New Zealand had a long history of innovation, so it’s nice to see Endeavor, the board game, begin to turn heads internationally. Released by Z-Man Games, Endeavor was created by Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray from Wellington, New Zealand.

In the game, you live in the time of Empire: maps are still blank and need some colour and shape. As a great power, you need to send ships to new countries, negotiate new deals, and conquer when politics fail. There’s great wealth and power to be found around the world, but they need to be discovered and exploited … Do you have the tactics and strength to create — and control — your Empire?

Your character operates on behalf of an expanding Global Power whose glorious (and imperialistic!) endeavor is to conquer and hold the sea lanes and continents across the ocean. Utilising your shipping companies and explorers, creating armies and forming political alliances, you must contend with other colonists and take control of land and natural resources, exploiting the wealth to the best of your ability. However, it’s important to find a balance between your financial reach and your political power; your cultural influence and your need to press forward. With hundreds of paths to victory, Endeavor is a very balanced strategy game where the decisions you make determine the lie of the land.

A game of world exploration and empire building. You represent a European empire colonizing the Mediterranean and shipping to all parts of the world to increase the empire’s glory and status in Industry, Culture, Finance and Politics. When a region opens up (i.e. the shipping lanes are full) a player can colonize, attack or retrieve resources from that region. The game plays easily as each turn a player builds a building giving him a special action or increasing one of his main statistics, and gets a number of people with which to activate buildings for special actions (Ship, Occupy, Attack, Draw or Pay). Increased skill in Politics allow the player to hold cards that help increase his status and glory.

It must be time to play! Let’s find out why Endeavor has been so popular since its 2009 release … and we’ll see what prizes it wins in 2010.

Looking to find the best deal on Endeavor in NZ, then visit Seriously Board to find the best deals on board games in New Zealand.