Another gorgeous Rio Grande production, done with the kind of Euro-cachet gamers have come to look for in a high-end import. In addition to elegant graphics and bits, the game itself plays out of the box. In other words, `Traders' is a game that transcends it's genre. In fact, it transcends its concept. More than a game, ToG is an EXPERIENCE.

The central game mechanic is simple. Players take turns moving a single game piece, a stack of discs called the Tower, around the board. As the tower is moved from space to space by the phasing player, any activity or `actions' associated with that particular Villa, Guild Hall, Warehouse, etc., can be transacted . . . by ANYONE. Non-phasing players informally bid with each other for the right to steer the tower through the (graphically superb) Genoese village. And herein lies the fun!

Phasing players can wheel and deal to milk the most out of the situation, or just say `Meh, everyone shut up; I'm moving here and here and here.' The formula for trading success is win/win, with just a tad more `win' going to the ultimate winner (subtle, but difficult, decisions). Even the subtler friction between making money from other players or making it for yourself, from your own on-board commerce, has political implications.

But what's most fascinating, for me at least, is to witness my friends (and MYSELF, yes indeed) tap into our inner players. Game personas can form, intensify and morph quicker in a game of ToG than a Matrix flick! Those with old trader karma may find the experience powerful, even disturbing. Some people are changed by adopting the role of Trader while others are perfectly recognizable, only . . . AMPPED TO THE GILLS . . . kind of like Goofy in that great, old Disney cartoon where the big dog becomes a poster-pooch for road rage.

In our last game of ToG, my wife, Pamela, seldom bargained when it was another player's turn, but shrewdly managed the keys for driving the tower when she was up to the plate. While other players were spending money to make money, Pamela was saving money to make money. While the rest of us forked over ducats hand over fist for pepper, salt, silks and the like, at the trade stalls, warehouses and marketplaces of old timey Genoa, Pammy played conservatively and gave no trading quarter to others (husband included) When we counted up our wealth at game end, we found (to everyone's surprise, frankly) that the woman had won by a single coin!

Traders of Genoa is a transcendental experience, a game that plays deeper than it's construct. A game of excruciating tension--pure self-aggrandizement tempered by the needs of others--ToG provides a welcome license to act up, act out, or just plain act. In a culture where core drives are cloaked, stifled and subsumed by social mores, we found Traders of Genoa to be a BIG breath of fresh air.

Highly recommended for women and non-gamers, especially.