Comments on: Istanbul Review

By: Sarah DHR

Sarah DHR — Tue, 07 May 2019 01:28:11 +0000

I’ve played this a couple of times, and have enjoyed it very much — the only thing I’ve found less than satisfying is the movement/use of the “family member” token. In addition to it just being a weird piece thematically (you release them from jail? And then send them anywhere on the board? And then other players can send them back, for no apparent violation?), it just seems a little… bland. You don’t get any *extra* action for letting them out, you just get an action at a possibly remote space; as far as I can tell from the stated rules, you still need to pick up or leave an assistant on the jail square in order to release the family member; and once they’ve performed that action, they just sit there uselessly until someone else picks them up (which, if no-one does for a while, means you have a useless assistant sitting on the jail square).

I’ve wondered about modifying the function of the family member, so that if you perform an action on the same square as your own family member, you can send them somewhere to perform an additional action. This would make the family member much more interesting/critical (and further insentivise other players to send them back to jail). What do you think?

By: Walt

Walt — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 01:49:52 +0000

In reply to Dukes of Dice (Sean Ramirez). That's a tough call. I like both Concordia and Istanbul very much, although I've played Istanbul more times. It's definitely the easier of the two to teach, but that sort of goes against the theory behind the Kennerspiel award. Concordia probably fits the "Connoisseur Game" a little better, but I'm still glad Istanbul won.

By: Walt

Walt — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 01:46:28 +0000

In reply to David Vo. I got mine at my local game store on release day. It should be readily available just about anywhere online as well.

By: David Vo

David Vo — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 22:18:33 +0000

Just curious, where did you purchase your copy of Istanbul?

By: Dukes of Dice (Sean Ramirez)

Dukes of Dice (Sean Ramirez) — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 14:46:34 +0000

Great review! I’m recording a rules overview tonight, so this definitely helped organize my thoughts. I see you’ve played Concordia at least once… there was a lot of surprise that Istanbul not Concordia won the Kenner… any thoughts? I give the edge slightly to Istanbul, but just barely. We’re going to play it with 5 on Wednesday, interested to see if it is hectic like you say. Great job!