Economic

Vikings is a fast economic game. Despite the nominal "Viking" theme, no actual exploration or pillaging is involved.

The resources in the game consist of coins and several types of ship tiles, island tiles and meeples. In each of 6 rounds, a random set of 12 tiles and 12 meeples becomes available. Players take turns buying and placing pairs of meeples and tiles. There is no direct player interaction, only indirect contention for resources during the buying phase.

The most unusual aspect of the game is the pricing wheel, which pairs meeples with tiles and sets their prices.

Part of the crayon rail games, this game features unique timeline orchestrated by event cards and a distance warp to accommodate the vast distances of the Soviet Union region. The game begins in the post WWII era, with players drawing rail lines and delivering loads wary of the inevitable fall of the Soviet Union. Build an empire from the Black Sea to the Baltic.

Note that the "distance warp" feature was removed during playtesting, and the "inevitable fall" of the Soviet Union is not as inevitable as you would think if that card doesn't get drawn.

In the card game Race for the Galaxy, players build galactic civilizations by playing game cards in front of them that represent worlds or technical and social developments. Some worlds allow players to produce goods, which can be consumed later to gain either card draws or victory points when the appropriate technologies are available to them. These are mainly provided by the developments and worlds that are not able to produce, but the fancier production worlds also give these bonuses.

At the beginning of each round, players each select, secretly and simultaneously, one of the seven roles which correspond to the phases in which the round progresses. By selecting a role, players activate that phase for this round, giving each player the opportunity to perform that phase's action. For example, if one player chooses the settle role, each player has the opportunity to settle one of the planets from their hand. The player who has chosen the role, however, gets a bonus that applies only to him. But bonuses may also be acquired through developments, so one must be aware when another player also takes advantage of his choice of role.

Owner's Choice is an economic game in which the players must look to manipulate the stocks of four companies by trying to buy low and sell high. The players that own the most stock in a company assume the role of the President, with other players assuming the role of investors.

Owners have greater control over the fortunes of their companies' stock and they can make great profits but can also lose big as well. Importantly the Owner of a company can sell it for the market price at game end, whereas Investors can only make money by earning dividends, which are far less than the company price. As the game unfolds the players must decide how best to make money and potentially undermine some companies to reduce the fortunes of their competition.

The game's length is dictated by a pawn that moves around the board, which is a square similar to Monopoly. The players have some control over how many spaces the pawn can move in each turn, and the kind of space it lands on allows for a variety of things to happen.

Once the pawn reaches the Goal square it is time for Owners to sell their companies and Investors to cash in their stocks for dividends. The player with the most money wins the game.

Splendor is a fast-paced and addictive 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.