Vasco da Gama

Discover the passage to India

The search for a viable route to India was, since the mid-15th Century, the main goal of almost all expeditions made by the Portuguese Kingdom.

In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope and Pedro da Covilha found a land route, but it was only in 1498 that Vasco da Gama reached the goal and became the first European to reach, after some stops along the way, the legendary Calicut by sea. Vasco da Gama accomplished something exceptional, granting Portugal the possibility to achieve a monopoly on the spice trade between India and Europe.

Vasco da Gama was charged with finding a maritime route to India. Players play the part of rich shipowners who, under his patronage, aim to achieve prestige and riches. To succeed in the enterprise, they must manage the money and actions at their disposal in order to hire captains, recruit crew, build Ships, launch them and send them to the Landings of Natal, Terra de Boa Gente, Mozambique, Malindi, Mombasa and Calicut. For each Ship sent, Players will receive an immediate reward and will gain prestige (Victory Points). The further the Ship is sent, the lower the compensation, but the higher the victory score that the Player will earn.

Box contains:

• 1 Game board
• 1 Round marker
• 1 First Action Free of Charge Marker
• 35 Project/Ship tiles
• 6 Merchant’s ship tiles
• 4 Scoring markers in player colours
• 4 Character tiles
• 1 Label sheet
• 9 Vasco da Gama tiles
• 22 Sequence numbers
• 16 Action discs in player colours
• 4 Additional action discs in player colours
• 28 Captains in player colours
• 32 Sailors
• 6 Missionaries
• 48 Coins
• 1 Tile bag