Colony

About this board game

Colony is a resource-management and tableau-building board game for 1–4 players, with a play time of about 60 minutes. Released in 2016, it challenges players to develop a fledgling colony by constructing and upgrading buildings.

Its central innovation is the use of dice as resources. Each die side or number represents a different resource, creating a dynamic management puzzle that changes as the game progresses. Some resources are stable and can be stored between turns, while others must be used immediately.

Players add buildings to their tableau to grow their colony and pursue victory points. These buildings can provide new capabilities, including increased production, resource manipulation, and additional ways to gain points. Managing the dice effectively is essential as players decide how to use resources now and how to develop stronger options for later turns.

• Construct and upgrade buildings to expand your tableau.
• Use dice as changing, multi-purpose resources.
• Balance stable resources with those that must be spent right away.
• Gain new capabilities through production and resource manipulation.
• Work toward victory points by adding buildings to your colony.

Colony offers variety through its building cards. The game includes 28 different building card types, but only seven are used in each game, alongside the fixed buildings that appear every time. This changing selection gives each playthrough a different mix of available capabilities while keeping the core dice-resource challenge at the heart of the experience.

Whether carefully storing stable resources or making immediate use of dice that cannot wait, players continually adapt their plans. In Colony, the evolving resource system and building choices work together as you develop your tableau and strive to earn the most victory points.