Medici, the Classic Auction Game, Returns in 2024
We’re incredibly excited to announce we’ve partnered with award-winning board game designer, Reiner Knizia, to release a new edition of Medici!
Reiner’s classic auction board game from the 90’s, Medici won the Meeples’ Choice Award and made the Spiel de Jahres ‘Recommended’ Game of the Year shortlist in the year it was released.
What is Medici?
For those who haven’t yet experienced life as a 16th century merchant, here’s a quick rundown of the gameplay:
The beautiful streets of 16th century Florence are alive with opportunity! Step into the shoes of a merchant buyer in the profitable age of the infamous Medici family. Each day, you’ll go to the wholesale market, where the highest quality wares await a keen eye and a competitive bid — the finest cloth, exotic spices, grain from fields abroad, colourful dyes, lush furs and, rarely, gold from mines far across the waters…
An auction board game for 2-6 players, Medici takes place over three days (rounds). Taking on the role of seafaring traders, you’ll present goods to be auctioned and bid to fill your ships with cargo. When the day ends, you’ll receive coin for your wares. But be careful — the money you’ll use to bid is also your end-game points!
What’s New?
The classic Reiner Knizia gameplay won’t change, but we’ve fully updated the visuals, with all-new artwork and graphics designed to immerse you in the beauty and bustle of merchant trading in Renaissance-era Florence, Italy.
We’ve also introduced character art, each with their own ship, so you can choose which 16th century trader you’d like to embody while bidding for valuable cargo.
Plus, you’ll now have ship tokens to thematically track your florins, and player aid cards to help with set-up. And finally, all wooden tokens now feature full colour-printed artwork!
When Can I Get It?
The new edition of Medici will come to retail in Q1, 2024 (sign up here for updates). But if you’d like an in-person preview of the new look before then, we’ve got a prototype on display at SPIEL from October 5th-8th at the All About Games booth (3G120).
We’re big fans of Medici and of Reiner Knizia’s work. Our co-founder and CEO, Rich Loxam, said:
“Medici is a classic! It’s exciting to be bringing a new edition to life for new and old players to enjoy, and I’m incredibly proud of the work that’s gone into it.
It’s a genuine honour to be partnering with an iconic, industry-defining designer like Reiner Knizia. We’ve been working closely with Reiner to put a fresh spin on the original vision, and the final result really is something special. Get the first look at Spiel, stand 3G120.”
