gamedotty

Connecting players, creators, and communities through the joy of play.

Discover

Game CafesBoard GamesEvents (Coming Soon)

Creators

CrowdfundingPlaytesting (Coming Soon)

Company

ContactTerms & ConditionsPrivacy Policy

Connecting through the joy of play

© 2026 gamedotty. All rights reserved.

gamedotty
  • Games
  • Venues
  • Events
  • Crowdfunds

From Batavia

2 - 6
10
40 min
Default avatar

Kenichi Tanabe

Default avatar

Toryo Hojo

6.2
Card Game

Game Description

In the 17th Century, the capital of the Dutch East Indies was Batavia (now Jakarta in Indonesia). Many Dutch merchants wanted to get wealthy trading spices and crops. Nobility desire cardamon; cloves were sought for medicine; cinnamon for its deep, sweet fragrance; and ginger and pepper for their strong spicy flavors. Buy spices, send them to Europe, get rich, and succeed as big merchants!

From Batavia (フロム:バタヴィア) is a card-drafting game of sorts. In general, each player has a ship, and they'll place cargo cards on the ship until it's full, after which they get a new ship. Whoever fills three ships first wins!

In more detail, each ship card has a hold number and possibly an icon. The cargo cards come in five types (cardamon, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, pepper), and they have a cost, an effect, an icon, and a money value. Grain cards have nothing but a picture of grain, yet they can be valuable, too. Each player starts with a hand of five cargo cards.

On a turn, each player chooses a cargo card from their hand, then they reveal them simultaneously. If they can afford to pay the cost of their card, they do so, discarding cards from hand equal to the cost (with a card of the same color as the revealed cargo card counting for two cards) and handing those cards to their -left-hand neighbor. All cards are passed at the same time. If a player can't pay the cost of their card, they return it to hand, then give their left-hand neighbor one cargo card from the top of the deck.

All players who paid the cost of their new cargo card now carry out the effect of that card. Ginger, for example, lets you draw grain cards equal to the number of ginger icons on your cargo cards and ship card; grain cards can't be placed on ships, but they can be used to pay for cargo. Cinnamon lets you take a coin and place it on your ship, then discard as many cards as you want to take additional coins; each coin helps to fill the hold of your ship.

If the money value of a player's cargo cards (along with any coins they have) equal or exceed the hold value of a ship, that ship is full. The player places that ship aside, discards the cargo cards, then takes a new ship in a different color.

Each player can discard any number of cards from their hand, then each person with fewer than six cards draws one cargo card from the deck. Cardamon icons can let you draw a card even if you have six or more cards, while cloves lets you draw additional cards anytime you draw cargo, then discard the same number of cards that you drew additionally. Filter cards to find what you want!

Share

Games You Might Like

Cover image of Zuuli
3.4

Zuuli

1 - 6
Animals
Card Game
Cover image of Anger Smash
6.5

Anger Smash

2 - 520 min – 40 min
Bluffing
Card Game
Cover image of 1923 Cotton Club
7.6

1923 Cotton Club

2 - 445 min – 1 hr
African Americans
Card Game
Cover image of 30 Monedas
7.9

30 Monedas

1 - 230 min
Card Game
Horror
Cover image of A game about WEE WHIMSICAL CREATURES and trying to identify them after someone makes noises.
7.7

A game about WEE WHIMSICAL CREATURES and trying to identify them after someone makes noises.

4 - 1020 min – 50 min
Animals
Card Game
Cover image of Aeon's End: Legacy of Gravehold
9.0

Aeon's End: Legacy of Gravehold

1 - 41 hr
Card Game
Fantasy
Cover image of Agropolis
7.7

Agropolis

1 - 415 min – 20 min
Abstract
Card Game
Cover image of Air, Land, and Sea: Critters at War
7.5

Air, Land, and Sea: Critters at War

215 min – 30 min
Animals
Anthropomorphic Animals
Cover image of All on 1 Card
6.7

All on 1 Card

2 - 420 min
Card Game
Cover image of All-Star Draft
7.4

All-Star Draft

2 - 645 min
Animals
Card Game
Cover image of Arkham Noir: Case #3 – Infinite Gulfs of Darkness
7.6

Arkham Noir: Case #3 – Infinite Gulfs of Darkness

130 min
Adventure
Card Game
Cover image of Arkwright: The Card Game
7.4

Arkwright: The Card Game

1 - 41 hr – 1.7 hr
Card Game
Industry / Manufacturing