# Goa ## General Info - **Year Published**: 2004 - **BGG Rating**: 7.5 - **BGG Rank**: #314 - **Players**: 2-4 (Best with: 4) - **Duration**: 90 min - **Weight**: 3.36 / 5 - **Designers**: Rüdiger Dorn - **Artists**: Oliver Freudenreich, Xavier Gueniffey Durin - **Publishers**: Hans im Glück, Quined Games, 999 Games, Asterion Press, Filosofia Éditions, HIT Games - **Categories**: Economic, Farming, Nautical, Renaissance - **Mechanics**: Auction / Bidding, Auction: Once Around, Hand Management, Push Your Luck, Tech Trees / Tech Tracks ## Verdict If you love a eurogame with tense auctions and resource management that makes you sweat, Goa is a treat! It's a classic that still shines.Interactive and decisive auctionsDeep resource managementRewarding tech tracksHigh replayabilityConstant strategic decisionsCan be punishingInitial learning curveLow luck factorHIGHLY RECOMMENDED ## Description Embark on a strategic journey to 16th-century Goa, a vibrant trading hub boasting beautiful beaches and a mild climate. In this game of auctions and resource management, you take on the role of an ambitious merchant company, competing to dominate the lucrative spice trade. Your success hinges on how you invest your profits: will you upgrade your fleet of ships, expand your plantations, or recruit more colonists? A steady hand in business is crucial for prosperity. Each round kicks off with a dynamic auction phase, where each player gets a chance to auction one item – the starting player gets two. The first item auctioned grants the privilege of being the first player in the next round, plus an extra action card. If you bid on and win your own item, the payment goes to the bank; if another player wins it, the money comes to you. The items for sale are diverse, including plantations with crops, income tiles (money, ship replenishment, or plantation refills), ships, settlers, and later, tiles that award points for specific achievements. After the auction, you'll have three actions to spend, either improving your technologies or producing resources like spices, ships, and money, or even building new plantations. Each player has an individual board that tracks their progress in various areas, such as acquiring ships, planting new spices, and recruiting colonists. The further you advance on a track, the more efficient you become in that action, and the more points it will be worth at the end of the game. There are also rewards for the first players to reach the highest levels of each track. However, it's crucial not to focus on too few tracks, as you'll eventually need actions across all of them. Goa is a game that constantly challenges you with tough decisions, as you'll always feel like you have one action less than you need. It blends the intense interaction of auctions, which encourage you to offer items desired by others to fill your pockets, with the more solitary management of your plantations, which later connects to the technological race among players. The 2012 edition introduced four new tiles and a game variant for even more depth. ## How to Play Game Objective Welcome to Goa, sailors! Prepare for an epic adventure of trade and colonization. In Goa, your objective is simple yet challenging: be the player with the **most victory points** at the end of the game. How do you achieve this glory? By accumulating points in various ways, such as progressing on your **development board**, founding prosperous **colonies**, acquiring **special tiles**, being the richest with **ducats**, and collecting valuable **expedition cards**. The one who can balance these fronts and adapt to market opportunities will be the true master of the trade routes! Preparation (Setup) Let's set up the table and prepare our fleets for the journey! Place the **game board** in the center of the table. Separate the **game tiles** into two piles: **A** and **B**. Shuffle the 27 **A tiles** face down, then randomly place them face up on the 5x5 grid of the **game board** (the **game area**). The remaining 2 **A tiles** are returned to the box, without being revealed. The **B tiles** will be used in the second part of the game, so keep them in the box for now. Place the **ship cards**, **colonist cards**, **ducat cards**, and **additional action cards** in their respective spaces on the **game board**. Remember: you can exchange **ducat cards**, **ships**, and **colonists** at any time to facilitate payments. Shuffle the **expedition cards** and place them face down in the indicated space on the **game board**. Separate the **colony tiles** by name and place them face up on the **game board**. Place the **spice bags** (Ginger, Pepper, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves) next to the **game board**, forming the supply. If any spice, colonist, or ship runs out, use any other piece to represent it – they are unlimited! Each player chooses a color and receives their **supply board**, **development board**, and corresponding **auction markers**. Place the **auction markers** on your **supply board**. With 4 players: use all 5 **auction markers**. With 3 players: use only **auction markers** 1-4. With 2 players: use only **auction markers** 1-3. Unused markers are returned to the box. Each player places 5 **grey success markers** on the top row of their **development board**. Each player receives **cards worth 4 ships** and **2 colonists**. The youngest player flips the top card of the **expedition card** pile. Other players follow clockwise until someone flips a card with the tiger symbol. That player becomes the **starting player**, receives the **flag**, and 7 **ducats**. The other players receive 10 **ducats** each. Keep your money secret! The oldest player takes on the role of **banker**. The flipped **expedition cards** are discarded. Game Turn Goa is played in two parts (A and B), each with 4 rounds. At the end of Part A, the **game tiles** are replaced by the **B tiles**. At the end of Part B, the game ends. Each round unfolds in three main phases: 1. Place Auction Markers The **starting player** (who has the **flag**) begins. They place the **flag** in any empty space in the **game area** (or on the edge, adjacent to a game area space, provided there is at least one space with a tile orthogonally adjacent to the flag). Then, they place their **auction marker** with the number 1 on top of the **flag**. The next player, clockwise, places their **auction marker** with the number 2 on a **game area tile** that is adjacent or diagonal to the **flag**. Players continue, clockwise, placing their **auction markers** (3, 4, 5, depending on the number of players) on **empty tiles** (without another auction marker) that are adjacent or diagonal to the previous auction marker. The **starting player** places their highest numbered marker last, adjacent or diagonal to the last player's marker. **Important:** If a player cannot place their marker adjacent or diagonal, they choose any **empty game tile** in the **game area** and use it as a new base for the next markers. 2. Tile Auction The excitement begins with the auctions! **Flag Auction:** The owner of the **flag** (the **starting player** and auctioneer) bids 0 for the **flag**. The other players, clockwise, can bid once or pass. Each bid must be higher than the previous one. The auctioneer has the last chance to bid or pass. The **highest bid** takes the **flag**, 1 **additional action card**, and pays the bid amount to the auctioneer. If the auctioneer makes the **highest bid**, they keep the **flag**, receive 1 **additional action card**, and pay the bid amount to the bank. If everyone passes and the highest bid is 0, the auctioneer keeps the **flag** without paying anything. The auctioneer removes their **auction marker** number 1 and places it back on their **supply board**. **Tile Auction:** Next, the player whose **auction marker** number 2 is on the table becomes the auctioneer. They auction the **tile** under their marker, starting with a bid of 0. The process is the same as the **flag** auction. The highest bidder pays the auctioneer (or the bank, if the auctioneer is the highest bidder) and takes the **game tile**. The auctioneer removes their **auction marker** and places it back on their **supply board**. Auctions continue, clockwise, until all **tiles** with **auction markers** have been auctioned. 3. Player Actions Each player has 3 actions per round. The **starting player** (with the **flag**) performs their first action, followed by the other players clockwise. Then, the **starting player** performs their second action, and so on, until everyone has performed their three actions. To facilitate tracking, the **starting player** places a spice on the **flag** after each of their actions. Possible actions are: Progress on the Development Board: Move a **success marker** on your **development board** one space down. To do this, you must spend **spices** and **ships** as indicated in the area between the board rows. Each drawn spice bag requires 1 ship. **Effects:** You gain more **victory points** at the end of the game and increase the resources you receive or the capabilities for other actions. **Bonus:** The first player to reach the penultimate and last row of any column gains 1 **expedition card**. If you have all your **success markers** in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th row, you gain 1 **additional action card**. Build Ships: Take **ships** from the supply. The number of ships is indicated by the position of your marker in the **ships** column of your **development board**. Harvest: Take **spices** from the supply and place them in the empty fields of your **plantations** and/or **colonies**. The number of spices is indicated by the position of your marker in the **spices** column of your **development board**. If your harvest is greater than the empty spaces, you only take what fits. Taxes: Take **ducats** from the supply (bank). The number of ducats is indicated by the position of your marker in the **ducats** column of your **development board**. Expedition: Take **expedition cards** from the supply. The number of cards you can take and the hand limit for cards are indicated by the position of your marker in the **expedition** column of your **development board**. You can never have more cards than the limit! Found Colony: Attempt to found 1 **colony**. You must recruit a specific number of **colonists**: 6 for Quilon, 8 for Cochin, 10 for Madras, and 12 for Calicut. Mention the **colony** you wish to found (cannot be one you already have). Recruit **colonists** in 3 ways: **Colonists** on your **development board**. Flip 2 **expedition cards** from the deck and count the number of **colonists** indicated on them. If still not enough, play **colonist cards** from your hand to make up the difference. If you get the required number of **colonists**, found the **colony** and place the **colony tile** on your **supply board**. Immediately, fill the spice fields of the new colony with spices from the supply. Quilon and Madras: choose between 2 spices. Cochin and Calicut: choose between the 5 spices. If you fail to recruit the necessary **colonists** (or decide not to use cards from your hand), the **colony** is not founded. You take 1 **colonist card** from the supply and discard the **expedition cards** you flipped. Additional Action Cards and End of Round After all players have performed their 3 actions, they can play **additional action cards**. Starting with the **starting player** and clockwise, each player can play 1 **additional action card** to perform 1 **additional action**. Or they can pass, but will not be able to play more **additional action cards** this round. You can only keep 1 **additional action card**. If you have more than one, you must play them all (except one, which can be kept). Used **additional action cards** return to the supply. The round ends when all players have passed. End of Game and Scoring The game ends after the 4th round of Part B. It's time to count the points and see who is the true magnate of Goa! Players earn **victory points** for: Progress on the Development Board: The lower your **success markers** are, the more points they are worth. Colonies: Each **colony** founded. Special Tiles: Some **game tiles** (like the Mission or the Tax) grant points at the end of the game. Money: The player with the most **ducats** at the end of the game. Expedition Cards: The **expedition cards** you have in hand at the end of the game. You gain victory points corresponding to the number of cards with the same symbol in the bottom right corner. The player with the **most victory points** is the winner. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most **money** (ducats) wins. Tips for Winning Want to dominate the trade routes and become the governor of Goa? Pay attention to these tips: Balance is Key in Development: Don't focus solely on one column of your **development board**. Trying to have all your **success markers** at least in the second row (and subsequently in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th) can yield valuable **additional action cards**, giving you extra flexibility during the turn. A good balance between the **ships**, **spices**, **ducats**, and **expedition** columns will give you a solid foundation for any strategy. Strategic Auctions and Ducat Management: Auctions are the heart of Goa. Don't underestimate the power of being the **starting player** (with the **flag**) and the **additional action card** it grants. Furthermore, the auctioned **game tiles** can be crucial for your strategy. Learn to evaluate the value of each tile for your goals and don't be afraid to spend **ducats** if the tile is essential. Remember that money also counts as a victory point at the end, so manage your **ducats** wisely! Use Expedition Cards Intelligently: **Expedition cards** are versatile! They can be used during the game to obtain extra resources, colonists, ships, ducats, or even to optimize your progress actions. However, they also count as victory points at the end of the game, especially if you collect cards with the same symbol. Decide whether it's better to use them for an immediate advantage or save them for final scoring, always mindful of your hand limit. Good luck, and may your trade routes be prosperous in Goa! ## FAQ ### How many players can play Goa and what is the average game duration? Goa is ideal for 2 to 4 players, and a game typically lasts between 90 and 90 minutes. It's time well spent for a game with such depth! ### What is the complexity level of Goa? It's a medium-heavy complexity game (BGG weight of 3.36/5). It's not for total beginners, but if you already have experience with eurogames, you'll get the hang of it and love the challenge. ### Are the components of good quality? Yes, the 2012 Z-Man Games edition is known for its sturdy wooden components and robust player boards, providing a great tactile feel to the game. ### Is Goa a game with a lot of player interaction? Absolutely! The auction phase is the heart of the interaction, where you're always watching what others want and how you can leverage that. It's a dance of bids and counter-bids. ### Are there any expansions for Goa? The 2012 edition already includes four new tiles and a game variant, which add more options and replayability to the base game. There are no widely known separate expansions. ### Who would you recommend Goa to? I recommend it to players who enjoy strategic eurogames with auctions, resource management, and a tech-tree progression system. 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