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A Game Round in Marco Polo
When it’s time to start a new round, we need to determine who will be the start player. The start player is the one who chose the “Travel” action last in the previous round.
Here’s a helpful tip: stack your dice on the “Travel” action. By doing this, it’ll be easy to see who played last on this action – they’ll be the one on top.
There are a couple of exceptions to keep in mind:
- If nobody moved in the previous round, then the current start player will remain the start player for the next round.
- If the last player to move used white or black dice, everyone should remember who that player was. If you know you’re the last player and you used black or white dice, you can grab the hourglass right away to avoid any confusion.
Did you know? The color Green went first this round, followed by Yellow, and finally Blue. Blue was rewarded with the hourglass and will be the first player in the next round.
Step 2: Get Bonuses from Cities and Characters
Hey there! It’s time to talk about an exciting part of the game: bonuses! In Small City, all small cities marked with a ! symbol give you bonuses. But here’s the catch – you’ll only get bonuses from the cities where you have a trading post. Make sure to check out the supplement for more details.
There’s more good news. Not only cities, but characters with a ! symbol also give you bonuses. Take a look at the supplement to see what kind of bonuses you can expect from the characters.
Step 3: Retrieve Your Dice
Now it’s time to gather your dice. Bring all of them back to your player board. And don’t forget to put the black dice back in their designated spot on the board.
Step 4: Roll Your Dice and Maybe Get Compensated
Let’s get rolling! All players roll their dice at the same time, so it’s a race against the clock. But don’t worry if you don’t roll a high number. If you end up with less than 15, you’ll receive some compensation. Isn’t that nice?
Once everyone has finished rolling their dice, it’s time to start a new round. Get ready for more fun!
The Game Round
Now that you know how to get bonuses and roll dice, let’s talk about the game round. Each player takes turns in a clockwise direction, starting with the start player. This continues until all players have used up all their dice. So, how does an individual turn go? Let’s find out!
1. Do Extra Stuff If You Want
Before you do your main thing, you can decide to do some extra things. You can do as many of these as you want, as long as you have enough stuff to pay for them. You can find a list of these extra actions on pages 12-13.
2. Pick and Do 1 Thing
Choose 1 thing to do, and put the dice you need on the board to do it. Then, just go ahead and do it right away.
3. Do More Extra Stuff If You Want
After you’re done with your main thing, you can choose to do some more extra things. You can do as many of these as you want, as long as you have enough stuff to pay for them.
At the end of the round
1. Get Rid of Any Leftover Contracts. Take any contracts that are still on the board and put them at the bottom of the special contracts pile.