Customer Reviews

Made for Trade

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We are a big game-playing family, and often use games as a part of our homeschooling. Based on the other reviews, I was excited to buy this game, but now that we have it, it gets very little use. The game can take a very long time to play, there is little room for strategy, and the way that it introduces historical facts is a little heavy-handed for my taste.

To play the game, each player chooses a character (there are several with Colonial-sounding names). The characters travel around the board, hoping to land on spaces that will let them enter shops, and then hoping to roll the right number so that they can buy the things they need to complete their shopping list (the point of the game). As you travel around the board, there are "event" spaces, which prompt the player to draw an event card, which includes an interesting historical factoid, along with the usual "lose a turn" or "go directly to gaol" We find that the game relies on so much luck that it gets tedious long before anyone has managed to win.

If you really need your kids to learn the facts introduced by the game, the game probably beats just drilling them with flashcards, but it's not a game we play for fun.

My three younger children really enjoyed this game-it was easy to understand and fun to play...there are several ways to play the game so it adds variety also. Great for homeschooling, and also for educational game playing.

My 7 year old daughter had this to say about the game:

I love playing this game! My brother (who's 9) sometimes doesn't want to play, but when he's won the game he says"I love it"

My family and I like to play this game not only because it's fun but also because we get to learn some interesting historical facts.

Well, our family loves to play it (pulled out of the game cupboard at least once a week). My daughter is seven, and I've used this game to get her feet wet regarding early American history.

As noted in the first review, there are many levels of play for this game. To this point, we have played two levels. 1) At the tourist level: if you're able to land on a shop "enter" space, you can enter the shop and, again, if lucky enough to roll the dice and score the number/price for which the object in that shop is being sold, you gain the item--assuming you have enough shillings, but... Ah! There's the rub. Often you don't have enough money/shillings to pay. What do you learn from this? My daughter and I have spoken of how difficult it was to gain items during this period; we've pretended we had a bad harvest, or that England taxed us, etc. True, we're dealing with luck (in the game), but in early times, you were lucky to have the shillings to pay for essentials and had to wait some time to earn them. This level of game play goes fairly fast and no event cards are used. 2) At the Trader level (you start as an indentured servant with NO rights to enter shops unless so directed by an Event card, and become a free citizen. You become a free citizen through luck: rolling certain numbers, drawing an event card that frees you, or by passing the entire board once. What have we learned? On the most basic level, she understands that it was hard to be an indentured servant, and that if you don't have shillings to pay fines, you spend a lot of time in gaol (jail: this led us to how spelling has changed over the centuries). Being in gaol has led us to imagine why, for those times, we were in jail. Once you become a free citizen, you get your 6 shillings, and apart from "harvest day" and one other day, you draw no income unless you get an Event card that gives you some--again, lesson learned is that it was hard to accumulate possessions, even necessities. As a trader, you're given an inventory, based on the character you choose, and you have to accumulate those items. The marketplace and bartering (and math) come into play more at this stage, as does some basic history. For instance, you learn about smallpox, theatrical productions, etc. Very basic, but the game is meant for young children after all, not those who have already studied American History.

Overall, I am pleased with this product. Yes, the issue with how the directions were written has driven me a bit mad, but we've worked through it. When we play, we call each other "Miss, Mr., etc.". We've started listening to music from the period as we play so as to become more familiar with what was then considered popular. The game pieces are sturdy cardboard construction, and if we lose a piece, we can go to early American costume books and find a character that interests us. We can make new inventory lists, we can make new EVENT cards that demonstrate other aspects of early American history. In short, we are turning this into our own game and my daughter is quite taken with the idea of researching to add new Event cards, and looking through costume books to find additional characters so that we can make new inventory cards. So yes, the game has its limitations, but this inadequacy leaves you able to do what you will with it. This game can be incredibly fun: my daughter loves imaging she's from the time and we even try to use language from the period when we are playing the game.

I love the game and all of its possibilities. Yes, it has problems, but with a little imagination... a little imagination goes a long way and leads to this having endless possibilities. I would certainly purchase this game again and am always happy to play it with her.

CONS:
Poorly written directions;
Limited Events;
Items are not from one period (but stretch past the Victorian era);
Limited level of strategy.

PROS:
Sturdy materials (not near a toddler);
If you lose a shilling or a piece, you can use a penny or find your own characters to photocopy;
You can create your own Event cards to teach or enforce certain parts of life;
You can create your own Inventory lists (and add to the inventory);
You can listen to music from the period while playing;
You can role play as if you're from that period.

My son received this as a Christmas present and loves it! A great game and highly recommended. The company I purchased from however was a BIG disappointment. I ordered the game on Nov. 21 and received no communication whatsoever about my purchase from them. After waiting several weeks (because they hadn't shipped it) and several emails later w/no communication I purchased another one off eBay. A day after my ebay purchase arrived I received the one I purchased off Amazon. HUGE disappointment. Now I have two games. The company I purchased from never sent me one email to confirm my purchase or that the item had shipped. I didn't receive my item until three+ weeks after my purchase. Buyer Beware.

We played this game for the first time with two adults, a 13 year-old, and a 10-year old. The instructions are poorly written; and even worse, the pieces are too big to fit the spots where they are supposed to fit. It's as if the game designer had the idea that they could use metal pieces like in Monopoly, but they were too expensive. So you never know where your piece fits, and since the instructions are unclear, it's never clear what you can or should do. Buy Blockus instead!

I had to return this game and contacted the company to get accurate return information.

Game was delivered to them on 1/8/08 and as of 1/17/08 there has been no refund issued. Had to contact them for status.

Fair warning.