What it is
Century: Spice Road is a light card game, a deck builder about trading. Everyone is a merchant travelling along the spice road, trying to gather the right spices to fill the orders that show up on the table.
There are four spices, from the cheapest to the most precious: turmeric, saffron, cardamom and cinnamon. The cards in your hand are your engine. Some give you spices, others upgrade them into better ones, others trade one group of spices for another. During the game you pick up new cards from a row in the middle, and your engine gets more and more efficient. Every now and then, though, you have to stop for a turn to take back the cards you’ve already played.
Points come from the point cards, which ask for a certain combination of spices and are shared: when someone takes one, it’s gone for everyone else. That’s where the game is played, because everyone is looking at the same orders. When someone reaches a certain number of point cards the game ends, and whoever has the most points wins.
How it plays
It’s easy to teach and it moves fast, but it has its tricks. The first is not to play it head down, thinking only about your own cards. Always keep an eye on what the others are collecting and guess which order they’re going for: if you’re behind by just one turn or one spice, someone else takes that card, and you’re left holding a load you no longer need.
The second is about new cards. When one comes out that fits with the ones you already have, sometimes it’s worth paying a few spices to grab it straight away instead of waiting. By your next turn someone else might have taken it, and your deck won’t run the way it should.
The nugget
Spice Road is the first of three games, and the three are designed to go together: you can combine it two at a time with Eastern Wonders and A New World. I’ve also got A New World at home, and sooner or later I’ll put them together!
At our table
It’s the first in the Century trilogy, and to me it’s a well-made deck builder: easy, and anyone can play it.
How long does Century la Via delle Spezie take?
The box says 30–45 minutes. At our table: 30 minutes at two, 30 minutes at three, 40 minutes at four, 40 minutes at five.
The box
Video tutorial
Show the video tutorials 2 in Italian
Tutorial in italiano di Century Cercatore di Perle ·YouTube
Century: Spice Road - Esempio di gioco moseviero ·YouTube
What deck builder do you never get tired of playing?
The one you bring back to the table even when there are newer ones on the shelf.
