Review: Algae, Inc.

Introduction & Overview

Algae, Inc. is a company that produces and processes different types of algae into food, cosmetics, bioplastics, and biodiesel. You manage one of these company divisions, trying to build an efficient assembly line; manage your team of operators, engineers, and scientists; and help expand the business to various locations across Europe. As the enterprise garners more and more success, you aim to reach certain milestones before the other departments do; because as much as you like seeing the entire corporation thrive, you would certainly appreciate taking that extra credit over your peers.

This is the premise behind Algae, Inc., designed by Julia Thiemann and Christoph Waage, both known for Fossilium. It was first published in 2024 by Game Brewer in an English edition following a successful crowdfunding campaign. Maxime Sarthou handled the artwork, having previously created the visuals for Museum Suspects.

The game has not been published in Spain, so you will need to turn to imports or the secondary market (it is completely language-independent except for the rulebook). It plays with 1 to 4 players, has a recommended minimum age of 14, and lasts roughly 90 to 120 minutes. The MSRP is €49.99. For this review, the Italian edition by Cranio Creations was used.

Important: if you already know the game and/or are only interested in my opinion about it, you can go directly to the Opinion section. The Content and Mechanics sections are especially intended for those who do not know the game and prefer to get a general idea of how it works.

Go to Personal Opinion

Components

Inside a two-piece cardboard box (lid and bottom) measuring 29.5×28×6 cm (a Ticket to Ride-style box, though slightly narrower on one side), we find the following items:

• Map Board (cardboard)
• Action Board Frame (cardboard)
• 21 Action Strips (cardboard):
  • 3 “A” Strips
  • 4 “B” Strips
  • 4 “C” Strips
  • 4 “D” Strips
  • 6 “E” Strips
• 12 Weekend Bonus Strips (cardboard)
• 6 Victory Point Strips (cardboard)
• 15 Milestone Tiles (cardboard)
• 3 Round Bonus Tiles (cardboard)
• 48 Staff Tiles (cardboard):
  • 16 Operators
  • 16 Engineers
  • 16 Scientists
• 8 Team Upgrade Tiles (cardboard):
  • 4 Operator Upgrades
  • 4 Scientist Upgrades
• 16 Regular City Demand Tiles (cardboard)
• 8 Capital City Demand Tiles (cardboard)
• 32 City Bonus Tokens (cardboard)
• 4 Capacity Markers (wood)
• 2 Byproduct Tanks (cardboard)
• Round Marker (wood)
• First Player Token (cardboard)
• 32 Euro Coins (cardboard)
• 12 5-Euro Bills (cardboard)
• 16 Freelance Engineer Tokens (cardboard)
• 16 Market Value Tokens (cardboard)
• 15 Wild Action Tokens (cardboard)
• 25 Choice Action Tokens (cardboard)
• 55 Algae Cubes (wood)
• 4 Dual-Layer Department Boards (Biofuel, Bioplastics, Cosmetics, and Food) (cardboard)
• 4 Dual-Layer Side Boards (cardboard)
• 4 Double-Sided Science Inlays (cardboard)
• 44 Engineering Tiles (11 per department) (cardboard)
• 49 Science Tiles (between 11 and 13 per department) (cardboard)
• 16 Combo Tiles (4 per department) (cardboard)
• 40 Export/2x Tiles (10 per department) (cardboard)
• 36 Contract Cards (9 per department) (56×87 mm)
• 4 Supervisors (1 per color) (wood)
• 40 Export Discs (10 per color) (wood)
• 40 Milestone Markers (10 per color) (wood)
• 4 Science Markers (1 per color) (wood)
• 4 Energy Markers (1 per color) (wood)
• 4 Victory Point Discs (1 per color) (wood)
• 4 Department Guides
• Rulebook

How to Play

Algae, Inc. is a game where each player takes charge of a specific division (Biofuel, Bioplastics, Cosmetics, or Food) within a company dedicated to processing algae and exporting manufactured goods across Europe. The game plays over the course of one month divided into four weeks, each consisting of three phases. Each week begins on Monday Morning, when players collect income in coins, victory points, algae cubes based on active operators, production moves according to engineers, and science points through scientists. Next comes the Workweek, made up of five days (player turns) where participants are required to advance their supervisor upward along connected action spaces to execute either that space’s action or a basic alternative. These actions let players hire personnel, activate teams (gathering algae or exporting finished goods to European cities by paying transport costs to meet demands and claim milestones, generating engineering points to place upgrade tiles and clear the science grid, or earning science points to transfer tiles to the side board to cover bonuses), or run the assembly line machinery to transform algae along primary and secondary conveyor belts while managing byproducts and energy levels. Finally, the Weekend provides bonuses based on energy levels, restocks and balances algae and byproduct tanks, and prepares the next round. At the end of the fourth week, the final scoring takes place, tallying points earned from milestones multiplied by final energy levels, unlocked export tiles, completed personal contracts, the largest adjacent group of science tiles, and leftover resources. The player with the highest total of victory points claims victory.

Key Concepts

Let us start with the Map Board. It depicts a map of Europe featuring 24 cities connected by transport routes, eight of which are capitals. Along the side of the map lies the Milestone track divided by colors, while the lower and middle sections feature the four algae production tanks, two large byproduct tanks (Biomass and Bio-oil), and the general Energy track. Circling the entire board is the Victory Point track, numbered from 0 to 99. Its main function is to serve as destinations for player exports, record company milestones, regulate global algae production and capacity, and track each department’s available energy. The Capacity Markers are wooden prisms or cubes placed beneath each of the four algae tanks on the map board. Their role is to indicate the current storage limit for that tank throughout the game (starting at a base value of 4 and capable of rising to 6 as departments upgrade their facilities), dictating the maximum number of cubes of that species that can be replenished during the weekend maintenance phase.

Complementing this is the Action Board, made up of a modular frame holding action and bonus strips that structure the workweek. The frame holds several cardboard strips: an initial “A” strip, three intermediate strips (“B”, “C”, and “D”), and a final “E” strip, along with a Weekend Bonus Strip, a Victory Point Strip at the top, and a side track for the four rounds or weeks. Each action strip displays various spaces governing valid supervisor moves and the actions available at each stage of a turn, allowing the layout of actions and rewards to shift from one game to the next.

There are also the Round Bonus Tiles, three cardboard tiles set out at the beginning of the game alongside the first three spaces of the round track on the action board. Each one shows an upgrade tied to one of the three work teams (Operators, Engineers, or Scientists). Their purpose is to immediately grant a permanent team upgrade to any player who completes at least one successful export during the week in which that tile is active.

The Supervisors are pawns that start at the bottom of the action board at the beginning of each week and climb one level upward on each of the five workweek turns, traveling between interconnected spaces on the strips. Their role is to determine which action or subaction the player must take on that workday and, once the week wraps up, indicate which of the two weekend or milestone bonuses the player can claim based on their energy track position.

The Staff Tiles represent the new personnel players can hire throughout the game, divided into three categories: Operators, Engineers, and Scientists. Physically, they are square tiles displaying illustrations of each specialist, placed into open slots across the facility rows on the department board. In practice, they boost the strength and efficiency of team activations while raising the income of algae, belt movements, or science points gained during the Monday Morning phase.

Across the map, players will encounter the City Demand Tiles. These are crescent-shaped tiles displaying a numerical demand value (coming in versions for regular cities and capital cities). At the start of the game, they are randomly distributed to cover every city on the map. Their function is to set the minimum total market value required from a shipment of finished goods (supplemented, if needed, by bonus tokens) for an export to be deemed valid and allow placement of a player disc. The City Bonus Tokens are circular tokens placed face down or face up on every city on the map at the beginning of the game. They offer various instant rewards, such as coins, freelance engineers, market values, or science points. Their goal is to reward the first player who carries out a successful export to that city; at that point, the player claims the token, resolves its benefit immediately, and discards it.

Positioned next to the progress track are the Team Upgrade Tiles. These are double-sided tiles placed initially beside the Operator and Scientist rows on each player board. Once a player unlocks the corresponding team bonus during play, these tiles are flipped over. Mechanically, they permanently alter the activation rules for that team, allowing operators to harvest algae and export back-to-back in the same action, or enabling scientists to generate science points and place science tiles in a single turn.

Money in the game is represented by Coins and Bills. Players must spend money to hire new personnel for their facilities, cover shipping costs when exporting to distant cities based on route distance, purchase algae or byproducts from the supply when the shared tanks are empty, or substitute for energy whenever energy must be spent but is unavailable on the track.

The Market Value Tokens display the market icon and serve as commercial support resources. A player may discard any number of these tokens during an export action to raise the market value of their finished goods by one point per token, thereby satisfying the requirement set by the city demand tile or contract being fulfilled. In similar fashion, Freelance Engineer Tokens enhance an engineering action by granting extra engineering points.

Another available resource is the Choice Action Token, a yellow pentagonal token marked with a question mark. These provide flexibility on the main board: by spending one, a player may switch the specific category within an action type, so an indicated team can be swapped for either of the other two, or an indicated machine can be changed to either of the other two on the production line. Lastly, Wild Action Tokens display a star icon on a purple and gold backdrop. They serve as the most versatile action modifier in the game: by spending one on their workweek turn, a player can entirely bypass the action printed on their supervisor’s space and execute any action or subaction they wish instead.

The Algae Cubes are generic, identical wooden pieces whose meaning changes depending on where they sit. On the map board, they represent raw materials from four different species (red algae, brown algae, spirulina, or chlorella) or byproducts stored in tanks (biomass and bio-oil); on the department boards, they represent stored algae, goods in process along workstations and conveyor belts, or finished products ready for export in the shipping bay.

Every participant receives a distinct Department Board. These dual-layer boards are specific to each of the company’s four branches (Biofuel, Bioplastics, Cosmetics, and Food). They display raw material storage areas, the assembly line organized into stations connected by primary and secondary conveyor belts beneath three machines (A, B, and C), the byproduct converter, the shipping area, and the facility offices where staff members reside. Their role is to house each player’s asymmetric production engine and guide them through the turn phases. Placed alongside each of these is a Side Board. These auxiliary boards sit directly to the right of each player’s department board. They are divided into three physical sections: on the left, the export column with recessed slots for discs and tiles; in the center, the science grid with a top track for science points; and on the right, the sliding slot to insert contract cards alongside scoring summaries and exchange rates. They are used to track milestones, scientific research progress, contracts, and recurring passive income.

Regarding facility improvements, Engineering Tiles are dark-blue-backed cardboard tiles that start the game covering various slots on the side board’s science grid. By activating the engineering team, these tiles are bought and transferred to matching spaces on the department board. They function to expand machine movement capacity or unlock new conveyor routes and connections across the assembly line, simultaneously freeing up room on the science grid. Meanwhile, Science Tiles are light-blue-bordered cardboard pieces that begin the game placed across the department board, blocking upgrades and storage rooms. When activating scientists, they are paid for with science points and removed from the player board to be placed face down on the side board’s science grid. They serve a dual purpose: on the main board, they unlock new algae storage slots, income boosts, or shipping cost discounts; on the side board, they cover immediate bonuses and score points at game end based on the size of the largest contiguous cluster.

A central element to track are the Export/2x Tiles. These rectangular tiles sit in the left column of the side board, serving as bases for export discs and milestone markers. Early on, they provide recurring income in coins and victory points during Monday Mornings. Once both markers resting on top of them are removed, they become unlocked and can be permanently discarded from the game to perform a second consecutive action on the same turn.

Correspondingly, the Export Discs begin stacked atop the export tiles on the side board. Upon successfully executing an export action by delivering finished goods to a European city (or fulfilling a personal contract), the player takes the top disc from their column and places it onto the chosen city. This marks commercial control of that location, eliminates future transport costs to it, and reveals permanent income icons underneath on the player’s board. One of these discs is also used as a scoring marker on the victory point track.

In turn, the Milestone Markers start out covering the second column of the export area on the side board. When a player meets the requirements of any available milestone on the map board following an export, they move one of these markers to the corresponding space on the map. They award the milestone’s victory points (which are higher for the first player to arrive) and uncover double-action tiles on the side board.

At the start of the game, five pairs of Milestone Tiles are configured on the main board. These components define the objectives that players will strive to achieve as they make deliveries across European cities.

The Contract Cards are horizontally split into three functional bands: a top permanent ability, a middle export contract objective, and a bottom end-game scoring condition. Each player receives several at setup, chooses three, and tucks them overlapping inside the slot on their side board, leaving visible exactly one unique permanent ability, one special export option, and one scoring goal for the end of the month.

Finally, the Science and Energy Markers are cubes used to track two essential variables. The science marker travels along the track numbered 0 to 10 across the top of the side board to measure accumulated science points available to spend. The energy marker rests on the central track of the map board (divided into a red negative zone, a yellow neutral zone, and a green positive zone) and reflects the department’s energy balance, determining whether a player suffers penalties, gains basic access, or doubles their benefits when claiming weekend bonuses and milestones at month’s end.

That is enough to get started.

Preparación de la Partida

1. Place the map board in the center of the table.
2. Randomly place the 8 capital demand tiles face up on the 8 capital cities on the map.
3. Randomly distribute the 16 regular city demand tiles across the remaining cities on the map.
4. Shuffle the 32 city bonus tokens and place one at random on each of the 24 cities on the map.
5. Draw 2 milestone tiles of each color at random and place them face up on their matching spaces on the map board. Return any remaining milestone tiles to the box.
6. In a 2-player game, place the 2 byproduct tanks over their corresponding illustrations on the map.
7. In a 3-player game, place only the tank corresponding to the department not in play.
8. In a 4-player game, do not use these tiles.
9. Fill the bottom row of both byproduct tanks with 2 algae cubes each.
10. Place a capacity marker on the “4” space of each of the 4 algae tanks, and fill each tank with 4 algae cubes.
11. Form a general supply with the freelance engineers, market value tokens, wild action tokens, choice action tokens, euro coins and bills, and the remaining algae cubes.
12. Prepare the action board and place it next to the map board. Place the round marker on the first week space.
13. Shuffle the 3 round bonus tiles and place one face up at random next to round spaces 1, 2, and 3.
14. Choose an “A” starting action strip at random and insert it with a random face up into the bottom of the action board frame.
15. From the 12 intermediate action strips, choose one “B”, one “C”, and one “D” strip at random, sliding them face up in ascending alphabetical order above the previous strip.
16. Randomly pick an “E” action strip and position it above strip D.
17. Place a random weekend bonus strip above strip E.
18. Choose a victory point strip at random and insert it at the very top. Return any unused strips to the box.
19. Each player selects a department: Biofuel, Bioplastics, Cosmetics, or Food. In a 2-player game, players cannot select two departments that generate the same type of byproduct.
20. Each player takes all components belonging to their department: 1 department board, 1 side board, all associated science and engineering tiles, 4 combo tiles, 9 contract cards, and 10 export/2x tiles.
21. Each player chooses a player color and collects their supervisor, 10 export discs, 10 milestone markers, 1 science marker, 1 energy marker, and 1 victory point disc.
22. Each player sets their department board in front of them and their side board to its right.
23. Each player places their science tiles face up on the light-blue frames of their department board; on double spaces, place the tile with two pips on the back first, then stack the single-pip tile on top.
24. Each player places their engineering tiles and combo tiles onto their designated slots on the side board’s science grid.
25. Each player places their operator upgrade tile and scientist upgrade tile beside their respective staff rows, with their initial face up.
26. Each player takes 2 algae cubes from the general supply and places them into the unlocked algae warehouse on their department board.
27. Each player places their science marker on space 0 of the science track on their side board.
28. Each player stacks their 10 export/2x tiles in the left column of their side board, topping each tile with an export disc and a milestone marker in their designated slots.
29. Each player shuffles their 9 contract cards, draws 3 at random, and returns the rest to the box. They then slide the 3 cards in any chosen order beneath the right slot of their side board, leaving visible one permanent ability at the top, one contract export option in the center, and one final scoring goal at the bottom.
30. Each player places their energy marker on the middle space of the map’s energy track.
31. Each player places their victory point disc on space 0 of the score track.
32. Each player places their supervisor at the base of the assembly line, beneath the first action strip on the action board.
33. Form draft piles equal to the player count. Place one random staff tile and two city bonus tokens drawn from the 8 remaining into each pile. Return any unused bonus tokens to the box and form a general pool with the remaining staff tiles.
34. Randomly select the first player and hand them the first player token.
35. Beginning with the player to the right of the first player and going counter-clockwise, each participant drafts one pile, adds the staff tile to the leftmost empty space of the matching row in their facility, claims the printed bonus immediately, and keeps the two city bonus tokens.

We are ready to begin!

Game Flow

A game of Algae, Inc. is played over the course of one Month, divided into 4 Rounds (representing weeks). Each round features three consecutive phases: Monday Morning, the Workweek (consisting of 5 workdays), and the Weekend (which is skipped after the fourth week to transition straight into final scoring).

Phase I: Monday Morning

During this phase, all players receive income and resolve the steps printed at the bottom of their department board simultaneously (with the exception of taking algae):

1. Financial and VP Income. Each player collects €2, plus an additional €1 for every visible €1 symbol on the Export/2x tiles on their side board. Similarly, they score 1 victory point for every visible victory point icon on those tiles. Used Export/2x tiles have been removed from play and generate no income.
2. Operator Income. In turn order, each player collects 1 algae cube per Operator in their facility (plus 2 extra cubes if they unlocked the matching income upgrade). Cubes are taken from the tanks on the main map and placed into unlocked warehouses. If a map tank runs dry, cubes can be purchased from the general supply for €1 each.
3. Engineer Movement. Each participant gains 1 algae movement along primary conveyor belts per Engineer in their facility (plus 2 extra movements if they unlocked the engineer income upgrade). These movements can be split among multiple cubes and do not trigger secondary belts.
4. Scientist Income. Each player advances their marker on the track by 1 science point per Scientist in their facility (plus 2 extra points if they unlocked the matching upgrade), up to the maximum limit of 10 science points.
5. Department Special Effects. The Food Department spoils unexported food (and removes previously spoiled goods), while the Biofuel Department may perform an optional refining action by spending energy.

Phase II: The Workweek

The workweek consists of 5 workdays. On each day, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, every participant takes a turn resolving the following steps in sequence:

• Move the Supervisor. The player advances their Supervisor pawn upward to an action space on the next strip of the action board. On the first turn of the week, it enters any space on the bottom strip (strip A). On later turns, it must climb along a line connecting its current space to the strip directly above. Multiple supervisors may share the same space.
• Execute Action(s). The player resolves the action shown on the space where their Supervisor landed, or selects the alternative action instead (gaining 1 choice action token, €1, 1 algae cube, or 1 algae move along a primary conveyor belt).
• Using Action Tokens and 2x Tiles:
  • Choice Action Token (?). Allows swapping the team to be activated for a different team, or the printed machine for another machine (it cannot swap an activation between a team and a machine).
  • Wild Action Token (Star). Allows taking any action or subaction instead of the one printed on the space.
  • Export/2x Tile. Once unlocked (by removing both its export disc and milestone marker), a player may spend one tile per turn to repeat their space’s action or take the alternative action, modifying it with action tokens if desired. The spent tile is removed from the game.
  • Resource Conversion. When paying costs, players may trade resources (Euros, science points, market value tokens, freelance engineers) or choice action tokens at a 2:1 ratio for another resource or choice token, or at a 3:1 ratio for a wild action token.

The primary available actions include:

• Hiring Staff. The player selects a staff tile (Operator, Engineer, or Scientist) from the general pool and slides it into the leftmost available space of the matching row in their facility. They pay the cost shown at the top of that column, receive the space’s printed reward immediately, and score any indicated victory points.
• Activating a Team. The player activates all members of a single team to carry out a unified task:
  • Activate Operators: Choose between:
    • Gathering Algae Cubes. Take as many cubes from the map as you have operators, placing them into unlocked storage (buying from the supply for €1 if a tank is empty).
    • Exporting. Ship finished goods from the shipping area to European cities (up to as many distinct cities as you have operators) or to your contract card. For each city, the total market value of the delivered goods (plus any spent market value tokens) must meet or exceed the city’s demand. The player pays shipping costs to the supply based on distance (in steps) to the closest export disc on the map (belonging to any player): €1 at distance 1, €3 at distance 2, and €6 at distance 3 (reduced to 0/1/3€ if the transport upgrade was unlocked). The very first delivery of the game incurs no transport fees. When exporting, place your topmost export disc onto the city; if you are the first to arrive, collect the city bonus token. If the shipment fulfills conditions for one or more map milestones, place your milestone marker immediately and score the points. Once per game, you may export to your contract card without paying shipping costs, placing a disc onto the card to claim its instant benefit.
    • Weekly Export Bonus: If a player executes at least one export during weeks 1, 2, or 3, they immediately claim that week’s team upgrade tile (upgrading operators to gather and export on the same turn, flipping machine capacity tiles to increase output, or upgrading scientists to earn points and place tiles simultaneously).
  • Activate Engineers. The player generates 1 engineering point per engineer in their facility and may boost this total by spending Freelance Engineer tokens. These points allow them to clear engineering tiles or combo tiles from their science grid (spending 0 to 3 points depending on the zone):
    • Removed engineering tiles are placed onto the department board to expand machine capacity or enable automated conveyor movement.
    • Combo tiles are taken from the grid, flipped to their science side, and kept in the personal reserve for future placement.
    • A player can only remove as many total tiles as they have engineers on staff.
  • Activate Scientists. Choose between:
    • Gaining Science Points: Advance the marker 1 point along the track per scientist (maximum 10).
    • Placing Science Tiles. Spend science points (between 2 and 5 based on the zone) to take science tiles from your department board (unlocking income boosts, algae storage, or transport discounts) or flipped combo tiles from your reserve, placing them face up onto empty slots on your side board’s science grid. You may place as many tiles as you have scientists. Any bonuses covered on the grid are gained immediately.
• Activating a Machine. Move algae cubes along the primary conveyor belts within that machine’s operational area, up to the machine’s current capacity (base of 2, expandable via engineering tiles). Moving at least one cube along a primary belt is mandatory. Operating a machine also triggers its linked secondary belts:
  • Machine A. Advances cubes from storage to Station 1. Per the byproduct conversion chart, moving multiple cubes converts some into byproducts (biomass or bio-oil). Generated byproducts can either be burned (raising energy 1 step per cube, or granting 1 VP if already maxed out) or deposited into the corresponding map tank to collect the printed coin payout.
  • Machine B. Moves cubes from Station 1 to Station 2. Depending on the department, this can introduce byproducts from the map or reroute cubes across production lines.
  • Machine C. Transports cubes from Station 2 to the shipping bay, transforming them into finished goods ready for export.
  • Activate Any Machine. Allows choosing and running Machine A, B, or C at the player’s discretion.

Phase III: The Weekend

At the conclusion of the 5 workdays during weeks 1, 2, and 3, resolve the following steps in order:

• Weekend Bonus. The final action space occupied by the Supervisor connects to two bonus options. Based on the player’s energy track standing:
  • In the positive zone (green), the player receives both bonuses.
  • In the neutral zone (yellow), the player chooses and receives only one.
  • In the negative zone (red), the player receives no bonus.
• Update Action Strips:
  • All supervisors return to the starting area below strip A.
  • The round marker advances, and the action strip corresponding to the new round space is flipped to its alternate side.
  • The completed week’s export bonus tile is flipped face up to its inactive side.
  • If moving into the 4th week, the weekend bonus strip is flipped over to its blank side.
• Restock and Balance Tanks:
  • Replenish the 4 algae tanks with cubes from the supply up to their current capacity (base of 4, plus 1 for each warehouse tile cleared by any player, up to a max of 6).
  • Balance the byproduct tanks: remove one cube if a tank is completely full, and add one if it sits empty. If there is a difference of 2 or more non-empty rows between both tanks, shift cubes from the fuller tank to the other until the gap is at most 1 row.
• Pass First Player. Pass the first player token to the next player clockwise.

A new week then begins.

Game End

The game concludes at the end of the fourth workweek (the fourth round), once all players finish their final turn. The standard weekend phase is skipped, and final victory point scoring takes place. To determine final scores, players evaluate:

• Milestone Bonus. Scored according to the supervisor’s ending space on the action board and the player’s energy level. If energy is positive, score both connected milestone bonuses; if neutral, pick one; if negative, score neither. Each bonus yields its indicated victory points multiplied by the number of completed milestones of that color.
• Export Bonus. 1 victory point for every victory point icon still visible on the Export/2x tiles remaining on the player’s side board.
• Science Bonus. 1 victory point per science tile that belongs to the largest contiguous, orthogonally adjacent group of science tiles on the player’s science grid (including flipped combo tiles).
• Contract Bonus. Victory points awarded by the end-game scoring condition showing on the contract card slotted into the side board.
• Resource Bonus. 1 victory point for every 4 leftover items among department board algae cubes, action tokens (excluding Export/2x tiles), unplaced combo tiles, resource tokens, and stored science points (rounded down).

The player with the highest total of victory points wins. In the event of a tie, victory goes to the player whose milestone marker sits on the lowest possible row of the milestone board. If multiple tied players share that lowest row, whoever arrived at that milestone first breaks the tie.

Variants

Solo Mode. The player squares off against an automated rival named Bruno, using the two-player setup as a base. Bruno begins with an export disc on a random capital city, scoring victory points equal to its demand value, while several neutral discs are placed across various action strips. During the workweek, whenever the player moves their supervisor onto an action space containing neutral discs, one of those discs is removed from play. When the weekend arrives, all discs still lingering on the flipped strip are exported to the map, claiming adjacent, low-value cities where Bruno is not yet present; Bruno earns the demand value points of each city plus two extra points if a bonus token is claimed. These placements allow Bruno to claim milestones, which also score him one point per milestone each Monday morning and at the end of the month. After wrapping up the four weeks, the player must beat Bruno’s accumulated score to secure the win.

Personal Opinion

With the board game market caught in a constant wave of saturation and new releases tumbling out at a dizzying pace, it gets harder and harder to come across a design that genuinely stands out through the dynamics it brings to the table, especially when discovering mechanical novelty has become near impossible.

Capturing that spark born from an engine-building arc that ratchets up the tension until players are practically standing over their turns is rare. Whenever a eurogame breaks out of being a dry math exercise and serves up fresh, vibrant dynamics, it instantly demands your full attention.

With these introductory remarks, many of you are likely leaning forward in anticipation of what comes next, unless you spoiled the surprise by jumping straight to my final rating for Algae, Inc. So let us cut to the chase and see how it holds up on the table.

Algae, Inc. puts us in command of a crucial department within a cutting-edge corporation focused on cultivating, refining, and marketing algae. Far from dystopian sci-fi tropes, the game leans into a grounded, modern industrial framework centered on sustainability, where four operational divisions—Biofuel, Bioplastics, Cosmetics, and Food—compete internally to take home the department of the month award.

This setting draws heavily on modern bioengineering and logistics, translating the daily puzzles of handling organic raw materials, balancing byproducts, and meeting Europe’s growing demand for green solutions onto the table.

Games span four weeks broken down into three phases. Each round kicks off on Monday morning, rewarding players with perks based on their hired workforce, alongside payouts of both coins and victory points tied to their commercial achievements.

Next, participants dive into the workweek, a sequence of five turns where every player marches their supervisor upward along a network of interconnected action tiles. Through these spaces, players recruit new personnel, trigger specialist teams to research tiles or upgrade assembly lines, or start up heavy machinery to process raw goods.

The beating heart of the game lies in each department’s asymmetric management, converting various strains of algae across conveyor belts while balancing byproducts and power reserves. These refined goods are then exported to a shared European map to meet urban demand and claim shared milestones.

Following four demanding weeks and their weekend check-ins, the game wraps up with final scoring, rewarding claimed goals tuned to energy reserves, science tile layouts, individual contracts, and residual stockpiles, crowning the player with the most victory points as the winner.

Sounds simple, right? Twenty turns where you merely advance a pawn and resolve one of a handful of actions, since there are really only three choices: hire a worker from one of three categories, activate a specific team, or run one of three factory machines.

That is precisely the first thing that catches your eye. This apparent mechanical simplicity gives way to deep gameplay emerging from the immense scope of possibilities each department provides, easily triggering analysis paralysis in even the most decisive players.

The asymmetry here is remarkably pronounced, forcing you to track distinct variables despite operating within the same basic mechanical frame. Take the Food department, where you collide with the unforgiving realities of expiration dates. Finished items in the shipping area lose value with every passing week if you do not move them out fast, eventually rotting away into total loss.

This creates a frantic pace, pushing you to synchronize factory output with map demands with surgical precision, fostering a lingering sense of urgency right from turn one where any supply chain miscalculation carries a heavy cost.

Meanwhile, the Bioplastics division delivers a compelling assembly puzzle built around intertwining separate production lines (cups and bags). Unlike the other boards, commercial value surges when you coordinate both streams to ship mixed orders, making the extra legwork of aligning divergent processes feel immensely rewarding.

It turns into an optimization puzzle where linking secondary branches and shunting cubes between belts triggers huge synergies, delivering large-scale shipments that easily pay off the trouble of balancing two parallel lines.

In Biofuel, the spotlight shifts to chemical refining and energy management. Its most notable twist is the optional Monday refining phase, letting you pour energy into stored barrels to boost their market value before releasing them to buyers.

Furthermore, its byproduct handling is remarkably generous, turning lost algae into a steady stream of power or income that keeps the conversion engine purring. It can even grant both if you unlock the right upgrade. This is easily the most industrial and calculation-heavy division, tailor-made for players who love fine-tuning every single cog.

Finally, the Cosmetics department shakes things up by demanding absolute purity, forbidding players from combining different algae strains within a single delivery, but compensating with noticeably higher machine capacity and staggering output volumes. Piloting this division feels like running a luxury manufacturing operation where hyper-specialization trumps versatility every time.

These distinct operational flavors not only shoot replayability through the roof, but they also ensure every session presents fresh logistical challenges depending on which board you claim, all while avoiding the burden of a grueling rules overhead.

A quick glance at the conveyor layout is all it takes to grasp what the division needs across its available actions. Sometimes it calls for tight timing between tanks, other times a broad palette of algae varieties. Some setups demand energy, while others hinge on leveraging byproducts.

All of this runs on an action-selection mechanism simpler than a child’s toy, where every choice carries profound implications for long-term development. The elegance it shows for a game of this weight is genuinely admirable. Even if the layered iconography on the player boards seems overwhelming during the teach, the action track trims your immediate choices down to a couple of distinct paths per step.

This cuts analysis paralysis off at the pass, allowing a strategic, logistics-heavy eurogame to move along with surprising table speed. Each turn feels like an exercise in efficiency where small adjustments unlock major transformations without bogging down the pacing.

Building this momentum is your main goal, which brings science and engineering into play. Science lets you clear tiles off your department board to sharpen your actions (while building out a side grid that triggers immediate bonuses), while engineering tiles upgrade the flow and routing of algae along your conveyor lines.

The game is not without flaws, however, chief among them being an unwieldy and tedious setup. Sorting through action strips, engineering tiles, asymmetric boards, and demand markers requires an upfront time investment that can feel daunting. Fortunately, individual department guides allow everyone to assemble their own materials simultaneously. Still, if left to a single person, setup will eat up quite a bit of time.

Nor is this a design where friction sparks direct confrontation. Player interaction is strictly confined to an indirect race for destinations and shared milestones. Admittedly, if an opponent establishes a trade route to a city right before you do, they might snatch away a handy bonus token you needed for your next play.

It is also worth noting that the conceptual weight is somewhat deceptive. While the foundational rules take five minutes to explain, digesting the iconography and internal quirks of every department takes real effort. On top of that, the polyomino puzzle mechanic tying science and engineering together feels a touch clunky. Even so, it remains a clever way to handle technical growth.

Turning back to the positives, another standout feature is the ever-present secondary conversion action. Players can swap resources (coins, science points, engineering tokens, market value tokens, or action tokens) at a two-to-one rate for another basic asset, or three-to-one for a wild action token. It may sound straightforward, but you will rely on this exchange constantly throughout the game.

The income system is just as engaging. As players scatter delivery discs across European cities and lock down milestones, double-action tiles gradually unlock. These provide money or victory points, plus the crucial option to burn them for a second action on the same turn. That extra action matches your supervisor’s current space, but you can tailor it with the usual tokens. Timing when to burn one of these tiles at the expense of regular income is critical to building operational momentum and securing stronger returns down the line.

In my view, the design shines brightest at two players, keeping downtime virtually nonexistent without losing the race tension that comes from missing divisions. Tracking milestone targets and board presence feels far more manageable, and you will already have your hands full optimizing your own department anyway. That is not to say three or four players does not work—it certainly does. Yet given how engrossed you get in your own puzzle, adding extra opponents does not bring much added value to the table.

In terms of replayability, this is one of those titles where asymmetry (via departments) and variability (via cards, setup strips, and goals) hit the sweet spot. It is tough to master, but once the central concepts click, jumping from one department to another feels natural without having to digest new rule frameworks. The production engine shifts, but your fundamental levers remain identical across all divisions. Factoring in how quickly turns move even with newcomers, this is a title that begs to hit the table regularly.

Indeed, Algae, Inc. is the kind of game that has you dissecting every single play in your head long after packing it away, lingering in your thoughts because its straightforward mechanics make every blunder feel like your own doing.

Finding direct points of comparison for Algae, Inc. is tricky. Some might look to Kanban EV (here is its tocho-review) because players belong to different arms of the same firm, but here there is no way to ride your opponents’ coat-tails beyond dodging transport fees when delivering to an already-connected city. Because of that, it is tough to offer a simple “if you enjoy game X, you will love Algae, Inc.” recommendation.

Let us discuss the production quality. Component quality is fairly solid across the board, featuring thick, well-punched cardboard (though some tokens have sharp corners that may wear down over time) alongside sturdy, nicely weighted wooden pieces. The cards boast good core snap and a smooth finish (sleeving is unnecessary and would actually hinder tucking them into boards). An alternative to the sprawling pile of strips used to randomize the action track would have been welcome, but the rulebook itself is clearly structured and leaves no ambiguity.

On the visual side, there is a distinct contrast between the organic, evocative box cover and the austere, industrial functionality of the components inside. While the box art pulls you into deep aquatic foliage, the central and player boards opt for clean, clinical vector lines focused strictly on readability and ergonomics. Rather than chasing traditional ornamental clutter, Maxime Sarthou’s art leans into modern industrial design, turning the table into a sleek biotech plant where visual utility always comes first.

And let’s wrap this up. Algae, Inc. is a standout eurogame that marries a clean, streamlined action tree with deep asymmetric logistics. Optimizing assembly lines, balancing byproducts, and syncing with market demands fuels steady tension and remarkably swift pacing, where every supervisor move triggers meaningful decisions. While player interaction boils down to an indirect race for milestones and trade routes, and initial setup is undeniably cumbersome, its simple rules give way to a brilliant optimization puzzle that stays with you. A sharp, elegant design that will keep you replaying turns in your head long after finishing. For all these reasons, I give it an…