can use him again. But the reward nicely incentivizes that and ensures that the jail is not a one-time-per-game location.

While players must race to acquire five rubies, those gems can be acquired in a number of ways. There are two mosques where you can gain influence and special powers, and getting both special powers from a mosque grants a ruby. Visiting the wainwright to complete your wheelbarrow will bestow a gem. But mostly, rubies are purchased for coins or goods. Notably, each is more expensive in goods or coins than the one before. This causes players to constantly keep an eye on their opponents and whether they are likely to buy a ruby. If someone gets there the turn before you, you better have enough for the increased price.

The game also comes with some preprinted numbers on the stalls so you can create a “short paths” setup for teaching the game, or a “long paths” setup where synergistic stalls are more isolated from one another. Or, more likely, just mix it up and play out an entirely random board.

And the random board is actually what keeps Istanbul interesting. Each game is a little puzzle. What’s the best way to move from here to there? How can I move most efficiently without wasting turns at the fountain? That’s the game. Figuring out the new setup, leaning on old strategies or discovering new ones that work better in a particular encounter. Plus, Istanbul does a great job of managing competition. If the setup seems like it will be easier to trade goods for rubies, then players might try that – until those gems get cleared fast and the price is driven up quickly. Then players must switch to purchasing rubies with coins – or a clever player might have focused on that from the beginning. This self-regulating market is fantastic and makes the game feel organic and player-driven.

Plus, Istanbul does a great job of allowing players to turn coins into goods. The markets readily turn goods into coins. And three of the goods have spaces that will fill to maximum on your cart while coins can be used to get any color – even blue – from the smuggler. Plus, coins also allow you to take actions where another merchant is present and are the tie-breaker at game end if more than one player has five rubies.

Istanbul has the potential to be a great gateway game. The concept is intuitive, the rules are understandable, and the thematic flourishes help to create a simple narrative. The mechanics are interesting and deeper than any mass market game. So the whole package comes together in a way that should delight dedicated and casual gamers alike.

While not every game is for every player, Istanbul will work for more crowds than most. And, for that reason, it should have a place on the shelf of the hobby gamer, as well as in the casual family’s game closet.