Obsession

About this board game

Obsession is a Victorian country-estate strategy game for 1–4 players, with sessions lasting about 90 minutes. Set in mid-19th-century England, it challenges you to restore a troubled family fortune and rise in standing among Derbyshire’s influential families.

Over 16 to 20 turns, you will build a deck of Victorian gentry, renovate your estate with building tiles, and manage an extensive service staff. Each tile represents a room or outdoor space and determines which social activity can be hosted and which guests may be invited.

Careful planning is essential. Before hosting an event, you must have the appropriate staff available to service it and support the guests. Successful activities can increase your wealth, reputation, and connections, while also opening new investment opportunities and enabling you to acquire more valuable and powerful building tiles.

• Acquire building tiles from a centralized builders’ market.
• Host activities including Fox Hunts, Music Recitals, Billiards, Political Debates, and Grand Balls.
• Develop and train a domestic staff of butlers, housekeepers, underbutlers, maids, valets, and footmen.
• Expand your circle of influential acquaintances and improve your county reputation.

Alongside estate development, a competitive courtship unfolds for the hand of the county’s most eligible young gentleman and lady. Each love interest presents specific renovation and reputation objectives, adding a focused challenge to your wider plans.

In Obsession, the player who best meets these objectives while accumulating victory points wins the hand of the wealthy love interest—and the game.