Admiral Zheng He

In the years 1405-1433 Ming Dynasty China sailed the most impressive fleets on the world's oceans. More than three hundred "treasure ships" – several measuring 400 feet, more than four times the size of Columbus' Santa Maria – made seven epic voyages through the China Sea and Indian Ocean.

NEW! A solitaire expansion for this game is now available. So if you like solo play, have a look at Admiral Zheng He: Sailing Alone. A micro expansion - just 18 cards - it adds pirates and ambushes, and can even help you get better at the base game. You can add these features to the base game as well.

In this game you are a Chief Trader in this fleet, which carries costly cargoes of the empire's finest silks, porcelains lacquer wares, tea and wine. All of this is for you to exchange for gems, incense, medicine, pearls, resin, spices, textiles, fine woods and fauna products.

You decide which of these products to bring to trade with foreign ports, and using the knowledge that you alone possess, which ports to visit. Can you be the Trader who brings home the treasure that most impresses the Emperor and Court and thereby win the game?

Design Notes

• Market model. Unlike most trading games, prices change every turn, not just prices of the items to be purchased, but also the very commodities used to make purchases, that is, the players’ money itself. As in real life, prices don’t change wildly, but move slightly and every once in a while make a big jump.
• Purchasing Dilemmas. Players seek to use their money only when it has its highest value, but this is difficult to predict. Moreover, extra value for the end of the game can be had if they have a monopoly on certain types of items so they will want to buy those. But that might not be the right time to buy in terms of the value of their money.
• Voting. Players decide which types of items will come for trade on each of the 5 rounds by voting on the next port to visit. Each port has a different offering.
• Quick play. Players purchase goods via “once around” auctions so values are set accurately, but it does not take a long time.
• Balancing. A player who does not get to purchase something gets information about one or two ports and can even influence this information a bit.
• Theme. Depicts the actual commodities and ports that featured in real life with extensive background notes about them.

Sequence of Play

A. Claim Price Cards.

B. Five Rounds of the following:

1. Load Trade Goods.
2. Travel.
3. Change Prices.
4. Trade.
5. Inspect Prices.
6. Advance Start Player token.

C. Return to China.

Game Includes

• 1 18x18" Quad-fold, Hardback board
• 91 Commodity cards*
• 50 Trade cards
• 15 Price cards
• 5 Trader cards
• 1 Inspector card
• 19 Transparent "Ice" cubes
• 20 Arrow Chit Price Indicators
• 3 Wood Sailboat tokens
• 1 Large Retail Box
• 1 Jumbo Rules Booklet (download below)

*All cards are Poker-sized.

Other News

2020 August 8: Changed Start Player marker to a Chinese coin.

2021 December 26: Correct rules typo about number of cards in the game.

2022 January 26: Add 5 cards for player identification. Update rules to match.

Links

• Visit us at Up & Away Games.
• Rate us on BGG.
• Follow on Twitter.
• Questions? Contact us.

Published August 8, 2019.

What This Is

This is not a mass-produced game, but printed-on-demand . We have uploaded the artwork, rules and specifications, but The Game Crafter makes it only when you order it. Learn more.

郑和上将棋盘游戏

在 1405-1433 年间，中国在世界海洋上航行了最令人印象深刻的舰队。 三百多艘“宝船”——其中几艘长 400 英尺，是哥伦布的圣玛丽亚的四倍多——在中国海和印度洋进行了七次史诗般的航行。

在这个游戏中，你是这支舰队的首席贸易商，这支舰队载有帝国最好的丝绸、瓷器、漆器、茶和酒等昂贵的货物。 这一切都是为您换取宝石、香、药、珍珠、树脂、香料、纺织品、上等木材和动物产品。

您决定将这些产品中的哪些带到与外国港口进行贸易，并使用您独自拥有的知识，访问哪些港口。 您能否成为将最令皇帝和朝廷印象深刻的宝藏带回家并赢得比赛的商人？

设计说明

市场模式。与大多数交易游戏不同，价格每时每刻都在变化，不仅是要购买的物品的价格，还包括用于购买的商品，即玩家的钱本身。就像在现实生活中一样，价格不会剧烈变化，而是会略有波动，并且每隔一段时间就会大幅上涨。

采购困境。玩家只在资金具有最高价值时才寻求使用他们的资金，但这很难预测。此外，如果他们垄断某些类型的物品，那么在游戏结束时可以获得额外的价值，因此他们会想要购买这些物品。但就他们的资金价值而言，这可能不是购买的合适时机。

表决。玩家通过在下一个要访问的港口投票来决定在 5 轮中的每一轮中哪些类型的物品将用于交易。每个端口都有不同的产品。

快玩。玩家通过“一次性”拍卖购买商品，因此可以准确设置价值，但不会花费很长时间。

平衡。没有购买东西的玩家会获得有关一两个端口的信息，甚至可以稍微影响这些信息。

主题。描述现实生活中的实际商品和港口，并附有大量背景说明。