Designers:  Vital Lacerda (CO2, CO2: Second Chance, The Gallerist, Escape Plan, Kanban: Driver’s Edition, Lisboa, On Mars, Vinhos, Vinhos Deluxe Edition), Julián Pombo

Artist: Pedro Soto (Guilds of London, Holmes: Sherlock & Mycroft, Palastgeflüster)

Publisher:  Eagle Games (Age of Steam, Baseball Highlights: 2045, Brass: Lancashire, Can’t Stop, Carson City, Defenders of the Realm, Diamant, Empires: Age of Discovery, Escape Plan, Fleet, For Sale, Francis Drake, The Gallerist, High Society, Lisboa, On Mars, Railways of the World, Rococo, Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age, Santiago de Cuba, Struggle of Empires, Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization, Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization, Tumblin-Dice, Vinhos Deluxe Edition)

Genre/Mechanisms: abstract strategy, area majority/influence, economic, tile placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting Mercado de Lisboa is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total just less than 5x the initial funding goal with less than 2 days to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: low

What It’s About: “A thinky filler tile-placement game based upon the Lisboa city-building system in which players pay money to own stands in the market, open restaurants next to them to improve their profit and bring in customers that earn money for players with matching stands.”

How It Works: “Modern day markets offer their visitors various stands, eateries, and services. In Mercado de Lisboa, players open stands in the market, open new eateries, influence the price of goods sold at the stands, and bring customers to them. Mercado de Lisboa is a tile placement game based on the city building system in Lisboa. Mercado de Lisboa is a fast-paced game, with easy-to-learn rules yet deep, tactical choices. The player with the most money at the end of the game wins.”

“Before the start of the game, players should agree if they want to play with hidden or open money (the designers recommend you play with hidden money). If playing with hidden money, give each player their matching screen to place their coins behind. Players take turns in clockwise order until someone triggers the endgame conditions.”

On their turn, each player performs one of the following actions: Open a Stand, Bring Customers, Open a Restaurant, and Take 1 Coin.

Opening a Stand allows the player to select and place a Stand tile after paying the appropriate cost, possibly collect a Restaurant tile, and possibly collect income from any existing Customer tiles.

When Bringing Customers, the player may place a Customer tile of equal or greater value than the number of buildings (Stands and Restaurants) in the row or column where they also have at least 1 Stand tile, triggerer income for all Stand tiles in that same row or column.

Opening a Restaurant allows the plaeyr to place a Restaurant tile, possibly collect another Restaurant tile, and collect 1 coin. Restaurant tiles provide bonuses to adjacent Stand tiles when collecting income.

Taking 1 Coin allows the player simply to collect 1 Coin; but if and when all players perform this action consecutively, the end of the game is triggered. The end of the game can also be triggered when either 1) the placing of a Stand or Restaurant tile leaves only 4 available spaces, or 2) the placing of a Customer tile leaves only 4 available entrances.

At the end of the game, deduct a coin for each unplaced Restaurant Tile still remaining in the player’s possession, and then the player with the most coins wins the game. In the case of a tie, the player who owns the most placed Stands wins the game.

Comparisons: Lisboa is a great comparison because it shares one of the same designers and much of the same design. But Mercado de Lisboa is only one fragment of the entire design of Lisboa. Taken on its own, some similar, simple tile placement and area majority/influence games include Arkadia, Cacao, Carcassonne, Lords of Vegas, New York 1901, Paris, Plague Inc: The Board Game, Samurai, Santiago, and Tikal.

What Should I Pledge?:
$34 Mercado de Lisboa: includes a copy of Mercado de Lisboa as well as the mini-expansion Queen Variant for Vital Lacerda’s Lisboa.

Add-Ons:
Nothing in the Kickstarter itself, however, the following game will be available in the Pledge Manager:
$108 The Gallerist KS Edition plus Scoring Expansion
$117 Lisboa Deluxe KS Edition
$2 Lisboa Queen Variant
$135 Vinhos Deluxe Edition KS Edition
$126 Escape Plan KS Edition
$117 On Mars KS Edition
$130 Kanban EV KS Edition
$128 Rococo Deluxe Plus
$81 Age of Steam Deluxe
$26 Age of Steam Deluxe: New England, Pittsburgh, Switzerland expansion
$17 Age of Steam Deluxe: France & Poland expansion
$17 Age of Steam Deluxe: Hungary & Finland expansion
$20 Age of Steam Deluxe: Heavy Cardboard & Detroit Bankruptcy expansion
$130 Struggle of Empires Deluxe

KS Exclusives
None specified, although it’s likely the Lisboa mini-expansion will not be included with retail versions.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $34 for the Mercado de Lisboa and $9 in shipping for a total of $43.

Mercado de Lisboa completes its Kickstarter on Friday, September 18th and tentatively ships in June 2021.