Mega Civilization

Mega Civilization came back to the table with seven players and the western map spread out in front of us. It is huge, noisy, and rather delightful because everyone must keep watching everyone else; there is no such thing as a quiet empire here.

The centre of this game was the trade draw. You take cards, pursue what you need, then enter the market wearing the smile of someone who may just have handed a neighbour a lovely calamity. Trade is not decoration: it decides who advances and who is left explaining why their civilisation has not discovered geometry yet.

This time Rome and Greece broke away early, and the gap kept widening rather than closing. We did not reach the end, because the winner increasingly looked likely to be decided by who took Piracy or Civil War first in the following rounds. For once, I avoided my usual hand full of spite and a four-of-a-kind of disaster; I drew almost exactly what I wanted, and Rome was nearing the nuclear age.

It was not a balanced finish, and it was not a finish at all, but the table was bubbling until the last minute. In Mega Civilization, when trade loves you and calamity is looking elsewhere, Rome can run much faster than your friends can learn geometry.