基于电脑游戏（而不是其他方式）的棋盘游戏，由克劳斯·泰伯特（Klaus Teuber）设计，Anno 1503严格从国内的角度观察殖民时代。两到四名玩家派船去探索分散在5×12平方海洋上的岛屿（越多的球员，越多的岛屿）。然而，新的土地的定居是严格抽象的。每个玩家的轮到从一个6面的死亡的卷轴开始。 “6”是一个随机的事件（海盗，火焰或者幸运 - 幸运的次数是两倍，最有可能损害那些做得很好的玩家）。在其他结果中，每个玩家从他的五个车间之一获得商品。滚动的玩家可能会从银行购买商品，将其卖给他们的殖民者黄金（没有玩家之间的交易），或者以各种组合使用它们来招募新的殖民者，促进现有的或建造船只。之后，船只可以为未知的土地航行。
每个岛屿隐藏在一个前哨，宝库或贸易协议。被发现后，这些物品被带回到本国（并且船被从游戏中移除，要求玩家建立一个新的游戏以继续搜索）。前哨站提高车间生产力。宝藏产生黄金或免费殖民地促销。贸易协议减少了从银行购买商品所需的黄金。除了以这些方式有用之外，前哨，黄金和协议也是游戏的胜利条件之一。玩家首先要获得五项目标中的三项目标，即四个前哨，三十个黄金，三个贸易协定，三个晋升为“商人”顶级的殖民者。并建设四座公共建筑。这些建筑物（8种，每种都带来一些优势）只有在玩家招募至少4名殖民者之后才可以使用。之后，每个新的殖民者都添加了一个建筑物（除非他们已经被其他玩家抢占了，对所有人来说都不够）。总的来说，游戏完全落在了“同时纸牌”类别。除了在比赛中，球员几乎没有互动。但是，他们在玩的过程中有很多选择。
A boardgame based on a computer game (instead of the other way around) and designed by Klaus Teuber, Anno 1503 views the era of colonization strictly from the home country perspective. Two to four players send ships to explore islands scattered about a 5 x 12 square ocean (the more players, the more islands). The settlement of the new lands is, however, strictly abstract. Each player's turn begins with the roll of one 6-sided die. A "6" is a random event (pirates, fire or good fortune - bad twice as often as lucky, and most likely to damage players who are doing well). On other results, each player gains a commodity from one of his five workshops. The player who rolled may then buy commodities from the bank, sell them to his colonists for gold (no trading among players), or use them in various combinations to recruit new colonists, promote existing ones, or build ships. After that, ships can sail for the unknown lands. Each island bears on its hidden side an outpost, a treasure or a trade agreement. After being discovered, these items are brought back to the home country (and the ship is removed from play, requiring the player to build a new one in order to keep searching). Outposts increase the productivity of workshops. Treasure yields either gold or free colonist promotions. Trade agreements reduce the gold needed to buy commodities from the bank. Besides being useful in these ways, outposts, gold and agreements are among the game's victory conditions. A player wins by being to first to attain three out of five objectives, namely, four outposts, 30 gold, three trade agreements, three colonists promoted to the top rank of "merchant" and the construction of four public buildings. The buildings (8 types, each bringing some advantage) cost nothing but don't become available until a player has recruited at least four colonists. After that, each new colonist adds a building (unless they've been preempted by other players; there aren't enough for everyone). Overall, the game falls squarely into the "simultaneous solitaire" category. Except in the race for islands, the players scarcely interact at all. They do, however, have a great many choices to make in the course of play.
