Game Reviews

Istanbul: Digital Edition review - A trading game that definitely knows its market

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Istanbul: Digital Edition review - A trading game that definitely knows its market

Some digital board games take hours to really get to grips with. Others let you slide in to the experience without a care in the world.

Istanbul definitely sits in the former category. Even after the tutorial you're going to feel woefully under-equipped for the challenges that the game throws at you.

Some people are going to thrive under that sort of pressure. Others are more likely to take one look at the game and stumble off to do something they find slightly more interesting.

Trading game

Istanbul is all about trading. You play a merchant who's moving about a board that represents different parts of the titular city. You're aiming to be the first trader to get five rubies.

There are a variety of different ways to get these rubies, from going to mosques to making deals with the Sultan.

Every square you land on you can drop one of your assistants, which allows you to perform the action on that space. Run out of assistants and you'll need to collect them back in to do anything.

Istanbul: Digital Edition review screenshot - A game in progress

There are a large number of factors to keep your eye on as you play. You need to know what you need to do at the spaces on the board and how far away each one is, know how many assistants you have left in your stack, know what your opponents are doing, and know what you need to do to win.

To begin with that's a pretty massive juggling act, but as you become more familiar with everything the game opens up a good deal more.

Knowing what you're getting yourself into from the start is important here, and it's fair to say that if you prefer your board games random or casual, this one isn't going to be for you.

Constantinople?

But if you've down your homework, Istanbul can be a real joy. I'd suggest playing it on an iPad or larger screened iPhone though, because some of the text was a little small for my old eyes on the iPhone 7.

Fans of worker placement and trading games with a difference are going to get a lot out of Istanbul. Everyone else should probably give it a wide berth.

Istanbul: Digital Edition review - A trading game that definitely knows its market

It won't be to everyone's tastes, but fans of the genre will love everything that Constantinople has to offer
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.