An Infamous Traffic 2nd Edition - The History Behind Cole Wehrle’s Opium Trade Game

In this stream, I’m joined by Cole Wehrle to take a deep dive into An Infamous Traffic, now returning in a substantially reworked Second Edition. Originally one of Cole’s earliest designs, An Infamous Traffic examines the nineteenth-century opium trade in Qing China through a vicious economic game of commerce, collaboration, imperialism, and social ambition. We’ll discuss the history behind the game, the research that informed it, and what Cole wanted the design to say about the structures and consequences of imperial trade. We’ll also look at how his approach has evolved over the decade since the original release, what has changed mechanically in this new edition, and what players can expect from the new production. The Kickstarter campaign will be live during the stream: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/... Support Homo Ludens and join our Discord community: https://ko-fi.com/homoludens1871 0:00 Introduction to Infamous Traffic 6:38 Historical context of opium trade 14:08 Core game mechanics overview 21:11 Turn structure and actions 29:33 Winning the game: London season 33:24 Design philosophy and agency 40:30 Taiping Rebellion and system changes 49:23 Table talk and historical gaming 55:36 Production, books, and future projects