Wongamania: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Push Your Luck, Stock Manipulation, Economic
Player Age: 10+Player Count: 2 - 5 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 60 Minutes
Game Designer: Xeo Lye
Player Age: 10+
Game Designer: Xeo Lye
Introduction:
Wongamania has you exploring the cutthroat world of asset manipulation to accumulate enough wealth to store it away in trust funds and happily retire. However, the other players will manipulate governments, assets and each other to make sure they are the first out of this rat race.
Game Anatomy:
Market Cards:
The game is largely comprised of these market cards. There are two main types of cards; Action cards and Assets. The bulk of the card are the actions cards that come with special abilities at the bottom of the card and a small cost on the left-hand side to activate them.
Any cards with a banana symbol on the right-hand side can be played at any time.
The assets come in bonds, properties and stocks. They will remain in front of the player after they are played and gain a positive/negative income every round. These cards have a buy, sell and earn (income gained every round), if these values aren't listed on the card then they are instead gained from the economic cycle board.
Bank Card:
The bank card is where all the player's stored wonga will be located under throughout the game. It also holds all the key actions players can choose during their turn.
Trust Fund:
Trust Funds are the objective of the game. Once a player has bought three the game will end (once the round is complete) and scoring will commence. The Trust funds are worth a large sum of 10 points at the end of the game.
Insurance:
This game has market cards that will steal from other players and generally hinder their plans. This insurance card will prevent anyone from being able to target you for two rounds.
Economic Cycle Board and Economic Token:
The economic cycle board has four segments representing the economic cycle. Along the outer edge of the board, it will show how much income the assets (based on the economic cycle) will earn for players. The inside value of each segment will dictate the buy/sell price of these same assets. The economic token will move throughout the cycles as the productivity dice resolve at the start of every round. Some market cards will manipulate this token around the board. There is also an advanced side of the board with unique values for the assets compared to the properties.
Setup:
- Shuffle the market cards and reveal four face-up to create the breaking news.
- Create an insurance and trust fund stack.
- Gain a bank card and place 3 cards underneath (wonga).
- Draw four cards into your hand to build your opportunity.
- Place the economic cycle board on the preferred side.
- The player who most recently ate a banana will be the chairperson (first player).
- The last player places the economic token on the cycle board at the starting place of their choice.
How to Play:
The round will begin with a payday, then every player will take their turn until the game concludes with one player gaining three trust funds. Whoever has the most points at that stage will be the winner. 10 points per trust fund, all assets will gain points equal to their sell value and each wonga will be worth one point.
Payday:
The chairperson will roll the productivity dice first, moving the economic token around the board and changing the payout scenario. Then each player will simultaneously gain salary from the previous round. This salary will include a standard two wonga, followed by the income value on their assets. The assets will either have their value represented on the card or will instead be represented on the economic cycle board.
Take Action:
On a player's turn they will perform any combination of three actions (the same action can be used multiple times). The six available options are:
- Draw a card from the bank, removing the opportunity of one wonga.
- Play an opportunity card from your hand by paying its cost.
- Discard an opportunity card to draw from the breaking news or the top of the deck.
- Sell an asset in front of you and gain the sell value denoted on the card or the economic cycle.
- Buy a trust fund, spending eight wonga.
- Buy an insurance card to protect you for two rounds.
Final Thoughts:
- Easy to play stock manipulation game.
- Includes economic lessons, explaining the core concepts of the game.
- Two economic cycle boards one for family and one for advanced players.
- The take that can easily be mitigated by buying insurance.
- The amount of cards is particularly strict.
Capital Gains games tend to have great games centered around the economy. Wongamania is no exception it is a fast-playing take-that economic game. The two elements that make the decisions interesting are the cycle board that constantly keeps the returns and cost of the assets manipulated, and the card restriction as you can either draw cards or keep them as wonga to spend.
There are many ways to manipulate the cycle board using government cards and also using assets that don't rely on this constant flux of the economy. The card restriction is intriguing since whenever you want more cards you are using up an action and a wonga. Players have to constantly decide on the right time to stock up their hands, possibly during a recession for example. If your friends or family is intrigued by the economy or you want to bring that learning experience to the table this is a great, fun way to explore the economy's ups and downs as you push your way to a successful retirement.
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