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In Ragusa, players are building the titular city in the 15th century. By strategically placing buildings, they can gain access to resources, produce commodities, manipulate the markets, and trade. They can also build walls and towers to defend the city, earning them points at the end of the game.
The turn-by-turn gameplay will feel instantly familiar to players: place houses between spaces and gain access to the resources or actions that those spaces represent.
But Ragusa has a trick up its sleeve — spaces reactivate the houses around them, whether they belong to you or your competitors. This ensures players are always engaged and gives weight to your choices early in the game.
Meshing worker placement, market manipulation, and hidden objectives, Ragusa is not without its complexity!
Jonathan Bobal
August 9th, 2020This post's average rating is: 5
Ragusa the “Question Review”
I will provide actual scenarios and questions that come up during a game of Ragusa. When reading, think to yourself, “Does this sound awesome, and something I want to partake in?”. If you answer yes, more than no, this is probably a perfect game for you!
• It’s worker placement, but you are placing your houses on the actual map, and taking the 3 actions/resources that surround your worker (which is a house).
o I want this ore, and some wood, but I don’t really want this third action with that spot, so do I go there anyways, or do I go somewhere else to optimize something else I want to do?
• Every action you trigger with a house placement also triggers a chain reaction for every other house that was already placed next to that action.
o Do you like the idea of going to a spot and triggering a huge combo of multiple actions for you and/or your opponents?
• There is resource conversion and efficiency planning
o Do you go and make 2 silver bars with your 2 ore, or do you get more ore first before you take the silver bar conversion action?
o Do you wait for someone else to just trigger your house next to a conversion, or put another one there to even get more if someone else triggers it?
• Market manipulation of the refined goods!
o You don’t just take an action to change the price of goods, you actually have to complete a transaction by selling requested goods to the ships!
o Do you take turns to get goods to sell that will allow you to sell not just for points, but also for the purpose of market manipulation?
o Do you sell to a ship that you don’t really want to just to move the other ship to that spot when they are refreshed and slide down, so you can target a specific item to price drop?
• “Quest Cards”
o They give you something you can focus on, and you can get more during the game with an action in the city!
So, what do you think? Is Ragusa great?