Istanbul

Winner of the Kennerspiel des Jahres, Istanbul is a strategic game of planning, movement, and smart resource management set in the bustling bazaar of the Ottoman Empire.

You play as a merchant navigating 16 different locations with the help of four assistants. To take an action, you must move your merchant and one assistant to a location, then leave the assistant behind to handle the task. If you want to use that assistant again, your merchant must return to pick him up. This creates a clever and engaging puzzle, where movement and planning are just as important as the actions themselves.

On your turn, move one or two steps through the bazaar. At each stop, you can expand your wheelbarrow, gather goods, trade resources, earn money, unlock special abilities, or acquire the rubies needed to win. As you compete for efficiency and outmaneuver your rivals, every decision counts.

The first player to collect five rubies ends the game, and the wealthiest among the tied players wins.

Clever movement, tactical timing, and a rich setting make Istanbul a modern classic in strategy board gaming.