The 13 Best Engine Building Board Games of All Time, Ranked

Engine building board games at their best can be immensely satisfying and incredibly variable, with tons of unexpected outcomes. When you sit down to play, you’ll of course start out with nothing. But as it turns out, with a pair of farmers, a pile of rocks, and a couple bars of metal, you too, can build an empire. In the list below we’ve assembled our picks for the best engine building board games of all time. Every single one of them is a game night staple that’s absolutely worth playing.

What is an Engine Building Board Game?

The hallmarks of this type of board game are simple. You usually begin with very little to work with, whether it’s coins or bushels of wheat or workers. You must then begin working toward victory by gathering resources. The more resources you have at your disposal, the more cards or tiles you can play. These cards and tiles will then either make it easier to gather more, or make everything you have in play more efficient. By the end of the game, you’ll have a well-oiled machine that lets you take incredibly powerful turns.

13. It’s a Wonderful World

The futuristic, dystopian card game It’s a Wonderful World is a modern classic of the engine-building genre. The game takes place over the course of four rounds and includes a drafting system that allows you to sabotage your opponent’s systems. Well-timed card placement and resource generation are the keys to a successful strategy. However, you’ll also need to think carefully about which cards you need to discard rather than build. It typically takes less than an hour to finish a game, and there’s a solo mode.

12. Gizmos

In Gizmos, each player works to design a machine that they hope will win them the top prize at the next Great Science Fair. When it’s your turn, you’ll have to file designs, build contraptions, or pick up resources from the game’s marble dispenser. With a good arrangement of cards in play, you can quickly pick up steam. It’s easy to learn and looks deceptively simple, but mastering the game will be challenging for most players. On some occasions, your starting hand can make it tricky to win, and for that reason, it’s just a bit further back on this list.

11. Fantastic Factories

Fantastic Factories is perfect for players looking for a new engine building board game that’s a bit less of a slow burn than the other entries on this list. The theme is straightforward and direct, and the card combos are satisfying and easy to trigger. It’s a bit friendlier than your average tabletop title since player interaction is limited, and this can be either a blessing or a curse depending on your preferences. It’s easy to learn and works great for players of all ages.

10. 7 Wonders

Develop an ancient civilization from the ground up in 7 Wonders, and then build a monument to your greatness to claim victory points. The game takes place over three phases. The first is all about mining, logging, and quarrying stone. In the next round, you and the players to your immediate left and right can use these resources to start assembling armies and attacking enemies. By the final round you might have made a few scientific innovations, or perhaps built a pantheon or palace that people in the future will consider a great wonder.

9. Splendor

If you’re looking for an easier to understand engine builder that’s accessible for all players, Splendor is a great pick. You’ll have a set of gems to work with in the first round, which you can use to pick up cards. These cards essentially function as more money for you to stack with your initial gems. The purchasing options are randomized, and most of the more expensive cards will give you victory points. The first player to 15 points takes the crown. Though it’s on the simpler side, there’s plenty of strategic gameplay.

8. Scythe

The first World War rages on into the 1920s in Scythe, an exceptional alternate history board game of mechs, worker movement, and production. Each turn you’ll need to think carefully about what you’re going to do both now and in the next several rounds. If you produce oil, you can upgrade the efficiency of your play mat. If you choose to make food instead, you can purchase bolsters that react to your opponents’ actions. With more workers and more resource generation comes increased power and popularity costs. You can also make metal or wood to build mechs and structures. Mastery of this board game takes time, and that’s because there’s so much more here than just engine building.

7. Dominion

The classic deck-building card game Dominion is all about adding fuel to your deck’s engine to ensure that you have efficient draw and coin generation. While it might seem tempting to only pick up victory points for the end of the game, these cards typically slow down your deck. Instead, you’ll need to build a setup with actions and treasures to ensure that you can do something meaningful every turn, whether it’s putting down a string of markets and villages or cursing your opponents. There’s also a ton of great Dominion expansions that utilize novel mechanics and give you more ways to win.

6. Underwater Cities

Underwater Cities is a building and development-themed board game in which each player aims to effectively transform the sea floor with new civilizations. Science and research are of course essential to success, though you’ll also need to think carefully about where you’re going to put your domes and tunnels. Color-matching card placement will help ensure you get the most out of every turn, but this is often difficult depending on what you have in your hand. Like all the best engine building board games, it’s both complex and satisfying.

5. Wingspan

The bird-themed board game Wingspan is a medium-weight engine and tableau builder that just about everyone will enjoy on game night. Each round, you can either play a bird to your mat, lay eggs, gather food, or draw. As you continue to put more cards down, these actions will become significantly more productive, and lead to some sizeable turns. There are ton of different effects to mix and match, because no two birds are alike. With the goal board and the variety of bonus cards available, no two games are quite the same either.

4. Race for the Galaxy

When you win a game of Race for the Galaxy, you’ll feel like you’ve conquered the entire universe. That’s because in each game you’re working to bend an immense network of planets and solar systems to your will with new technologies and social changes. There are seven different phases that can happen in a given round, but each player can only choose one of them. As a result, the possible actions you can take will remain relatively unpredictable. It’s a system that keeps things exciting right up to the very end.

3. Res Arcana

In Res Arcana, the engine you build will quite literally be magical. That’s of course because you and your fellow players are competing mages who have to manage a mix of essences to make artifacts and claim monuments. You’ll know everything about the items you have to work with up front at the start of the game, though the order in which you get to use these tools varies. The first player to ten points wins, and with the right engine, you might be able to pick up all these points in a single round.

2. Agricola

Agricola is the ultimate farming board game, and perfectly balances worker placement with engine development. Your farmstead has little to offer at the start of the game, but by adding rooms, working in the field, raising livestock, and having children, everything will begin to run more smoothly. You’ll have both occupation and minor improvement cards in your hand to aid you, but you can also choose to use the major improvements available on the table instead. The scoring system also gives you plenty of different routes to victory and rewards setups with more variance in production.

1. Terraforming Mars

When it comes to building up a resource generation and card effect engine, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as Terraforming Mars. Each player takes on the role of a corporation bent on turning the Red Planet into an industrious civilization that churns out a massive profit. You’ll start by increasing your production tracks with mines, microbes, and monetary investments. By the end you’ll be building space technology on Jupiter’s moons, constructing domed cities, and thawing enough water to create an ocean. When it comes to engine building board games, it’s our top pick.