You have $100,000 at your fingertips and a line of credit at the bank that mirrors that amount. Ahead of you, multiple pieces of construction equipment catch your eye as you survey the job market. Will you build a construction empire, or go bust trying?
All you have to do is roll the dice to find out.
That’s how The Construction Game begins. Adapted by construction engineer Dave Zimmerman from the like-minded The Farming Game, this board game gives players a first-hand try at the millions of dollars that can be made or lost in the rough-and-tumble world of construction work.
Players start off with $100,000 and can buy dozers, backhoes, excavators, graders, scrapers, and trucks. You can earn money by taking and completing various jobs – provided you have the right equipment during the right season. Take your profits and a landfill, paving or cement plant or a sand and gravel operation to help your business grow. Just like in real life, every purchase made will have consequences. If a player borrows too much money from the bank they may go bankrupt, if they don’t have enough money, they may not be able to compete in auctions and competitive bidding.
The idea for The Construction Game came to Zimmerman while he was working on a gaming model to describe the earthwork construction business. During his research, he came across a farming simulation board game called The Farming Game. He contacted the game’s inventor, George Rohrbacher and asked if he could adapt the game to the construction market. The two agreed on a deal and released the game in 1993. Recently Rohrbacher’s Weekend Farmer game company bought exclusive rights to The Construction Game and has retooled and re-released it.
The game is available now for $34.95 and can be ordered by clicking here.
