¿Remember the days when Monopoly dominated the board game world? For decades, it was the only game that combined fun with lessons about business and economics.
Board games have seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years, led by a new crop of games based on economics, resource trading, and business intelligence. Some of the following games have become icons of the gaming world, but there are others that you may not have heard of but should definitely bring to your next game night.
1. Catan
Originally known as Settlers of Catan, this game is credited with starting a new wave of enthusiasm for board games. The idea is to collect and exchange resources (grain, wool, wood, mineral, bricks) to build roads, settlements and cities. There are multiple ways to win and therefore multiple possible strategies as players choose starting points and decide which resources to search for.
2. Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride is a popular game for people of all ages that involves building railways on predetermined routes and accumulating points, while preventing opponents from building their own routes. Sometimes you win by having the greatest number of routes. Sometimes you win by having the longest one.
Unlike many of the gamesresource collection«, still implies a certain commercial strategy. In particular, players may have to “pivot» your railway construction strategy based on your opponents’ actions and the shape of the board.
3. The age of steam
This is like Ticket to Ride on steroids. In Age of Steam, you have many challenges, the main one being to build the most powerful locomotives and the largest train network. But you should also strive to transport the most profitable cargoes, keep creditors at bay, and get the highest return on investment. There is also a city building element. And there are dozens of expansion packs for this game.
4. Electrical network
In this game, you represent a company that owns an electrical grid, and your job is to supply electricity to the city. You will bid against other players for power plants and resources. A player wins when he electrifies a certain number of cities. Power Grid has spawned countless international versions, spinoffs and expansion packs.
5. Viticulture
¿Do you like wine? Then you will enjoy with Viticulture, in which players inherit Tuscan vineyards and compete for the goal of making their company the most successful. You start with a small plot of land and three workers, and then you add employees, assign tasks, and expand your farm. This game is so fun that you don’t need to drink real wine while playing (although it doesn’t hurt either).
6. Terra Mystica
The premise of Terra Mystica is that the player represents the inhabitants of one of the 14 factions and can only grow his land by competing with his rivals to «terraform» the nearby lands. Players must strategically collect and deploy resources to build buildings and earn money . This game also employs some interesting economic concepts, such as the notion that competitors can strengthen you while also keeping you in line.
7. Gaia Project
Gaia Project It came out in 2017, but it’s already received very solid reviews. It’s a continuation of Terra Mystica, and similar in that it involves working to make neighboring planets more like your own so you can expand your civilization. Many players like Gaia Project more than Terra Mystica, because the setting board can change, thus giving you a new gaming experience every time you play.
8. Agricultural
In Agricultural, you start as a farmer. You have a house. You have a wife. You spend your time plowing fields, collecting firewood, buying animals, and expanding your farm. The player with the most profitable farms wins.
This game won the Golden Geek Board Game of the Year award in 2008, and remains a highly rated game more than a decade later. The designer of this game, Uwe Rosenberg, created a later game called Le Havre, in which players amass fortunes by building ships and buildings.
9. Scythe
The idea of Scythe is to build a great economic engine and take control of «Europe«. It is the 1920s in a fictional city-state known as “Factory«. Players conquer territory, obtain and use resources, build a population, and deploy «mechs» to impose their influence. It is a game with a lot of strategy and little luck. The digital version of the game is planned for 2018.
10. Through the ages: History of civilization
In essence, Through the Ages It’s an economics-based game, but in many ways it’s a world-building game. There is resource gathering and management, but also leader selection, discovery and use of technology, military, culture and science. There are hundreds of cards and a maddening arsenal of rules, but it has become one of the most beloved games of the last two decades.