Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 17:44:39 -0700
From: Steve Kurzban ([email protected])
Subject: Palmyra rules clarification
Ken
When I playtested Palmyra for a review I was writing for Paul Evans (Games Games Games) our group ran into a problem with one very important rule.
The English translation in the rule booklet said you had 3 options on each turn :
1) pass
2) buy/sell 2 amphoras of one commodity
3) buy/sell 1 amphora of each of the 3 commodities
We felt that the option 3 above was too restrictive given the limited starting capital and interpreted it to mean UP TO 1 of each commodity.
(Peter Sarrett had the same reaction and posed the question on rec.games.board and got no response.)
My friend from London, Stephen Tavener, did me a favor and went to the source for me for a definative ruling - to Reiner Knizia. reiner says that our interpretation is, indeed correct - UP TO ONE OF EACH COMMODITY can be bought or sold per turn.
Your initial reaction several months ago in your holiday musings gave a negative slant to Palmyra. I think you may have taken the rule literally and inadvertantly made the game unplayable.
Everyone in our playtesting group thought Palmyra was among Knizia's best work (and we've played at least a dozen of his designs).
please pass the word on in a future update on the Game Cabinet.
thanks
K-ban