Batavia

Batavia is a ‘light’ Eurogame. By that I mean it plays quickly (typically 45-60 minutes) and combines many of the elements of other trading games in a simple form.

The players represent merchants in the goldern age of the East India companies (France, England, Denmark, Holland and Sweden), the name refers to the branch of the Dutch East India company in what is now Jakarta.

The players visit five different types of trading posts which specialise in different goods and are spread along the coast of southern Asia and east Africa.

The mechanic for moving along the track of trading posts is through an auction which takes place every turn. Cards representing ships of the various companies are auctioned to the highest bidder who distributes his winning bid amongst the other players. This is a nice mechanic as it allows people to get the cards they really need whilst rewarding the other players for their patience.

All in all a fun and quick game, definitely a filler game and not the main meat of an evening.