The Great Hunger: Ireland's Tragedy in the 19th Century
BGG rank
BGG #21,870
BGG rating
6.6

The Great Hunger: Ireland's Tragedy in the 19th Century

2026

Rules assistance for The Great Hunger: Ireland's Tragedy in the 19th Century

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–5 players
  • 60–90 min
  • 14+
  • Complexity 1.7/5

Rules assistant for The Great Hunger: Ireland's Tragedy in the 19th Century

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

The Great Hunger: Ireland's Tragedy in the 19th Century is a board game released in 2026 for 2–5 players, 60–90 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Kevin McPartland and Jerry Shiles and its main mechanics are Area Movement, Area Majority / Influence, and Interrupts.

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About the game

The Great Hunger begins as a game that simulates good times in Ireland at the start of the 19th century, as the Irish population expanded - thanks to the potato. This new crop was a godsend, allowing people to raise enough food for a whole family on a small, rocky plot of land. They became dependent on the prolific tubers. But in 1845 the blight arrived, utterly destroying the potato harvest. Dependence on a single variety and growing on marginal land helped the blight; soon hunger and disease spread through the island. British economic policy discouraged assistance, fearing a collapse of farm prices and a population dependent on public welfare. But assistance did arrive, often from unexpected sources. Some people found work in new industries, or on the expanding English estates. Millions emigrated, booking passage on dangerous “coffin ships”, usually heading to America. The famine was a defining moment in the history of Ireland, as well as the USA and other countries. Today it is remembered by the Irish people as "an Gorta Mór" – The Great Hunger. Players represent families of tenant farmers and itinerant field hands. At first, your people will grow, using the events on the top half of your cards to help add more population cubes to the map. But then the blight arrives, and you use the events on the bottom half: finding aid or employment for your people, scrambling to the emigrant ship, or representing the spread of disease and English estates. The game ends when the "Blight Abates" card is drawn. The player with the most population wins. —description from the designer

Questions and answers

The Great Hunger: Ireland's Tragedy in the 19th Century supports 2–5 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.