Board Games 101: What is an Engine Builder game?

Professor Ryan shows you how "engine builder" board games work with a simple demonstration, and recommends a few exemplars for new and experienced players alike.

View the full course syllabus here:

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Email Ryan: nightsaroundatable [at] gmail (dot) com

[humanramp]

I really agree with the final point of end the game while everyone is still having fun! That is critical and makes people want to play again.

[franciscocarranza]

Terraforming Mars does engine building to perfection. Very satisfying ramping up in later rounds and plenty of card synergies to choose from.

[NCTarheel]

Wingspan is a great engine builder. Didn’t think of century spice road or splendor or as one but it defiantly is. Great video.

[aduiel]

Thanks for this! I've heard the term slung around before; nice to have a better appreciation of what it's referring to.

[johnathanrhoades]

Gaia Project is my favorite "engine builder", though It is not a classic version of that mechanic. Race for the Galaxy, Everdell, and Terraforming Mars are three of my favorite more typicall engine builders.

[revimfadli]

I prefer it when you must sacrifice your engine in order to score points, like in Dominion and Imperial Settlers. That avoids the 'running your engine for too long' problem by giving players who enter the VP race a bit late, a glimmer of hope that their slightly more developed engines would outpace ones that go for VP too early

[Jeff_Pusch]

Gizmos killed Splendor for me. It's got some really satisfying combos.
And while a lot of folks will say Terraforming Mars as a great medium-weight engine-builder, I'm going to say that my favorite is Suburbia. And that's a little bit hilarious since the theme is blah and the original art is blah (the collectors edition is *chef's kiss*) and its basically "bookkeeping, the board game!" Still, I find Suburbia deeply satisfying and it's one that I'll always want to play.

[TabletopGamesBlog]

I think Scythe is the perfect example of a game that ends just as you're starting to have fun... and it does have engine building elements in it. Anyway, another great video, as always. Thank you. :)

[connectedbygames]

Great explanation! We love engine building games like splendor and gizmos! Understanding the base of this idea really helps us learn new games with this mechanic quickly!

[fizbany]

Food chain magnate is also arguably a good engine building game. Concordia has a bit of engine building component to the scoring system.

[timjones]

Great 101 videos, thanks for the explanation, new to board games and having a blast.

[Davidesonar]

Top 10 engine builders video. I need it!!

[AkmalGameAtion]

Res Arcana is my favourite engine builder. Easy and fast to play with only 8 cards in your deck. Along with your different mage abilities, magic items and places of power every game will never be the same!

[FakeDonut]

Does Imperial Settlers count as an Engine Builder? It amazes me how close this game got to the old The Settlers feeling, translated into a board game

[peiwang]

Great video! My wife and I play a lot of engine building - our favorites are dominion and century - never gets old

[joostborst]

Thank you. Now I understand what I don't like about Catan. The game ends before my engine is even finished while the other players all have fully functioning machines.

[jackdempsy]

But, does the jacket have elbow patches? That’s a surefire giveaway of professor status!

[mikemudrow]

Lions of Lydia, coming out later this year, looks to be another fun and approachable engine-building game. I'm really looking forward to it.

[BlueTorchWeddings]

I absolutely loved this video!!! Thank you so much . You are awesome

[dasneuge]

I would think steampunk punk rally is an engine builder game. You especially try to build to most efficient car to win a race.