Designer: Hisashi Hiyashi
Publisher: Harvest Valley
A: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
1-5 players  |  90 min. |  ages 14+  |  MSRP $70 | BGG Entry
Time ot teach & learn: 15-20 min

Game Synopsis

Captured at age 10 and made a eunuch, young Ma He was sent to serve the prince and protector of Beijing. By age 20 Ma He rises from servant to soldier and trusted advisor and general to the prince. He eventually helps the prince become Emperor. By age 30 Ma He is given the title Zheng and becomes Grand Director of Palace Servants and chief envoy for the empire. He is tasked with expanding trade and awareness of Chinese imperial power from Southeast Asia to Arabia, to the Horn of Africa.

Over the next twenty years Zheng He embarks on seven voyages with fleets of treasure ships - the largest wooden sailing vessels in recorded history. Great wealth traveled through these voyages: from natural resources and gifts of art and exotic animals like giraffes and lions to cultural knowledge including scholars and ambassadors from the wide expanse of trade routes along the Indian Ocean.

In the game players serve as fleet commanders, taking turns directing the course and purpose for each of Zheng He’s seven voyages. Will you focus on trade? Or ridding the seas of pirates? Or establishing diplomatic relations? Each port will offer a new array of decisions, each one defining a chapter in the grand story you help unfold. The commander who contributes the most to the success of these incredible adventures wins the game.

Why We Love The Treasure Ship of Zheng He

Here at The Spiel, we are both students and lovers of history. we are drawn to games that engage and celebrate history (especially people, events, discoveries or creations that have not received as much attention or interest) in ways that make it accessible, interesting, and fun. 

We love The treasure ship of Zheng He because it does all this and more.

History isn’t just set dressing in this game. The structure and decisions you make are all informed by the 15th century voyages of this remarkable man and his crew of thousands. The first journey included 317 ships and over 28,000 crewman. 

Each of the seven rounds in the game represent one of his voyages. because the fleet was so immense, players act as commanders within this group determining the direction of the legs of each voyage.

The order and number of legs in each voyage you will get to determine is based on the power and influence of the dignitaries whose support you garner at the very beginning of each turn. While the needs of the empire are paramount, you need the help of allies who have their own needs and agendas. You can only call upon each dignitary once in the game so a critical decision must be made before each voyage sets sail. The more powerful the dignitary, the more you must provide them, but the more agency you have in choosing which part of the voyage you will control.

The fleet will land at different ports of call from China to Africa, and each port will offer different opportunities to the players. there may be trade goods to acquire or diplomatic envoys to negotiate with and collect. You may have the opportunity to clear the seas of pirates or even gain exotic animals to fill the holds of your enormous ships. Each of these elements is essentially a mini game with opportunities to score and advance your prestige. The more trade goods you amass, the greater influence you will have with the dignitaries back home. The more envoys you can attract, the more sway You will have when the fleet visits that nation. The exotic animals you collect are represented by different shaped tiles that you must fit into your ship’s hold, covering spaces that provide additional bonuses and abilities. And while the commander of a particular leg of the voyage chooses first when the fleet reaches port, each player has great agency in determining which of these mini games, their strategy will encompass.

In addition, you often have the choice to build monuments, recording the accomplishments of your expedition, which can enhance your actions later in the game 

You may even have emissaries to send out to adjacent ports during a voyage, enabling you to take advantage of other actions nearby.

Every single one of these actions and opportunities within the game are based on historical records surrounding these magnificent voyages. On the macro scale, Zheng He and his ships provide the framework for the chain of decisions each player can make, but within that framework each player has the agency to tell a unique story as part of this larger narrative. The main quest is set by the seven rounds and seven voyages. But the real fun is in the gaps the history doesn’t tell us. The brilliance of the game is how it allows players to create and fulfill their own side quests, and in doing so fill in these gaps.

Though Muslim by birth and tradition, Zheng He’s writings show a marked devotion to the sea goddess and patron of sailors, Tianfei. He wrote of her divine lantern guiding the fleet to safety through a deadly typhoon.

We in the west are so often ignorant and or  sheltered from the many amazing accomplishments beyond the scope of Europe or North America. In this way, the treasure ship of Zheng he feels like a divine lantern guiding new audiences of players to these amazing stories beyond the waves on distant shores. A game that can take us on such a voyage is remarkable and monumental in its own right. 

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Congratulations to designer Hisashi Hayashi

More information on The Treasure Ship of Zheng He at Board Game Geek

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