Union Stockyards

In Union Stockyards, I am a meat magnate with a family business to turn into a slaughterhouse empire. On first reading, its economic system can seem a little flat: another set of numbers asking for space in a brain that has already had a full Tuesday at work. At the table, though, it soon settles into its stride.

This is a luck-free economic game at heart. Your choices have to carry the business; there is no helpful draw waiting to rescue them. It is easy to enter, yet the system has pull because it asks you to build the operation with intent rather than merely nudge markers around for comfort.

Then come the building elements and the Tetris-like bonuses. Placement is not mere decoration: there is that pleasant little squeeze of wanting each piece at the right angle, with every bonus feeling properly earned. It gives you something to consider without drowning you in rules.

The running time feels right, the rules are relaxed, and the whole experience is a good one. It is not revolutionary, and it does not claim the heavyweight status of a Splotter-level title; it is nevertheless high on the list of games we would all happily play again. And it has bacon.