Players are stock brokers during the second Industrial Revolution, trying to make as much money as possible while also coming across as good citizens by donating money to charity. During the course of the game, players purchase or sell shares of stock, and then manipulate the stock prices with the cards that they share with their two neighbors. Additionally, players donate stock to charities, which is sold off at the end of the round for the charitable donation. Whoever donates the least to charity by the end of the game automatically lose, no matter how wealthy he’s made himself.
The game uses a system of shared information where each player knows a little of what is about to happen in the markets, with each player knowing different pieces of information. The player who makes the most money at the end of the game is the winner, provided that he or she is not the person who donated the least to charity.
- Hub and Gut
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I think I can already say I would really like to try at some point just from the table presence alone.
- Honestly Cooperative games are far from my favorite type of game but I love Carcassonne so that is enough to have me quite intrigued if I have an opportunity to try this one.
References (from this video)
- New edition allows for two players.
- Prioritizes two-player modes.
- Stockbrokers trying to make money and donate to charity
- Second Industrial Revolution
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Charity Donation — Players have to donate to charity, and if they have spent the least on charity, they cannot win.
- Insider Trading — Each player has some information on how the stocks are going to change.
- Stock market — Players are stock brokers trying to make money and manipulate stock prices.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a game that you know came out over 50 years ago at this point and so uh you know it's it's been around for a long time
- negotiation game if you want negotiation game if you want negotiation in your games well diplomacy is like the negotiation game
- if this is another one if you've if you've always wanted to try diplomacy well this is your new starting point here
- well gourmet popcorn dice adds in these colored dice to the game the first game that was all just these yellow dice well now they are different color Dice and so if you roll the same two colors if they have the same faces on the die well now you can get a bonus so there are bonus points for Rolling pairs of dice in the game
References (from this video)
- Interesting stock twist
- Engaging balance between wealth and donation
- Ability to anticipate market changes
- Not a game needed again
- Better games exist in the category (High Society, For Sale)
- stock market
- High Society
- QE
- For Sale
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Anticipation — Players can anticipate market changes and the order of card plays.
- Card Play — Players play cards from two sides (left and right), with one card's action being fully executed and the other partially executed.
- Donation mechanic — Players must donate shares, and the least charitable player is eliminated.
- Market manipulation — Players' actions directly influence the price tracks of different stocks.
- Stock market — A stock game where players buy and sell.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it doesn't feel that much like getting something off the shelf of Shame when we had it for like two months but some of these are old titles some of them we had longer it's the same thing some of them we had longer some of them we had shorter so it feels like a good mix of games and also a good mix of smaller and bigger games
- I made a deal with my myself that I'm only going to choose games that I somehow want to play and not games I was like oh let's just play it and get it out of the way
- Best and worst experience Best Automania worst broth of Fire Mountain
- subscribe to the channel was what I was hoping you would say but also look outside because it's outside or look at the board game because board games are fun
References (from this video)
- Engaging charity twist and endgame tension
- Wealth management, charity, and social pressure
- Economic game with charity twist
- Social bluff with a charity twist
- High Society
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- charity twist elimination — Endgame condition based on how much money you stash and donate
- economic engine — Investing, collecting, and manipulating market-like resources
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- one of the coolest initiative mechanisms that I've ever seen
- this is like an essential because it is that good
- an absolute blast playing these couple of games
- the two-player card game on the market
- Mandala is absolutely smooth as silk
References (from this video)
- Thin, elegant rules
- Smart mechanism that creates tension between donation and final scoring
- Underrated and increasingly appealing
- market manipulation with charitable donation twist
- A modern economy with private markets and charity options
- economic strategy with twists
- Between Two Cities
- High Society
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- donation to charity affecting scoring — Halfway through, players donate funds to charity; donors affect final scores and elimination risk.
- hidden/partial information and interaction — You only see your own cards; interaction with neighbors affects market.
- Market Pricing/Manipulation — Cards between players shift stock prices up or down; some moves are full distance, some half distance.
- Neighbor Interaction — You only see your own cards; interaction with neighbors affects market.
- stock market manipulation via neighbor cards — Cards between players shift stock prices up or down; some moves are full distance, some half distance.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the market is manipulated because you have these cards that are sat between you and one of your neighbors
- the rules are so thin
- it's fantastic I think it's criminally underrated
- the rich and the good definitely one of the highlights of the period
References (from this video)
- Flows wonderfully with an extremely simple rule set
- Considered one of the best stock/commodity-style games of its kind
- Strong set of mechanisms despite simplicity
- Past impressions of imbalance have been noted by others; not seen here
- May feel slow to players seeking speed
- commodity trading and market manipulation
- economic/stock market simulation
- reverse drafting with hidden information and strict economy
- High Society
- Raccoon Tycoon
- Raids
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Hidden information / opponent visibility — Cards placed between players reveal or obscure values affecting decisions.
- Stash money and elimination twist — Unstashed funds influence endgame and elimination risk
- Stock market management — Buy/sell stocks to maximize value; stocks revealed to others in play.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is a jeweling game
- self-contained box so that you're not paying paying to win this style game
- these type of games aren't generally for me
- the rules are quite fiddly
- extremely simple rule set
- one of the best styles of games like this that I've seen
- instantly fell in love with it
References (from this video)
- easy to pick up and play
- clear flavor of commodity speculation
- interactive market manipulation with social payoff
- plays a bit lightly for some heavy euros
- donation mechanic may feel punitive to some players
- wealth building, market manipulation, philanthropy
- Stock market and charity-driven economy with commodity investments
- economic simulation with drafting and scoring variants
- High Society
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Drafting — Drafting cards from shared racks to influence market values.
- donation/tiebreak mechanism — At game end, the player with the least donation to charity is disqualified, creating a social pressure dynamic.
- Market manipulation — Players push stock prices up or down via card plays and neighbor interactions.
- Market Pricing/Manipulation — Players push stock prices up or down via card plays and neighbor interactions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this has been a real steady Eddie on my top 100 list for many many years now one of Kia's most iconic kind of bidding games
- I love the way that you can manipulate the market here as you and your neighboring opponents can draft cards from the same racks of cards in order to manipulate that stock price
- this game is so good and after playing so many games I think maybe this one got lost in the shuffle at the time but now I've given it the time of day it is just an excellent engine builder
- super fun dice rolling game as you're trying to roll a huge cluster of Dice and select one of those pit values
- one tile system ... really dynamic and interactively restrictive in a good way
- there are so many ways you can approach this game by spreading yourself thin and being good at everything or just being really good at one thing
- the nagging tension of these rats coming to plague you
- a wonderful evergreen for me
References (from this video)
- minimalistic packaging
- clear stock market concept
- housekeeping and information asymmetry can be tricky
- buy low, sell high with commodity cards
- economic stock market simulation
- minimalistic, economic strategy
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- stock market simulation — players influence market through cards and decisions
- two-city visibility — cards offer partial visibility to adjacent players; you can't see both racks
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I think this game is really cool
- this is a very simple kind of family weight puzzly game
- it's a very fantastic game
- the rules are absolutely horrendous
- I really love this game and I've played it a few times now and I think the balance is fine
- Luke from the Broken Meeple thinks this game is really imbalanced
- the row system where the positioning of your characters is important
- one of the best two-player games I've played in some time