Stats:
No. of players: 3-5
Amount of time to play: 30-45 min
Age requirements: 13+
Set-up time: 5 min

QE (Quantitative Easing) is an auction board game, but you represent a country and there is no money. You can bid what you want. But spend the most and you automatically lose.

QE Rules Description:

QE stands for quantitative easing and in this board game you represent a country bidding to bail out companies. Bailing out companies will gain you VPs and the player with the most VPs wins. The catch is there is no money in this game you can print cash and thus bid what you want. The trick is that the player that spends the most money automatically loses. While spending the least gets that player bonus VPs.

You start the game with a blank check, a board to track what you purchase, and an industry token. Everything in the game can be written on with dry-erase markers. The game lasts until all companies have been auctioned (usually 4-5 rounds depending on the number of players).

On your turn as the auctioneer you flip a company tile face up. The auctioneer then writes what they are willing to bid for the revealed company on their check and show the group. Secretly, all other players write their bids on their checks and hand them to the auctioneer. After reviewing the bids, the auctioneer writes the winning bid on the back of the company and gives it to the auction winner. All checks are returned to their owners and the next player in clockwise order becomes the auctioneer. A round ends once all players have been the auctioneer.

Each tile contains three pieces of information; its industry, country, and the VPs it’s worth (from 1-4). The industry matters as you get bonus VPs for collecting either a diversity of industries or a lot of one industry. The industry token you start the game automatically grants you a company in one specific industry. The country is important as you gain extra VPs for winning companies that match your country.

In a four or five player game you may bid 0 once per round for 2 VPs. And in a 5 player game once per game you may see one winning bid.

After the last company is purchased, players flip their tiles, add their total spent, and compile their VPs for the companies they won given the value, industry and country. The player that spent the most money automatically loses. The player that spent the least gains 6 VPs in a three or four player game and 7 VPs in a five player game. The player with the most VPs wins.

Quick Review of QE:

QE is a fun, auction board game that is easy to teach and quick to play. Both hard core gamers and non-gamers should enjoy it and it appeals to a wide age range. This is a great game to add to your collection as its wide appeal should have it on the table often.

This game’s components are excellent. I like that everything can be written on and the design and layout make it easy to understand what you are bidding on and marking on your player board. The rules are well written and have examples you can follow if you have any questions.

An auction game with no money and no limits seems hard to understand and see how it could be fun. But QE is simple, straightforward and fun. Each game is unique based on what players are willing to pay. It is like each game has its own economy.

Having the option to collect many companies in one industry or diversify is a nice option that gives players flexibility in their strategy. And setting the price as the auctioneer while gaining information on what people are bidding is a nice touch too.

If you are looking for a light-weight, but interesting auction game that is both unique and fun, buy QE. Like I said it should have lots of opportunities to get to the table.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 2 out of 6
Player Interaction 6 of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 2 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6