51st State

About this board game

51st State is a card game for 2–4 players with an approximately 90-minute play time, set in a ruined United States thirty years after the war began. With no government, army, or civilization remaining, new powers compete to establish a new order and create the 51st State.

Each player controls one of four powers: mutants, traders, New Yorkers, or Appalachians. Your goal is to build your own new country by bringing locations into play, hiring leaders, and sending people to work in buildings to gain resources and new skills.

The central feature of 51st State is the flexibility of its cards. Every location card offers three distinct possibilities, so each one can support a different approach to developing your State:

• Invade a location to gain many resources once.
• Sign a contract with a location to gain one resource every turn.
• Attach the location to your State to use its skill.

These choices make every card more than a simple addition to your play area. You must decide whether an immediate supply of resources, a continuing benefit, or a useful skill best supports your plans as your new country takes shape.

With four powers and three ways to use every card, 51st State focuses on meaningful decisions throughout the game. Build locations, develop your workforce, and shape a new State from the remains of a fallen nation.