Every 100 Games Series - Quo Vadis?

My 3,500th game played was Quo Vadis? and here are my thoughts on this game. First off though, let's get the obvious question out of the way, what exactly does Quo Vadis mean? It is a Latin phrase that means, where are you going? A very apt title and question for this game, because the game is all about trying to get into the Senate of Rome.

Components
This is a pretty old game and so the components aren't from this era of awesome quality. The box itself looks more boring than a 2-hour meeting at work discussing required training. The board itself is also very drab. The representative pieces however, are very unique and interesting. They are really tall plastic pieces, with wide bases, which makes for some easy moving and seeing who is where. Too bad they don't have green or I'd be even more excited about them.

Game Play
On your turn, you can do one of three things. Place a representative in the bottom row of the board, move a representative to the next level of the board if you can get enough votes, or move Caesar who goes between two levels. Caesar allows you, if he is still there next time around, to move a representative without enough votes (though you don't score points when you do this). When you move up a level, you get the points in-between those levels.

Strategy
The whole game is about negotiation and working with the other players. Trying to get as many points as you can, while not giving away all the points when you "buy" other players votes. I've found that just being willing to vote for someone is important, as you get a VP for that every time regardless, if you don't trade it away of course. At the same time, it is always good when you are able to position yourself so that you don't need the votes from others and can just move your representative up a level based on your own votes.

Yeah, I added the tie. Thought he should have to wear one, since he is going to the Senate.

My Thoughts
This 20 year old game surprised me. I first played it at Geekway to the West in 2012 and immediately looked to trade for it. Now that I own it, I'm really glad I do. I enjoy negotiation games, even though because I'm loud and in your face about them, I tend to lose them a lot. This game plays very quickly, it has the nice twist that many Knizia games do by eliminating anyone that doesn't get into the Senate, and yet it still gives you quite a bit of control if you position yourself accordingly. This is one that'll be staying in my collection. The only real downside to this one, in my opinion, is that it doesn't play 6 players.

My Recommendations
Deep Strategy Gamers - You are probably going want to look elsewhere. I consider myself a strategy gamer, but that is just part of the games I play, so I'm okay with this one. But if you want a deep game about getting into the Roman Senate and making this big huge plan and seeing it come to fruition, this isn't for you. You have to depend on others so much in this one, that one person getting upset with you or making sure you don't win can destroy all those beautiful plans.

Lifeboats Fans - Lifeboats is a negotiation game where players vote each other off the boat and into the sea. It is a game that you have to warn the players that everyone will still be friends afterwords. Quo Vadis? doesn't make you warn others to still be friends. Both games give a lot of similar negotiation, but for some reason not voting someone into the Senate seems less mean than voting to send someone to swim with the sharks. I say this to say, I like both games about equally, but if you hate Lifeboats like games, you should still try this one, because it isn't as mean.

Quiet and Shy Player - This isn't the game for you. You have to talk, you have to try and convince your buddy to give you the lift you need, and you have to be willing to trade something for that. Just sitting there quietly and not doing anything but trying to move your pieces will not get you any enjoyment out of this one.

Non-Trading Monopoly Player - You know who I'm talking about. That person who won't accept Baltic Ave for Park Place, because they hate trading or negotiating at all. Not that they don't act like they enjoy negotiating, they do, but they never actually will come to any type of an agreement. Nothing is a good enough deal for them. The point of this game is to make deals and so don't play this game with those that won't make deals. This is what makes the game fast and fun.

*Every 100 Games Series - Back in March of 2006 I began tracking each session of the various board and card games I play. I soon got the idea to write a review on every 100th game I played, one because I like writing reviews, and two because it is interesting to see what game I review next. You can find a list of all of them here: http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/66896/every-100-games-series-reviews