How to Play Istanbul Big Box: Merchant Movement, Assistants & Rubies
Istanbul is a route-efficiency race through a modular bazaar. You move a merchant and assistants between locations, gathering goods and converting them into rubies.
Scope: Big Box includes the base game plus Mocha & Baksheesh and Letters & Seals. This guide explains the base movement/ruby system; expansion modules add their own locations and rules.
Move 1 or 2 locations
Move your Merchant stack one or two orthogonally connected bazaar tiles.
Leave or collect an assistant
To use the destination, normally leave an assistant there. If one of your assistants is already waiting at the location, collect that assistant back into your stack instead.
Resolve the location action
Warehouses fill goods, markets sell goods, mosques provide upgrades and special locations convert resources into rubies or other advantages.
Plan assistant recovery
Your route must eventually reconnect with assistants left behind unless a special effect helps recover them. A route that scores quickly but strands assistants can slow later turns.
Rubies are the victory race
Several locations and upgrades provide rubies when you satisfy their current cost or condition. Costs can change as rubies are taken.
Big Box modules
Mocha & Baksheesh and Letters & Seals add new locations, resources and mechanisms. Add only the module-specific setup and actions your session uses.
Game end
The base victory trigger is reaching the required number of rubies for the player count, after which the round/end sequence is completed under the rules.