New Game Round-up: Passing Trains, Dominating New Species, and Developing De Vulgari Eloquentia

In the age of exploration, the players arrive at a new home far away from their homeland. They try to colonize the big island, and each player tries to explore one part of it by placing landscape tiles. Landscape tiles grant resources and those are used to erect buildings with special abilities. Barriers on the island have to be removed in order to explore the island even further. Players build valuable statues and supply ships get them the supplies from the old world they need to be a successful settler on Cooper Island.

The special thing about Cooper Island is the way the players mark their victory points. They take small ship markers around the island to show their progress. On their way around the island, they find smaller islands on shore that grant valuable benefits. After six rounds, a game of Cooper Island ends and the player who developed the best and went on furthest with their ships will win.

Italy, late Middle Ages: The fabric merchants need to write down their contracts in a language that everyone can understand, and the literates are looking for an alternative to the elite of the traditional Latin language, so the Volgare, the language spoken by the common people, taken from the dialects spoken in the various Italian regions, starts to gain relevance. During this period, Francesco D'Assisi writes his famous Canticle of the Sun and Dante writes the Divine Comedy, both written in Volgare.

In De Vulgari Eloquentia, players have to do their part in the creation of this new language! But who will provide them the proper knowledge to understand the manuscripts in the different dialects? Who will successfully uncover the secrets of the books inside the Papal Library? Who will embrace the religious life, and who will remain a merchant? Some of the players can become a famous banker, someone else can climb the church's hierarchy to be the next Pope! But in the end, who will be the most appreciated and respected for their status and culture?

The aim of the game is to obtain more Volgare points. The players gain VP from reading manuscripts and looking for important documents like the Canticle of the Sun or "The Riddle from Verona". Players can also gain VP by improving their social status, for example, if the merchant becomes a banker or the Friar becomes a Benedictine Monk or the Cardinal becomes Camerlengo or Pope. Moreover, VP can be gotten with money and with the support of Politicians, Noblemen, Abbesses, and the Amanuensis.