Game Preview: Circus Maximus

By W. Eric Martin
July 28, 2008

Publisher: Pegasus Spiele
Designer: Jeffrey D. Allers
Players: 3-5
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 45-75 minutes
Release Date: August 2008

Mention “ticket scalping” in the U.S., and you will undoubtedly hear angry diatribes against Ticketmaster, which has a near monopoly on advance tickets sold at hundreds, if not thousands, of venues across the country. With every ticket you purchase, you’ll find an extra charge or three added to the bill: a location charge here, a convenience fee there, and so on. The charges are legal, but you definitely feel taken.

Perhaps you’d feel better about ticket scalping, though, if you were the one collecting all the loot. Jeff Allers, regular Postcards from Berlin columnist for BGN, sure hopes so, as Pegasus Spiele is releasing his Circus Maximus in 2008 as part of a new series of card games.

Organized Shakedown

The idea for the game dates to 2003, when Allers first discovered German board games. “There were a lot of big-name concerts happening that summer, and I had heard that some people were actually paid to camp out all night at the box office line to get tickets for scalpers who would then sell them for a profit. I had originally envisioned a modern city like Los Angeles or New York as the setting, but then I thought ancient Rome might be more whimsical – and it provided a great name that, unfortunately, does not translate well into German: Scalpus Maximus.”

The heart of the game remains the same as in the original inspiration – each player has a crew of hired scalpers that will divide their efforts between buying the best tickets and hunting down loose-pocketed patrons – but designing the details took time. “It was clear that ‘scalper management’ was the key to a successful strategy in the game, but I was too inexperienced in game design to come up with an original treatment of this theme,” says Allers. “My first prototypes were much too complicated with far too many bits for what the game was supposed to be, so I put the idea on ice, pulling it out of my computer file every once in a while, even making another un-played prototype at one point.”

“About two years ago,” Allers continues, “I finally had enough confidence as a designer to tackle it one more time. I like challenges, and I like closure, so it’s not surprising that I just couldn’t let this game design go.” To push through the designer’s block, he tried to design a card game version of his then non-existent board game. “This helps simplify things and also provides a new perspective by imposing new limits. Once the idea starts to function as a game, those ideas can then be brought back into the board game design.  As it turned out, Circus Maximus stayed a card game, but with a board game feel.”

Your crew of scalpers is represented by a set of cards numbered 1-8, but despite what you might think, no blind-bidding is involved. A Starting Player card and Favor cards are laid out next to Caesar’s Villa; tickets equal to twice the number of players are laid out next to the box office; and finally patrons are drawn for the three venues, in each case one fewer than the number of tickets available.

A Role for Every Scalper

Players visit these three sets of locations – Caesar’s Villa, the box office, and venues – in order. At each spot, you take turns laying down one of your scalpers, playing a Favor card (should you have acquired any), or passing. Once everyone passes, you claim goods, with the highest numbered scalper picking first, and so on, with ties broken by whoever played on a location first. So everyone plays to Caesar’s Villa to see who claims the Starting Player and Favor cards, then you play to the box office to see who buys which tickets, then you play to the venues, selling tickets to the patrons in line. Says Allers, “The Starting Player favor card may be more of a factor with more players since playing the first scalper of a given rank to a line will always be in front of scalpers of the same rank placed later in the round. With more players, there are more scalpers of the same rank.”

Your score in a round is the value of your tickets sold (1-3 each), the value of patrons who purchased these tickets (2-6), and the number of scalpers you didn’t use (1-8), in addition to possible bonuses.

The Favor cards naturally twist the rules a bit, letting you buy or sell two tickets, for example, or reusing a scalper that had already been played earlier in the round. (At the time of this writing, the Favor cards were being tweaked.) Caesar himself sometimes shows up in line at a venue, but not because he needs to wait for a ticket. He is Caesar, after all! He’s trying to do a favor for someone waiting in line, and you can help him out – to your benefit naturally.

Circus Maximus is played over three rounds, with bonus coins awarded for some patrons in the second and third rounds to up the payout. Whoever has done the best job of meeting demand with supply wins the game and is cursed by others for a greedy and rapacious nature. Such is life…

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