The higher the grade, the more the oil is worth but also the more pipe you’ll need. You’ll often have to decide between selling some low-grade oil to make improvements, or holding out a little longer and selling some high-grade oil for more money. Of course, everyone else is doing the same thing and if you wait too long, the thing you wanted to buy may no longer be there!

Pipe, also known as Pipe Mania, is a classic puzzle game where the objective is to connect pipes of different shapes and sizes to create a continuous flow of liquid or gas. The game presents players with a grid or a board, which is initially filled with various pipe segments in a disorganized manner. Read more .. The gameplay is quite deep. Every game the valuations (end game scoring) are different every game, meaning what works one game will not work so well the next. If you don’t aim to fulfil at least one of these, you could be in trouble come end game scoring. Pipeline is an incredibly confident debut game from designer Ryan Courtney. Taking on the role of private oil companies, players will attempt to buy and refine oil in the most efficient manner. This, of course, means buying crude oil cheap and refining it through a maze of your own pipelines.

In 1973, Armond Kirschbaum released Alaska Pipeline: The Energy Crisis game amid that year’s oil crisis. An oil embargo enacted by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) sparked severe gas shortages and price spikes across America. The game’s objective is to refute pipeline criticisms and circle a map of Alaska while using the least amount of gas ration coupons. The game was re-released in 1993 in the wake of the First Gulf War.

The most unavoidable Alaska board games are the many official Alaska Monopoly variants, including Monopoly: Alaska Edition, Monopoly: Alaska’s Iditarod, and Monopoly Junior: Trek Alaska. Other Alaska-themed board games have built upon the Monopoly design, including Alaska-Opoly, Fairbanks-Opoly, and the Game of Palmer Alaska. Several of the Monopoly-style Alaska games have been updated or reprinted. It’s wonderfully tactile and interactive throughout, with players constantly competing to sell and buy everything first. It’s also brilliant at all player counts (thanks to some simple tweaks to the markets) and doesn’t take too long to play once everyone is familiar with the mechanics. The pipeline building is its own kind of spatial puzzle, as you’ll likely start by focusing on a certain color of pipe but need to have options if the market for that type of oil becomes flooded. Not to mention, having the ability to upgrade different types of oil gives you a lot of flexibility in actions as you can buy and sell different types of oil at different markets. As with nearly every other aspect of life in Alaska, the discovery and exploitation of oil changed the nature of Alaska board games. In particular, the debate over the environmental impact of what would become the Trans Alaska Pipeline, which intensified in the early 1970s, influenced a new wave of Alaska-themed board games. Other gold rush board games released that year reflected that reality. For example, From Boston to Klondike, published by A. M. Robinson out of New Jersey, offered a longer view of the journey. As the title suggests, players roll dice to make incremental moves from Boston across the northern United States to Seattle, then turn north toward Alaska and the goldfields. From there, players jump up to Sitka, Juneau, Dyea and through the Chilkoot Pass into Canada.Tanks – These are used to store the oil you buy and refine. Each player has a player board on which to arrange their refinery and these can sometimes be worth money at the end of the game. Generally, Ludvig will follow all multiplayer rules. However, below are instances when he does not follow the typical multiplayer rules: You will need more than strong economic skills – carefully crafting an interweaving network of pipelines just might ensure your victory! Solo Variant The Solo Automa, named Ludvig, will act as a 2nd player over the course of a game. Your goal is to beat Ludvig’s score at the end of the game.

Board games have been a part of Alaska culture for well over a century. These games have ranged from simple card games to complex simulacrums of reality. Some were designed by Alaskans. Many more were designed by residents of the smaller states and therefore more often describe Lower 48 perceptions of Alaska of what outsiders deemed important. Still, the history of Alaska-themed board games broadly reflects the history of Alaska itself, from Alaska Native interactions with whalers through the modern fish industry. Tanks - These are used to store the oil you buy and refine. Each player has a player board on which to arrange their refinery and these can sometimes be worth money at the end of the game. The game is blatantly pro-pipeline propaganda. Players are dealt cards from four suits: anti-pipeline “objections,” pro-pipeline “facts,” pro-oil trivia, and public impact cards. The game mechanics are a slightly more complicated version of hearts. A professor delivers the facts, but the objections feature a caricature of a nosy older woman, her tiny hat topped by a flower. On one of her cards, she holds a sign stating, “Objection for objection’s sake.” One of the pro-oil trivia cards declares, “the dinosaur died for nothing” if gas stations closed.

3 Reviews

Buy/sell at the oil markets—This makes up four of the available actions as there are three different refined markets and a crude oil market. Pipeline is an amazing experience, especially considering this was designer Ryan Courtney’s first game. Though it might seem dry and complicated at first glance, after a few turns even new players will understand what they should be doing and be grumbling about the fact that they don’t have enough time to do it all.