National Economy

National Economy is a game from Japan. It is a worker placement card game. It is pretty compact. There are many elements which at first made me think - isn't this just like Agricola? As I played, I soon discovered it is more than that, and less than that at the same time. All in all, a different beast, despite several familiar concepts. 

The game is played over 9 rounds. You start with two workers. There are some common starting cards on which you can place your workers to use their effects. Every round a new common card is added. You can construct your own buildings, which are placed in front of you. They are your private buildings and only you can place workers on them. One interesting thing about this game is you will be selling your buildings in order to be able to pay your workers' wages. You must pay wages at the end of every round, and workers' wages gradually increase throughout the game. Expect to be selling buildings frequently. Sold buildings become public buildings. They are placed at the centre of the table, and anyone can use them now. 

The card powers are mostly simple. Some let you draw building cards from the deck. Some let you construct buildings. You can recruit new workers. You can gain consumer items. These are just generic cards which can be spent on constructing buildings. Building costs are expressed in cards and not money. You pay in cards, and this can be either other building cards or consumer item cards. Some buildings help you score points at the end of the game. That is, if you manage to keep paying your workers without selling these buildings. Money and remaining buildings are also points at game end. 

Notice that box cover in the background. This area is called the budget. It is a separate pool of money from the money supply. Most of the time you pay money to and get money from the budget. The only time you get money from the supply is when you sell buildings. This is a little unusual - having two pools of money to manage. This has gameplay implications and it is important, and I would say it is worth the effort. How much money is in the budget affects what you can and cannot do. 

Consumer items are just a generic resource. They are all the same in terms of gameplay, but the art on the cards varies. This is a nice touch. Not absolutely necessary for the sake of gameplay, but I like that they spend a bit more effort to improve the play experience. 

What I find most interesting is how you have to manage the buildings you construct and sell. Which ones you choose to construct, and which ones you choose to or are forced to sell will affect your play. When you construct a building, it means you have exclusive access to its power. This can give you an advantage over others. However you have to be prepared that you might have to sell that building later, and others will gain access to its power. This game makes me feel that life is fleeting and nothing is permanent. It's a zen feeling. You need to be able to let go. 

As the game progresses, there will be more and more common buildings at the centre, and you will have more choices. However not all are good choices. As better and more expensive buildings become available, you don't want to use those weaker ones anymore. So the worker placement remains competitive and tight. 

One interesting challenge is the hand limit of five which is checked at the end of the round. This makes planning challenging. If you have multiple good buildings in hand, you might have to sacrifice some, spending them as payment for the one you decide to build. Or you may have to try to gain cards (including consumer items) early in the round, then spend these cards for construction before the round ends. 

This is a mid-weight game. It is clean and compact. The fun is in maximising your efficiency by making good use of the public buildings available as well as the buildings you manage to build for yourself. There is fun in analysing the game situation and trying to find an effective strategy. As a worker placement game, it does offer something a little different from other worker placement games. 

National Economy was first published in 2015. Two variants were released after that. The latest edition of the game published in 2025 includes all three ways to play. If you enjoy gameplay like this, this is a great deal.