Tag: Manufacturing

Player: 1 – 4

Time: 60 – 135 Minutes

Age: 14 Years

Vinhos (the Portuguese word for “wines”) is a trading and economic game about the business of wine making. Despite its small size, Portugal is one of the world’s leading wine producers. Over six years of harvests, cultivate your vines, choose the best varieties, hire the best oenologists, take part in trade fairs, and show your opponents you are the best winemaker in the game.

As winemakers in Portugal, the players develop their vineyards and produce wine to achieve maximum profit. The object of the game is to produce quality wines that can be exchanged for money or victory points.

The Vinhos Deluxe Edition features new art from Ian O’Toole, all components and improved rules of the original game of Vinhos, and a new simplified version of the game. The board is double-sided and features both versions of the game. Here are the main differences from the first edition of Vinhos:

• Double-sided player boards can be used in both game versions
• A ninth region has been added
• A new estate has been added
• The Farmer (a new character) has been added
• The Fair has been streamlined with new mechanisms
• 18 actions tiles to replace the manager’s actions
• 22 multiplier tiles to final scoring
• The bank action has been removed
• The zero initial Vintage tile has been removed
• The exportation action has been optimized for 2 players
• A few small rules like the limit on experts was removed and the action replaced for another vineyards action
• No exceptions on a number of things you can do in your turn, now you can buy, hire, sell, export 1 or 2 things in every action
• Explanation of gameplay was reduced a lot
• New solo rules designed for the new game version

Player: 1 – 5

Time: 60 – 90 Minutes

Age: 12 Years

In Smartphone Inc., you become a CEO of one of the largest smartphone-producing companies in the time when smartphones were only beginning to conquer the world. Research technologies, develop your factory, build your worldwide office network, and outprice your competitors to become the most profitable and successful smartphone company in the world.

Smartphone Inc. is an economic simulation Eurogame. Over five rounds, players program their decisions about price, production, research, and expansion. The game features a unique mechanism of planning, which combines patching mechanisms with bidding and action selection. Each of the rounds consists of eight simple phases: planning, pricing, production, development, research, expansion, selling, and profits.

In the planning phase, all players simultaneously make decisions for the next year by overlaying (“patching”) their two plan cards and all of their development tiles. The actions they plan on their cards and tiles in this phase will determine what actions they can perform during all of the later phases.

In the pricing phase, players change the price they charge for their smartphones based on their plan. A lower price helps to go earlier and sell more smartphones on the market, but a higher price, while risky, helps players to earn more money.

In production, all players produce smartphones.

In development, players take development tiles, which expand their planning possibilities in future rounds.

In research, players discover new technologies. Each technology not only expands players’ ability to sell smartphones to customers, but also gives them special powers they can use during the game.

In the expansion phase, players open offices in neighbor regions, which allow them to sell in that region and develop their network of offices to more regions in further turns.

In the sale phase, players sell the phones they produced in regions where they have offices. But there is limited space in each region – and if your price is too high, cheaper rivals can block you from selling.

In the profit phase, players get income for their sales. Players gain the sale prices for all of their sold smartphones, and the player who sold the most phones in each region gains a bonus for controlling the accessory market. At the end of this phase all sold smartphones are discarded from the map – and a new round begins.

After five rounds, the richest player wins.

Player: 2 – 4

Time: 90 Minutes

Age: 10 Years

Prêt-à-Porter is an economic strategy game set in a world of fashion. Players run clothes companies and fight for dominance during fashion shows. It is – perhaps – one of the most cruel and ruthless of all our games. Money can be a dangerous weapon.

During the game players open new branches and outlets, hire new workers and try to gain new capabilities. New Design Agencies, Brand stores or Preparation rooms are opened, Accountants, Models and Designers are hired, lucrative contracts are signed to allow for short-term profits and expand company’s competencies.

Every single month player’s company gains new capabilities.

Each quarter held fashion shows – each player has to prepare a collection of clothing and has to show it on the show. The public, media, experts estimate collections in four categories and award prizes and diplomas. The more awards (represented by ‘stars’ in the game) will be collected at the show, the more money the players earn for selling their collection!

Will you get award for best Trends? Will you manage to be best in Public Relations and get the Media award? Will you earn more ‘stars’ than your opponent?

If you win ‘stars’, your opponents don’t.
If you win ‘stars’, you earn more money. Your opponents don’t.
If you win ‘stars’, you earn money, you hire new stuff, you get better. Your opponents don’t.

That is why during show you will kill for every single ‘star’. Welcome to the hell…

Player: 2 – 5

Time: 60 Minutes

Age: 12 Years

Power Grid: Factory Manager is the new stand-alone game in the world of Power Grid. It was released at Spiel ’09 in Essen, Germany.

Each player owns a factory and tries to earn the most money during the game. To be successful, each player must use his workers to buy the best machines and robots at the market and to run the machines most effectively in his factory. Because of increasing energy prices, the players must be careful to check the energy consumption of their factories and to avoid using only energy-consuming machines. Otherwise, their profit will suddenly vanish, the worst fear of a good businessperson.

Power Grid: Factory Manager uses a clever market mechanism for choosing the supply of factory tiles in the market.

Player: 2 – 6

Time: 120 Minutes

Age: 12 Years

Power Grid is the updated release of the Friedemann Friese crayon game Funkenschlag. It removes the crayon aspect from network building in the original edition, while retaining the fluctuating commodities market like Crude: The Oil Game and an auction round intensity reminiscent of The Princes of Florence.

The objective of Power Grid is to supply the most cities with power when someone’s network gains a predetermined size. In this new edition, players mark pre-existing routes between cities for connection, and then bid against each other to purchase the power plants that they use to power their cities.

However, as plants are purchased, newer, more efficient plants become available, so by merely purchasing, you’re potentially allowing others access to superior equipment.

Additionally, players must acquire the raw materials (coal, oil, garbage, and uranium) needed to power said plants (except for the ‘renewable’ windfarm/ solar plants, which require no fuel), making it a constant struggle to upgrade your plants for maximum efficiency while still retaining enough wealth to quickly expand your network to get the cheapest routes.

Power Grid FAQ – Please read this before posting a rules question! Many questions are asked over and over in the forums… If you have a question about a specific expansion, please check the rules forum or FAQ for that particular expansion.

Player: 2 – 4

Time: 60 – 120 Minutes

Age: 12 Years

The refinement of oil has long been part of the government-controlled energy sector. Amassed with an incredibly complex and inefficient system of refineries, the government has felt the severe pressures of worldwide demand and the ever-increasing global standards for refinement. Unable to keep up with demand, the government has only one option: privatizing the oil industry.

This is where you come in. Seeking to capitalize on this new opportunity, in Pipeline you start a company in the oil business. You will focus on building a much more efficient pipeline network in your refinery, hiring experts that provide valuable benefits over your competitors, and managing the logistics of purchasing and selling your refined oil in the various markets. You will need more than strong economic skills – carefully crafting an interweaving network of pipelines just might ensure your victory!