Portolan Trade
Property trading board gamePlay with a friend
Related categories
Game information
- Players
- Alone, or with a friend through a room link
- Category
- Board & Card
- Controls
- Touch, mouse, keyboard
- Languages
- 20 languages
- Price
- Free
- Played
- 14 times
About Portolan Trade
The harbour of Portolan leases its streets to whoever pays first: the fish market, the ropewalk, the salt pans, the bankers' hill. Four traders walk the quays with a purse each, and the chart on the table remembers who owns what.
Roll, buy lots, build districts and charge rent on a harbour board. Sealed auctions, trades, 12 charters, four rival styles and online play.
How to play Portolan Trade
On your turn tap Roll: your token walks the ring of squares and the square it lands on is settled. A free lot can be bought at its price or sent to a sealed auction, where every trader names one secret bid and the highest bid pays and takes it. A lot owned by a rival costs you its rent. Own every lot of a district and its bare rent doubles; tap one of those lots to build warehouses, evenly across the district, up to a trading hall. Piers pay more the more of them you own, and harbour works charge a multiple of the dice. Tidings and Cargo squares draw a card. The Harbour Patrol sends you to quarantine: roll doubles, pay 50 or wait three rolls. Short of cash, tap your lots to sell buildings or mortgage them. Before you roll you can also offer any rival a trade of lots and cash. A quick game ends after 24 rounds and the richest trader wins; a standard game ends when half the table is bankrupt; a classic game runs to the last trader.
Controls
- Touch
- Tap Roll to move, tap Buy or Auction on a free lot, and tap any square to read its card and build, sell or mortgage.
- Mouse
- Click Roll to move, click Buy or Auction on a free lot, and click any square to read its card and build, sell or mortgage.
- Keyboard
- Space or Enter presses the main button, T opens a trade, Tab and the arrow keys move between squares and buttons, and Escape closes a sheet.
Features
Three boards
The harbour has 36 squares with 7 districts, 4 piers and 2 harbour works. The island is a tight ring of 24 squares. The rivers board adds two toll bridges that charge every rival passing over them.
Twelve charters
A campaign of 12 tables, each with a rule of its own: auctions only, lots dealt out, ferries across the board, district shares, a wind die, a loan to repay. Every charter has three stars to earn.
Rivals with a style
Eight rivals play four ways: the builder, the hoarder, the auction shark and the cautious one. They keep cash against the rents ahead, bid in auctions and offer trades that complete their districts.
Trades and sealed auctions
Offer any rival lots and cash both ways; they accept, decline or come back with a counter. A lot nobody buys goes to a sealed auction with one secret bid per trader.
Three game lengths
Quick ends after 24 rounds on net worth, Standard when half the table is bankrupt, Classic with the last trader standing. House rules set auctions, rent during quarantine and starting cash.
Play with friends
Two to four players in one room by link, with bots in the empty seats. The dice and cards are the same for everyone, and nobody sees a bid before all are in.
Tips
- A whole district is worth far more than its lots: three warehouses on each lot multiply the rent roughly forty times, so trade to complete a district before you buy scattered squares.
- Keep cash for the stretch ahead of your token: look at the rents on the next twelve squares before you build the last warehouse you can afford.
- In a sealed auction the winner pays their own bid, so bid what the lot is worth to you, not what you think it takes to win.
- A lot that blocks a rival's district is a trade card: hold it until they offer a lot you need.
- In a quick game the richest trader wins on net worth, and mortgaged lots count at half price, so redeem them before the last rounds.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a game take?
A quick game is 24 rounds and takes about 10 minutes against three rivals. Standard and classic games run longer, until traders go bankrupt. Rival turns can be fast forwarded at any time.
How do I build warehouses?
Own every lot of one district, then tap one of its lots on your turn and press Build. A district is built evenly: no lot can be more than one level above another. Four warehouses can be raised to a trading hall.
What happens when I cannot pay?
The turn waits while you raise the money: sell buildings for half their cost or mortgage lots for half their price, by hand or with Raise cash. If everything you own is not enough, you are bankrupt and your lots go to the trader you owe.
How does the auction work?
Every trader still in the game names one bid without seeing the others. The highest bid pays that amount and takes the lot. If everyone passes, the lot stays free.
Can I play with friends on different phones?
Yes. Choose Play with a friend, pick the length, the starting cash and the number of players, and share the link. Empty seats can be filled with bots, and a bot takes over for a player who leaves.
Is my progress saved?
Charter stars, missions and best scores are kept on this device in the browser, without an account. The site's device sync can move them to another device.
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