Photo: BCD Jeux, partner shopCard games
Century: Spice Road
Plan B GamesEmerson Matsuuchi2017
- players
- 2–5
- minutes
- 40
- years
- 8+
In the box
Starting and market Merchant cards · Point cards (orders) · Caravan cards · Spice cubes in four colours and their bowls · Gold and silver coins
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designer
- Emerson Matsuuchi
- Artwork
- Fernanda Suárez
- Publisher
- Plan B Games
- Mechanics
- Hand BuildingTradingResource Management
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
Affiliate link: Marquoir may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
The basics
Gather spices to fill the orders on point cards, while improving your hand of merchant cards. On your turn, take a single action: play a card to produce, upgrade or trade spices, acquire a merchant card, rest to take back your played cards, or claim a point card by handing in the spices it requires. As soon as a player takes their fifth point card, the sixth with two or three players, finish the round, and the highest total wins.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
5 point cards, 6 merchant cards, 2 starting cards
- The game is for 2 to 5 players.
- The point cards (orange backs) are shuffled; lay out 5 face up next to the deck.
- On the first point card, place twice as many gold coins as there are players; on the second, the same number of silver coins.
- Each player gets two starting cards, one producing 2 turmeric and one "Upgrade 2", which form their hand.
- The other merchant cards are shuffled; lay out 6 face up next to the deck.
- The spices (cubes) go in their bowls, from cheapest to most expensive: yellow (turmeric), red (saffron), green (cardamom), brown (cinnamon).
- Each player gets a caravan card; the one with the first-player symbol shows who starts.
- Starting spices: 3 yellow for the first player, 4 yellow for the second and third, 3 yellow and 1 red for the fourth and fifth.
How to play
Only 1 action, Play or acquire, Rest or claim
- On your turn, take a single action out of four.
- Play a card: lay it in front of you and apply its effect. Spices: take the cubes shown. Upgrade: raise one or more cubes by as many levels as the card shows. Trade: give back the cubes at the top to take those at the bottom, as many times as you can afford.
- Acquire: take a card from the merchant row by placing any one cube on each card to its left; the leftmost card is free, and you collect the cubes placed on the card you take.
- Rest: take all your played cards back into your hand.
- Claim: hand in the spices required by a point card and place it face down in front of you. The first two spots in the row also give a gold or silver coin.
- A caravan holds no more than 10 cubes: discard the excess at the end of your turn.
Scoring
Point cards, Gold 3, silver 1, Non-yellow cube 1
- Each player adds up the value of their point cards, 3 points per gold coin, 1 point per silver coin and 1 point per remaining cube that is not yellow.
- In Marquoir, the sheet has these four lines and does the sum.
End of the game
5th point card, 6th with 2 or 3 players, Finish the round
- As soon as a player takes their fifth point card (sixth with two or three players), finish the current round, then count scores.
- The highest total wins; on a tie, the player who played latest in the round wins.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to upgrade all the cubes on an Upgrade card?
No. You may use only part of the upgrade, and even raise the same cube twice.
What happens when the gold coins run out?
When the last gold coin is taken, the silver coins slide up to the first card in the row.