Tag: Economic

Economic games encourage players to produce, distribute, and trade various resources.

Splendor

| T3d-1978
Splendor

Splendor

Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you’re wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige.

On your turn, you may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don’t get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a round, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem.

All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do.

Game Mechanics:

  • Economic
  • Open Drafting
  • Racing
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.79

Port Royal: Big Box

| T3d-1978
Port Royal: Big Box

Port Royal: Big Box

The merchant players in Port Royal, which won the Austrian Game Designers Competition under the title Händler der Karibik, are trying to earn as much as they can out of the Caribbean Sea, but if they set their goals too high, they might take home nothing for the day.

The 120-card deck depicts a coin on the back of each card — with players earning and paying coins throughout the game — and different items on the card fronts. On a turn, a player can first draw as many cards as he likes, one at a time from the deck, placing them in the harbor (an area near the deck). Each card shows one of the following:

  • Person, who stays in a face-up row next to deck.
  • Ship, which the player can attack immediately if he has enough swords on his people cards, after which the ship is discarded; otherwise, the ship stays in the harbor.
  • Expedition, which remains above the harbor until a player fulfills it by discarding people who have the items required for the expedition.
  • Tax Increase, which forces everyone with twelve or more coins to discard half their money, after which the card is discarded.

If the player draws a ship with the same name as a ship already in the harbor, he’s spent too much time dilly-dallying and his turn ends (after using the ship to attack, if possible), with all the cards in the harbor being discarded. Otherwise, the player can stop whenever he likes, then use/acquire one card if three or fewer ships are in the harbor, two cards if four ships are present, and three cards if five ships are present. Players rob ships, collecting the number of coins shown on them, then discarding the card, while they hire people, paying the number of coins depicted. After the active player takes his 1-3 cards, each other player may pay the active player one coin in order to take one card in the same way.

When one player has at least twelve influence points — which are on both people and expedition cards — the game is played to the end of the round, giving everyone the same number of turns, then the player with the most influence points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Economic
  • Move Through Deck
  • Open Drafting
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 50 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.67

Monopoly: David Bowie Edition

| T3d-1978
Monopoly: David Bowie Edition

Monopoly: David Bowie Edition

Relive the fame and take things over in a special edition of the fast dealing, property trading game that pays homage to the Thin White Duke! MONOPOLY: David Bowie gathers the ultimate collection of the rock superstar’s greatest records for fans to buy, sell, and trade albums such as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars. Build Arenas and Stadiums atop Bowie’s discography with six custom sculpted tokens representing memorable studio albums: Major Tom, Black Star, Black Tie White Noise, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, and Ashes to Ashes. Sound and Vision cards will take you on the musical journey to be the furthest above the moon with any money to win!

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Economic
  • Negotiation
  • Player Elimination
  • Set Collection
  • Stock Holding
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.80

Monopoly

| T3d-1978
Monopoly

Monopoly

Players take the part of land owners, attempting to buy and then develop their land. Income is gained by other players visiting their properties and money is spent when they visit properties belonging to other players. When times get tough, players may have to mortgage their properties to raise cash for fines, taxes and other misfortunes

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Economic
  • Negotiation
  • Player Elimination
  • Set Collection
  • Stock Holding
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • 60 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.63