Learn The Voyages of Marco Polo
Learn the game in 5 short steps. Everything links to the full rules.
Welcome to The Voyages of Marco Polo
Travel west from Beijing over five rounds. Place dice to take actions, build city connections, gain recurring bonuses and complete Contracts. Your character changes the value of different routes and plans.
Players: 2–4. The game has no official solo mode. See Teach the Game and the setup checklist.
The board and map
The central board combines dice-placement actions with the Silk Road. Small Cities offer an arrival reward that repeats in later rounds. Large Cities can give a first-arrival bonus and a city-card action. Each player board tracks the dice and resources you hold and the Contracts you may complete.
Check the full board actions before selecting a route.
A turn
On your turn, place dice for one Main Action. The lowest placed die sets how many times or how strongly the action resolves. If another player has occupied a shared space, pay its coin fee. You may take Bonus Actions before or after the Main Action, including completing a Contract or adjusting a die.
The practical teaching order is turn boundary → action space → lowest die → occupied-space fee → travel costs. See Gameplay.
Travel and the city engine
Travel uses two dice; your lower die limits the movement. Work out the full cost before moving, then place at most one Trading Post in your destination city. Small City income can compound over the remaining rounds, but the trip must leave you enough resources for later actions.
This action planning approach follows the English rules and practical strategy discussed in the linked video collection.
End-game points
In the last round, compare each Goal Card with the posts on the map, award the Beijing track points, and count remaining Coins and Goods if you reached Beijing. The most completed Contracts earns a majority award. Camels break a tie.
Use Game End and Scoring to check the exact conditions.