Moderne
Zeiten
reviewed by Aaron Haag
Reading the name and looking at the game’s cover does not really provide you with any clue
about the theme of “Moderne Zeiten” (Modern Times). Many gamers will think it is about
transportation, a notion that is seemingly confirmed when looking at the game’s most prominent
components: small Zeppelins that act as players’ pawns. But this is far out as “Moderne
Zeiten” actually is a stock trading game.
Players try to achieve a majority in the kinds of stock they openly display in front of them, a
concept already known from classic games like Sid Sackson’s “Acquire” or Alan R.
Moon’s “Airlines”. If a player holds the majority in any type of stock at the end of
his turn he moves his Zeppelin to the next vacant city space on the board displaying that stock,
with the ability of choosing between several spaces if he holds several majorities. This space is
then permanently marked occupied with the player’s token. Additionally, a small player chit is
placed on a city/stock matrix at the location of that stock and city combination. The players’
ultimate goal is to reach majorities in both the stock column and the city rows on that matrix as
these provide victory points at the end of the game.
Acquiring stock is performed by drawing cards from a face down stock pile and by bidding for a
set of stock cards drawn from that stack and auctioned off by the active player. The highest bidder
receives the set of cards and distributes his money bid evenly amongst the other players. This
concept creates a permanent shift of “wealth” between the players and is asking for
proper timing of one’s acquisitions.
No stock trading game without a stock market crash, so that concept has been added as well. A
crash occurs whenever a certain maximum number of stock cards are openly displayed in front of all
players. Once that number is reached the stock with the most cards on display is removed from all
players and put on the discard pile.
Let’s look at the challenges the players are facing when playing “Moderne
Zeiten”:
- Bidding on stock

It is advantages to not outbid the player to your right if the amount bid by him is a multiple of
the number of players plus 1. This way you will always receive one dollar more of the bidder’s
money than any other player. This of course needs to be balanced with the current “value”
of the stock being auctioned. - Creating majorities
Display several majorities as early as possible with as little cards as necessary. This way you can
always add cards to your display and consequently move your Zeppelin on the board. - Moving the Zeppelin
Do not move too fast! Leaving many free spaces behind leaves potential victory points to your
opponents. Try to have several majorities to move slowly. Watch your opponents’ chits on the
score matrix. If you have a save majority in a row or column skip these fields on the Zeppelin
track to move faster. If you are leading in VPs consider to move as fast as possible in order to
end the game quickly. - Creating a crash
A carefully played card can create a majority in one owns stock while at the same destroying a
majority of another player in another stock by creating a crash. Careful and well timed play is a
must here to protect one’s own majorities for as long as possible.
“Moderne Zeiten” requires players to watch several areas at the same time while
leaving you with the problem of not being able to tackle all of them. Like any good strategy game
“Moderne Zeiten” requires careful planning and execution. Compared to the aforementioned
“Acquire” and “Airlines” I view “Moderne Zeiten” as an “Airlines
light” game, which can be played in less time, is a little less demanding but no less fun to
play. Strongly recommended.



Das Problem beim Streckenbau besteht darin, dass man nicht beliebig jede Stadt auf dem
Diese Zahlen sind natürlich mehr eine mathematische Spielerei als eine Empfehlung, wie