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Among Nobles
- 3–5 players
- 90–120 min
- Complexity 2.8/5
- 2015
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- 7.0
Colonies
2012
Rules assistance for Colonies
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 3–5 players
- 150 min
- 14+
- Complexity 3.7/5
For 3 players
Rules assistant for Colonies
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Colonies is a board game released in 2012 for 3–5 players, 150 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Morten Andersen, Tina Christensen, Troels Vastrup, Lone Gram Larsen, Robert Bonde Jensen, and Claes William Hart Schütt and its main mechanics are Trading and Voting.
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About the game
The thriving colonies of Zel'var are the destination for many adventurous souls who choose to leave the solar system and good old planet Earth seeking a new life and good fortune – but not all find what they are looking for. Many become disillusioned, discontent even, and turn to pirating the prosperous trade routes between the five planets, much to the regret of the colonies' leaders, who have great need of the trade income in order to advance technologies and create jobs for the newly-arrived colonists. Colonies is a game of resource management in the far reaches of space in which the players compete to dominate in trade, politics and technological development. Each player controls the administration of a planet with access to a unique resource. In order to win you need to collect the most colonial credits by trading resources, upgrading your technologies, keeping your trade lanes free of pirates, and perhaps pushing the council's decisions in the right direction. At the begining of each turn, players receive an income of their own resource. The council meets each turn to vote on how to handle an occurring event. The outcome can reward those willing to put in an effort or punish those who are not. Players may do well to form alliances in order to sway the vote in a favourable direction. The resource income and the colonists that arrive each turn – sometimes in large numbers, sometimes in small – are used to make advances in five areas: Community, Military, Commerce, Influence and Industry. Following the council's vote, players take turns to either upgrade these areas or activate one of them to grant asylum to pirates in exchange for resources or hunt them for bounty, sell resources for Credits, make trade agreements more beneficial, or produce additional resources. When everyone has had three such actions, the players receive and pay resources according to the trade agreements, and any colonists that players have failed to employ turn to piracy, preventing players from getting income from their trade agreements next turn unless preemptive action is taken. Colonies lasts ten turns, with players earning victory points (VPs) from colonial Credits and technology advances. In the end, the player with the most VPs wins.
Designers
Publishers
- Among Meeples
Questions and answers
Colonies supports 3–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Colonies is 150 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Colonies for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Colonies has a complexity rating of 3.7 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Colonies belongs to these categories: Economic, Political, and Science Fiction. Its main mechanics are Trading and Voting. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Colonies are: Morten Andersen, Tina Christensen, Troels Vastrup, Lone Gram Larsen, Robert Bonde Jensen, and Claes William Hart Schütt. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Colonies as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.