Wealth of Nations

Build farms, mines and banks into an industrial bloc and trade with rivals to become an economic superpower.

Designer: Nico Carroll
Published by: TableStar Games
Editions by: JJ Board Game

You lead a nation from poverty to economic superpower, and you do it with factories, farms and a lot of haggling. There are six types of industry tile (Farms, Generators, Academies, Mines, Factories and Banks) producing Food, Energy, Labor, Ore and Capital. Food feeds your industries when they produce, Capital pays for building certain others, and the bigger a connected bloc grows, the better its return. Nobody can make everything, so trade is the heart of the game: you swap commodities, take loans and make deals across the table. A 2008 economic game for three to six, about two hours, where good negotiators come out ahead.

Six industry types and five commoditiesBigger industrial blocs return moreOpen trading, deals and loans between players

Who it's for

You like talkative economic games where deals and timing win, and you can handle two hours of negotiating.

Not for you if…

You dislike open negotiation or want a quiet solitaire-style economy. Here you must talk and trade.

Vibe's take

A haggling game with real economics underneath. Every producer needs something from somebody else, so the table is a constant, noisy market.