Hanse
The release history of this game is not very well documented. It seems to have been developed originally for the Atari ST in 1986; either in the same or in the next year there were versions for Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC; 1988 Amiga and finally, 1989, PC.
What you see on the screenshot is the main interface. The brick house signifies your storage space. Being early in the game, there is only some wool and salt in store. Salt is important. Every time you send out a ship you use up 100 units of salt, the rationale being that it's used to preserve the crew's rations. On the top left is a small map of southern Scandinavia and the Baltic, the region where the historical Hanse was active and where the game takes place. The short list beside it shows that additionally to the warehouses in Lübeck and Ystad that you start out with I have acquired only one more, in Malmö. The menu at the bottom left shows the things you can do each turn:
You start out with one warehouse in Lübeck and one in Ystad, a ship, some salt, and 10,000 marks. Right at the beginning the ship will bring in a random amount of wool you can sell or keep till prices are rising. From Ystad, you'll always only get wool. Each town has only one type of product. Thus it is important to start trading with other towns soon. Not only is wool the least lucrative of goods, the wider your variety, the higher the chance that at least one type is at peak price when you need to sell something.
The prices of goods, while subject to fluctuation, will remain in the same range for the whole game. Prices for salt, ships, counting-houses and warehouses, however, will rise constantly. This is an aspect I didn't like very much, because I see it as an attempt to artificilly make the game more difficult, with little regard to realism or logic.
Additionally to the regular business, every turn will confront you with a special event. In most cases, you will have a choice. Depending on the outcome, you might gain some money, lose some money, or even get thrown into jail for a round. Or you might be prompted to give a charity dinner, this costs money, but lets you rise in the social hierarchy of Lübeck, and that is important, for the ultimete goal is to become mayor of this city.
Hanse is really supposed to be played by more than one person, the good old lo-tech way where several people take turns on one computer. The only non-player adversary the game offers is King Waldemar IV. of Denmark, who will occasionally attack your warehouses or impose arbitrary tariffs on your goods. And the stock market has very little function with only one player.
Hanse is a German game. It has never been translated into English. Since it is mainly text-based, playing it may be a bit problematic if you don't understand any German. Strangely enough, the diplomas that document your social progress contain some English phrases that feel rather out of place.
