Thurn and Taxis

In Thurn and Taxis, players build post office routes across Bavaria and the regions around, collecting bonus points in various ways. The board shows a map of all the cities, with roads leading from each one to some of its neighbors. There are various colored regions around the board, most with two or three cities, and a large region with all the Bavarian cities in the center.

Players build postal routes from city to city to city so that each city is adjacent to the next city on the route and there is a road connecting these two cities. Each route must consist of at least three cities. Players may build only one route at a time. Routes are represented by melded city cards arranged in the order of the route.

Players start with a supply of 20 post offices in their color, a carriage house card, and a player aid card. The board is populated with bonus tiles, carriage cards and city cards. On a turn, a player will draw a card from a display of six, face-up city cards (or the top of the face-down deck) and meld one card, either starting a new route or adding to the current one. If after adding to the route, the length of the route is at least three cities, the player may declare it finished and score it. The player may, depending on the length of the route and which cities are in the route, place post offices in the cities, collect bonus tiles, and acquire a higher value carriage. Optionally, the player may receive support from one postal official in the form of drawing a second card, melding a second card, refreshing the six city card display, or acquiring a higher value carriage than the route length when finishing a route. Once a route is scored, the city cards of that route are discarded, and the player begins a new route on their next turn.

When a player exhausts their supply of post offices or acquires a value 7 carriage, the end of the game is triggered. Play continues until the player who is last in turn order finishes their turn, and the game ends. Players score points for their highest valued carriage and bonus tiles, then lose points for unplaced post offices. The player with the most points wins.

The fact that you *must* add at least one city to your route each turn or lose the whole route gives the game an enjoyable planning element.

Awards & Honors

• 2008 JoTa Best Light Board Game Winner
• 2008 JoTa Best Light Board Game Nominee
• 2008 JoTa Best 2-Player Board Game Nominee
• 2008 Årets Spill Best Family Game Nominee
• 2007 Vuoden Peli Adult Game of the Year Winner
• 2007 Vuoden Peli Adult Game of the Year Nominee
• 2007 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee
• 2007 Hra roku Winner
• 2007 Hra roku Nominee
• 2007 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee
• 2006 Spiel des Jahres Winner
• 2006 Spiel des Jahres Nominee
• 2006 Spiel der Spiele Hit mit Freunden Recommended
• 2006 Meeples' Choice Award
• 2006 Japan Boardgame Prize Best Advanced Game Winner
• 2006 International Gamers Awards - General Strategy; Multi-player Nominee
• 2006 Golden Geek Best Gamer's Board Game Nominee
• 2006 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee
• 2006 Deutscher Spiele Preis Best Family/Adult Game 2nd Place