Designers:  Adam Buckingham, Ed Marriott (Scoville)

Artist: Janos Orban (ArtSee, Stellar)

Publisher:  Renegade Game Studios (Altiplano, Arboretum, Architects of the West Kingdom, Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure, Clank! In ! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure, Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated, Ex Libris, Explorers of the North Sea, The Fox in the Forest, FUSE, Honshū, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Snow Tails, Wendake, World’s Fair 1893)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, city building, hand management, market, tile placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Embarcadero is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total more than 10x the initial funding goal with 1 day left to go on the campaign!

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: “Build the city of San Francisco on the hulls of abandoned ships during the California Gold Rush.”

How It Works: “San Francisco, 1850. The Gold Rush is in full swing. Ships stream steadily into San Francisco Bay, brimming with would-be treasure hunters. Anchored off the coast of the boom town lies a flotilla of abandoned vessels, their crews long since taken by gold fever. A few business moguls stake their claims on these derelict ships, towing them into harbor to house their growing empires. Over time, this wharfside district, known as the embarcadero, would become the very heart of business enterprise in the thriving port city. In Embarcadero, players step into the shoes of these savvy entrepreneurs. Build San Francisco on the hulls of these abandoned vessels and carve out a foothold in the city council. Do you have what it takes to rule the waterfront?”

“The game takes place over three rounds. In each round of the game, the players take turns, beginning with the first player and proceeding in clockwise order. This continues until each player has taken five turns. At the end of each round, round scoring occurs. When this happens, the players score points for how well they met that round’s goal, as well as for their influence at the wharves and/or their position on the council track. After the third round is complete, the game ends and final scoring occurs.”

“Each player turn has two phases, first the Action Phase and then the Buy Phase. Both phases are mandatory. During the Action Phase, players must play a card from their hand to perform one action. That action can be Docking a Ship, Constructing a Building, or Scrapping a Card. When Docking a Ship, the player takes a ship card from their hand and places it above their player board; takes a ship tile from the supply of matching size and shape; places it in the harbor adjacent to at least one other ship tile, infill tile, or wharf; pays $1 docking fee for each space of the ship adjacent to any wharf; and places one structure on any space of the ship just docked. The resources shown on the ship card are now available to be used constructing buildings, and can be used every turn for the rest of the game. When Constructing a Building, the player takes a building card from their hand and places it face up below their player board; makes sure they have the available resources and pays any required coins from their personal supply/treasury; takes a building tile from the supply of matching size; places it on top of a contiguous group of adjacent structures in the harbor owned by the player; places one structure on any space of the building just created; and scores points equal to the point value and building bonus shown on the card. The resources shown on the building card are now available to be used constructing buildings, and can be used every turn for the rest of the game. When Scrapping a Card, the player discards a ship or building card from their hand into the appropriate discard pile; performs the specific scrap action shown on the card or performs one of the two basic scrap actions on the player’s player board, and then may choose to discard all cards from one of the two market rows, refilling with four new cards from the matching deck.”

“In the Buy Phase, the player must choose one of the eight available market cards and pay the appropriate cost to add one card to their hand. In the event a player can not afford any of the market cards, they must draw the top card from one of the two decks, then move backwards on the scoring track the number of spaces equal to the cost of the card. The player then chooses one of the cards in their hand (which could be the newly acquired card), and places it on their player board face up for the next round. The five cards placed on the player’s board will become their hand in the following round.”

“After each player has taken five turns, the round ends. At the end of the first round, players score the first Goal Card plus Wharves. At the end of the second round, the second Goal Card plus Council. And at the end of the third round, the third Goal Card plus Wharves and Council. After the third round is complete, players will also perform Final Scoring, scoring points for Buildings, the Council Track , Stored Cards, and Character. The player with the highest overall score is the winner, with ties broken first by most structures placed, then by placement on the council track, and finally by most leftover money.”

Comparisons: Since I could not find a single game in the Top 1000 over at BGG that pairs area majority/influence with a market, some games that pair both area majority/influence with tile placement include Archipelago, Arkadia, Cacao, Carcassonne, Carson City, La Città, Eclipse, Explorers of the North Sea, Ginkgopolis, The Golden Ages, Java, Lisboa, Lords of Vegas, Luna, Mexica, On Mars, Plague Inc.: The Board Game, Reef Encounter, Samurai, Santiago, Strasbourg, Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends, Tigris & Euphrates, Tikal, Torres, and Yellow & Yangtze.

What Should I Pledge?:
$60 Maritime Mogul: includes a copy of the game as well as the Unsinkable expansion.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives
The Unsinkable expansion, which includes components for a 5th player as well as additional content, is a Kickstarter Exclusive.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $60 for Maritime Mogul plus $12 in shipping for a total of $72.

Embarcadero completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, October 2nd and tentatively ships in March 2021.