National Economy

About this board game

National Economy is a worker-placement game for 1–4 players that plays in about 45 minutes. Players develop their workforce, construct buildings, and compete to build the most valuable economy.

Each player begins with two workers. During a round, players place them one at a time on basic tiles, including the quarry, mining, construction, education, farming or gathering, and market spaces.

• Quarry: Gain a card and take the first-player position.
• Mining: Gain a card.
• Construction: Build a building.
• Education: Increase your number of workers.
• Farming or gathering: Produce enough food to feed your people.
• Market: Gain money, but only while cash remains in the pool.

At the end of every round, you must pay your workers’ salaries. If you cannot cover the cost, you sell private property to raise the money, and that property becomes public. Unlike food, cash is strictly limited: the money pool grows only when players sell property to cover their expenses.

Population is a central dilemma in National Economy. You can increase your workforce to unlock greater productivity, but workers do not automatically provide victory points. If they cannot produce enough value, their salaries can consume your profits and make further wealth accumulation impossible.

The game ends with each player totaling the selling prices of their assets as victory points. Buildings may also affect workers, while population itself generally does not score. You cannot reduce your workforce, so every new worker is a lasting commitment. Released in 2015, National Economy challenges players to balance development, cash flow, and the long-term cost of growth.