Silicon Valley Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Silicon Valley, an economic board game published by Grail Games. In Silicon Valley, players are trying to run the most successful startup in the valley.

As a San Francisco Bay Area resident, I’m generally the first BGQ Staff member to jump on Silicon Valley-themed games. When a copy of this one came up, I waved my digital arms wildly for it. Tech culture may not be what it used to be these days with the continuing layoffs and economic uncertainty, but startups and their relationships with venture capitalists are still going strong.

Silicon Valley is a tile placement and economic game for 1-4 players that takes about an hour to play. The best experience is with 4 players for a more competitive and frantic atmosphere.

The game takes place over a series of rounds, and each game round has two phases: Companies take 3 actions and Companies operate.

The actions available to Companies are: Hire an employee, Poach an Employee, Expand HQ, Acquire VC Funding, Outsource, Launch a Product, Sunset a Product, and Perform Layoffs. When Companies operate, players collect ongoing benefits from all parts of their company, pay upkeep, and check valuation.

Silicon Valley’s main gameplay feature is collecting code polyomino blocks through their startup founders, employees, and outsourcing to qualify for product launches. Those first to launch a specific product are designated as Innovators, while the second player to match the Innovator’s block pattern becomes a 2nd Mover. Both come with various instant and ongoing benefits like money and/or valuation. You then populate the game board with new advanced products as the cycle of Innovators and 2nd Movers continues for each idea.

If one or more players have a company with a $1 Billion valuation or more, the game ends and the player with the highest valuation is the winner. Ties are broken by having the most money, then the most code, and finally ties that remain after this share the victory.

I tend to be critical of games that