Plutocracy Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Plutocracy, a scifi pick up and deliver board game published by Doppeldenkspiele. In Plutocracy, players are trying to earn the most money by delivering goods around the solar system.

Euro games stand out from more pedestrian board games because Euros tend to have a lot less luck involved, and even when Euros do feature luck, they usually offer some way to hedge against a bad outcome. When I reviewed Khora, I lauded how nicely that game provided you with a way to buy your way out of bad dice luck. Plutocracy takes things one step further, eliminating all luck. The game features no chance whatsoever—no dice, no cards, etc…—the closest you can get to the luck of the draw is if you choose the optional starting conditions that randomize prices and players’ starting planets.

Games with zero luck in them tend to be dry and themeless—think Chess as the Urspiel here—but from the moment you open the box, Plutocracy’s board (a colorful solar system on the black background of deep space) makes the game pop with intrigue: ooh, what is this game?

The Tagline for the game is “Space is Time is Money is Power” and that does a pretty good job of summarizing what Plutocracy turns out to be: a fancy Pick-up-and-Deliver game with some interesting wrinkles.

Each player represents an interplanetary corporation headquartered on the planets beyond Earth’s orbit, each vying to control the Plutocratic Council (“The PC”) on Pluto. You get control by old-fashioned bribery (along with a bonus based on what you have in your inventory if you pay timely visits to Mother Earth) and you get money from carefully planning space flights to maximize commercial opportunities across the five productive outer planets (Mars through Neptune). Get the