*2 RULES CLARIFICATIONS:* (1) Regarding boat movement and bonus tiles (14:37 and 18:02). When you end your boat on an empty harbor, the rulebook says you must deactivate your current harbor tile. This is buried in a long paragraph of text and is _very_ easy to miss (so much so we have been playing this wrong for years, until a kind user pointed that out in the comments). This changes your strategy of moving. In the video, I said you sometimes _want_ to land your boat on an empty harbor space if you like your current bonus tile. Well, that is no longer true. Now, if you end on an empty harbor, you no longer get to keep your bonus tile active. I can't imagine it would change the outcome of the game drastically, but it's important to note. I am going to continue to play the way I have been playing because I've always enjoyed the decision of whether to end on an empty harbor or not. But I would recommend you try it both ways and see which way you prefer. (2) Regarding the end game trigger (25:30). I say "each other player" gets one more turn. I should've said "each other player _left in the round_ ." I went on to say everyone has the same number of turns, which is the proper way to play. Basically once the cards are gone, you continue until the player to the right of the start player takes their turn.
Bought this for $4 on Geek Market. Playing it for the first time tonight and we're having a blast! Your video convinced me to buy it and it was a great help in learning to play. Thanks so much!
That's awesome! $4?? What a steal!!! There's no need to barter or negotiate at that price haha!! I'm so happy it was a hit for you. I have been craving a play of Oltre Mare lately. It's kind of a comfort game for me. :)
Thanks for this! I just found a NIS copy on a trip to Minneapolis and hand-carried it back home. Someone recommended it to me in a Discord channel. It was very inexpensive like $15 or maybe even less.
That's awesome, and I hope you enjoy the game! I LOVE finding games like this for cheap. I try not to let that affect my review, but it's hard not to! Every time I play this game, I think about the wonderful return on my investment! Thanks for the comment!
OMG we have been looking for a good bartering game! Bohnanza is fun but we wanted something a little bigger and frankly we are tired of Catan. This one looks perfect!!! As always my hubby and I love the way you teach games. You speak directly to our learning style! Another great video 👏 👏 👏
I definitely like this better than Catan, personally. So I think you would really enjoy it! While it’s not the best game ever, I’ve never had anyone say they didn’t enjoy a play-through of Oltre Mare. It’s just pleasant! Thanks so much for the continued support; I appreciate all your kind comments!
I have owned this game since it was released back in '04. I use to play fairly frequently but haven't brought it out sine quite some time. I discovered your channel and love it as it's an concept I had considered doing quite some time back, because good games get lost or forgotten, like Oltre Mare. I am looking forward to bringing this one out and dusting it off again soon.
Thanks for the comment! My wife and I have been into the modern gaming hobby since 2012, and about 7-8 years in, we hit a wall where we did not want to keep up with all the new releases. I basically started focusing on enjoying the games we had. Then I found out that soooooo many new gamers had never even played some of the games we considered "classics." So then I became a treasure hunter and began looking specifically for these older euros. And the more I found, the more I fell in love with the mechanisms/production/artwork of old euro games vs. modern games. Very rarely does a new release excite me anymore. There are a few exceptions each year, but for the most part, my entire focus is finding these old "beige beauties." Anyway, I am so glad you found the channel and I hope you get some good plays out of Oltre Mare!!! Love that card stacking mechanism!!
Great tutorial. Played it recently for the first time. It’s quite neat, although I’d wish the boat movement to be a bit more meaningful. Small rules question: My understanding from the rulebook is that the harbour tiles are deactivated next time you move (regardless whether you pick up another tile or not). It’s a small but important difference, especially in the late game, when not many harbours have tiles left.
Whoa, that's crazy! That is worded horribly in the rulebook, but I think you are correct. It says if you land on an empty harbor, you no longer have an active harbor tile. That changes the whole strategy of moving, and wow... I don't think I like that rule. I've always liked deciding whether or not I want to end my movement on an empty space so I could keep a certain harbor tile active. I can't imagine it would change the outcome of the game drastically, but it certainly changes the strategy of moving. Thanks for pointing that out, and I will add this to the rules clarifications of the video.
Oh so beige but oh so pretty! Those boats are really neat. First off, excellent and detailed tutorial of another game I've never heard of! I appreciate you taking the time to put these videos together! Second, I can definitely see how this game resembles Bohnanza, especially with that hand limit tempting you to gift cards to opponents. It looks like there is more strategy to this game, though. I'm still wondering... Do you think I need Oltre Mare if I already own Bohnanza? Do you own both? Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
This is a beige beauty for sure haha. Thanks for the kind remarks and I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I do own Bohnanza and Oltre Mare. Had I discovered Oltre Mare first, I probably wouldn't have also bought Bohnanza. But I found Bohnanza like 10 years ago, whereas Oltre Mare was a recent discovery only 2-3 years ago. So why do I keep both? Well, I find that Bohnanza is more of a portable game in a small box, and is more suitable for a certain "less-serious" game crowd. It feels more like a "beer and pretzels" game to me. I also like that Bohnanza plays up to 7 players (I think?... I know it plays more players than Oltre Mare...) Bohnanza still has some fun strategies, but it's certainly a lighter game. Oltre Mare has some extra depth and extra layers of decision making. As I mentioned in the video, I love using money as straight victory points to buy & barter. That is probably the biggest thing that makes it stand apart from Bohnanza. Bohnanza is just trading cards for cards, and the only incentive to help an opponent is to get certain cards out of your hand (which is absolutely a great mechanism). You are correct, though, it does feel similar where you need to get certain cards out of your hand... in Oltre Mare it's because of that hand limit. In Bohnanza it's because you have to keep your hand of cards in order. In Oltre Mare, the order you stack your cards sort of resembles the bean fields in Bohnanza. You want to get certain sets at certain moments. I will say Oltre Mare is a bit of a shelf hog because the box size is MUCH bigger than Bohnanza, and bigger than most modern board games. It's a longer slimmer box that we used to see more in the late 90s and early 2000s. Ultimately, if I had to pick one, I would choose Oltre Mare any day because there's just more depth to explore there. I also MUCH prefer the art and vibe of Oltre Mare over the cartoonish feel of Bohnanza. Bohnanza is fun and lighthearted, and there's nothing wrong with that. But for my personal taste, I like the beige euro vibe of Oltre Mare. So to conclude: yes I own both, yes I think there is room for both in a game collection, but had I discovered Oltre Mare first, I probably would not have bought Bohnanza. Whether to actually get Oltre Mare if you already own Bohnanza... ultimately you'll have to make that decision. The good news is it is fairly easy to find for a cheap price, as of now. So you could almost just buy it to try it. I hope that long-winded response helped somewhat! Thanks again for the comment!
@@undiscovered_games Wow, thank you so much for that detailed response! That does help quite a bit. I will keep my eyes open for a good price on a used copy of Oltre Mare. I tend to agree with you about bartering with money. That sounds like it works really well in this game and I am interested to explore the depth of Oltre Mare. I'll keep you updated on my findings!
hmmm 🤔 I'll give you 20 for your copy of the game, thats 5 more than u paid, plus you can keep 3 prestige points and a dukat. Heck, I'll throw in the canoe thats in my backyard, i swear it floated last time it was used😂😂. and btw, the game sounds really good!
Haha I like your style. I’m not sure if bartering with canoes is mentioned in the rulebook 🤔 I might need to start a thread on BGG for a rules clarification 😂😂 Thanks for the comment!!
They really are cool! I wish I would’ve showed how they assemble in the video. It’s like the bendy tension of the cardstock that holds them together. Really interesting!!
I have played it now and I must admit: it´s definitely not bad and could easily fit someone´s taste... For me the negotiation part turned out to be not as interesting as expected and the stacking (memory-esque) mechanism is much more fun in "Mamma Mia" (early Uwe Rosenberg). Also the travelling aspect (gaining special powers) was not too convincing to me. At the end it´s a pretty simple card game with an added game board, that doesn´t seem to be too important. And in that regard Mamma Mia will remain the better choice for me. Nevertheless - thanks for introducing this good and also pretty good-looking game 🙂
Thanks for the comment and I'm glad you got to play it! This game grew on me the more I played it, so I would encourage you to give it another go. I am curious... what player count did you try? Regarding the game board & bonus tokens, I had the exact same initial reaction as you. As I mentioned in the video, I initially felt like the bonus tokens & ship movement felt detached and unimportant. However, the more I played the game, the more I really liked the ship & bonus token decisions because of how they affect which cards you want to play. I definitely still agree it's a card game at heart, so the big board & boats are a bit misleading. The designer could've found a way to implement the bonus tokens without even using a big game board & boats. But personally I love the charm of the board & boats :) Regarding the negotiation, that probably depends on the game group. Our group doesn't like negotiation games, but they willingly play this one, so I'm not sure what that really means other than it's a negotiation game we can all agree on. We really like the prestige token incentive to negotiate. I have not played Mamma Mia, but you have made me very curious and I'm going to do some research now, so thank you for the tip! The card stacking is my favorite part of Oltre Mare, so I'm definitely gonna look into that one. Rosenberg's Bohnanza is the game that Oltre Mare most reminds me of, and personally I like Oltre Mare better. But I'm always looking for more recommendations, so Mamma Mia is going on my research list right now! Cheers!
Yes, the ships are amazing! :-) And negotiation is definitely dependent on the people you play with (extremely so in Chinatown!) Regarding Bohnanza I must admit that I am not the biggest fan of that classic as it drags pretty much... please let me know about your experiences with Mamma Mia - have (hopefully) fun!@@undiscovered_games
Hmm... great question!! Allow me to ramble a bit: My first reaction is no, I would not recommend this at 2p. However, when compared to Bohnanza, I would _much_ rather play Oltre Mare at 2p than Bohnanza at 2p. I feel like you could play Oltre Mare almost as a "comfort card game" at 2p, but a big part of the strategy is bartering with each other to get cards you need at certain moments. At 2p, you could still barter with each other, and there would be new cards introduced each round as you draw them off the deck, so it could work. But by design, the bartering will be much more interesting at higher player counts. At 2p, you would still have to react to the card draws, play optimal cards at optimal times, and sail around the board strategically. But those majority points for tokens wouldn't be as interesting at 2p. So when I really think about it, I don't know of any other 2p game that uses negotiation, which is quite interesting. So if I _had_ to choose a 2p negotiation game, I would choose Oltre Mare. _At the same time_ I don't think I would ever choose a 2p negotiation game 😂 I'm not sure if my reply was helpful, but hopefully that makes some sense 🤷♂️ Thanks for the comment!
@@undiscovered_games Thanks for the reply. I'm so glad to have found your channel. So many games with historical themes!! (practically a requirement to grab my interest). Sadly these days, most of the new games coming out opt for a space, fantasy, woodland creatures theme. I guess Publishers/Designers would rather just avoid the potential 'torch & pitchfork' response from those who are always on the lookout for a reason be offended.
*2 RULES CLARIFICATIONS:* (1) Regarding boat movement and bonus tiles (14:37 and 18:02). When you end your boat on an empty harbor, the rulebook says you must deactivate your current harbor tile. This is buried in a long paragraph of text and is _very_ easy to miss (so much so we have been playing this wrong for years, until a kind user pointed that out in the comments). This changes your strategy of moving. In the video, I said you sometimes _want_ to land your boat on an empty harbor space if you like your current bonus tile. Well, that is no longer true. Now, if you end on an empty harbor, you no longer get to keep your bonus tile active. I can't imagine it would change the outcome of the game drastically, but it's important to note. I am going to continue to play the way I have been playing because I've always enjoyed the decision of whether to end on an empty harbor or not. But I would recommend you try it both ways and see which way you prefer.
(2) Regarding the end game trigger (25:30). I say "each other player" gets one more turn. I should've said "each other player _left in the round_ ." I went on to say everyone has the same number of turns, which is the proper way to play. Basically once the cards are gone, you continue until the player to the right of the start player takes their turn.
Bought this for $4 on Geek Market. Playing it for the first time tonight and we're having a blast! Your video convinced me to buy it and it was a great help in learning to play. Thanks so much!
That's awesome! $4?? What a steal!!! There's no need to barter or negotiate at that price haha!! I'm so happy it was a hit for you. I have been craving a play of Oltre Mare lately. It's kind of a comfort game for me. :)
Wow, this was really a top-tier tutorial! About to go try this game for the first time and now I feel well prepared. Thanks!
Thank you! That was my goal, so I'm glad you found it helpful. I hope you enjoy the game as much as I do!
Thanks for this! I just found a NIS copy on a trip to Minneapolis and hand-carried it back home. Someone recommended it to me in a Discord channel. It was very inexpensive like $15 or maybe even less.
That's awesome, and I hope you enjoy the game! I LOVE finding games like this for cheap. I try not to let that affect my review, but it's hard not to! Every time I play this game, I think about the wonderful return on my investment! Thanks for the comment!
OMG we have been looking for a good bartering game! Bohnanza is fun but we wanted something a little bigger and frankly we are tired of Catan. This one looks perfect!!! As always my hubby and I love the way you teach games. You speak directly to our learning style! Another great video 👏 👏 👏
I definitely like this better than Catan, personally. So I think you would really enjoy it! While it’s not the best game ever, I’ve never had anyone say they didn’t enjoy a play-through of Oltre Mare. It’s just pleasant! Thanks so much for the continued support; I appreciate all your kind comments!
I have owned this game since it was released back in '04. I use to play fairly frequently but haven't brought it out sine quite some time. I discovered your channel and love it as it's an concept I had considered doing quite some time back, because good games get lost or forgotten, like Oltre Mare. I am looking forward to bringing this one out and dusting it off again soon.
Thanks for the comment! My wife and I have been into the modern gaming hobby since 2012, and about 7-8 years in, we hit a wall where we did not want to keep up with all the new releases. I basically started focusing on enjoying the games we had. Then I found out that soooooo many new gamers had never even played some of the games we considered "classics." So then I became a treasure hunter and began looking specifically for these older euros. And the more I found, the more I fell in love with the mechanisms/production/artwork of old euro games vs. modern games. Very rarely does a new release excite me anymore. There are a few exceptions each year, but for the most part, my entire focus is finding these old "beige beauties." Anyway, I am so glad you found the channel and I hope you get some good plays out of Oltre Mare!!! Love that card stacking mechanism!!
Great tutorial. Played it recently for the first time. It’s quite neat, although I’d wish the boat movement to be a bit more meaningful.
Small rules question: My understanding from the rulebook is that the harbour tiles are deactivated next time you move (regardless whether you pick up another tile or not). It’s a small but important difference, especially in the late game, when not many harbours have tiles left.
Whoa, that's crazy! That is worded horribly in the rulebook, but I think you are correct. It says if you land on an empty harbor, you no longer have an active harbor tile. That changes the whole strategy of moving, and wow... I don't think I like that rule. I've always liked deciding whether or not I want to end my movement on an empty space so I could keep a certain harbor tile active. I can't imagine it would change the outcome of the game drastically, but it certainly changes the strategy of moving. Thanks for pointing that out, and I will add this to the rules clarifications of the video.
Thank you for a beautiful tutorial for a beautiful game. I just bought it on amazon. Thank you again.
You’re very welcome. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have! Let me know how you like it. 😊 We have enjoyed it for years!
Well done, very good video. Meeple hug from Portugal
Thank you! See the top pinned comment for a _tiny_ rules error that I made in the video. Meeple hugs right back to you! :)
Oh so beige but oh so pretty! Those boats are really neat. First off, excellent and detailed tutorial of another game I've never heard of! I appreciate you taking the time to put these videos together! Second, I can definitely see how this game resembles Bohnanza, especially with that hand limit tempting you to gift cards to opponents. It looks like there is more strategy to this game, though. I'm still wondering... Do you think I need Oltre Mare if I already own Bohnanza? Do you own both? Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
This is a beige beauty for sure haha. Thanks for the kind remarks and I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I do own Bohnanza and Oltre Mare. Had I discovered Oltre Mare first, I probably wouldn't have also bought Bohnanza. But I found Bohnanza like 10 years ago, whereas Oltre Mare was a recent discovery only 2-3 years ago.
So why do I keep both? Well, I find that Bohnanza is more of a portable game in a small box, and is more suitable for a certain "less-serious" game crowd. It feels more like a "beer and pretzels" game to me. I also like that Bohnanza plays up to 7 players (I think?... I know it plays more players than Oltre Mare...) Bohnanza still has some fun strategies, but it's certainly a lighter game.
Oltre Mare has some extra depth and extra layers of decision making. As I mentioned in the video, I love using money as straight victory points to buy & barter. That is probably the biggest thing that makes it stand apart from Bohnanza. Bohnanza is just trading cards for cards, and the only incentive to help an opponent is to get certain cards out of your hand (which is absolutely a great mechanism). You are correct, though, it does feel similar where you need to get certain cards out of your hand... in Oltre Mare it's because of that hand limit. In Bohnanza it's because you have to keep your hand of cards in order.
In Oltre Mare, the order you stack your cards sort of resembles the bean fields in Bohnanza. You want to get certain sets at certain moments.
I will say Oltre Mare is a bit of a shelf hog because the box size is MUCH bigger than Bohnanza, and bigger than most modern board games. It's a longer slimmer box that we used to see more in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Ultimately, if I had to pick one, I would choose Oltre Mare any day because there's just more depth to explore there. I also MUCH prefer the art and vibe of Oltre Mare over the cartoonish feel of Bohnanza. Bohnanza is fun and lighthearted, and there's nothing wrong with that. But for my personal taste, I like the beige euro vibe of Oltre Mare.
So to conclude: yes I own both, yes I think there is room for both in a game collection, but had I discovered Oltre Mare first, I probably would not have bought Bohnanza.
Whether to actually get Oltre Mare if you already own Bohnanza... ultimately you'll have to make that decision. The good news is it is fairly easy to find for a cheap price, as of now. So you could almost just buy it to try it.
I hope that long-winded response helped somewhat! Thanks again for the comment!
@@undiscovered_games Wow, thank you so much for that detailed response! That does help quite a bit. I will keep my eyes open for a good price on a used copy of Oltre Mare. I tend to agree with you about bartering with money. That sounds like it works really well in this game and I am interested to explore the depth of Oltre Mare. I'll keep you updated on my findings!
@@fallingbird9469 no problem! please do keep me updated!
hmmm 🤔 I'll give you 20 for your copy of the game, thats 5 more than u paid, plus you can keep 3 prestige points and a dukat. Heck, I'll throw in the canoe thats in my backyard, i swear it floated last time it was used😂😂. and btw, the game sounds really good!
Haha I like your style. I’m not sure if bartering with canoes is mentioned in the rulebook 🤔 I might need to start a thread on BGG for a rules clarification 😂😂 Thanks for the comment!!
Dang! Those boats are awesome!
They really are cool! I wish I would’ve showed how they assemble in the video. It’s like the bendy tension of the cardstock that holds them together. Really interesting!!
@@undiscovered_games create a short/reel!
Good call!
I have played it now and I must admit: it´s definitely not bad and could easily fit someone´s taste... For me the negotiation part turned out to be not as interesting as expected and the stacking (memory-esque) mechanism is much more fun in "Mamma Mia" (early Uwe Rosenberg). Also the travelling aspect (gaining special powers) was not too convincing to me. At the end it´s a pretty simple card game with an added game board, that doesn´t seem to be too important. And in that regard Mamma Mia will remain the better choice for me. Nevertheless - thanks for introducing this good and also pretty good-looking game 🙂
Thanks for the comment and I'm glad you got to play it! This game grew on me the more I played it, so I would encourage you to give it another go. I am curious... what player count did you try? Regarding the game board & bonus tokens, I had the exact same initial reaction as you. As I mentioned in the video, I initially felt like the bonus tokens & ship movement felt detached and unimportant. However, the more I played the game, the more I really liked the ship & bonus token decisions because of how they affect which cards you want to play.
I definitely still agree it's a card game at heart, so the big board & boats are a bit misleading. The designer could've found a way to implement the bonus tokens without even using a big game board & boats. But personally I love the charm of the board & boats :)
Regarding the negotiation, that probably depends on the game group. Our group doesn't like negotiation games, but they willingly play this one, so I'm not sure what that really means other than it's a negotiation game we can all agree on. We really like the prestige token incentive to negotiate.
I have not played Mamma Mia, but you have made me very curious and I'm going to do some research now, so thank you for the tip! The card stacking is my favorite part of Oltre Mare, so I'm definitely gonna look into that one. Rosenberg's Bohnanza is the game that Oltre Mare most reminds me of, and personally I like Oltre Mare better. But I'm always looking for more recommendations, so Mamma Mia is going on my research list right now!
Cheers!
Yes, the ships are amazing! :-) And negotiation is definitely dependent on the people you play with (extremely so in Chinatown!) Regarding Bohnanza I must admit that I am not the biggest fan of that classic as it drags pretty much... please let me know about your experiences with Mamma Mia - have (hopefully) fun!@@undiscovered_games
My wife and I really only play 2-player, which is why we never bothered with Bohnanza. Would you recommend this game for 2?
Hmm... great question!! Allow me to ramble a bit: My first reaction is no, I would not recommend this at 2p. However, when compared to Bohnanza, I would _much_ rather play Oltre Mare at 2p than Bohnanza at 2p. I feel like you could play Oltre Mare almost as a "comfort card game" at 2p, but a big part of the strategy is bartering with each other to get cards you need at certain moments. At 2p, you could still barter with each other, and there would be new cards introduced each round as you draw them off the deck, so it could work. But by design, the bartering will be much more interesting at higher player counts. At 2p, you would still have to react to the card draws, play optimal cards at optimal times, and sail around the board strategically. But those majority points for tokens wouldn't be as interesting at 2p.
So when I really think about it, I don't know of any other 2p game that uses negotiation, which is quite interesting. So if I _had_ to choose a 2p negotiation game, I would choose Oltre Mare. _At the same time_ I don't think I would ever choose a 2p negotiation game 😂
I'm not sure if my reply was helpful, but hopefully that makes some sense 🤷♂️ Thanks for the comment!
@@undiscovered_games Thanks for the reply. I'm so glad to have found your channel. So many games with historical themes!! (practically a requirement to grab my interest). Sadly these days, most of the new games coming out opt for a space, fantasy, woodland creatures theme. I guess Publishers/Designers would rather just avoid the potential 'torch & pitchfork' response from those who are always on the lookout for a reason be offended.