Along the lines of History of the World by The Avalon Hill Game Co, players cycle through a series of European civilizations as they attempt to score the most points using the civilization's special powers. The game is set in Europe. Each player is provided with a pool of wooden tokens to represent their civilizations. Each player selects a combination of civilization tiles, which give his civilization special abilities or characteristics. Players enlarge their empires through territorial expansion, often at the expense of other players. The key to the game lies in choosing when to allow your active civilization to go into decline in order to select a new one that will generate more points. Play continues with the cycling of civilizations until a certain score is reached, whereupon final rounds are played and a victor is determined.
Reimplemented by:
Small World (released in March 2009)
- Deep strategic space and a huge, active ecosystem
- Vibrant organized play and longstanding market presence
- Frequent set cadence can strain retailers and players alike
- High cost of entry and ongoing expansion costs
- Deep strategic complexity with evolving mechanics and formats
- A multiverse of fantasy realms engaged in magical combat
- Lore-rich, IP-driven with long-running history
- Flesh and Blood
- Loracana
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Commander format — Singleton, multiplayer format with a focus on social/political play
- deck-building — Players build 60-card decks from a large pool of cards
- Mana-based resource system — Mana produces resources to cast spells and deploy assets
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Riftbound does some things right from a retailer perspective; it has organized play and promos.
- The pandemic created a huge advertising impact on the TCG industry where Pokemon and collectibles boomed.
- Magic's organized play was gutted under Hasbro's direction, shifting focus to multiplayer casual formats.