Steam Works

Description

Inventors and tinkerers abound in the Victorian era, harnessing the power of clockwork, steam, and electricks to build machines capable of anything to give glory to Queen Victoria, whose airship presides over the board!

In the steampunk worker placement game Steam Works, you'll put your mechanics to work collecting components and power sources, then you'll literally build devices by assembling those sources and components. What's more, those devices in turn become action spaces for other players to use!

In the game, a central board provides some initial worker spaces, but the heart of the game is in assembling modular component tiles into a device for other players to use. Components are either "sources" or "sinks", providing or requiring one or more of the three power types: clockwork, steam, or Tesla-style electrickal power. The central board allows players to construct small devices with two components (a source and a sink), but devices with three, four or more components will become possible — as soon as the players assemble a device to let it be possible. Because of the modular mix-and-match nature of the components, the available action spaces vary widely from one game to the next, providing a large replayability. Each game players will create devices never seen before. Replayability and flavor are also enhanced by persona cards that give each player a unique set of starting components and a fun steampunk name and portrait.