Review: World’s Fair 1893 (Renegade)

Oh, to have seen the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893! Today, we remember it as the Chicago World’s Fair — a place where the world (quite literally) came together to show and share their culture, cuisine, and more.

Even though only a couple of original locations remain today (including the Museum of Science and Industry, which was the Palace of Fine Arts - there’s a photo of it in the rules on page 8), you can bring the fair to life on your tabletop with World’s Fair 1893 from Renegade Games.

Spoiler alert: You’re going to have a great time.

Let’s dive into five fascinating things you should know about World’s Fair 1893.

Exhibits, Tickets, and Influencers

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The game includes one deck of cards containing a mixture of three card types. First, you’ll find 40 main exhibit cards. These cards display historically accurate art and descriptions of actual exhibits in the fair. They’re color-coded according to their area (more about that in a moment).

Next are the purple midway tickets. Each of these cards offers information about one of the many strange and wonderful amusements on the mile-long Midway Plaisance, as it was called back then. (Incidentally, this is why we call the amusement area at a fair the “midway.”)

A set of 23 influential figures cards rounds out the deck. These represent the historical people who drove various parts of the fair, including Daniel Burnham (the fair’s master designer), Bertha Palmer (president of the fair’s Board of Lady Managers), and George Westinghouse (whose company won the bid to light the fair with alternating current).

Setting up the Fair

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The game’s modular board layout gives it the perfect amount of customization and randomization to keep things fresh for many plays to come. Begin the setup by placing that new-fangled Ferris Wheel in the middle of the table, then slide the little wedge piece into the top.

Pay attention to the “number of player” markings on both the wheel and the wedge, otherwise the game will either run too fast or too slow. Likewise, if you have either two or four players, read the special setup details in the rules carefully.

Next, shuffle and place the five area tiles around the Ferris wheel section. These represent the main areas of the fair, including manufacturing, fine arts, electricity, agriculture, and transportation.

Watch Your Time — and Timing

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On your turn, place one of your colored cube markers in one area of the fair, then collect all of the cards in that area.

Exhibits come into play during the scoring phase at the end of the round, so for now just set them aside. Likewise, if you drew any influential figures, set them aside as well. They’ll come into play on your next turn.

For every Midway ticket you get, move the gondola on the Ferris wheel one spot. When the car gets all the way around the wheel, the round ends.

If you drew any influential figures in last turn’s cards, play them now. The cards let you either add or move cubes on the board to hopefully give you the majority of cubes in a particular area. (More about that in a moment.)

Play continues until the gondola finishes its trip around the Ferris wheel, signaling the end of the round. At that point, players earn coins for their midway tickets and leader medals for having the majority of pieces in each exhibit area.

Exhibit area leaders also get to approve exhibits that match the area’s color, collecting one approval token for each exhibit. Collecting sets of approval tokens (one from each area) gives you big bonus points at the end of the game.

Influential Figures Make a Difference

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Put those influential city leaders to work for you! If possible, keep a steady stream of influential figures rotating through your hand. They can make a huge difference in gaining control of areas because they basically let you play an extra cube this turn.

Pay special attention to Bertha Palmer. Her ability lets you move any cube — yours or an opponent’s — between areas of the board. Do you need an edge for control of Fine Arts? No problem! Let Bertha send one of your opponent’s cubes to Manufacturing.

Influential figures become increasingly important toward the end of the game, when you’re trying to pick up any missing exhibit approval tokens.

History, History, History

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I love the gameplay and the fascinating tension between placing a cube to get the cards you want versus building your control in an area, but the details built into World’s Fair 1893 really seal the deal for me.

The designers show their faithfulness to the actual world’s fair in the cards, the Ferris wheel mechanic, and even the historical notes in the rule book.

In the deck, every exhibit card and midway ticket is unique, with a photo and description of an exhibit or attraction. It’s an educational adventure just shuffling through the cards and reading about the fair.

Verdict

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With its quick playing time, light strategy, strong replayability, and an engaging theme, World’s Fair 1893 will hit your table again and again. It also makes a strong gateway title, easily introducing new players to the world of modern board games.