VOC! Founding the Dutch East Indies Company

About this board game

VOC! Founding the Dutch East Indies Company is a trading and negotiation game for 3–5 players, played in about 120 minutes. Set in 1602, it places you among merchants working to establish a powerful consortium with a monopoly on the profitable East Indies trade.

Each player takes the role of a merchant from the rich provinces of Holland or neighboring Zealand. To pursue wealth in the East, merchants cooperate in small groups called compagnies, sharing the enormous cost of fitting out ships for dangerous journeys to distant markets.

Ships travel toward remote areas including India, Indonesia, China, and Japan, where valuable goods such as cloves, nutmeg, silk, and tea can be traded. These goods are then sold in the West at great profit, but the journey is risky and competition is fierce both overseas and at home.

• Compete for influence over the newly founded company.
• Build profits through the East Indies trade.
• Work with other merchants to fit out costly ships.
• Defend the honor of your hometown against Amsterdam’s powerful merchants.

The box includes two versions of play. The basic game supports 4 or 5 players, is suitable for ages 10 and up, and takes about an hour. It introduces the setting and central competition in a shorter format.

The advanced game supports 3–5 players, is intended for ages 14 and up, and lasts 90–120 minutes, depending on how long negotiations take. In VOC! Founding the Dutch East Indies Company, personal profit matters, but so does the standing of the hometown you represent.