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Carnegie (Kickstarter – Deluxe Edition)
120m - 180m
1 - 4 Players
Ages 12+
Carnegie was inspired by the life of Andrew Carnegie who was born in Scotland in 1835. Andrew Carnegie and his parents emigrated to the United States in 1848. Although he started his career as a telegraphist, his role as one of the major players in the rise of the United States’ steel industry made him one of the richest men in the world and an icon of the American dream.
Andrew Carnegie was also a benefactor and philanthropist; upon his death in 1919, more than $350 million of his wealth was bequeathed to various foundations, with another $30 million going to various charities. His endowments created nearly 2,500 free public libraries that bear his name: the Carnegie Libraries.
During the game you will recruit and manage employees, expand your business, invest in real estate, produce and sell goods, and create transport chains across the United States; you may even work with important personalities of the era. Perhaps you will even become an illustrious benefactor who contributes to the greatness of his country through deeds and generosity!
The game takes place over 20 rounds; players will each have one turn per round. On each turn, the active player will choose one of four actions, which the other players may follow.
The goal of the game is to build the most prestigious company, as symbolized by victory points.
-description from publisher
| Ages | 12+ |
|---|---|
| Players | Solo, 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players |
| Play Time | 120m – 180m |
| Designer | Xavier Georges |
| Mechanics | Action Retrieval, Connections, End Game Bonuses, Follow, Income, Movement Points, Resource to Move, Solo / Solitaire Game, Square Grid, Tech Trees / Tech Tracks, Turn Order: Progressive, Worker Placement, Different Worker Types, Area Movement, Grid Movement, Variable Phase Order |
| Theme | Economic, Industry / Manufacturing |
| Publisher | Quined Games, sternenschimmermeer, Tesla Games |
aFamilyOfTrees
Played a 3 player game with the KS edition. When I first saw this game, I didn't think much of it. But as more critical praise was given to it, I figured I should give it a shot. It's also created by a very well respected designer whose games I quite enjoy. Thematically we are philanthropists styled after Andrew Carnegie, building up the civic and physical infrastructure of the US and using our capital to donate to charities. I love that as a theme, I think it is a great model for how philanthropists and the government should operate. Unfortunately, that theme only feels loosely draped over the mechanisms. The charities you donate to have zero thematic association with the mechanism of end game scoring goals and the infrastructure projects and workers you send out with them just feel like a way to get points and income. It just doesn't feel like, when I take these actions, that I'm actually doing the thing it's thematically tied to. This is my biggest criticism of the game. It is strategically and mechanically sound, but the thematic bond could have been much better, I feel. I think the action selection mechanism is novel, it keeps everyone engaged every turn. We've seen this kind of thing before though, but it's still good. At the start I didn't think I'd be using actions like HR or R&D all that much, but I was surprised how much the actions really flowed together. If you're playing well you kind of need to do each of the actions, no one is more valuable than the other. I really like that kind of synergy in a game. My only other criticism of the game is the process of picking departments. The game flows really well but that all comes grinding to a halt as soon as you do the Management action and people need to pick departments to build. There are 16 out there and we were having to pass the rules around to remind us of what they did, getting AP about picking the right one, etc. You also have to pick one at the very start of the game, which is excruciating if you're playing with people who've never played before! This really seems like a design flaw in my mind. I'm sure as you get better at the game and play with others who know the game, this is reduced, but it felt jarring to essentially stop the game for 5-10 mins while people pick departments. Overall I think Carnegie shows a lot of promise and I'd like to play it more. It could move up to an 8 with further plays.
b4b8
Interesting mechanic. Having workers up or down state seemed finicky. Almost required to try to get a full link of 5 to win which you can be blocked out of. Didn't seem like you needed as many building tiles on your tableau.
brewsaki
I enjoyed my first play of Carnegie. It's a real brain burner with a lot of planning involved. You never know exactly when a region will trigger an income, but you have a general idea based on the state of the action selection board. There are layers over layers of interconnected mechanisms, which leads to many paths to victory. You can focus on donations (end-game bonuses), linking cities together, doing a lot of research and development, or building multiple departments in your business. There is more player interaction in this game than some other euros in this style. You can compete on the board, on donations, and you can also select an action that will benefit you but not your opponent. And, of course, the game is absolutely gorgeous looking.