Boardgame review: Manila (gambling game)

Manila is a game where the goal is to become the most wealthy triad boss by smuggling spices, pirating ships and investing in shares at the black market.

Players: 3 - 5
Age: 10+
Gamelength: ± 60 minutes
Price: ± € 40,- / $ 40,- (varies per country)
Boxsize: 29,5 x 29,5 x 7,0 cm. / 11,6 x 11,6 x 2,8 inches

Every player gets 30 Pesos and 2 random shares of a commodity (Jade, Silk, Nutmeg and Ginseng) at the start of the game.

With the status of harbormaster, obtained through an auction by all players, you can buy a new share and decide what commodities will be transported by the ships. Only 3 out of 4 can be picked, so some players won’t be happy with your choice! Then he can push the ships up to 5 waves (with a total of 9 waves) at the sea routes to their starting position. This way he can influence the journey of the ship. When his preferred ship reaches the harbor, the price of the commodity will rise, and so will his shares.

After the harbormaster has moved the ships, he can put one of his henchmen at one of the empty spots available. He can choose from:

• the transportation-ships
• the harbor
• the docks
• the insurance-company
• the warehouses
• the pirate-ship

The transportation-ships
By putting your henchmen on these ships, you will receive the value of the commodity when it reaches the harbor. You have to share the value with the other triades-henchmen on board.

Harbor and docks
How many ships will make it to the harbor and how many will not? The player has to pay a certain amount to put his henchman on the harbor or docks.
To reach the harbor, the ship has to reach past wave 13. When it does, the player(s) that had the henchmen on the right spots gets paid. Also, the value of the commodity rises on the market.
When a ship doesn’t reach past wave 13, it needs to get repaired. The ship will go to the docks. The player(s) that had the henchmen on the right spots gets paid.
The player(s) that made a wrong bet, get(s) nothing.

Insurance-company
The player that puts his henchman here, get 10 Pesos right away. The downside can be pretty huge: every ship that goes to the docks, has to be repaired. And the insurance-company has to pay this, the costs could be 0, 6, 14 or 29 for 0, 1, 2 or 3 boats at the docks.

Warehouse
The player that has his henchman in the warehouse can push the ships for a total 1 or 2 spots forward or backwards.

Pirate-ship
When a transportation-ship lands exactly on wave 13, and there is a henchman in the pirate-ship, it will either enter or plunder the transportation-ship. After the second turn he may enter a ship when there is an empty spot. After the third turn he can plunder a ship, this means that everyone on that ship is removed from the ship and the pirate will take the ship. The value of ship is entirely for the pirate. Also, he can decide the ship will go to the harbor or the docks.

After this, the harbormaster will throw the dice that are related to the ships. The ships will move as many waves as the number on the dice.

The placement- and dice-round will take place 3 times, after that a new harbormaster will be auctioned for.

The game ends when one of the commodities reaches the 30 Pesos mark.
Each player counts the amount of money and the shares, equal to the value at the black market.
The player with the highest capital wins the game.

Personal opinion:
I want to start with the biggest negative: this game is out of production. Why am I writing a review about it? You can still buy this game online or second-handed. But there is a difference between the 2005-edition and the 2014-reprint. As you can see the pieces are really beautifull: wooden ships and plastic Pesos.. Those are only available in the 2005-edition, in the 2014-reprint they are made of cartboard. This also influences the price, so make sure which edition you buy!

But in my opinion this game is worth the review because it brings entertainment to the table. Frustration and laughter because of the pirates and losing ór gaining the entire cargo. The pirateship is a really cool future, you have to be lucky to be able to enter a ship or plunder a ship but when you do, it’s all worth it, including the bragging rights!

This game is all about calculating your odds: how to get the best bang for your buck. And it changes with every round because there is probably a new harbormaster and the dice won’t do what you’d expected. Or when “your” ship doesn’t make it to the harbor or the docks.
People will say it’s a luck-based game but by calculating the odds correctly, you can become the winner.

The game is best played with 4. With 3 players the rules are a bit changed (4 in stead of 3 henchmen), which can make the game a bit repetitive, my casual-gaming friend complained about this. With 5 there isn’t enough spots with positive odds to use your henchmen. With 4, to me, it was perfect.

Dave

Previous reviews:

Card games:
The Game

Dice games:
Qwixx