Engine Building

Engine Building Games:
• The Mechanism: Players buy assets early in the game that combine to trigger exponential, automated chain reactions later on.
• Gameplay: At the start of the game, a basic action gives you a tiny reward (e.g., “Gain 1 Coin”). As you buy cards or technologies, they chain together. By the late game, that same simple action triggers a massive domino effect: you gain a coin, which triggers a card that gives you a resource, which activates a building that gives you three victory points.
• Example Board Games: Wingspan, Terraforming Mars, Gizmos, Race for the Galaxy, It’s a Wonderful World