Create Your Own 1893 World's Fair In This New Board Game
By Marielle Shaw in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 30, 2015 2:27PM
The World's Fair board game, via Kickstarter
The Columbian Exposition of 1893 put a shimmering spotlight on the city of Chicago. It gave us global connections and showed the world just what Chicago had to offer. Among other things, it set in motion events which would bring us things like PBR, the Field Museum, and the Museum of Science and Industry. In 2003, Erik Larson brought us tales of both the visionaries and villains behind the scenes, and now that novel, Devil in The White City, is set to hit the silver screen. And just last year, we were able to experience some of the fair's best at a special exhibit hosted at the Field Museum.
Now, Dallas-based Foxtrot Games is seeking to bring people into Chicago's World Fair in a new way. They've created a tabletop game called World's Fair 1893, and they're seeking crowd-funding to make it a reality. The game will be for to to four players, and will feature the main exhibits from the fair, like the Transportation and Electricity exhibits, as well as special exhibits backers can vote to include. Players take on the role of fair exhibitors and use their resources and influence to choose what to get behind.
The game has just under a month left in its Kickstarter campaign, but it's already surpassed its funding goal.
So far, the reviews coming in for the game are good, both from tabletop gaming authorities like BoardGameGeek.com and from play testers at this year's GenCon, an Indianapolis convention with a focus on the world of tabletop gaming. World's Fair 1893 is reported as being easy to pick up, with great art, history and game mechanics. Foxtrot Games originally sought 10,000 on Kickstarter for the game to be created and has since reached that goal, but further donations in the next 28 days promise to unlock even more content and goodies for gamers that choose to get behind it. For a planned price of $39, we think it could make a fun addition to any game night you're hosting. For more details on the project, or to back it, check out the Kickstarter page here.