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Game Preview: SPIEL 2016 — Sail Away, or Carry Me and My Coconuts on the Waves

Game Preview: SPIEL 2016 — Sail Away, or Carry Me and My Coconuts on the Waves
Board Game: Sail Away
Marc André nearly took home the Spiel des Jahres award in 2014 for Splendor, a quick-playing game in which players collect gem tokens to purchase cards and (eventually) impress nobles with their varied collection of cards. (Yes, it's possible to write about Splendor in a thematic manner, but I think this is about as far as most people take it.)

André's Barony, released in 2015, features gameplay similar to Splendor in that players take one tiny action each turn, with those actions eventually piling up into something measurable.

Now in 2016, the German branch of Mattel plans to release a new André design — Sail Away — at SPIEL 2016, and once again this game features tiny actions that slowly build to something bigger, with players this time trying to move resources off of tropical islands in order to fulfill contracts for ships, with each filled ship then providing a bonus of some sort. Be sure to watch for the trio of pirates that you can hire each round as if your opponents aren't careful, you can earn more money from them than from anything else...

Board Game: Sail Away
Set-up for a four-player game


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