Pyramid Review
History of the World Game
Published by Avalon Hill
Designed by Steve Kendall and Gary Dicken
Boxed set; $44.00
History of the World is Avalon Hill's latest deluxe remake of one of their older classics. Like their recent rereleases of Cosmic Encounter, Acquire, and Diplomacy, they've streamlined the rules and replaced the cardboard chits with high-quality plastic pieces.
History of the World is a cousin to world-conquest games like Risk. The object of the game is to have the most number of points at the end of the game. Points are earned by occupying and conquering territories, and building cities and monuments.
There are several unique features in History of the World that separate it from more traditional conquer-the-world boardgames. As its title implies, the game spans thousands of years. The entirety of the game lasts seven turns, each of which represents an "Epoch" of several hundred years. At the beginning of each Epoch, players draw cards indicating the empire they will play on their turn. So, at the beginning of the game, players compete with the Sumerians and Egyptians, progress to the Ming Dynasty, Greeks, and Romans in the mid-game, and finish with the United States and Britain colonizing the world. In an interesting twist, players in last place always get to draw Empire Cards first, giving them the opportunity to pass weaker empires (like the Aztecs, the Guptas, or the Netherlands) to the leaders.
There is no movement in the game. Once your empire is placed . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: August 24, 2001
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