Porto Carthago

About this board game

Porto Carthago is a strategy board game for 3–5 players, with a playing time of about 90 minutes. Set in Carthage long before its deadly conflict with Rome, it challenges players to develop the strongest business and gain influence in the palace.

The game unfolds across five decades, with each decade represented by a game round. During these rounds, players use their servants to pursue income, secure positions, obtain goods, and load those goods onto incoming merchant ships.

Influence in the harbor can help determine where the best ships dock, creating valuable opportunities for players who establish a strong position. Players can also take a risk by chartering a private vessel, adding another route toward their ambitions.

• Use servants to earn income or obtain goods.
• Load goods onto incoming merchant ships.
• Influence where the best ships dock in the harbor.
• Risk chartering a private vessel.
• Follow intrigue as another path into the palace courts.

Commerce is not the only way to advance. Players may buy influence in the palace, while the path of intrigue offers yet another means of entering the palace courts. Success depends on using every available avenue to strengthen a business and build political standing.

In Porto Carthago, commercial opportunity, harbor influence, and palace intrigue are closely connected. After five decades, only the player who has developed the best business through any means necessary will end the game as Carthage’s most influential senator.