Go West!

About this board game

Go West! is a board game for 2–4 players, with play taking about 45 minutes, in which shrewd businessmen benefit from wagon trains moving westward across North America.

Set in the late 18th century, the game draws on the rapid growth of the emerging United States of America. Millions of poor immigrants arrive from Europe, swelling the cities of the East Coast and increasing interest in the vast lands beyond them.

Settlers travel in wagon trains, moving ever farther west across endless plains and huge mountain ranges. These regions are thinly populated by Native Americans and rich in game, farmland, and minerals, attracting people seeking new opportunities.

In Go West!, players take the role of businessmen who profit as these wagon trains pass through the continent. The journey unfolds across six huge vertical tracts of land:

• New England
• The East Coast
• The Great Plains
• The Midwest
• The West
• California

Each region represents another stage in the westward movement, from the established eastern areas to the far edge of the continent. The settlers ultimately push onward to California and the Pacific coast, reflecting the historic expansion that shaped the young nation.

With its focus on wagon trains, migration, and the changing American landscape, Go West! presents a compact 45-minute game about the opportunities created by westward movement.