Teach the Game

A script to read aloud: how you win Mombasa, the board and your player board, a round, the end, every source of money and what each card, track and piece is for.

How you win

“We are investors in Africa’s four chartered companies — Mombasa, Cape Town, Saint-Louis and Cairo. Nobody owns a company: we all buy shares in them. Over 7 rounds, about 30 minutes per player, we play cards to buy shares and to spread the companies’ trading posts across the map. Whoever has the most money at the end wins.”

• You need: pounds — cash in hand, plus at the end your shares of each company times that company’s share value, plus the last value you passed on your diamond and bookkeeping tracks.
• You get it by: playing goods cards to climb the company tracks (shares) and buy better cards, expansion cards to push a company’s trading posts out of its base (each uncovered coin raises its share value), and bookkeepers and diamond merchants to climb your own two tracks.

The boards

1. Round track — rounds 1 to 7; the coins on it move down to the book display.
2. Cairo company base — orange trading posts; each uncovered coin icon adds 1 pound to a Cairo share.
3. Saint-Louis company base — the white company.
4. Book display — 12 books (A, B, C) bought with bookkeeping points.
5. The map — 24 regions with their rewards; single and double borders.
6. Bookkeeping exchange — a reminder: 1 bookkeeping point buys 1 pound.
7. Mombasa company base — the black company.
8. Card display — 12 action cards; the red number beside each space adds to the card’s price.
9. Majority bonus spaces — MAX coffee, cotton, bananas and expansion points.
10. Bonus tile spaces — reserve a bonus tile for next round.
11. Other bonus spaces — first player, buy a card with money, remove a card for money.
12. Cape Town company base — the red company.

Each edge of the board also gets one company track, joined to that company’s base.

1. Diamond track — winds inwards; the last value passed (10 to 60) scores.
2. Final book space — reach it and each bookkeeping point pays 2 pounds instead.
3. Bookkeeping track — you fill it with books; the last value passed (10 to 60) scores.
4. Final diamond space — reach it and each further diamond step pays 2 pounds instead.
5. Starting tile space — your starting tile and ink jar start here.
6. Diamond slot space — pass it to open a 4th action slot below.
7. Book slot space — pass the book on it to open another action slot below.

Above the board are your 3 resting slots; below it your 3 action slots.

A round

1. Planning — everyone at once places up to 3 cards (4–5 with extra slots) face down in their action slots, then all turn them up (details).
2. Actions — from the first player, one action per turn, round and round, until everyone has ended (details):

Action	What it does
Use goods cards	One type: buy 1 card from the display and/or advance on company tracks
Use all expansion cards	Spread one company’s trading posts into the map and take the region rewards
Use a bookkeeper	Move your ink jar over books whose needs your cards meet; then
Use a diamond merchant	Move up your diamond track, take
Place a bonus marker	Take a bonus space on the board or on a company track
End your action phase	Take back one resting deck, move your played cards up to the resting slots

3. Preparation — coins move from the round track to the book display, the card display slides right and refills, bonus markers (and reserved bonus tiles) come back (details).

How the game ends

After the action phase of round 7. Everyone takes back all their cards and scores (details):

• cash;
• for each company: your shares (track + share icons on cards) × the uncovered coin icons in its base;
• the last value passed on your diamond track and on your bookkeeping track.

Most money wins; a tie is a shared win.

Ways to score

What each resource is for

Resource	Why you need it	How you get it	How you use it
Goods cards	Climb company tracks; buy cards; majorities; book needs	Starting hand, card display	Spend one type per action (goods)
Expansion cards	Raise share values; oust rivals; region rewards	Starting hand, card display	All at once on one company (expansion)
Bookkeepers	Move the ink jar; bookkeeping points	Starting hand, card display	One per action (bookkeeper)
Diamond merchants	Diamond track and a little cash	Card display only	One per action (merchant)
Pounds	Final score; capital calls; costs	Rewards, special spaces, books	Pay costs, or keep them
Bookkeeping points	Books for your track	Regions, bookkeepers, books, bonuses	Spend at once: A or B book 1, C book 2, or 1 pound each
Books	The steps of your bookkeeping track	Book display	Placed on your track; their needs gate the ink jar
Bonus markers	Bonus spaces	2 (3 at two players), more with track A2	One per action; back each round
Track markers	Shares; special track bonuses	On every track from the start	Moved by goods units and rewards

Teaching tips

• Start with the money: “shares × coins in the base”. Everything else feeds that sum or the two personal tracks.

• Show the resting decks early — the hardest part for new players is that a played card comes back only when you pick up its deck.

• Tell players to use a bookkeeper before the goods cards that meet its books’ needs: used cards turn face down and stop counting.

• First game: use the fixed tracks A1–D1 and the four fixed starting tiles; allow about 30 minutes per player.

• Test a four-unit book with 2 bananas and 2 coffee, then 4 bananas: only one type qualifies, and the cards must still be face up. Practice example.