1-4

14+

60-150min

Simone Luciani, Dávid Turczi

Andreas Resch, Piotr Sokołowski, Zbigniew Umgelter

Story

When Elsa von Frühlingfeld presented her invention to King Frederik Augustus II of Saxony, people thought it was trickery. She used the recently isolated element Uranium to heat up a jar of water and used the resulting steam to power an engine that kept the Uranium active via a process she called “atomization.” Her device, the Nucleum, ushered in a new era of energy and prosperity over the next decades. Saxony went from a minor regional power to the hub of European science and engineering. Now, a generation later, factories are still hungry for more power, demanding bigger and more Nucleums to be built, more Uranium imported from the nearby country of Bohemia, and railways and power lines built across the country to carry the tamed power of the atoms to Saxony’s great cities. Inventors, engineers, and industrialists flock to the Saxon court, vying to be the leader in this new industrial revolution.

About the game

Nucleum is a heavy euro board game in which players take role of industrialists trying to succeed during the economic and technological boom of 19th-century Saxony, fueled by the invention and spread of the Nucleum (a nuclear reactor). Players earn victory points by developing their networks, building and powering urban buildings, securing contracts, and meeting milestones (randomized endgame goals). Each player also gets unique asymmetric technologies, giving them special powers when unlocked. Gameplay is continuous; players take turns one after another with no rounds or phases.​

 

How to play?

Gameplay is continuous; players take turns one after anotherwith no rounds or phases. On your turn, you must do one of the following:

  • Play an Action tile from your pool to the leftmost free slotat the top of your player board. Then, resolveone or both actions shown on the played tile.
  • Play an Action tile from your pool to an empty railway space on the main board —placing one of your available Workers on it — to become a Railway tile. Then, you and possibly other players may perform one or more actions,depending on the color matches made by your placement.
  • Perform a Recharge, allowing you to gain income andretrieve all Action tiles from the top of your player board

Category

  • Economic
  • Industry / Manufacturing
  • Science Fiction

Mechanisms

  • Action Retrieval Contracts
  • End Game Bonuses

  • Network and Route Building
  • Market
  • Income
  • Contracts
  • Action Retrieval