16 on 6/18/2025 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams for an evening of Economic games.

IN: Steve & Sandy, Tony & Rachel, Tim & Khalid, Lauren & Elliot, Zach, Chris, Amy, Nicole, Reimi, Julie, Rob, Danny 

For Sale (led by Khalid & Chris) Stefan Dorra’s 1997 classic auction card game of Real Estate and Checks that resolves in 20-30 minutes. During the game’s two distinct phases, players first bid for several buildings then, after all buildings have been bought, sell the buildings for the greatest profit possible. The original Ravensburger/FX Schmid 5-player edition (1997/98) has slightly different rules than later English editions (6-players) as the number of buildings expanded from the original 20 to 30. Rounding rules have changed with each edition but the author prefers rounding down. The game got a makeover in 2021 with an automobile theme and an optional extra round that introduces advisors to the mix. Most seem to conclude that the advisors add an unnecessary complication to an already classic, elegant opener or closer.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/for-sale

Vegetable Stock 2x (led by K-ban) 2019 Taiwanese game of drafting veggies to manipulate a commodities market with an interesting CRASH mechanic. With 1 more card on display than players, all draft cards that have 3 veggies with the remaining card increasing market value for the veggies on the card not chosen. After 6 rounds scores are the number of veggies symbols multiplied by their final value. A 20 minute gem of a  filler that accommodates 4-6 players well.. 

Point City (led by Chris) 2023 sequel to Point Salad from the same team of designers. Mix a dash of Splendor with a healthy dose of Point Salad for a very accessible city engine builder. The mechanic of drafting adjacent 2-sided cards (resource on one side/ building on the other) and their replacements being flipped to their opposite side is a new twist. It’s hard to go back to Point Salad once Point City has been played ….and Point Galaxy has been crowdfunded and will be arriving in the coming months.

The Great Zimbabwe (led by Tim) 2012 game about building a trade based civilization in ancient Africa where players strive to construct the most impressive monuments to one god of their choice. They can choose this god themselves– each of the twelve gods offers a unique blessing, but each also requires a different amount of work to win the game. Building the monuments is done by developing a logistics network stretching across the region. Through this network, players produce and obtain ritual goods to raise their monuments and bring honour to the god of their choice.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/111341/the-great-zimbabwe

Century Golem (led by Tony) 2017 re-themed version of Century: Spice Road set in the world of Caravania. Each turn, players perform one of four actions: Establish a trade route (by taking a market card). Make a trade or harvest crystals (by playing a card from hand). Fulfill a demand (by meeting a victory point card’s requirements and claiming it). Rest (by taking back into your hand all of the cards you’ve played). The last round is triggered once a player has claimed their fifth victory point card (6 cards with 2 or 3 players), then whoever has the most victory points wins. This is the initial game in a trilogy. If you love Splendor, give the Century series a try.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232832/century-golem-edition

 

Raccoon Tycoon (led by K-ban) 2018 Glen Drover design of a straight forward commodities market game combined with auctions for railroads (sets score more VPs), purchase of buildings for $ (that confer special privileges) and the purchase of towns with commodities…and it all ties together beautifully. Turns are short with the same 5 options, creating strategic tension. We played on the deluxe Fat Cat Edition with wooden components and double layered player boards – but with the base game rules. The expansion features will be added the next time we schedule a night of expansions or we receive sufficient requests from our members to play the game again with the expansion features.

Tonga Bonga (led by Nicole) 1998 Stefan Dorra design (For Sale, Kreta/Sardenga, MarraCash, Medina) where each player pilots a ship around a little group of islands with the goal of visiting four of the five remote islands and returning to Tonga Bonga Bay. Winning the race does not win the game, however; what matters is having the most money. Each player has room for three sailors (represented by dice) on their ship, and at the start of a round, in order players decide how much money to offer the sailors who will serve as their captain and first mate that round. (The cabin boy always works for free.) Next, in order players roll their dice, then assign one die to each other ship — never their own! If you place a die with an equal or higher pip value on a ship where a die is already present, you bump that earlier die to a lesser role. One side of each die has a seasick sailor, who doesn’t go to sea that round, so not all ships will necessarily be full. Once all the dice have been placed, in order players move their ship, ideally reaching islands before others and leaving one of their tokens there. Whenever a player lands on an island, they receive $25 from the bank, but then must pay $5 to each player who landed there ahead of them. At the end of a round, players collect the wages next to the captain and first mate spots holding their dice. A player who has visited four islands can return to Tonga Bonga Bay, collecting $10 when they dock there. At the end of that round, the game ends, and whoever has the most money wins.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/322/tonga-bonga

Furnace (led by Zach)  2020 engine-building Eurogame in which players take on the roles of 19th-century capitalists building their industrial corporations and aspiring to make as much money as they can by purchasing companies, extracting resources, and processing them in the best combinations possible. 

Splendor (led by Rachel) 2014 award winning 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 wealthy enough, players might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which will further increase their prestige. On turn, players 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. 

Castle Combo (led by Nicole) 2024 tableau building card game. Each player will spend coins to draft 9 cards from 2 open markets on the table, with the messenger pawn, determining which market is open this turn – creating a 3×3 square of people interacting with each other to trigger instant effects and end-of-game bonuses. Each turn, players add a character to their tableau—a seemingly straightforward action that packs a punch regarding strategic decisions. Carefully managing one’s keys will be needed to carefully manage one’s Keys to influence the Messenger pawn at critical moments, as it controls which characters are available for recruitment from two different areas – peasants and nobles. Balancing one’s gold reserves is equally important, ensuring a player can afford the characters that best suit their strategy throughout the game. Selecting the right characters is crucial to maximising their immediate effects and the points they will contribute at the game’s end. Finally, carefully arranging these characters on one’s 3×3 board is key to unlocking their full potential. This is a very accessible game and was on the 2024 recommended list for SDJ honors (German Game of the Year). 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/416851/castle-combo

Steve