/pic7811904.jpg)
Game Info
Year
2024
Collection
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
Vibe profile
Not enough video data yet
Description
Algae, Inc. is a company that produces and processes different kinds of algae into cosmetics, bioplastics, and biodiesel. You manage one of these sectors of the company, trying to create an efficient assembly line; manage your team of operators, engineers, and scientists; and help expand the company to several locations all over Europe. As the company becomes more and more successful, you try to achieve certain milestones before other departments may do so because as much as you like to see the whole company perform well, you would like to get that extra bit of credit compared to your peers.
Algae, Inc. is a medium-heavy strategy game that combines resource management, tableau building, and multi-processing. Each player has a unique player board and must adapt their strategy to the department they've chosen to manage. As the game progresses, you have to hire more staff, optimize your processing line, and keep a close eye on what your colleagues are doing. You also have to make crucial decisions as you decide to free up space on your science board by either unlocking engineer tiles (that will improve your factory) or science tiles (that will allow you to improve your actions). It's a meticulous game that reveals its true depth the more you play it as every decision you make will affect the next one.
—description from the publisher
Featured Videos
Ask a Rules Question
All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 3
This page: 3
Sentiment:
pos 1 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–3 of 3
Video cRMqO74k1CY
Meeple University Discussion at 0:05 sentiment: positive
video_pk 63972 · mention_pk 157487
Click to watch at 0:05 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Asymmetrical player boards provide varied play experiences
- Deep production and upgrade system with multiple product lines (cosmetics, food, bioplastics, biodiesel)
- Semi-random milestones and private contracts add variability
- Delivery-based scoring with city targets and milestones adds strategic depth
- Endgame tension via contracts and milestones
Cons
- Potential downtime or inefficient actions if a player cannot find a productive action
- Rule complexity implied by multiple tokens, actions, and production steps
- Prototype components indicate production quality may differ from final release
Thematic elements
- Industrial production, competition, logistics, and planning within a corporate environment.
- A company with departments competing to produce algae-based products (cosmetics, food, bioplastics, biodiesel) and deliver them across Europe.
- Strategic, production-line driven gameplay with modular board asymmetry.
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Queue — Players move their meeple along an action path, taking turns until each has performed five actions per round.
- Action queue / turn order — Players move their meeple along an action path, taking turns until each has performed five actions per round.
- asymmetrical player boards — Each player board is unique, giving different strategic feels per play.
- contracts — Each player selects private contracts to influence endgame scoring.
- Delivery and city scoring — Deliver finished products to cities to gain money, points, and round milestones.
- end game bonuses — Game lasts four rounds with five turns per round; endgame elements include contracts and milestones.
- Endgame structure — Game lasts four rounds with five turns per round; endgame elements include contracts and milestones.
- Hiring and upgrading — Recruit employees and upgrade factories to improve actions and outputs.
- Pick-up and deliver — Deliver finished products to cities to gain money, points, and round milestones.
- Private contract cards — Each player selects private contracts to influence endgame scoring.
- Production line / machine actions — Three machines are used to move algae along manufacturing steps to produce finished products.
- Resource management — Use tokens such as science, engineering, energy, and money to modify actions and production.
- Resource/tokens management — Use tokens such as science, engineering, energy, and money to modify actions and production.
- Semi-random endgame elements — Milestones and contract cards are semi-random to add variability.
- worker placement — Action spaces can be shared; players place workers to activate actions.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- asymmetrical different feel for each play with a different board
- end of game contract card private ingame contract
- delivery of your goods where most of the points come from delivery to a city
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video BNNaKijxIS8
Let's Table It Review at 0:15
video_pk 61950 · mention_pk 154557
Click to watch at 0:15 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Array
- Array
- Algae-based consumer products and sustainable resource management; asymmetric department competition
- Array
- Biotech algae production facility with four departments (cosmetics, food, bioplastics, biofuel); exports to cities
- Array
- Array
- Array
- positive
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Algae Inc it's an asymmetric economic Euro game about using the algae in different processes to make different products
- one of the best things I really like about this game is that even though in real life these processes might be more complex than you know what's shown on the table
- there is a lot of parts and forming a strategy will just you know take time with this game
- I think this game has a lot to offer
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video EBrL1cUPRJ8
Let's Table It Rules Teach at 0:19
video_pk 61951 · mention_pk 154558
Click to watch at 0:19 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Array
- Array
- resource management and optimization of manufacturing chains with modular upgrades
- Array
- A futuristic biotech facility where players manage four department production lines to extract value from algae-based products.
- Array
- Array
- Array
- positive
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- please like And subscribe to our Channel We are new and working hard to bring to you videos like this one so you know if these games are ones you want to get to your own
- let me know in the comments which department you would like to lead and if you have any questions please leave them below as well
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–3 of 3