Pizarro & Co.

Auction game lovers will enjoy Pizarro & Co., but if auction games leave you cold you should avoid it. The double-sided boards provide for four possible combinations, enhancing the replay value.

Pros

Cons

It is the era of great explorers -- people like Magellan, Columbus, Marco Polo, Francisco Pizarro, James Cook and Vasco da Gama. You're a member of royalty trying to cement your legacy so that people will be talking about you centuries from now.

To do that, you must hire the best explorers. In Pizarro & Co., players bid on the services of six explorers through three rounds. After the first round, three players will remain in contention for a particular explorer's services. By the end of the third round, only one player will have succeeded.

To win, careful and clever bidding is required. Each explorer offers different benefits (e.g. winning Magellan can earn you many victory points but no gold; Vasco da Gama provides more gold).