What is an engine-building board game?

Introduction

Engine-building board games are board games that encourage players to build a thriving system over the course of the game to gain more actions, resources or points per round. Wyrmspan is a great example of this, with the system being displayed on the player mat, and leaving it up to players to decide which system they want to develop and therefore what rewards they gain.

Examples of engine-building board games

Our favourites? Wyrmpsan, Wingspan… we might as well put the span series here. What? They’re great games! Some of our other favourites include 7 Wonders, Power Grid and Dice Forge. We played Dice Forge pretty recently and it absolutely blew us away with its simplicity and strong engine-building mechanic.

There’s loads of other engine-building board games we’ve got our eyes on like Splendor, Terraforming Mars, Ark Nova, Century Spice Road and many more.

How long can a game take to play?

An engine-building board game could take anywhere from an hour to a day, depending on the level of complexity of the board game. Once you’re more familiar with the game however, it might still take you anywhere from 3-6 hours for the more difficult games.

Don’t let the time these games can take deter you, as they’re a lot of fun!

Why we love this mechanic

Both of us enjoy the dopamine rush we get from watching our well built system acquire actions, resources and points. There’s nothing quite like watching it all build up from next to nothing and come together as this massive system!

Wyrmspan is a great example of engine building board games, with the game itself giving you a hint on how to build up your dragon powered system by displaying it on the player mat. Using the dragon powered engine is really satisfying once you’ve managed to build up an entire row and gain the benefits from the cave system, as well as your dragons, as victory points start accumulating quicker than you’d expect!

Anjali particularly enjoys finding new ways of getting the system to work for her by balancing out the various actions, resources and points she can get every turn. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of time spent waiting for Anjali to attempt to find the most optimal solution.

Joshua usually looks for the path of least resistance in a game to build an engine the quickest and reap rewards as quickly as possible. This strategy has seen success depending on who we’re playing with and whether Joshua has luck in acquiring what he needs at the right time.

Who might enjoy engine-building games?

If you enjoy watching as a board game expands and lets you perform more actions than you previously could, you’re likely to love this genre. We highly recommend engine-building board games to players who enjoy complexity, challenge and competition.

What are some good engine-building board games to start with?

Wingspan

A good start for those new to slightly more complex board games and learning about engine-building in board games.

Playtime

A relatively quick game that often wraps up in 60-90 minutes.

Publisher Website

Stonemaier Games published Wingspan and the other span games like Wyrmspan and Finspan as well as other favourites of ours, like Tokaido.

Stonemaier Games also published Wyrmspan, another great engine-building board game in their repertoire, that we’ve reviewed. Go check it out!

Dice Forge

A good middle ground, as the core mechanic is simple enough to grasp quickly, but your path to victory is what increases the complexity. Highly enjoyable!

Playtime

A quick game can wrap up in 90-120 minutes once you know what you're doing. Great for evenings in!

Publisher Website

Libellud published Dice Forge and other titles we've played like Dixit and Mysterium.

Power Grid

For veterans who enjoy complex board games, power grid is sure to electrify!

Playtime

you can expect the average game to take 3 hours, and expect this time to stretch much further when you're starting. Recommended for the weekends.

Publisher Website

Rio Grande Games published Power Grid, and other games like Dominion, Race for the Galaxy, Concordia and more!