Tips & Strategy

How to teach Istanbul, first-game advice on routes, assistants and Rubies, player counts and expansions, and where videos differ from the rulebook.

How to teach it

• Teach from the Overview card: four phases, but most turns are just “move, drop or pick up, act”.
• Play the base game first, on the “Short paths” layout, and keep the Overviews out for Place and Bonus card symbols.
• [Letters] Lay your Letters out in front of you in the shape of the grid, so you see at a glance which Places they go to. Walk through the Companion step by step: claimed at the Fountain, kept in front of you, placed on your Merchant’s Place on a later turn.

Your first game

• Build a loop. Link a Place that gives goods (Warehouses, Post Office, Black Market) to one that spends them (Markets, Sultan’s Palace, Gemstone Dealer) and shuttle between them, picking up the Assistant you left last time.
• Avoid the Fountain. It costs a whole turn. Leave an Assistant on Places you will revisit so you can act by picking him up.
• Sell full loads. Market prices rise steeply: 5 goods pay far more than five single sales.
• Tea House: calling 7 gives the best average; with the red Mosque tile, 8.
• Mosques early. Their abilities pay off over the whole game; take both tiles of one Mosque close together for its Ruby.
• Mix your Ruby sources — Gemstone Dealer, Sultan’s Palace, Mosques, Wainwright — so one blocked Place or bad roll does not stall you.
• The Family member acts without paying other Merchants, but you can reuse it only after someone catches it — giving them a reward.

Player counts and expansions

• 2 players: 6 Rubies; neutral Merchants on the two Mosques and the Gemstone Dealer charge 2 Lira and then jump elsewhere. The Neutral Assistants variant suits it well.
• 4–5 players: more Merchants to pay on busy Places, and the later players start with more Lira.
• [Mocha] Coffee opens new Ruby routes and the Barrier lets you block a rival’s loop.
• [Letters] Letters reward routes that pass many Places; the Companion gives a second, slower figure.

Videos versus the rulebook

• A runthrough has a player send out his Family member and then “catch” it himself for the reward: only other players’ Family members are caught.
• A playthrough first buys several Rubies in one Gemstone Dealer visit: it is one per action (unless a Bonus card repeats it).
• When a “Post Office twice” card is played, resolve the action twice in a row (moving the Mail indicator each time), not double the goods once.

Host game

Start with the Ruby race, then show the Merchant stack before explaining every Place. On turns 1–3, ask where an Assistant will be left and which route can pick it up again. Check Merchant payments before the action; players should choose their own route and Ruby source.

Rehearse dropping and collecting an Assistant

Choose a nearby Warehouse with no other Merchant, and move there in one or two orthogonal steps. With no Assistant of your colour waiting, leave the bottom Assistant beside your stack and fill that good to your Wheelbarrow capacity. On a later turn, return to that Warehouse: pick up your Assistant under the stack; do not leave a second one. You can then use the Place action again.

Finally show a visit to the Fountain: you need not drop or pick up an Assistant to take its action, there are no Merchant payments, and you may gather any of your Assistants back under the Merchant. Turn sequence.

Sources

YouTube: How to Win at Istanbul Every Time! | Simple Strategy #16, by StrataGames; Istanbul Board Game Strategy Playthrough, by Show Me How To Win; Istanbul Gameplay Runthrough, by Rahdo Runs Through; Istanbul How to Play and Playthrough - AEG, by Board Game Empire; Istanbul: Letters & Seals Review - with Zee Garcia, by The Dice Tower. BGG: community and official answers are linked by thread in the FAQ. Rulebook: AEG’s Istanbul Big Box rules.