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Progress: Evolution of Technology is a card game about researching technologies. Each player takes his civilization from early antiquity and learns various technologies, moving progressively to the Middle Ages, the Industrial Revolution, and Modern Times and ending with today's Internet or Social Welfare.
Unlike other civilization games, Progress focuses on a single aspect of civilization building: researching technologies that help a society advance. The 210 technology cards in the game are divided into three ages (Ancient, Middle Ages, Industrial) and three types (Military, Science and Culture). With every advancement on a path, you gain easier access to its more advanced technologies and you'll end up opening the door to the next age.
Each tech card provides one bonus, which can vary from one extra knowledge to a larger hand size. Even though most tech cards in the game come in multiple copies (usually one per player), the key technologies occur less frequently, forcing players to specialize and granting them unique advantages. Every technology you research decreases the cost of up to three more advanced technologies, accelerating the race towards the end of the game.
The game play is streamlined, with players usually taking two actions, thus making each turn short and ensuring that you use the time when the others are playing for planning rather than seeing it as downtime.
- Clear, logical progression through tech trees
- Accessible civilization feel with manageable rules overhead
- Research countdown mechanic helps mitigate card draw randomness
- Strong token bonuses and multi-age scaling
- Revivable end-game via tracks and tokens
- Excellent teachability for inexperienced gamers
- Production caveat: black card borders prone to wear
- Interaction is relatively indirect; multiplayer solitaire feel
- Reliance on card draw can introduce luck at times
- On the longer side for some groups (75-90 minutes)
- Technological progress and societal advancement
- Ancient to modern civilization development across multiple ages
- Tech-tree driven, card-driven civilization progression with countdown research mechanic
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action economy / hand management — Hand size limits and drawing rules shape action choices each turn.
- card drafting — Players assemble and develop a personal technology tableau from age-based cards.
- card drafting / tableau building — Players assemble and develop a personal technology tableau from age-based cards.
- Point tracks and scoring — Tracks on the board determine end-scoring and progression toward victory.
- Research / countdown mechanic — The develop/research action places cubes on a card; when enough cubes accumulate, the card is built.
- Tech tree prerequisites — Cards require prior technologies or points to unlock new cards.
- Tech trees — Cards require prior technologies or points to unlock new cards.
- Token resources and wilds — Culture/engineering/science tokens serve as recurring resources; wilds substitute as needed.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is a card driven civilization game
- I really love the way this is weighted and it's certainly not overwhelming in terms of its rules overhead
- this really is a game about building those tech trees and trying to get those prerequisites so that you can get things as affordable as possible
- the balance of the game is generally quite good
- I've really enjoyed this game and I'm pleasantly surprised
- it's weirdly underrated nobody talks about this one anymore