FIVE TRIBES and ISTANBUL at Phoenix Comics

"I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man"

In Istanbul, you lead a merchant and their troupe of assistants through various locations in a bazaar. At each location, you can carry out a specific action. The challenge, though, is that to take an action, you must move your merchant and an assistant there, then leave the assistant behind to handle all the details while you focus on larger matters. If you want to use that assistant again later, your merchant must return to that location to pick him up. Thus, you must plan ahead carefully to avoid being left with no assistants and thus unable to do anything!

Istanbul is a medium-light complexity grid movement and route-building game with a variable board setup that also includes elements of pickup-and-deliver, worker placement, and some chance.

Istanbul Board Game Geek info page
How it's Played with Rodney Smith

Five Tribes: The Djinns of Naqala builds on a long tradition of Mancala-style "pick up and move" games. In a unique twist on the worker placement genre, the game begins with the meeples already in place -- and players must cleverly maneuver them over villages, markets, oases, and sacred places. How, when, and where you displace these Five Tribes of Assassins, Elders, Builders, Merchants, and Viziers determine your victory or failure.

Five Tribes is a medium-complexity mancala game with a variable board setup that also includes auctions/bidding, set collection, and light "take that" elements.

Five Tribes Board Game Geek info page
How it's Played with Rodney Smith

2 - 5 players
60 - 90 minutes expected play time per game, depending on turnout and player familiarity. Please note the store has a weekly Magic: The Gathering event starting at 6:00 PM, so they'll likely ask us to free up the table sometime before then whether we're finished or not.

New players are welcome, and the host is happy to teach if you haven't played before.

A few important details:

• It's Cap Hill, so parking can be a challenge. Sorry, it's a walking neighborhood! Phoenix Comics & Games is only about a block from the First Hill Streetcar (Broadway & Denny stop), less than a block from the Capitol Hill light rail station, and very close to several bus lines, though.
• Purchasing something isn't a strict requirement, but it's nice to do since we're using the space. Please support the business if you can!
• I open signups for most of my events 1-3 days before pressing the "announce" button here on Meetup; if you want to know about that when it happens and have the opportunity to claim a seat before others, you can join the Seattle Board Games Discord server, where I'll post to let users there know as soon as RSVPs open!