Chris Hawks
United States
Apple Valley
Minnesota
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RES PUBLICA
Published in 1991, Res Publica is one of the oldest games by esteemed designer Dr. Reiner Knizia. Billed as a civiliation-building card game, it's essentially a simple trading game that manages to play like a cross between Civilization, the trading phase of Settlers of Catan, and the children's card game Go Fish.
I was given Res Publica as a birthday present in October of 2004. It quickly became the most popular end-of-the-night game with our group, and still remains one of our favorite "filler" games.
THE STORY
Instead of representing a single ancient civilization, each player takes a hand in building the same 5 civilizations, gathering people together to construct cities and erect prestigious monuments.
THE PARTS
I own the Avalanche Press edition of the game.
From the start, the packaging is less than impressive. The box is one of those large, flat ones that seems an odd choice for a card game, and the Avalanche Press boxart conveys very little about the game itself. Once opened, a less than useless insert is revealed that conists of an elevated sheet of cardboard with a couple of card-sized holes in it. Presumably, the holes were meant to hold the shrink-wrapped decks of cards, but in my copy the brittle shrinkwrap had shattered and cards were strewn throughout the box. Having seen a couple of copies at the store afterwards, I gave each a gentle shake and sure enough, they all had loose cards rattling around as well.
The game itself consists of 140 thick, poker-sized cards:
- 60 People cards (5 suits of 12 cards) - People cards have red backs, and represent the various ancient civilizations, each represented by a letter: Atlanteans (A), Babylonians (B), Egyptians (E), Greeks (G), and Romans (R).
- 60 Technology cards (5 suits of 12 cards) - Technology cards have yellow backs and represent developing technologies, each represented by a symbol: Architecture (column), Chemistry (flask), Metalworking (anvil), Navigation (compass), and The Wheel (wheel).
- 10 double-sided City cards, each worth 3 points
- 10 double-sided Monument cards with varying point values, consisting of one 9, one 4, and two of everything in-between.
(An aside: my copy came with 6 extra Tech. cards, all of them from the Chemistry suit.)
I've heard people lambast Avalanche Press for the horrible graphics used on the cards, but I see nothing wrong with them. The graphics aren't eye-catching by any stretch, but they're perfectly serviceable, and this is not a game about flashy components, anyway.
The cards are thick and durable, and so far have gone through close to two dozen plays with little wear. As a bonus, all 140 cards fit (albeit snugly) in a single standard-size deck box, making for easy travel and allowing you to pitch the original packaging.
THE RULES
Shuffle the People cards and the Technology cards and put both decks facedown in the center of the table. Place the City cards in a stack by the People deck, and sort the Monument cards by number (highest number on top) and place them beside the Technology deck.
Deal each player 4 People cards. The oldest player starts.
Each turn has 3 phases:
1. TRADE
This phase is where the meat of the game lies, so the rules require a detailed explanation:
The active player may offer a trade, within strict limitations. Trade offers must be made in one of two forms, either "I would like ______" or "I can give ______". Never both! When describing which cards he would like or can give, a player may use the words "and" or "or" and may name at most 2 types of cards. A "type" of card can be a specific suit ("Metalworking"), a particular deck ("a People card"), or any tradable card. (Only People and Technology cards are tradable.)
The following are all valid trade offers:
"I can give a B." (We always refer to People cards by their letter.)
"I would like an E or a Metalworking."
"I can give a pair of Technology cards."
"I would like a G and a Navigation."
"I can give 2 People cards and a Technology card."
"I would like an R and 3 other cards."
Once the active player has made his offer, each other player in turn has a single opportunity to make a counter-offer. If they can not or choose not to make a counter-offer, they must pass. The counter-offer must be in the same format as the initial offer: if the active player said "I can give ______" then all counter-offers must be stated as "(In return) I can give ______". If the initial offer was "I would like ______" then in order to make a counter-offer, a player must be able to meet the requirements of that initial offer. (Thus, if the active player says "I would like an A or a B," then a player wishing to make a counter-offer must have an A or B to give the active player! By the same token, a people who says "I can give an A or a B" must have the ability to give both.)
Once all players have made their counter-offers or passed, the active player chooses which, if any, of the trades he will accept. Cards are then traded. If a player has a choice about which cards to pass (due to an "or" in the offer) then that decision is not revealed until the moment of trade.
2. PLAY SETS
The active player may play sets of 5 matching cards to the table. A set of 5 People cards receives a City card, worth 3 points. A set of 5 Technology cards receives the topmost Monument card, worth 9 points for the first Monument built, down to 4 points for the last.
3. DRAW CARDS
The active player draws 1 People card. He also draws 1 Technology card for each City he has built. If a player has 3 or more Cities, he may only draw a maximum of 3 cards, but instead of drawing 1 People and 2 Technologies, he may choose to draw 3 Technology cards.
Drawing cards signals the end of your turn. Play then passes to the left.
END OF THE GAME
Once the Technology deck has been exhausted, every player gets one more turn to trade and play sets (and draw a People card if any remain). After that, each player gets one more opportunity to lay down cards and claim any remaining Cities or Monuments. After that, the game is over.
SCORING
Players score points for their Cities and their Monuments plus 1 point for each pair left in hand. (As each suit has 12 cards, a pair will remain after 2 sets of 5 are played.)
The player with the highest score wins.
THE REVIEW
As you can see by the rules, the gameplay here is relatively straightforward, as is the strategy: Monuments are worth big points. To build Monuments, you need to find sets of Technology cards. To get Technology cards, you need to build Cities. To build Cities, you need sets of People cards.
What keeps this from being a simple draw-cards, play-cards game is the clever trading mechanism. The game is all about the trade. Table-talking is strictly disallowed, so you need to work within the confines of the trading rules to let people know what you're looking for and what you can offer them. This part of the game can be rather subtle, and may it take a game or two to figure it out. But for me, it's where the game shines. I love nothing better than being laughed at for making a ludicrous counter-offer -- knowing that my words were intended for the player whose turn comes next.
Luck of the draw can be a factor, yes, but your bargaining skills are more important; if you ask for too much and refuse to give enough, no one will trade with you and you will lose. On the other hand, you don't want to hand an opponent victory by just giving cards away. Finding that happy medium is the real challenge.
The relatively-thin civilization-building theme kind of works, if you pay any attention to it. That the theme works in any capacity is pretty much a bonus for a game like this that doesn't even need a theme at all.
Games run about 45 minutes and scale very well from 3 to 5 players. As I mentioned, this is still one of my group's favorite "filler" games, and its portability means that it comes along anywhere we have the potential to play games.
THE RATING
It's fun, it moves quickly, and it makes you think. Dr. Knizia has definitely created a classic. I rate it a solid 9.
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