Arkwright: The Card Game

In the 18th century the Industrial Revolution starts. The first factories are founded by businessmen like Richard Arkwright, who runs the first factory for spinning wool with machines like the Spinning Jenny and the water frame.

In Arkwright: The Card Game, you run a business and will employ workers in your factories to produce and sell goods. The more workers that have a job, the more goods that can be sold — but be prepared for crises and competitors.

The game is played over three decades (1770/1780/1790) with four rounds per decade. On your turn, you play new cards to open factories and upgrade existing ones, select improvements, improve factory quality, build machines, and employ new workers. You can also pay money to improve your stock holdings, and take out loans if you require more money for production costs. After the card playing phase, you can improve abilities by marking improvements on your score sheet.

Now each factory for each type of good produces those goods. The market fluctuates with demand, so the demand may be lower than the value you produce, decreasing your profit. Workers in these factories must be paid, and machines operating in your play area need regular maintenance, so you can possibly lose money instead of turning a profit. Selling enough of one good improves your share holdings, and there are bonuses for having the highest appeal. Lastly, if you can’t sell in England, you can ship goods overseas or store them for future rounds.

After the final round of decade 1790, the game ends. Players then sell all storehouse goods, reduce the number of shares they hold by the number of loans, and reduce further based on their personal shipping track. Then each player multiplies the number of their shares by the value of those shares to determine score. The player with the highest score wins.