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Description
The route-building game genre can be counted as the greatest passion of English game designer and history teacher Martin Wallace. And with La Strada, he has come up with a particularly clever road-building game. Everything – from the rules to the game play – is devilishly simple. The game lets players claim successes throughout the game, and turn-by-turn one reaches one or even multiple goals. But at the end, someone else wins? How did that happen?
The game features a variable game board, built up out of hex tiles that depict easily traveled flatland, forests, or hills. Before the start of the game, nineteen different settlements (ranging from cities to tiny villages) with varying victory point values are randomly placed onto those spaces featuring a gray symbol. Each player then places his or her starting marker onto a chosen flatland tile. The object here is of course to try to put your starting marker near as many high-value cities as possible.
The object of the game is to connect together as many settlements with your roads as possible, in order to get as many victory points as possible. The catch is that settlements award fewer and fewer victory points the more players connect to them. The cities are like pies: the more people want a slice, the smaller the slices have to be.
Building streets is very simple. One a player’s turn, he receives six gold pieces. Each street segment costs two gold to build over flatland, three over forest, and four over hills. Players can build as many segments as they can afford on their turn, provided that they end at a settlement and don’t intersect any other streets on the way. Put simply: players can’t end a street in the middle of nowhere and then keep building next turn. Streets have to reach their destination at the end of each turn.
Once a settlement has been reached, and then the player gets to put one of their trade markers on it. Note that streets can intersect each other only at the settlement locations. If a player doesn’t use up all of his gold on his turn, then he can save it for the next turn (where he will also get another six gold to play with again). Players aren’t allowed to spend more than ten gold pieces on their turn, though, so you can’t save forever.
The game ends when one player can’t build any more roads or doesn’t have any trade markers left.
Scoring then occurs. A scoring example for a city: The city is worth five victory points, but only if it was connected to by a single player. A doubly connected city is worth four points for each player, while a triply connected city is only worth three each. Cities connected to by four players are only worth two points. This decreasing point system also counts for smaller settlements, worth between four and two victory points. A nicely thought out sorting system ensures that the end game scoring doesn’t turn into a math exercise. Naturally, the player with the most victory points is the winner. In the case of a tie, then the tied player with the most gold left is the winner.
La Strada is a very simple game: build roads and connect cities. But it’s not that easy to get ahead with the scores. It’s every player’s dream to claim a fat five point city all to themselves – but a player who spends too much energy trying to protect an investment will find that his other road-building options become tighter.
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Refund Policy
Updates are listed in magenta text. Last update: August 3rd, 2026.
Cancellations versus Returns: An order is considered in process and not yet completed up until the product is available to the customer, which includes as soon as an order is ready for pickup. Once an order is completed, it can no longer be cancelled and refund policies will apply.
Returns: For the majority of our products, they can be returned for either exchange or refund assuming they fulfill the following criteria:
- The product is fully sealed and unopened
- If a product has had its shrink wrap removed but the contents are otherwise still sealed, a return may still be possible, but a 15% restocking fee will be applied
- There is a proof of purchase, be it a receipt or purchased under a customer file
- It is within four weeks of purchase
Exceptions:
If the purchase of a product has earned the customer bonus points, product or value, those will need to be returned as well. If they cannot (such as if they'd be used already or gifted elsewhere), the value of the return will be reduced by an appropriate amount.
Used Games: Used games can only be returned within three days. We ask that you use those three days to confirm all the components are there. After those three days, the sale is final.
Some products cannot be returned:
- Collectible blind packs: HeroClix, D&D Icons of the Realms, Magic: the Gathering, etc. Because of the unknown contents of these products, once the product is purchased and removed from our sight, we can no longer assure that the contents are factory sealed and not somehow scanned or otherwise determined.
- Games Workshop battletomes and codexes: These products include a code for a digital redemption, and we have no way of verifying whether this code has been redeemed or not once a book has been removed from its shrink wrap.
- Clearance product: Any item on clearance is considered a final sale, and cannot be returned.
- Collectible singles: Magic singles and similar product cannot be returned. However, we are often able to purchase them again as second-hand product trade in, such as how we buy Magic cards.
- Bits and Mortar: Once you have received a code for a digital copy of a purchased RPG book eligible for the Bits and Mortar program, you may no longer return that book for a refund.
- Food stuffs and drinks: for obvious reasons.
- Entry fees: Unless cancelled before the day of the event in question, entry fees cannot be refunded. If prior to the day of the event, a refund can be given in store credit.
Shipping
If your product is eligible for return and you do not live in Winnipeg, you should mail your product to: GameKnight Games and Cool Stuff, 519 Osborne Street, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3L2A9
You will be responsible for the cost of return shipping. Shipping costs are non-refundable.
Depending on where you live, the time it may take for your exchanged product to reach you may vary.
If you are shipping a valuable item, you should consider using a trackable shipping service or purchasing shipping insurance. We don’t guarantee that we will receive your returned item.
Abandoned Orders
If an order is not picked up within 60 days of it being ready, the pre-tax value of the order, minus a 15% restocking fee will be returned to the buyer in the form of a webstore gift card, and the items returned to our stock.
Individual collectible products such as Magic: the Gathering singles will instead have either the aforementioned value OR the current buylist value, whichever is lowest, returned to the buyer in the form of a webstore gift card, and the items returned to our stock.
Missed Events
If you sign up for an event but do not show up for it, we reserve the right to sell your spot to someone that is waiting to play. You will not be eligible for a refund.
If circumstances prevent you from attending an event to which you are registered, please notify us as soon as you can so we can make arrangements.
We will always give a small grace period to latecomers, but it helps immensely if you notify us ahead of time if you're running late. Otherwise, it is at our discretion when we deem you are absent and provide your spot to someone else. Again, no refund will be possible.
Any product used during an event is only available to those that actually attend the event.
