Merchants of Amsterdam

1. Merchants of Amsterdam Norman Chootong Jordan Komoda Minh La Boston Mak

3. Basic Gameplay Primary Objective: Obtain the most money Secondary Objectives: Occupy the most warehouses Occupy the most trade outposts Advance the most commodities

4. Formal Elements Boston flipping the table Money Borrowing Chip Card Pile Player Chips (5 Colors) Mayor Chip Auction Chip Discard Chip Auction Timer Board Pawn

5. Harmonic Elements Historical plot (journey through Amsterdam’s history) Trading systems Timestamped events Aesthetical Amsterdam old-fashioned theme Rounds/Turns Troll-bidding

6. Dynamic Elements Board-blocking Troll bidding Board-specializing Macromanagement and financial planning Psychological warfare Monopolizing

7. Critiques

8. Mechanics Solid Mechanics, despite ambiguous/vague rules Although solid, mechanics are overwhelming No initial strategies

9. Critique (cont) Player Satisfaction Very slow-paced Kept track of too many items Ridiculously complicated, vague rules Auction timer* was the most exciting element

10. Critique (cont) Difficulty Very slow-paced beginning Directions are way too long/complicated Could barely follow through the game Lots of elements/rules/pieces

11. Critique of the Game /10 pts Mechanics Fun Difficulty Norman 8 2 10 Jordan 7.5 2.5 11 Minh 8 4.5 9 Boston 8 4 >9000* * Boston read/coordinated rules

12. Mid-Game

13. Results Norman - 1980 Minh - 1960 Boston - 1860 Jordan - 1850

14. Analysis Unexpected outcome - in-game leaders did not correlate with post-game results In-game leader strategy - spend money to dominate the board Winning strategy - conserve money, play safe

15. Team Rocket’s Meta-critic 4.2