Navegador

Overview

Navegador is a strategy game about the Portuguese Age of Discoveries. Players represent wealthy trade dynasties building the Portuguese colonial empire by exploring sea regions, founding colonies, building factories/shipyards/churches, and acquiring privileges. Actions are selected via a rondel mechanism – on each turn, a player moves their marker along a circular track to choose their action. The player with the most victory points after the final round wins.

Components

• 1 Game board with rondel, sea regions, market, buildings, and privilege gallery
• 36 Ships, 5 Workers, 5 Game stones, 12 Wooden disks (explorers)
• 10 Churches, 10 Shipyards, 23 Factories, 3 Price markers
• 5 Player sheets, 33 Colony tokens, 35 Privilege tokens
• 1 Navegador card, 2 Double loss markers
• Coins (10, 50, 100, 200 Cruzados)

Setup

1. Place price markers in the 4th row of the market for sugar, gold, and spices.
2. Each player starts with 2 ships in Portugal, 1 worker in Lisboa (column 3), game stone in middle of rondel, 200 Cruzados, a King’s privilege, 5 remaining ships in supply, and a player sheet with 1 factory, 1 shipyard, and 1 church.
3. Place colony token stacks, privileges in the gallery arches, explorer disks on sea regions, and buildings in the lower-right area.

Turn Structure

Players take turns clockwise. On your turn, move your game stone forward on the rondel to select an action. The first 3 spaces ahead are free; each additional space costs 1 ship (returned to supply). You cannot stay on the same space twice in a row.

Actions

There are 7 actions on the rondel (Market appears twice):

Workers

Recruit new workers: 50 Cruzados each (up to 1 per church owned). Additional workers cost 100 Cruzados per game phase. Maximum 9 workers.

Ships

Build new ships using the same pricing as workers: 50 Cruzados each (up to 1 per shipyard owned). Additional ships cost extra per phase.

Sailing

Move your ships forward through sea regions. Ships must move as a fleet from one region to the next unexplored region or any previously explored region.

Exploring

When your ships enter an unexplored sea region: claim the explorer disk (worth VP), receive a cash bonus, but lose 1 ship. Exploring certain regions triggers phase changes (Phase II after Cabo da Boa Esperanca, Phase III after Malaca).

Colony

Found colonies by spending workers: place a worker on an available colony token in a region where you have ships. Take the colony token (shows goods type). Colonies produce goods for market selling.

Market (Sell/Buy)

• Sell: Sell goods from your colonies. Each colony token of a type earns the current market price. Market price drops as goods are sold.
• Buy (Process): Factories process goods. Each factory earns the current market price for its good type. Market price rises as goods are bought.

Privilege

Spend 1 worker to acquire a privilege token from the gallery. Privileges multiply VP in 5 categories: colonies, factories, explorers, shipyards, churches.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends after the last sea region is explored or the last building is taken; one final round is played.

VP scored from 5 categories, each multiplied by privileges:

• Colonies, Factories, Explorers, Shipyards, Churches
• Base VP shown on player sheet; privileges increase multiplier
• Additional 1 VP per: worker, ship, full 200 Cruzados

Highest total VP wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Navegador card: Held by the last player initially. Allows combining any turn with an additional sailing action. Passed right after use. Cannot be used in the very first round.
• Phase triggers: Red border sea regions trigger phase changes. Phases affect worker/ship costs.
• Double ship loss: Certain distant regions (Nagasaki, Macau with 2-3 players) cause loss of 2 ships when exploring.
• Market mechanism: Selling colonies pushes prices down; buying with factories pushes prices up. The market creates dynamic tension between colony and factory strategies.

Player Reference

Action	Effect
Workers	Recruit workers (50 Cr each via churches)
Ships	Build ships (50 Cr each via shipyards)
Sailing	Move ships to new regions
Exploring	Discover new regions; gain explorer + cash, lose 1 ship
Colony	Spend worker to found colony
Market	Sell colony goods or process with factories
Privilege	Spend worker for VP multiplier