Thurn and Taxis (T&T) is a game showing the development of the German postal system. In this game player develop postal routes across Southern Germany by laying down different German cities that their postal carrier is passing thru. Upon completing a route, players get to position houses to show where their route was (you can either claim all of one district or one house per district you pass thru). Game play is quick, each round players perform a special task (enabling them to draw additional cards, play additional cards, have a new selection pile, or upgrade their coach). I’ve played this game in 2 and 4 player format. Both ways are fun. Four player games are typically more dynamic than 2 player games (the draw pile changes more frequently). Best of all, each time you play this game it’s a little different in play.

Rating wise, I’d go 4.5 stars because I love the game play and the originality of the game. Despite this, I can’t round up because there’s something missing in the game, the ability to be competative with other player (you are competative to win districts to gain points, but I’d love it if there was more interaction between players…). Because of that I dropped it to a 4 star rating. No matter, enjoy the game!!
Rating: 4 / 5

This is a fantastic game that you can play again and again. After giving it to my fiancee for Christmas we played it with different groups of people 4 times over the next week and we never got bored. You can really get into the strategy of it all and try out a lot of different approaches.

The other nice thing is that people pick this game up very quickly. While playing with 4 players we generally found that the first time people play it usually takes about 2 to 2.5 hours for the game. For games when everyone knows the rules, it can go as quickly as an hour or 1.5 hours.

The game overall is lots of fun! The pieces themselves are very well made. The chips are a really hard, strong cardboard that feels very durable. You can’t bend it unless you *really* try. Very vibrant colors and good art. Fun to look at while playing.

Definitely recommend picking this game up!
Rating: 5 / 5

The house of Thurn and Taxis founded the postal service in Austria. Rio Grande Games’”Thurn and Taxis” immerses players into the age of the Reformation where they will create the most efficient and grandest postal system in the Holy Roman Empire.

Thurn and Taxis was created by the husband wife team of Andreas Seyfarth and Karen Seyfarth. Most of you will recall that Andreas is credited with a title by the name of Puerto Rico. The Seyfarth Clan has not rested on this illustrious laurel; they have responded with Thurn and Taxis–and what a wonderful response this game is!

During a player’s turn, he will take one of six cards that are available. Then he will play a card from his hand. Each card has a city on it. Players must play at least one card on their turn. The card played must depict a city that is adjacent to a city on a card they previously played. If you cannot play such a card, then all your played cards are discarded!

When a player is satisified with the length of his carriage (the amount of cards he’s played), he may score them. You may either place one of your house tokens on all of the cities of the same color that you score or place one house token on each of the colors you scored.

There are several different areas on the board, all color coded. Players score points when they have one of their houses in all the regions of a color. These points diminish throughout the game; the first player to score a region will get more points than the second player…and so on. Also, players score points for having at least one of their houses in all nine regions. Again, these points diminish. Thus, players will have to be judicious with their actions; scoring points is a function of efficiency–just like the real post office!

In addition, players score points for having the long carriage routes. This happens in two ways. The first way is with diminishing points; the other way is with constant points but will force the end of the game. Once someone has earned the seven length carriage, the game will end.

There are four special actions that players may choose from during their turn. These are in addition to drawing one card, playing one card and scoring. These actions are 1. draw an additional card; 2. play an additional card; 3. remove the six cards from the board and replace them; 4. score a carriage that is two lengths higher. This gives the game lots of tactical choices. When will you draw an extra card? When will you play an extra? You need to score points in so many different ways…which is optimal?

The quality of the components in Thurn and Taxis is excellent. The cardboard tokens are thick and durable. The board is glossy, high quality and is resistant to damage. The box has enough compartments to store everything! (a little pet peeve of mine)

The game also comes with a booklet that has a brief history of the House of Thurn and Taxis…just for us history buffs! Ya gotta love the effort Andreas and Karen put into this game!

The rules for Thurn and Taxis are not very formidable. The typical nongamer may struggle a bit with them–but not much. The historical aspect of this game may be of consideration to teachers who want fun ways to drum up interest in history. The quality of the components and game play means Thurn and Taxis will be hitting the game table with some regularity. Enjoy this fine game!

Rating: 4 / 5