Economic Board Games?

[Dannyalcatraz]

@GreyLord

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the train games after being introduced to them. I eventually bought Iron Dragon.

 

[fnordland]

Acquire, from Boardgamegeek description

"In Acquire, each player strategically invests in businesses, trying to retain a majority of stock. As the businesses grow with tile placements, they also start merging, giving the majority stockholders of the acquired business sizable bonuses, which can then be used to reinvest into other chains."

QE, BGG description

"In Q.E., a term that stands for "quantitative easing", you play the role of a central bank. You bid on different size companies to accumulate various levels of victory points. The amount you bid is unlimited since you are the central bank and you own the printing press! After the initial "open" bid by the lead player, the other players bid in secret. After the sixteen companies have been "bailed out", bonus victory points are awarded for company sets of nationalization, monopolization, and diversification."

 

[Milieu]

EN World never fails! Thanks all, a lot to sort through.

It is probably a long-shot, but do any of them take a more Marxist bent?

The only explicitly Marxist game I know of is Avalon Hill's Class Struggle, which is not very good, but: Hegemony, already mentioned by a few people in the thread, has the players each controlling a different economic class in the class struggle, so is at least in the neighborhood. Imperial is about playing an international investor who manipulates the countries of Europe for profit, which broadly lines up with Marxist theories of the 19th century great power conflicts. Both are on the heavy side though. (I'll also mention, in case you're not aware, that the original version of Monopoly, The Landlord's Game, was intended to advocate for the economic system of Georgism. Although some people describe it as "socialist", Marx was not a fan. He wrote that Georgism was "an attempt...to save capitalist domination and indeed to establish it afresh on an even wider basis than its present one.")

Not Marxist, but since most of the games in this thread are heavier ones, if you're looking for something lighter and more approachable, maybe Suburbia? It's not terribly realistic in terms of real-world economics or suburban planning, but there is an aspect of building up an economic engine and a Dutch Auction, and it's quite a good game. (Castles of Mad King Ludwig, a similar game by the same designer, is, I think, slightly better, though with a less relatable theme.)

 

[Jeiggo_88]

Acquire, from Boardgamegeek description

"In Acquire, each player strategically invests in businesses, trying to retain a majority of stock. As the businesses grow with tile placements, they also start merging, giving the majority stockholders of the acquired business sizable bonuses, which can then be used to reinvest into other chains."

QE, BGG description

"In Q.E., a term that stands for "quantitative easing", you play the role of a central bank. You bid on different size companies to accumulate various levels of victory points. The amount you bid is unlimited since you are the central bank and you own the printing press! After the initial "open" bid by the lead player, the other players bid in secret. This can be quite interesting for those who perform economics assignments and are still learning. Even if earlier only https://essays.edubirdie.com/economics-assignments or similar services could help a student cope. Over time, they begin to understand how it works. After the sixteen companies have been "bailed out", bonus victory points are awarded for company sets of nationalization, monopolization, and diversification."

I just tried this for the first time last week, and I really liked it. Got it as a gift. Right now, it feels like my brain's working overtime trying to remember other people’s moves. But, it's kinda hard to get folks to start playing since it’s a bit dry

 

[GMMichael]

As always, a four-letter word gets the point across:

Risk.

Let the students trade the bonus cards and/or units for agreements/treaties, and you'll have a nice microcosm going there.