Fertility

About this board game

Fertility is a resource management board game for 2–4 players, played in about 45 minutes. As a Nomarch in Ancient Egypt, you oversee a Metropolis and its region for the glory of the Pharaoh.

The flooding of the Nile is ending, and the Valley is ready to yield its riches. Collect resources, build districts containing lucrative shops, and supply those shops to earn Debens. The player who makes the best use of the Nile Valley’s resources wins.

Each turn, you place one of your Valley tiles on the central board to collect resources. You may then spend them to build a new District tile on your Metropolis board, opening new opportunities, before stocking your Shops with whatever remains.

• Alabaster
• Bovines
• Papyrus flowers
• Grapes
• Wheat

Fertility’s decisions are simple to understand but difficult to optimize. Resources already stocked in Shops cannot be moved or reused until the end of the game, while anything left unspent at the end of your turn is lost. Every choice is therefore irreversible: collect as much as possible, then find the best way to use it.

The game lasts nine turns. At the end, each completely supplied Shop is worth money for its owner, and the player with the highest total wins. Plan each placement, district, and supply decision carefully to turn the Valley’s harvest into the greatest fortune.