The kingdom is splintered, the cities are divided and the people are suspicious. The newly crowned ruler, El Cascadero, strives to reunite the country, but he can't do it alone. Therefore, he appoints four ministers to visit the population and restore civil harmony. While the ministers are obliged to bring prosperity to the entire country, each of them also has one dedicated responsibility: Agriculture, Crafts, Mining and Markets. El Cascadero also records the successes of his ministers in his book...
Cascadero is the next epic tile placement board game from acclaimed designer Reiner Knizia. Ministers visit cities by placing their envoys next to them; but cities distrust single envoys, so newly placed envoys will only activate city points if they are part of an established group. Cities with Royal Messengers or a history of envoy visits are even more valuable, as they like to work together for even greater successes.
Players must choose between two competing strategies: build long chains of their envoys to achieve synergies and objectives, or create smaller, separate groups of envoys to activate city points in time. Both strategies award victory points, but your victory points mean nothing if you don't reach the end of your designated success column.
Activating city points moves you along that city's corresponding success column, gaining bonuses as you go over it. Bonuses include earning victory points, advancing on each success column, claiming an official seal, moving an envoy, or even gaining an extra turn. Through careful timing and clever planning, players can trigger a cascade of exciting bonuses that tilt the momentum in their favor.
Cascadero offers a wealth of replayability through player interaction, variable board and tile setups, and an advanced player mode with traveling heralds. Yet the game always ends in two ways: when a player reaches fifty victory points or when he has to place a tile but has no more tiles. The players who reach the end of their designated success column are eligible for victory, and whoever of them has the most victory points wins.
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