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For over a thousand
years hardy traders
traversed the mountains,
deserts and seas between
the great civilization
centers of Rome, China
and India. Roman gold
coins have been found
in India and China and
Chinese silk in the
pyramids of Egypt. In
the 19th century, the
historian Ferdinand von
Richthofen (father of
the famous flier)
coined the term "Silk
Road" (in German,
Seidenstrasse)
to describe the long,
narrow, easily-broken
overland route between
East and West, but there
were also the Spice Route,
the Incense Route and
many others. On these
routes there flowered
not only trade, but
the transmission of
technology, art, culture
– the Silk Road has
been called the Internet
of its day. Others
document its history,
but what you have come
upon is the only place,
so far, to chart the
many games which evoke
this rich past and offer
some opportunity to
relive its sense of
wonder and adventure.
Board Games on the Old Silk Road May 3, 2010 added or updated:

Silk Road Games:
Age of Schemes (2008) · Akaba (2004) · Aladdin (1970) · Aladdin's Erbe (1987) · Aladdin's Lamp Game, The (1992) · Aladdin's Dragons (2000) · Aladdin the Magic Carpet Game (1992) · Aladdin's Sounds of Fun Electronic Talking Board Game (1992) · Ali Baba (1993) · Ali Baba (1999) · Ali Baba (2002) · Ali Babas Beute (1983) · Arabian Nights (2009) · Arabian Nights Flying Carpet Game (1972) · Asia Crossroads (2003) · Asian Travels (?) · Auf den Spuren des Marco Polo (2004) · Bakschisch (1995) · Basari (1998) · Bazaar (1967) · Bazaar (1986) · Caravansérail (1996) · Da Geht Was Ab im Morgenland (1995) · Die Diebe von Bagdad (1999) · Emira (2006) · Les Fils de Samarande (2005) · Fliegende Teppich (1987) · Flying Carpet (1987) · Game of Arabian Nights (1940) · Geschichten aus 1001 Nacht (1999) · Der gestohlene Harem oder die falschen Eunuchen (1992) · The Journey to Tianzhu (1998) · Karawane (1990) · Karawane (2008) · Le Marché de Samarkand (2010) · Marco Polo (1983) · Marco Polo Reisespiele (1996) · Medina (2001) · Morgenland (2000) · Oasis (1999) · Orient-Bazar · Palmyra (1996) · Die Perlen der Scheherezade (1992) · Riquezas do Sultão (2007) · Samarcanda (?) · Samarkand (1999) · Samarkand:  Routes to Riches (2010) · Die Schätze des Ali Baba (1999) · Die Seidenstraße (1997) · Seidenstraße (2009) · Silk Road (1985) ·

  • Silk: Road Maker (2009) · Sindbad (1990) · Sindbad: Das Große Abenteuer-Spiel (1978) · Sultan (2009) · Tales of Arabia (2001) · Tales of the Arabian Nights (1985) · The Thieves of Bagdad (1999) · Verrat! (1999) · Les Voleurs de Bagdad (1999)
    Related Games:
    Abdul's Adventure (2000) · Blazing Camels (1996) · Caravaneers (2008) · Caravans of Ahldarahd (2008) · Desert Bazaar (2006) · Durch die Wüste (1997) · Im Reich der Wüstensöhne (2008) · Kameltreiber (1996) · Kameltreiber AG (1989) · Das Letze Kamel (1988) · Muscat (2001) · Nomadi (1995) · Nomads of Arabia (2006) · Oasis (2004) · Saba (2007) · Sahara (1990) · So Ein Kamel (1985) · Targui (1988) · Through the Desert (1997) · Timbuktu (1993) · Wabanti (1995)
    Bibliography
    Documentaries
    Silk Road Games

    Age of Schemes
    David V.H. Peters & Harry Wu; Winsome Games-2008; 3-6
    In 400 AD players are extending trade routes through the Middle East and Central Asia. See more at Samarkand:  Routes to Riches

    Akaba
    Guido Hoffmann; HABA-2004; 2-4; 5+
    A children's dexterity game. Players must blow to "fly" their magic carpets around the game board and thereby collect the most presents.

    Aladdin
    PK-1970; 2-4
    Finnish roll-and-race game.

    Aladdin's Erbe
    Franz-Josef Schulte; Franjos-1987; 2-4
    A player has two pawns which he moves on a grid via four dice. If he can manage it so that the two are facing each other with one of the treasure cards between them, he can claim that hidden treasure, that is, unless he already has one of that type. Players may also duel by landing on one another, adding together a treasure card and dice result. Treasures have differing values so that even if a player is first to acquire all types and end play, he doesn't necessarily win.

    Aladdin's Lamp Game, The 
    University Games-1992; 2-4; 3+
    Spin-and-move around a two-level track. Landing on a special space yields cards, which permit entry to the upper board where the goal is in sight.

    Aladdin the Magic Carpet Game
    Mary Danby; Milton Bradley-1992; 2-4; 5+
    Spin-and-move game based on the Disney animated film with Robin Williams.

    Aladdin's Sounds of Fun Electronic Talking Board Game
    Parker Brothers-1992; 2-4; 3+
    Set collection game based on the Disney animated film with Robin Williams. PLayers try to rescue the imprisoned princess from the villain Jafar.

    Ali Baba
    Ian Livingstone; Abacus Spiele-1993; 2-6
    A re-issue of a British game Calamity translated to a colorful, but not particularly apt theme. Although tension is high, players often feel there is far too little control over their destiny, particularly as the number of players increase.

    Ali Baba
    Dominique Ehrhard; Piatnik-1999?; 2-6; 5+
    A memory game with features akin to Can't Stop.

    Ali Baba
    Gunter Baars; Ravensburger-2002
    Only the player who picks the nine locks of the treasure chest correctly, can open the cover and arrive at the treasures inside the crate (game box).

    Ali Babas Beute
    Heinz Wittenberg; Spears-1983; 2-6; 6+
    As players move around the board they pick up gold coins. But the distance moved is calculated in a curious way. While one player chooses the distance, another which player will move.

    Arabian Nights
    José Carlos de Diego Guerrero; web-published; 2009; 2-5
    As of April 2010 a web-published tile-laying game in which Basra must be liberated from the evil vizier Jaffar so that Achmed may marry the princess. The playing area is composed of a grid of square tiles. Half of them are tiles over which the players will fight to claim while the other half are connection tiles. Each connection has assigned to it a random die. On a player's turn they roll a pair of dice and move their Abu figure to a connector tile with a die matching one of those they rolled. They may then place one of their tokens on a tile connected to this tile. Each of these claimable tiles has a number from 3 to 6 which is the number of tokens it needs to contain before it is claimed by its majority holder and replaced with a random new one. When it comes time to draw one of these replacements and the supply has run out, the winner is the player whose tile numbers total the highest. But only tiles for which the player is at least tied for having the most in that color count. There are also six separate special power tiles which are not really part of the board. Players can place tokens on these by means of rolling doubles and can later use their special powers by burning one of these tokens if they dominate the tile. Special powers including sic'ing Jaffar on another player, changing a connection, changing a tile's die, etc. There is some quite nice artwork here and some good ideas, but on the whole needs more development. If one or two dice values are not available on the tiles, players can experience a lot of do nothing turns, which is never fun (and thus strongly avoided by those designing the most modern game technology). Even worse, using Jaffar forces a player to lose a turn. Instead of becoming more vital and exciting, play toward the end tends to just peter out with each move becoming less valuable rather than more so. During the endgame for most there is almost nothing useful anyone can do. There are problems with vague instructions. Players may find themselves playing just to get it over with more than for any other goal. The connection tiles seem like a nice idea, but in practice almost never matter. Meanwhile they aren't used for movement, but instead players decisionmaking is almost entirely at the mercy of the dice. Duration is probably at least one-third too long for the amount of randomness involved.

    Arabian Nights Flying Carpet Game
    Selchow & Righter-1972; 2-4
    Players move via rotation of a clock-like device, land on spaces and take the indication indicated there. Game for children.

    Asia Crossroads
    Joe Miranda; Decision Games-2003; 2
    Britian and Russia engage in their "Great Game" in Central Asia during the 19th century.

    Asian Travels
     for the San Francisco Asian Art Museum
    2-6 players
    A voyager in the game finds himself on the trade routes which existed at the height of the Tang Dynasty in China (c. 750 AD). He sets out from Chang An, the cosmopolitan Chinese capital. Traveling across northern China and then to Central Asia, with a lucky roll of the die he will arrive at Samarkand, an important trading center. There, glass, fruit and horses may be purchased. At Merv, the traveler must decide whether to follow the overland or sea route. Going by sea, one has the opportunity to buy incense at the port of Hormoz, collect rubies, sapphires and pearls in the kingdom of Anuradhapura (now in Sri Lanka), visit the wondrous temples at Elephanta and Kancipuram and buy spices in Srivijaya (Sumatra). But beware! There are mighty perils on this route. On the overland route, the traveler visits magnificent Buddhist temples in India and beyond, encounter tigers in the jungles of Bengal and purchase luxuries such as kingfisher feathers and rhino horn at Angkor. The final leg of the journey passes through the the bustling port of Guangzhou (Canton) and then off to Japan and Korea where the traveler will be able to visit foreign temples and complete final trading before returning home by way of the Grand Canal.
    Each location includes a special paragraph of text describing what happens to the traveler there. Often they include special trading opportunities. Major trading centers have specific products which they sell and also another list which they want to purchase. Commodity holdings are shown by cards which list the differing values of these items at various locations. Includes short history and glossary of terms.

    Auf den Spuren des Marco Polo
    Reiner Knizia; Ravensburger-2004; 2-5; 8+
    Included are game board, 5 camel figures, 45 playing cards, 5 overview cards and 36 "gold crates" having values 1-3. The board shows the travel route of Marco Polo over of 30 spaces. Play begins in Hormuz and there is a halfway point at Kan-chou. When the first player arrives there, an intermediate scoring occurs. Play ends with a final scoring when the first camel reaches Daidu. Each player begins with 5 hand cards and a value 3 gold crate. 5 more cards form the open pool. The starting player places his camel on Hormuz while the others players start in turn order ever a field further in front. Only one camel is permitted per space. In a turn, a player may move as far as they like, or can, and then draw exactly one card from the pool or deck. In the deck are 40 goods cards (4 types of goods in 5 colors) and 15 caravan leaders in 5 colors. These are applied to spaces, each of which indicates which cards it needs before entry is allowed. Inability to satisfy the demand means waiting a few rounds and just pulling cards. But if a space is occupied, a player may simply skip over it. Once the player may hand over a gold crate instead of cards, but may not thereby go to the front of the caravan. Some spaces yield gold crates for the player that first enters. The winner is the one who has the most gold crates at the end.

    Bakschisch
     Kara Ben Hering (pseudonym for Klaus Teuber and friends); Goldsieber; 1995; 2-4
    The goal of the game is to successfully bribe your way to becoming Caliph. If you use more gold than the other players to bribe any of the first four revealed cards, then you will move towards the throne. If you use the least amount of gold to bribe the fifth card, then you will move back towards the start space. After each complete round (5 bribes), all of the bribes of that round are redistributed as evenly as possible to all of the players. Once per round a player may use his or her thief rather than attempt to bribe the current card. The thief steals the bribes of the other players of the current card only. If more than one player plays a thief, then they must divide the bribes as evenly as possible. The game ends when a player occupies the throne at the end of a round.

    Basari
    Reinhard Staupe; F.X. Schmid-1998; 3-4
    The setting is a Middle Eastern bazaar. Players travel around the board landing on various stalls. On each turn the players have 3 options:

    1. Take the jewels pictured on the stall
    2. Take the number of Victory points listed on the stall; or
    3. Roll the dice and move that amount forward. The player also subtracts the number rolled from '6' and gets that difference in victory points.

    The main feature is that each player secretly 'bids' for which action he wishes to take by use of bidding tiles. If two players bid for the same action, they must negotiate a deal to see which one gets to execute the action. The jewels (of which there are 4 varieties in various values) are the unit of currency. The negotiation process involves players making offers and counter-offers in jewels until one player decides to accept the other's offer, takes the jewels offered, and the other player gets to execute the action.
    If three or more players happen to bid for the same action, those bids cancel each other and no one can execute the desired action.
    The game is played in three rounds. A round ends when at least one player travels around the board and again reaches his starting base. At this point, any player who reached the starting base on that turn receives a bonus of ten victory points (this is why the dice roll option is important). Then, each player who has a majority of one of the four categories of jewels gets bonus points, which range from 8-14 points. Each player who had a majority must return three of that color jewel to the bank. Thus, the race for majority position remains competitive from round-to-round. After the third round, final scores are tallied to determine the victor.

    Bazaar
    Sid Sackson; 3M-1967/Schmidt-1967/Discovery Toys-199?; 2-6
    This game has no real travel or desert, but is an abstract rendering of the barter and trading that goes on in a bazaar, and in particular, the process of continual "through-trading" to get what it is that you ultimately want.

    Players obtain gems in the right combinations to purchase random merchandise cards, each of which cost five gems each. All players compete for the came cards. You may either throw the dice and receive gems of the corresponding color or you can make a trade according to one of ten formulae, which will be different for each game.

    When merchandise card is matched, you turn in the five gems and turn up a new merchandise card. Points are collected based on the number of remaining gems the player has each time a card is claimed and surprisingly, the fewer the better. Thus a player needs to be efficient not in the sense of earning a lot of gems, but in making only necessary trades.

    It is chesslike in the sense that a player must traverse a decision tree of possible trades which lead to more possible trades and so on. This game could be played very well by a computer, particularly if the optional rule that prohibits rolling the die except when no trade is possible were employed.

    See also, the so-called Bazaar II.

    Bazaar
    Sid Sackson; Schmidt-1986; 2-5
    This game has the same basic idea as Bazaar, but as is it a re-invention of the game, is colloquially given the sobriquet "Bazaar II". (The story is that the German company which published the first edition of Bazaar had allowed them to lapse and they had been acquired by another company. So they instead commissioned inventor Sackson to simply create a new game with a similar theme.) This edition features the addition of pawns which travel across different regions of a board, including buying markets, bartering markets and bazaars, different rules applying to each.
    These ideas are carried further in Mr. Sackson's game, Samarkand.


    Caravansérail
    Bruno Faidutti-1996; 6 or 8
    Each player is a sheikh ruling a desert kingdom. He sends his caravans to oases and caravanserais to exchange his wares with the other sheikhs, and controls a group of raiders attacking opposers' caravans. The winner is the first to get all the goods listed on the treasure card that he was dealt at the start of the game.
    Suggested variant: Make up 4 cards for each player, each colored accordingly and label them 1, 2, 3 and Raider. Then take all 24 (or 32) cards and shuffle. During movement, turn up cards one by one . as each is turned up, the corresponding caravan or raider moves. This eliminates the need for writing orders.

    Da Geht Was Ab im Morgenland
    Mark Sienholz; Krimsus Krimskrams Kiste-1999; 2-5
    "Morgenland" is an old poetic name for "The Orient". The grand viziers of the old ruler Scheherban are trying to become the next ruler. Each has treaure in a treasure chamber. Under that is also an insignia of power. Whoever collects all the insignias attains the goal. One tries to protect one's own chamber while infiltrating others' using robbers, genies, guards, slaves and magic items. The game play is divided over several days and nights. Players fill up their hand with five cards during the night, selecting freely from attack and defense cards. At daybreak, four cards representing events and objects are pulled.

    if no image probably out of print

    Emira
    Liesbeth Vanzeir & Paul Van Hove; Phalanx-2006/Mayfair-2006; 3-5
    Players represent sheiks trying to convince women to join their harems. Their technique for accomplishing this is to make themselves as attractive as possible so as to be best according to the individual tastes of the new woman who appears each turn. Make sure that you can afford her, however. Features very elaborately illustrated board and cards.

    Fils de Samarande, Les
    Bruno Cathala; Asmodée-2005; 2-5
    The caliph seeks a new vizier and will choose the player best at improving his city. Players allocate action points between drawing cards, playing new cards and using special actions to hamper opponents.

    Fliegende Teppich, Der
    Kurt Feyerabend & Elke Flogaus; Ravensburger; 1987; 3-6
    in English: Flying Carpet for Ravensburger-1987; 3-6

    Play a card and move your carpet, but don't run into a wall or a cloud. If you land on another's carpet, you can stall him or drop him to the ground. A fun, not-too-serious racing game with some wild effects so you're never sure who will win until the last play.

    Game of Arabian Nights
     National Games-1940; 2-4
    Roll the dice, move and see what happens. For children.

    Geschichten aus 1001 Nacht
     Eric Goldberg; Truant-1999; 2-6
    This is actually a re-release of Tales of the Arabian Nights with some additional text and places to visit.

    Der gestohlene Harem oder die falschen Eunuchen
    Rudolf Ehm; 1992; 3-6
    An arithmetic game in which one player is designated a harem keeper and another a potential kidnapper. Six dice are rolled and both players attempt to interpose addition, subtraction, multiplication and division operators between the numbers showing on the dice. The first to show how this can be done to obtain a resulting value of six wins the contest. The kidnapper can win credit for lady (victory point) but if the eunuch wins the failed kidnapper must speak in a ridiculously high voice.
    The Journey to Tianzhu
    Bennie Lui and the Lui Chi Leung Production Co.; C.C. Games-1998; 2-4
    Chinese and English game based on a Chinese national epic The Journey to the West. The tale of myth and magic is based on the real life journey of the Buddhist monk Xuan Tsang from China to India and back in the seventh century. Players move their monk, monkey, pigsy and Shaseng pieces (all characters from the book) from Chang An to Tianzhu (the ancient Chinese name for India) with rules similar to those of Pachisi. Pieces are plastic with colored stickers with the board made from laminated paper. Play is made more interesting by inclusion of special powers for each type of piece which can affect each other type in special ways as well as cloud paths which a player may attempt to use to evade his enemies. There are also variant rules to change the victory conditions or play of the game.

    Karawane
    Ravensburger; 1990; 3-5
    In the 13th century the emperor Kubla Kahn, has started a contest. Once a year, the cleverest and best caravan leader in his empire was determined. Each caravan leader has three sets of water gourds and starts their camel from the first town. The first one to reach the next receives bales of silk, the second a couple of bales less and so on.
    To move, each player secretly chooses a number of gourds which are revealed simultaneously. The highest number moves forward a number of places equal to the number of players. The next highest moves one less and so on, down to the minimum of one. Players choosing the same number move the same number. It is possible to choose none to try for last place on purpose and save water, but of course others may do the same and thus lose the advantage. The idea is to have enough gourds to survive the journey at a good speed.
    Some places are marked with special graphics that award a silk bale to anyone landing exactly on them, others offer fresh gourds and others have negative effects such as losing bales or water. There is therefore much jostling for position and movement placing to pick up or avoid these special sections. The resulting strategy is not mind boggling but is interesting enough and quite difficult to get right.
    The title in English would be "Caravans"; the game is out of print.

    Karawane
    Hajo Bücken; HABA-2008; 2-4
    Camels are racing to an oasis via card play. Only the first six finishers score. For children.

    Le Marché de Samarkand
    Loic Billiau; Krok Nik Douil Editions-2010; 3-5; 8+
    A Dutch auction game (a high price is set and progressively lower prices are called out until the first player says stop and thereby wins the bid). Players take turns being the auctioneer of one of the ten cards they hold in hand. The value of the cards one collects accelerates as the number of them grows. Players need to buy not only commodities, but also camels to carry them. On the other hand, camels that end up not having any loads to carry cost in points.

    Marco Polo Reisespiele
    Wolfgang Riedesser; Schmidt-1996; 2-4

    Medina
    Stefan Dorra; Hans-im-Glück-2001; 3-4
    Game of constructing the medieval Arabian city. Borrowing liberally from both Torres and Big City, could serve as Exhibit A for the case that today's German games fail to break new ground and are content to merely feed upon one another. It doesn't help either that rather abstract rules result in a cold, silent atmosphere devoid of excitement. A failing in perhaps my eyes alone is the utter lack of any historical reality, save one: by the end is constructed a kooky, colorful patchwork of a Medina that resembles the real thing better than any artist could contrive. But the amount of mileage one can take from this purely visual will vary widely. Speaking of graphics, the usually sure-footed Hans im Glück have here made an annoying mis-step, coloring red the tile meant to match the brown buildings.

    Morgenland
    Richard Breese; Hans-im-Glück-2000; 2-5
    in English: Aladdin's Dragons; Rio Grande Games-2000; 2-5
    The German title refers to "The Orient". The cover reads "Adventure under the crescent moon." Aladdin is the background figure of the game, which is a re-invention of Keydom.

    Oasis
    Jim Deacove; Family Pastimes-1999; 1-8; 5+
    In three different games, players cooperate to best direct three caravans collecting valuables from the board while trying to avoid thieves and sandstorms.

    Orient-Bazar
    Barbara Rogge-Fuchs; Espenlaub; 2-4; 8+
    Roll-and-move affair in which players first need to move over enough money spaces to earn the ability to hire an elephant. Thenceforth it's possible to spend money to acquire goods. Victory consists of buying all six goods in his color; when it's necessary to buy from an opponent, it doesn't come cheap.

    Palmyra
    Reiner Knizia; eg spiele (Editrice Giochi of Italy)-1996; 2-4
    Palmyra was one of the most prosperous oasis towns to be found on the part of the Silk Road that runs through the middle of the Syrian desert. Between 100 B.C.and 272 A.D. it was a thriving market town until ordered destroyed by the Roman Emperor Aurelius.
    In this game you are a trader of Ancient Palmyra, dealing in Gold, Wine and Spices. As the commodities are purchased the price goes up. A player may either buy or sell one of each type of commodity per turn, or buy or sell two of any one type. Each turn the players also play a card onto the board. At the end of the year (there are three years in a game), these cards will adjust the prices of the various commodities, tax particular commodities, pay profits on a players holdings or undo a previous card. There are a set number of card spaces on the board (adjusted for number of players) and when all the spaces are filled the year ends.
    Outguessing the other player intentions and dealing adequately with the uncertain end of the year (because undo cards do not take a space) appear to be the keys to the game.

    Perlen der Scheherazade, Die
    Klaus Zoch & Albrecht Werstein; Zoch-1992; 2-6
    The board shows two paths from an oasis to the Sultan's palace, which has seven rooms. At the start of the game each player gets 1 Baksheesh Card and corresponding pieces, 10 multicolored beads and a cloth for covering them as well as a color card from the deck. Each player also has 2 Bedouins in the oasis, but only he knows their identity. Players attempt to find Scheherazade in the correct room of the harem and present three beads to her. They each secrete beads in hand and predict how many beads will be allocated in total. The high bidder wins the right to lead a camel and places his beads in a bowl. The best guesser receives all the beads in the bowl. As the camel moves, the Bedouins which are of the same color may also be moved. Then the process is reapeated. Presenting the beads is a matter of matching a hidden card in the harem.

    Riquezas do Sultão
    Sérgio Halaban & André Zatz; Estrela-2007; 2-5
    Players represent potential husbands for the Sultan's daughter. Each has been given the same amount of gold which he must use frequenting the bazaars to find the best jewels. Whoever can secure the most valuable collection wins. Pertinent mechanisms are bidding, bluffing and set collection. Re-made by Queen as Sultan.

    Samarcanda
    International Team; 3-5
    Subtitled: "The Marvellous Adventures of Marco Polo"

    Like Polo, players represent Venetian traders, each of whom set out funded with thirty pounds. Available for trade are silver, spices, salt, gems, silk and ivory. Each price is represented by a separate die; all of them are re-rolled at the start of each round. Departing Venice, a trader's move is controlled by a single die and traverses either clockwise or counterclockwise and either by land (outer edge) or by sea (inner edge). The right to go first rotates after each round. The player's movement roll also moves the Genoese pirates who started in the middle of the board and strip a trader of all but what he has left in the Venice bank if they should end on him. Landing on a Customs space makes the player roll a die and pay that many pounds to cross. Landing on a Thieves space makes the player roll a die and lose that many commodities. During the journey, players will end on spaces that permit purchase a certain amount of each of the commodities. Purchased goods may later be sold in a warehouse space (but only one type per space), sold to other players when at market spaces or sold at Venice with the price being equal to the number of the commodity being sold up to a maximum of five. But there is no such limit if the player holds a monopoly this commodity. Players may also take out loans, but at 100% interest. They may also make any deals not explicitly prohibited by the rules. The first player to reach 100 pounds is automatically elected Doge of Venice and wins the game. May have influenced Sindbad whose travel and trade system is somewhat similar.

    Samarkand
    Sid Sackson; Abacus-Spiele/    Rio Grande Games; 1999; 2-5
    A re-packaging (new graphics) of the so-called Bazaar II, although now players have more freedom of movement. Wheel and deal to buy the greatest share of goods in the bazaar to become the wealthiest Merchant.

    if no image probably out of print

    Samarkand: Routes to Riches
    David V.H. Peters & Harry Wu; Queen Games-2010; 2-5; 8+
    In 400 AD players are extending trade routes through the Middle East and Central Asia. This is a re-development of Age of Schemes (2008). In this era, trade was not a journey, not a track, railroad or highway. How then to explain that here the main activity of the players is making tracks? Because it's a railroad game masquerading as something else. Nations like Egypt or the Huns stand in for companies. Marriage alliances stand in for owning shares. The map shows the entire Middle East divided up into a great many irregular regions, most of which do not appear to have any historical meaning. Players begin with nothing but a bit of funding. They first take turns paying an already-determined amount – depending on the nation's strategic location and relative position to others – to acquire one of the nation's two shares and this money goes to the nation. On subsequent turns, an investing/married player uses this money to place camel pieces on the board that form trade routes. Placement has two objectives: connecting to caravans of other nations which pays the player who does it (and to a lesser extent the owners of the nations) and reaching objective tiles matching those in one's hand cards. The latter is an odd situation. Unlike the similar Santa Fe Rails, one gets cards after deciding which nation to buy into, i.e. exactly too late to make the purchase wisely. While it's true that one can discard and there is a maximum hand limit of six, this is an oddly luck-filled system in an otherwise logical affair. Duration is all right though and production well done. The only niggle in very attractive artwork is that the objective tiles are identical to what's printed beneath them which sometimes makes it hard to tell if the thing has been taken yet or not; it can also be annoying when setting up. There are some tricky plays one can try as well, such as starting with a centrally-located nation and using it to rapidly connect to everything in sight, which will end play after just twenty minutes and possibly catch a lot of opponents napping. While thematically this just isn't there, it might be a decent bridge between railroad game fans and those who don't normally care for them.

    Die Schätze des Ali Baba
    Jean du Poél; Historien Spielegalerie-1999; 2-6
    English translation of title: The Treasures of Ali Baba

    Die Seidenstraße
    Hartmuth Kommerell; Schmidt-1997; 2-7
    The game is about Marco Polo's return from his expedition to faraway China on the Silk Road (Seidenstrasse). This is a trading and racing game, but victory is to the player who has the most silver at the end. Players interact via cardplay, in every turn counterbalancing own interests with those of rivals. For example, an early Market Day may only give you a few coins, but it might make your visits to the next Trading Posts very profitable.

    Seidenstraße
    Hanno & Wilfried Kuhn; DDD Verlag-2009; 2-5
    Players together move three caravans through the Silk Road, selling goods as profitably as possible while avoiding storms, thieves and customs inspectors. Each player turn has five phases: (1) play card(s) into personal display, move caravans, take cards, execute actions, place cards into the general display. Each war card played moves a caravan an additional space, but only one type may be played per player-turn. Which action is performed depends on where the player caused the caravan to land. Actions include Market Day (large or small), Black Market, Camels (1, 2 or 3) Customs House, Sandstorm, Robbers, Bazaar, Bribery. Includes 80 cards, 30 gems, 22 action tokens and 10 wooden disks. Duration: 1 hour.

    Silk Road
    L. or R. Edwards; Tsukuda Hobby-1985; 2-8
    This multi-player game of trade on the Silk Road has a game-map which covers the entirety of Asia from Italy to Japan. Each player buys goods at one location and sells them at a different location. The game is now out of print.

    Silk Road Maker
    Erhan & Aydagul Cubukcuoglu; (web-published)-2009; 1-4
    Each player has his own 5x5 grid board and thirty tiles. One player is the caller and draws a tile at random. All of the other players find the same tile in their stack and they all place on their boards as they wish. The goal is create continuous roads between cities, unthematically the longer the better. Some tiles contain multiple discrete paths which can make for challenging decisions.

    Sindbad
    Flying Turtle/Mayfair; 1990; 2-6
    The game is set in the world of the seven voyages of Sindbad from A Thousand Nights and a Night. Player Sindbads voyage by sea to amass a fortune of one million miskhals in trade, treasure, and adventure and return safely to Basra.
    This one is actually ships at sea rather than camels in the desert, but feels much more appropriate to the topic than does an abstract game such as Durch die Wüste. Included are illustrations of exotic creatures, characters and settings, exotic valuable trade goods and the concept of telling stories reminiscent of the classic A Thousand Nights and One Night.

    Sindbad: Das Große Abenteuer-Spiel
    F.X. Schmid; 2-6
    Roll-and-move game for children on the adventures.

    Sultan
    Séregio Halaban & André Zatz; Queen-2009; 2-5
    Card game re-make of Riquezas do Sultão (2007).

    Tales of Arabia
     Frederic Moll; Warp Spawn Games-2001; 2
    Card game in which players create stories using their cards. The more cards played, the more points earned.

    Tales of the Arabian Nights
     Eric Goldberg; West End Games-1985; Z-Man Games-2009; 2-6
    This is actually four games in one:

    Verrat!
    Tom Kremer; Winning Moves Deutschland-1999; 3-4
    A game of scheming to kill the Sultan in his palace. To be successful you collect six different-colored resource cards from different parts of the city and then end your turn next to the Sultan. Each turn the players vote which of the other players' pieces to imprison. Each player has only three pieces so you need to balance the need for resource cards in the city against staying in the palace to vote.
    English translation of title would be "Treachery".

    Les Voleurs de Bagdad
    Francis Pacherie; Tilsit-1999; 3-6
    in German: Die Diebe von Bagdad; Heidelberger Verlag-1999; 3-6
    in French: The Thieves of Bagdad; Clash of Arms-2000; 3-6
    The board shows the five principal districts of the Baghdad: the Souk, the Port, the Bazaar, the Kasbah, and the Palace. Each player represents the thief of his choice. First, players receive income from their pawns in shops. Then they may trade gem, surprise and trade cards amongst themselves. Then they purchase pawns, any of Caravaneers, Merchants (can expel Caravaneers), Traders (can expel Merchants), Assassins (can assassinate), and gems (sapphires, emeralds, rubies and diamonds). Pawns may now be moved so as to maximize profit and hamper those of others. Players may attempt also to move the Grand Vizier, although others may try to frustrate this. The game ends when the Grand Vizier reaches the Palace. The players reveal their cards. The winner is the one holding the gems that the Vizier requested. If no one has the right gems, the winner is the one holding the greatest value of gems.

    Related Games

    Abdul's Adventure
    Daniel Lewis; Inner City Games Designs-2000; 2-6
    Players try to be the first to deliver 100 shekels worth of goods. In town, stock up on water, hire guards, buy commodities and camels, sell commodities or artifacts, etc. On the trail, roll to move and land on wolves, nomads, oases, open desert, pyramids or sandstorms.

    Blazing Camels
    Alex Randolph; Milton Bradley-1996; 4
    in German: Kameltreiber; Milton Bradley-1996; 4
    In this racing game each player is a camel driver driving his animals from the oasis to the pyramids (palm trees and pyramids serve as start and finish markers). Re-invention of a game about worms called Würmeln. It is also said that the same type of camels used in this game were later used in Durch die Wüste.

    Caravans of Ahldarahd
    Scott Lininger & Mark Morehead; BlindLuck Studios-2005; 2-5
    Multi-player game of auctions and path control. In an unusual setup, each player is assigned a board upon which to build his empire, but one other player at a time may also build on the same board. While each board is different, all feature the same commodities sources. The way to achieve the most points is to control the supply of the same items on several boards, implying a monopoly. The means of control is via pre-printed trade routes. Just as in Kahuna, playing 2 cards matching either end of a route is good enough to get control if vacant. Otherwise, an opponent can be dislodged, again by the method of Kahuna, i.e. taking control of the majority the routes into the place eliminates any unfriendly controls.

    Caravaneers
    Andrew Perkis; Games magazine (March 2009 issue)-2009; 2
    On a 7x7 grid representing the desert, each turn players choose from two different movement modes, hoping to get their pieces to the opposite corner of a square without being captured.

    if no image probably out of print

    Desert Bazaar
    Brian Yu; Mattel-2006; 3-5
    Players earn victory points by establishing tent tiles on a hexagonal grid. Each tent has a cost of three which is paid for using a combination of cards and neighboring tiles matching the colors on the tent. Groups of tents are limited to a size of seven – points are given per tent, for starting a group and for finishing a group, the last of which also returns a few of the player's limited tokens. The other main mechanism is card replenishment. For this players forego placing tents and instead roll special dice to see what they receive.

    Durch die Wüste
    Reiner Knizia; Kosmos-1997; 2-5
    in English: Through the Desert; Fantasy Flight-2000; 2-5
    Players take turns placing 2 camels on the board to form caravans. Each player has 4 or 5 caravans of distinct colors. You get points for placing your camels on waterholes or adjacent to oases or for surrounding territory. Additionally, the longest caravan of each color gets a bonus.
    There is really nothing here to do with camels, deserts, trade or adventure. The camels, deserts and oases are merely a very thin veneer for a Go-like game of surrounding territory.

    Im Reich der Wüstensöhne
    Klaus Teuber; Kosmos-2008; 3-4; 8+
    In the tradition of     Entdecker this is a tile placement game, now set in a desert and oasis environment. Players explore outward from the center trying to form the most valuable oases and get one's figures on them.

    Kameltreiber AG
    Heinz Meister; Schmidt-1989; 2-5
    Included are sixteen desert cards, thirty number chips, five play figures and a marker piece.
    Start by laying out the cards to form a 5x5 framework and pick one camel card to start. The number chips are mixed and laid out. Turn over a random chip and move the corresponding camel. If the camel lands on an oasis, turn another chip.

    Das Letze Kamel
     Tom Schoeps; F.X. Schmid-1988; 2-6
    Included are one game board, six camels, six camel possession cards and two color cubes.
    The possession cards are shuffled and dealt to determine which camel each player owns. Each camel has a two-colored saddle and moves forward via the color cubes. Each color on the color cube is represented on three camels. On a result of a golden asterisk, any camel may be moved forward . a black asterisk, moves any camel backwards. The fastest camels must rest upon reaching oases.

    Muscat
    Christiane Knepel; Die Sternspieler; 2001; 3-5
    In this artist's competition the players must get as many as possible of their own into the Sultan's court (perhaps more likely an emir). The mechanism is a form of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Luck is introduced in the form of the order in which the players draw artists from their supply. Special powers granted to losers in status conflicts add considerable interest and variation. Strategically, despite all the possibilities for clever tactical play, victory often goes to the player who manages to get the most tokens into play, indicating that it may be best to mostly simply enter new artists, leaving activation of conflicts to others. Graphic design by Antje Graf.

    Oasis
    Alan R. Moon & Aaron Weissblum; Überplay-2004; 3-5
    Mongolian families attempt to dominate lands to raise horses, build temples and control oases.

    Nomadi
    Reinhold Wittig; Blatz/Schmidt-1995; 2-5
    A tactical game set in the desert. A caravan with 15 camels moves slowly through the sand, its target: the shadow of the oasis. Throw six dice, and move six camels. All camels must always remain connected together as a caravan, yet each player is trying somehow to get ahead of all the others. Sometimes not all the dice can be used. Then pay per each die. Nomadi is a revision of the game Wabanti.

    Nomad of Arabia
    Kris Gould; Wattsalpoag, Inc.-2006; 3-6
    Players are traveling to Mecca and collecting stray camels, horses, goats and donkeys between the cities in which these animals may be sold. On a turn a player must choose whether to move, try to catch animals, shift the desert or sell.

    Saba: Palast der Königin
    Christian Fiore & Knut Happel; Goldsieber-2007; 2-4
    In 9th century Yemen the queen asks you to create a palace. The player able to create the most impressive one wins. Includes a cardboard palace on which player figures are placed.

    Sahara
    Hajo Bücken; Hexagames-1990; 2-6
    Basically a card-play game with 36 camels. The board shows a path leading to an oasis with 8 fields. There are ninety playing cards, six sets of fifteen each; each player will receive such a set and randomly divides them into three stacks of five, the top card of each showing, and playable. If one of the stacks is exhausted, the player takes all the cards and reshuffles, creating stacks as before.
    Within each set, there are four types of cards and these are used for moving the camels. Palm cards let you move your own camels a number of spaces equal to the number of palms. A Fata Morgana card permits moving opponent camels. A Camel card replaces one of your camels with a guide camel. The Sheikh allows moving any camel virtually anywhere.
    The game ends when the eight numbered oasis fields are filled with camels. Scores are calculated by adding up the scores under the camels; scores for guide camels are doubled.

    So Ein Kamel
    Hans Peter Pauly; Hexagames-1985; 2-4
    Dice game in which players try to most efficiently load and unload various camels.

    Targui
     Wil Dijkstra & Ben van Dijk; Jumbo Spiele GmbH; 1988, 1999; 2-4
    Players attempt to control the desert, whose layout is different in every game. The game is apparently a bit like Risk . the name from a North African tribe.

    Timbuktu
    Dirk Henn; db Spiele-1993; 3-5
    Caravans try to cross the deserts of northwest Africa on abstract routes, taking goods to Timbuktu. But thieves are attempting to steal particular types of merchandise. You have some information about what they want and can steal more information from other players at oases. But the more the thieves steal, the rarer and more valuable that good becomes. Your goal is to have the most of the rarest type of when you arrive in Timbuktu.

    Bibliography:
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    Many thanks for the assistance of Masahiro Yamazaki, Gianni Cottogni, and Ernst Knauth.
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