Eric’s Special Game Event
Salt, Silver, and Coal: Three Games Set In Mines I Have Been In
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| Magnum Sal game box. |
Salt sculptures in Wieliczka Salt Mine. |
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| Kutná Hora game box. |
Prague groschen I stamped. |
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| Coal Baron game box. |
Zollverein Coal Mine. |
This special event celebrates completion of my long-awaited mines-I-have-been-in
board game trilogy with a theme games day to play them all. We will play:
About the games:
- Magnum Sal is set in the Wieliczka Salt Mine (Wikipedia).
Fitting its theme, mining salt is hard; players take multiple
worker-placement turns to get small amounts of salt out of the communal mine
to the surface to fill royal orders. Most money wins. Although the rules are
not too complicated, the effort required to extract salt pushes the weight
of this game up a bit.
- In Kutná Hora is a
silver mine that once produced about a third of Europe’s silver. Kutná
Hora: The City of Silver is a city-building game with changing supply
and demand. Actions are selected from cards. Players develop the mine,
purchase plots of land (tile placement), raise buildings, and balance
advancement of their semi-shared guilds with development of the city and
Saint Barbara’s Cathedral. This game has a lot going on, making it the
heaviest of the three games.
- Coal Baron is set in the Zollverein Coal Mine (Wikipedia)
in Essen, Germany (which is also home to the annual game fair, Spiel Essen). It is a steady-paced
worker-placement game where you develop your mine, lift coal out of the mine
with your elevator, load it onto vehicles, and deliver it to customers.
Points are awarded for diverse tasks. This is a pleasant medium-weight game
(perhaps lighter than my current average game).
I configured this Meetup event for four players but will grow it to eight if we
get RSVPs for that. With eight players, we will start with the longer games, one
table on Magnum Sal and the other on Kutná Hora. The first table
to finish will move on to Coal Baron. The second table will switch to the
other game, and then we will wrap up. (If there is a further waitlist, I will
make other opportunities to play these games in the future, although likely not
all in one day.)
Some event details:
- Expect a long day in the mines.
- We will start at 10:00. I estimate finishing around 20:00, but it could vary considerably.
- I will order from Pizzaroma later in the
day.
- Bring your own beverage if desired.
With eight people, I will need a second person to teach the games, so that will
may be a factor in admission.
All of these are UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
Bonus URL: Museum of Silver and Medieval Mine.
© Copyright 2025 by
Eric Postpischil.
