Factory 42

About this board game

Factory 42 is a 2–5 player Euro-style board game with an approximately 120-minute playing time, set among Marxistic dwarves in a steampunk industrial world. Players take the roles of factory Overseers, balancing personal ambition with the needs of wider Dwarven society.

At the heart of the game is a combination of worker placement and a cube tower that creates an unpredictable resource-management puzzle. The Bureaucracy Tower may deliver resources to the common pool, withhold them in red tape, or release them later when they are least expected.

Every workweek brings tactical decisions and shifting opportunities. Players position workers to influence requisitions, loading, shipping, storage, research, trade, and manufacturing. The order of workers can determine how many resources become available, who loads which railcar, and where those carts are ultimately sent.

1. Receive government work orders and requisitioned resources.
2. Load resources onto railcars and send them to manufacturing docks.
3. Manage limited storage, trade commodities on the changing market, and generate steam from leftovers.
4. Use steam and resources to manufacture the items demanded by the government.

Negotiation and temporary alliances are central to Factory 42. A decision that helps your own plans may also benefit a rival, while shipping an unwanted cart can consume valuable storage space—or support a verbal agreement. Government orders encourage cooperation, since failing to complete them can bring sanctions to many or all players, but fulfilling them also offers individual rewards and progress toward victory.

Research can expand storage, improve material handling, and unlock Invention cards with special actions or abilities. With its blend of shared goals, sharp competition, economics, fantasy, industry, and satire, Factory 42 draws visual inspiration from 1920s Soviet propaganda, fantasy literature, and pre-WWI Prussian decor.