Industrial Waste
Some themes sound like a lot of fun, like warring sheep (War & Sheep) or slaying cave trolls (Cave Troll). Other themes, like planting beans (Bohnanza), don’t thrill my soul when I first hear about them. But the game itself may be able to overcome that theme, and make me enjoy it (like Bohnanza). Industrial Waste is one such game. I wasn’t sure that I was going to be thrilled with. The idea of controlling a company’s waste and pollution didn’t sound like bucket-loads of fun. But still, the game got fairly good reviews, so I decided to purchase it and try it out.
So is Industrial Waste a fun, good game? The short answer is that yes, it’s an excellent game, but that the theme just seems to drag down the fun factor of it.
Now for my explanatory longer answer –
First, a short description (leaving out some minor rules) of game play:
The main board is set up in the middle of the table. It is a grid of 35 spaces, with the number of workers in your factory on one side (1-5) and the value of your goods at the top (14-20). Each player places a wooden factory piece in the the 5/14 space, in the top left hand corner. This shows that their goods are worth 14 million Euros, and that they currently employ 500 workers. Each player is then given a player board for their color. Players place small round wooden pegs in their color in 4 different tracks on their scoreboard. These tracks (a series of holes punched in the scoreboard) measure four things: Rationalization (amount of workers needed to produce goods), raw materials (amount of materials needed to produce goods), waste reduction (amount of waste produced when goods are made) and waste disposal (how much waste production occurs). Each player also starts with 15 million euros, as well as five raw materials (black hexagonal cylinders) which they place in the tower picture on their score mat.
The game takes place through several rounds. Each round has five phases.
1). Lay out card combinations. One player deals out from a deck of fifty-three action cards a row of cards – one more than the amount of players. Then he lays a second and third row on top of each card – making a series of 3-card columns. If he draws the “accident” card, all players must immediately check their waste disposal markers. If the marker is in the green area of the track, nothing happens. If it’s in the yellow or red area, they must pay a fine, and move their factory spaces to the left (this is bad!) on the main board.
2). Choose card combinations: The starting player (who has a silver wooden Euro symbol piece to show he is first) chooses one of the columns of cards. Each other player follows in clockwise order.
3). Play the cards: The starting player plays one of his cards (unless he only has one card left, in which case he can pass and save the card for the next turn). Each card does different things.
- Raw material card – the player takes a certain amount of raw materials from a central stash (amount indicated on his scoreboard) and auctions them off, going clockwise once around the table. If another player buys them, the player makes money. If the player himself decides to bid highest, he pays the money to the bank. Whoever buys the goods places them in their tower.
- Order card – the player produces and sells goods. To do so, he must have the amount of workers in his factory and enough goods in his tower to do so. If he does, he removes the number of goods, putting them back in a central stash, and takes the amount of money that his factory is currently on the main board. (i.e. if the factory is on the “16” space, the player makes sixteen million.) The player must also move his waste disposal marker according to the number on his waste reduction track.
- Growth card – the player moves his factory to the right one space on the main board.
- Innovation – the player moves one of his markers in one of the three innovation tracks. If he moves the waste reduction marker, he produces less waste when he produces goods. If he moves the raw material marker, he needs fewer raw materials to produce goods. If he moves the rationalization marker, he needs fewer employees to produce goods. Each movement costs five million euros.
- Hiring/firing – the player can move his factory marker up or down on the main board.
- Waste disposal – the player can move his waste marker 3 spaces down.
- Waster removal – the player can move his waste marker 1 space down, but move everyone else’s marker 1 space up.
- Bribery – this card is saved and can help a player out when an accident occurs.
- Advisor – This card can double most of the other cards or be used to pay back a loan.
4). Pay basic costs. Each player must pay for their workers. (1 million for each hundred workers).
5). Change starting player: Player passes the silver piece to the player on their left.
At any time in the game, a player may take a loan out of the bank for as much as they need. However, they get a –10 point card for every 10 million they borrow.
Whenever one or more player’s factories reaches the far right side of the main board (column 20), the game ends with an accident! After the accident, points are totaled up. Players get the points for the column their factory is in (column 20 = 20 points), half of their money (23 million euros = 11 points), points for where their markers are on the innovation tracks (ranging from 1 to 15 points), and subtracting points for any loan cards held. Whoever has the most points is the winner!
Some comments on the game:
1). Components: Great components in this game! The money is very easily told apart by different denominations and is printed on good quality, laminated paper. My only gripe about the money is that there isn’t really enough of it. The banker constantly has to make change so that there are enough bills to go around. The little cards are of incredibly good quality. They are printed on nice laminated cardstock, and can take a good bit of wear. They are easy to tell apart. Unfortunately, to keep the game language-free, there are no words written on the cards. So, when first playing the game, you might have to constantly refer to the rulebook to find out what each card is and does. Of course, I love little wooden pieces, and the colored cylinders, and the little black good bits are of excellent quality. The box comes with a plastic inside that holds all the bits quite well – it’s really great. I still put all the little pieces in plastic bags, but it’s only necessary when moving the box around – unless you tip it over, everything will stay in place.
2). Rules: Here is where Industrial Waste stands head and shoulders above other games. The rulebook has eight pages, and is absolutely beautiful and well written. One page has a list of the contents, which is essential for any game – but goes even farther and shows a picture of everything! Another page shows a complete layout in full color – very useful for the first time playing. The rules are well written, with color illustrations for almost every point, and written examples for scoring and playing cards. Industrial Waste has probably the best rulebook I’ve ever come across in a game.
3). Strategy: The game has an immense amount of decisions to make. Should you fire more workers to save costs? Or should you try to produce as many good as possible, trying to rake in the money? Should you cut waste to avoid accidents, or just let the company produce piles of waste, hoping that you don’t get hurt. Should you be aggressive, and pick cards you know your opponent wants, or pick the ones that best help you?
4). Picking cards: This is one of the most interesting parts of the game. It’s always fun to go first and pick amongst the sets of three cards – and its horrible to go last, seeing every set you want picked by someone else. Some cards are wanted by everyone – like the advisor (everyone always wants to double their other cards) or growth. Other cards aren’t as hotly contested – like the bribery card or hiring/firing card.
5). Rich getting richer: This isn’t a big deal in this game, but once you get better in innovations, you can really stomp all over your opponents. At the same time, if you go into debt early, it can really hurt you and it’s hard to recover.
6). Time: The game is short, and only takes about an hour. If one player wants to finish the game quickly, they can continually take growth cards until there factory is in the 20 column and the game is over. Of course, by doing that, they probably won’t win, but it’s still an option.
7). Accidents: For me, one of the most fun parts of the game is when the cards are dealt. Everyone (especially those whose companies are in the red waste zone) waits with bated breath hoping that the card is pulled or praying that it’s not. When it does come up, yells and howls usually fill the air. It’s fairly funny (unless you’re the one who gets slammed.)
8). Fun Factor: However, accidents are the most fun thing in the game. I can’t put my finger on it, but even though the game play is innovative and excellent, the theme doesn’t really grab me or my group. No one said that they disliked the game, in fact everyone enjoyed it, but no one loved the game or really ever asks to play it. I can’t argue that the theme doesn’t fit the game – it really does feel like you are handling waste from large company – I’m just not sure that that’s the feeling people want to have.
I’ll bring the game out occasionally, because the game play is fun and enjoyable. However, I don’t think I’ll be asked very often. This may change as time goes by, but people would rather play a game with a more fun theme (even if that theme is settling Catan). If you are looking for a game with little luck and a good bit of strategy, I highly recommend this game. If handling waste accidents doesn’t sound like much fun to you, then I recommend you go the other way.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
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