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Marco Polo Expedition

#9139BGG ↗

2004 · 2-5 players · 45min · weight 1.80 · 864 ratings

v2 v3

BGG raw

ID
9139
Name
Marco Polo Expedition
Year
2004
Rank
6838
Min players
2
Max players
5
Playing time
45
Min playtime
45
Max playtime
45
Avg weight
1.8049
Num weights
82
Bayes avg
5.67539
Average
6.17341
Users rated
864
Num owned
1171
Wanting
24
Wishing
97
Num comments
337
Fetched at
Wed Apr 29 2026 05:34:55 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Mechanisms (3)
Hand ManagementOpen DraftingSet Collection
Categories (4)
AnimalsArabianRacingTravel
Description (1290 chars)

The objective of Marco Polo Expedition is to collect as much gold as possible while traveling a set path. Each player starts with 3 gold and a hand of cards. The cards represent 4 different types of valuable goods and caravan handlers. Gold is collected along the path and at the midpoint of the game and the end (when the first player reaches Kantschou and then Daidu). The player reaching Kantschou first receives 6 gold, anyone in the next space receives 5 gold, and so on down to 1 gold. After the first scoring round, all players start together again at Kantschou. The first player to reach Daidu receives 7 gold, next space 6, then 5 and so on. Play is by matching cards from hand to requirements in next free space (e.g. one of each good or 3 cards the same colour). Caravans tend to leap frog forward, so one player's move changes the requirements for the next. In each turn, a player may move as often as they can match from their hand. For those really stuck with a poor hand, 1 gold will move your caravan one place forward, but only so long as they aren't the leading caravan. At the end of each turn, the active player draws one of five face-up cards or a random card from the draw pile to replenish their hand. The player with the most gold at the end of the game wins.

LLM v2 (wide)

Not yet enriched at v2 (wide pass).

LLM v3 (deep)

Not yet enriched at v3 (deep pass).