Workshop of the World

About this board game

Workshop of the World is a 3–5 player strategy game with a 90-minute play time, set during Britain’s Industrial Revolution.

Across two eras, players establish an industrial position by investing in ports, heavy industries, textiles, light industries, and crafts. They then build links between thriving towns, seeking to connect their Industries into valuable networks.

• Canal Era: develop industries and construct canal links.
• Railroad Era: strengthen existing holdings while building the next stage of the network.
• Demand tokens: give selected towns special value in each era.

Before an era begins, each player reveals one of two demand tokens, identifying towns with special value. Each round, town cards equal to the number of players are revealed, followed by an auction for turn order. Players choose towns in that order, place an Industry marker, and may build links from the chosen town.

When the town cards run out, the era ends. Players may reveal their second demand token, then collect money from their revenue, the demand value of their Industries, and the value of their largest link network. Any remaining links receive token payment.

Between the Canal Era and Railroad Era, revenues are reset and all links are cleared from the board, while Industries remain in place. This lets players build on their earlier investments as the second era repeats the central pattern of auctions, industrial development, and network construction.

With its 2010 release, Workshop of the World recreates a brief period when Britain was known as the “Workshop of the World,” with wealth deciding the winner.