Tesla vs. Edison is a crowdfunding baby designed by Dirk Knemeyer that takes “The Race to Light the World” and puts it into a game scenario. Sit back and use propaganda to discredit your competition or try to hustle other players by manipulating the stock market. All while researching Bulb technology and electricity to make your own company a huge success so you’ll get more funding.
Players: 2-5, Age: 14+, Publisher: Artana
Theme: The theme for this game is what really drew me in as the race to light the world is a very interesting piece of history. Also as an added bonus I’m a huge ham when I get to be a scientist in a game. However TvE went one step further and did their research. Picking real life people to populate their game and basing their stats on what they could actually provide.
Board and Components: Let me say the art in this game perfectly fits what you would fantasize the era to look like. The board has a beautiful matte finish and all of the money is made of thick cardboard which adds a really nice touch to the game. Other tokens are wooded and all cards are made of a thick card stock.
Game Play: Here’s where I think the game falls short. I feel like the game play is overly complicated because the key mechanics are just A+B=C. With little variation to strategy once you figure out how to maneuver your placement on the board. Although serious collaboration with other players can diversify the stock market, I don’t think it makes enough of a difference in the end. In short this game is a problem that you can solve and then win the same way every time.
Recommended: This game is NOT recommended for those new to board games. Although I did enjoy playing the game and I would play it again; I will not be adding it to my own collection because it doesn’t have enough replay value.
For more info on my play though visit the Cards and Chit Podcast!
GloryHoundd Presents 