Pyramid Review
Wealth of Nations
Published by TableStar Games
Designed by Nico Carroll, Robert Carroll, Monte Lin, Ray Long, and Peter Hansell
Art by Gregor Benedetti and Peter Hansell
Full-color boxed set with foldout game board, six reference cards, 108 Flags (for six nations), 60 tiles (15 Farm, 9 each of Generator, Academy, Mine, Factory, and Bank), six Market boards, 240 wooden Commodity cubes (60 Food, 50 Energy, 50 Labor, 40 Ore, 40 Capital), 200 Monetary notes, 30 Promissory notes, nine Automation tokens, one first player marker, and rulebook; $49.95
It's nation-building time again. Taking place roughly around the early 20th century (judging from the illustrations used), Wealth of Nations is a chance for people to become countries, each building up an economy that plays to its strengths while it diversifies.
The object is to end the game with the most points.
Players (from three to six) choose various starting packages of money, tiles, and Commodities. The board is a hex-shaped area made up of smaller hexes (five on a side), and tiles fit into those spaces. Each tile has dots, and each dot produces a Commodity -- for example, an Academy tile creates Labor cubes and Farms make Food. The edges of some tiles have half-dots (or even one third of a dot), so placing multiple tiles together into a Bloc increases the output faster than the cost.
Players may trade between themselves to get the Commodity cubes they need, or they can buy and sell to the various Markets directly (each Industry . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: September 19, 2008
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