The first modern Euro game to introduce this neat mechanic seems to have been Peter Prinz’s “ Jenseits von Theben” (Beyond Thebes), released in 2004 by Queen Games. Players must choose whether to take the best available action, even if it would consume so much time they have to wait (seemingly forever) for their next turn, or instead to take a potentially lesser action so they can take another turn right away. If that player is frugal in her use of time, so she is still last in line after spending the next time increment, she can take another turn, and keep going until she finally uses up so much time that she passes someone the turn then passes to whoever is now at the back of the line. Players move their tokens forward on a track or perhaps a rondel, and whoever is last in line takes the next turn. If you’ve played Uwe Rosenberg’s Patchwork, for example, you’ve encountered the Time Track concept. The first is how Plutocracy uses a Time Track. As long as Blue’s token stays behind the other players, she can keep taking turns. It might sound a little like an old-school Hanseatic League trading game, but Plutocracy has two super-cool twists that definitely put the game into outer space, thematically, and also give it a unique and intriguing mix of mechanics. Over the course of the game, you fly your spaceship through the solar system, buying and selling goods and choosing the right moment to siphon off some of your working capital to buy seats in the parliaments of the five outer planets, which increases your chances of getting votes in The PC. You start with just 12 Space Euros and a dream Game Experience Get the most Power by getting the most Money by using Time most efficiently as your travel through Space and you’ll probably win Plutocracy. You get control by old-fashioned bribery (along with a bonus based on what you have in your inventory if you pay timely visits to Mother Earth) and you get money from carefully planning space flights to maximize commercial opportunities across the five productive outer planets (Mars through Neptune). The Tagline for the game is “Space is Time is Money is Power” and that does a pretty good job of summarizing what Plutocracy turns out to be: a fancy Pick-up-and-Deliver game with some interesting wrinkles.Įach player represents an interplanetary corporation headquartered on the planets beyond Earth’s orbit, each vying to control the Plutocratic Council (“The PC”) on Pluto. Games with zero luck in them tend to be dry and themeless-think Chess as the Urspiel here-but from the moment you open the box, Plutocracy’s board (a colorful solar system on the black background of deep space) makes the game pop with intrigue: ooh, what is this game? Gameplay Overview

The game features no chance whatsoever-no dice, no cards, etc…-the closest you can get to the luck of the draw is if you choose the optional starting conditions that randomize prices and players’ starting planets. Plutocracy takes things one step further, eliminating all luck. When I reviewed Khora, I lauded how nicely that game provided you with a way to buy your way out of bad dice luck. Euro games stand out from more pedestrian board games because Euros tend to have a lot less luck involved, and even when Euros do feature luck, they usually offer some way to hedge against a bad outcome.

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