FINALLY! No more hauling Berk innards and formaldehyde; you’ve hit the big time, baby! Welcome to the Star Cartel!

The most important thing about the Star Cartel (even more than the payouts, the ships, and the fame) is the fact that in space, no one can hear you scheme.

So when you pull your ship into the docking bay laden with precious crystals, weapons, and miniature snow globes, the Cartel gets most of the moola but you skim a little for yourself.

In this shot, the 7 capacity ship has just loaded up its last few goods. The smallest set (the food) will have its price reduced by 1 and the largest set’s price goes up by 2. The middle set you keep, adding to your ever-increasing stash of contraband snow globes.

Observant readers will note that 8+2 is 10, and yet there is no 10 on the price board. Should a good’s price ever exceed maximum, the price crashes and goes back down to 1. Sorry weapon-hoarders! Should have diversified your portfolios!

What this brings is a game of rushing for the best things only to fear that your carefully crafted collection of crystals is going to plummet in value - so you have to NOT collect crystals in order to try to drive the price DOWN by dumping them in your shipments while other players try to drive the price UP in order to crash it and render your collection just so many shiny rocks.

The entire game of Star Cartel rides on that tightrope of tension - so much so that I struggle to actually pen this review because the core mechanism is that simple. You want to collect, but you need to increase the prices or you’re not gonna score anything. You want to forge your own path but you need follow the current trends. You want to rush for the best ships but you need to slow down in order to craft the perfect delivery. You want to make your own items increase in value but you need to make sure your opponents aren’t inadvertently profiting. You want to sabotage your opponent’s goods prices but you need to make sure your own are in order. You want to diversify but you need to manipulate everythi- aaaaaahhhgghhghaaahhg.

What keeps the pace up is that you only cash out at the end - there’s no midgame counting or fiddling with money tokens or score tracks, and you’re never completely out as you can pay attention to what your fellow scumlords are doing and crash their prices. Until the last shipment is docked the game is on - and boy what a game.

Star Cartel is a phenomenal stock market game, compelling, beautiful, and tense all the way through its twenty to thirty minute runtime. Play it fast and loose as a way to close out your evenings or break out the mental calculators and make it a main event - either way it will not disappoint.

Calvin's Corner - Star Cartel

Calvin Wong

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