Carnegie · Board game rules
What's the basic idea of Carnegie
Quick answer
Carnegie is a 20-round economic game where players recruit employees, build Departments, and develop real estate, goods production, and transportation to earn the most victory points.
Details
In Carnegie, players manage a Company built from Departments representing Human Resources, Management, Construction, and R&D actions [p.9 — 3.1. Human Resources][p.10 — 3.2. Management][p.11 — 3.3. Construction][p.12 — 3.4. Research & Development (R&D)]. Each round, the active player selects one of these four action types, and all players then use their corresponding Departments, sending employees on Missions, building projects, developing transportation, or training staff [p.7 — Playing the Game].
The game is themed around Andrew Carnegie's rise in the steel industry and his philanthropy, reflected in mechanics like donations and project development (Housing, Commerce, Industry, Public Infrastructure) [p.2 — (Introduction)][p.14 — Donation Chart]. Players earn income by returning employees from Missions and from built projects, and they can advance their transportation tracks and project tabs using study points from R&D [p.8 — 2.1. Take Income][p.12 — Research & Development (R&D)].
The game lasts exactly 20 rounds, tracked via four Timeline rows that advance action markers and trigger events (Take Income or Make a Donation) [p.7 — Playing the Game][p.8 — 2. Events]. At game end, players score points from active employees, built Departments, project tab advancement, city connections, construction locations, and donations, with the highest total VP winning [p.13 — 5.2. Scoring].
Watch out: Success in Carnegie requires balancing sending employees on Missions (to trigger actions) with recovering them promptly, since employees away on Missions don't generate income until they return [p.6 — 4.4. Recovering Employees from Missions].