competition, are faced with the dilemma of maximizing efficiency (and profits)
while trying to be more "environmentally friendly", thereby avoiding
stiff penalties. It is a challenge that will tax the ingenuity of each
player. INDUSTRIAL WASTE (Hans im Glück/Rio Grande Games; $29.95)
With today's concerns over the environment and recycling, pollution and waste, it is only natural that a game dealing with those issues should appear - and it has. As originally published in Europe by Hans im Glück and available now from Rio Grande Games (and there's no easy way to say this), Industrial Waste has hit the gaming tables.
In Industrial
Waste, players, as
owners/managers of various companies in
competition, are faced with the dilemma of maximizing efficiency (and profits)
while trying to be more "environmentally friendly", thereby avoiding
stiff penalties. It is a challenge that will tax the ingenuity of each
player.
Industrial Waste is a Jürgen Strohm design and comes boxed with a mounted game board, a deck of action cards, 16 cylinders and 4 factories, 4 thick "company mats", 50 raw materials, play money, loan markers and a Euro token (used to identify the player going first). Industrial Waste is a low complexity game for two to four players with a playing time of about an hour.
Everyone begins with $15 million, one company mat, 5 raw materials (kept on your company mat as your "reserve"), and a factory. The rest of the raw materials is placed together, off to the side, as a "common supply".
The company mat details the manpower (called "rationalization" in the game) and raw materials needed to fill an order as well as the waste generated when orders are filled. (Victory Point values, which come into play at game's end, are also listed for each of these categories. The more efficient you become, in needing fewer workers and raw materials and in generating less waste, the more VPs you will get.) There is also a track for charting the waste accumulation. This track is divided into three sections: green (safe), yellow and red. All players receive four cylinders (in their color) to use in tracking these values on the mat.
Each player's factory is placed in the upper left hand corner of the game board which is basically a grid. The vertical axis runs from 5 down to 1; the horizontal axis starts at 14 and ascends to 20. During the game, a player's factory will progress up and down the grid. The grid serves a dual purpose: 14-20 indicates the money earned for completing an order (and VPs at game's end); 5-1 represents the number of workers needed to complete an order (and money needed to pay basic costs).
The central game mechanism revolves around the action cards. Each round starts with action card combinations being made available. The 53 card action deck is shuffled and the dealer lays out one more card than there are players. (For example, if there are four players, five cards are dealt). Then a second card overlapping the first is dealt and finally, a third card overlapping the second, thereby creating three card combinations. Each card in a column combination must be different. Should a duplicate card be dealt, it is discarded and a new one turned over to replace it.
Now, beginning with the starting player, each player chooses one of the three card combinations. (There will always be one combination left over. That combination is simply discarded.) The cards chosen are the actions that the players will take this round, one card at a time. (Players do have the option of discarding a card OR turning it face down for play on a later round.)
Nine types of action cards populate the deck. "Raw Materials" allows the player to take raw materials from the common supply (the number based on his raw material value on his company mat) and auction them. This is a one bid auction with the active player getting the last bid. (This serves to raise money or get the raw materials you need to complete an order.) "Order" cards allow a player to fill an order. To accomplish this, you need to have enough workers (as evidenced by the position of the player's factory and your marker on your mat) and raw materials (determined by your company mat and the raw materials in your reserve). Orders are sold immediately and profit (as shown on the board grid) is generated right away. Also generated is waste and the waste accumulation is also noted immediately.
"Growth" cards allow a player to move his factory one space to the right (which can result in more money for completed orders and more VPs at game's end). "Innovation" allows a player to move ONE of his 3 markers on his company mat (rationalization, raw materials or waste reduction) one space to the right (adding to efficiency and potential VP totals). This move, however, costs $5 million. "Hiring/firing" moves a factory one space up or down (impacting on efficiency and VPs). "Waste disposal" shifts a player's marker three holes to the left towards the green "safe" area (very helpful in avoiding the penalties of an "accident"). "Waste removal" is similar. It allows a player to move his marker to the left but only one space instead of three - but forces all other players to move their markers one space to the right (and closer or into the danger zones)! There are also three "Specials": "Accident" which, when drawn during the laying out of cards, immediately stops play and compels players to check to see if their waste markers are in the green, yellow or red areas (where yellow costs you $5 million and red $10 million and, in each case, shifts your factory towards less profit and fewer VPs), "Bribery" (used to minimize the financial impact of an accident) and "Advisor" which, when played, allows a loan to repaid OR can double the power of a regular action card. ($10 million loans may be taken at any time but they can ONLY be repaid with the use of an Advisor card.)
Once all cards have been played (or discarded or saved), all players pay their basic operating costs (think of it as salary for their workers) as indicated by the position of their factory on the 5-1 axis. Then, the next round begins as the player the left of the starting player becomes the new starting player for the round.
The game ends when at least one of the factories reaches the far right column of the grid. That round is finished and then final scoring occurs.
Points are earned in several ways. First, the position of a player's factory on the game board translates into 14 to 20 Victory Points. Next, the "state of innovation" (the "improvements" made on each of a player's three mat tracks (rationalization, materials and waste reduction) are worth anywhere from 1 to 15 VPs each! Cash converts to Victory Points too - but at a 50% conversion rate rounded DOWN! On the negative side, unpaid loans are subtracted from a player's total at a cost of 10 VPs each. The player with the most VPs (most money is the tiebreaker) wins the game!
Industrial Waste is almost a solitaire exercise. You invest a maximum effort in playing against the game system with a minimum effect on the opposition. But the key word here is "almost". There is just enough player interaction through the auctioning of raw materials and the action cards that allow you to have subtle - and sometimes not so subtle - effects on your competition. Interestingly, the game seems to be immune to a "perfect" strategy. We've tried several different approaches - from carefully avoiding excessive waste buildup (to dodge severe financial and potential VP penalties) to filling orders like crazy and letting waste run wild to even building up the most money (despite a 2 to 1 return in VPs) - and have found no strategy sure - and no strategy hopeless - the mark of a good design! On the minus side though, although language neutral, the lack of a set of player aids to help in assimilating the action card symbols was a minor bump on the learning curve. The biggest gripe, however, is the name! Industrial Waste sounds like the winning entry in "The Worst Name for a Game" contest! This game deserves better than that!
We often hear a lot of noise about games with many of them unable to live up to the hype. With Industrial Waste, the opposite seems to be happening. This game is flying under the radar! Jürgen Strohm is not a big name in game design (at least, not yet) and his game hasn't received the "buzz" it should be getting. Let's try to correct that. Industrial Waste is a sleeper and a keeper, a clever and challenging game sure to get lots of play. We're looking forward to the next design from this new talent. - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- Herb Levy
