Indonesia 3rd Edition

Indonesia 3rd EditionThis third edition has quite a lot of changes compared to the second edition. Originally, we wanted to do a straight reprint. But Joshua Starr from Grand Trunk Games volunteered his time to write a very thorough analysis of everything we could improve. After reading his report, we decided to make some big changes. Janek Lipinsky, the artist who made the Horseless Carriage design, worked with us to implement all these changes. So what is different? The

This third edition has quite a lot of changes compared to the second edition. Originally, we wanted to do a straight reprint. But... Joshua Starr from Grand Trunk Games volunteered his time to write a very thorough analysis of everything we could improve. After reading his report, we decided to make some big changes. Janek Lipinsky, the artist who made the Horseless Carriage design, worked with us to implement all these changes.

So what is different? The short answer is: close to everything, except for the gameplay. In detail:

    we have a new board, with green areas that are better differentiated, borders that are more clear, and new icons to indicate what will appear in the regions
    the goods will be represented by very thick cardboard tokens, so that we can use full colour print for them. Janek redesigned the goods to be easier to recognize-- they are now closer to the 1st edition goods than to the 2nd edition ones. And of course we made them a bit smaller than in the second edition ;-)
    the ships have been completely redesigned. They are made out of wood again (as in the 1st edition) but they are much bigger than the first edition ships and will be silkscreen printed to resemble Buginese sailing ships (like the cardboard ones in the 2nd edition)..We also changed the colours and amounts to make it easier to play with merged shipping companies. 
    the company cards have been redesigned to be much easier to read and use. There will be big cards to use as companies and small indicators to show their location on the map during bidding.
    the cities will still be glass stones, but they now also have a little cardboard indicator that you can use to place goods so it is easier to see what has been delivered to the city
    little wooden indicators have been added to show which player owns which company on the map
    we made a new player aid and a screen to hide money/bids
    we changed the name of the TV dinner to the (more) correct siap saji

Because all the goods have changed in design, it does not make much sense to use the 3rd edition goods for the 2nd edition. If you have a second edition and desperately want to have the new goods, send us an email and we will have a look what we can do. 

This edition contains both English and German rules.

The game's flavour text:

Judging by the smirk on the face of the Sultan of Solo, the businessman from North Sumatra has just made a mistake. And a costly one at that, too. He has paid way too much for merging his rubber company with the Sultan’s extensive rubber plantations: there are no ships in the area to transport the rubber to the booming cities of Java. And the Sultan is now dripping in cash — he can bribe city authorities so that his ships will gain preferential access to those ports where they are competing. Or he might invest in building an oil imperium. But wait — what’s that young fellow over there up to? Buying all the shipping lines? That might change the outlook … considerably, in fact … let’s see…

Indonesia is a game in which two to five players build up an economy, trying to acquire the most money. Players acquire production companies, which produce goods (rice, spices, microwaveable meals, rubber, and oil), and shipping companies, which deliver goods to cities. As cities receive goods, they grow, increasing their demands. Production companies earn money for each good delivered to a city, up to the city's capacity, but they must pay shipping companies for the distance traveled, even if they end up losing money. Players can research advantages, like greater shipping capacity or the ability to merge companies, possibly stealing ownership of lucrative plantations or shipping routes by buying out other players.

Players keep their money hidden, trying to accumulate the most by the end of the third era. When only one type of a company is left, an era ends. New eras bring new cities, companies, and types of goods. At the end of the third era, the player with the most money wins. However, money earned from the last round of operations (selling/shipping goods) counts double, so it can be important to control the timing.