Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Colonialism is a game of 19th Century imperialistic struggle. In this game, each player assumes the role of a nondescript colonial power.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Action Points
Spend a limited allowance of points across several possible actions each turn.
Area Majority
Compete to have the strongest presence in areas that award control or points.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Campaign Card Play
Play cards to command conflicts and carry consequences through a campaign.
Read the full game description
Colonialism is a game of 19th Century imperialistic struggle. In this game, each player assumes the role of a nondescript colonial power. Players proceed to struggle for influence in the unindustrialized regions of the world, and the subsequent resources such influence entails. Each turn is divided into action phases and colonization phases. During action phases, players use cards to secretly bid influence in the six regions of the game board. During colonization phases, all cards in play are revealed, the placement of influence is resolved, and conflict occurs. Whenever all native influence is eliminated from a region, that region's resources are collected. The amount of resources collected by each player depends on each players' influence in the region. At the end of the game, the player who collects the most resources wins. The main items in this new edition are the 6 new cards, five of them being Upgrade cards. This edition therefore adds a new action to the game: Purchase an Upgrade card.