Days of Wonder has announced the worldwide early March release of Cargo Noir (MSRP $50), a big box board game designed by Serge Laget. Cargo Noir takes place in the evocative setting of 1950s film noir. Players run “families” that traffic in smuggled goods through a series of notorious smuggling ports including Hong Kong, Bombay, Rotterdam, Tangier, Macao, Cape Town, New York, Rio, Tangier, and Panama.

 

Cargo Noir is designed for between 2-5 players, ages 8 and up. Players dispatch cargo ships loaded with gold to ports that hold the cargos that they desire, hoping that they will be able to outbid their opponents. Acquired goods are stored in warehouses until players accumulate enough to create valuable combinations that can be traded away for Victory Spoils.

 

The gameplay is based on a core auction mechanism—players can only bid up, and the highest bidder gets the goods. Game designer Serge Laget explained, that, having come up with basic auction mechanism, he focused on “on three areas: fine-tuning the balance so there were always multiple paths to victory; making sure the game shines with two players as well as with five; and finding a theme that would be evocative with a feel that is very different from most other auction or trading games – a Sheep for two Woods it ain’t!”

 

The deluxe Cargo Noir game box includes game boards of Macao and eight different ports, 131 cargo tokens, 54 “Victory” cards, 5 “family” game sheets, 25 sculpted cargo ships, 60 Gold Coins, a Cargo Noir Token Bag, first turn and player markers, plus a rules booklet.