{"id":3626,"date":"2006-07-05T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-05T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/2006\/07\/05\/modernezeiten\/"},"modified":"2006-07-05T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-05T10:00:00","slug":"modernezeiten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/blog\/2006\/07\/05\/modernezeiten\/","title":{"rendered":"Moderne\nZeiten"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moderne
\nZeiten<\/a><\/h2>\n

reviewed by Aaron Haag<\/p>\n

Reading the name and looking at the game’s cover does not really provide you with any clue
\nabout the theme of “Moderne Zeiten” (Modern Times). Many gamers will think it is about
\ntransportation, a notion that is seemingly confirmed when looking at the game’s most prominent
\ncomponents: small Zeppelins that act as players’ pawns. But this is far out as “Moderne
\nZeiten” actually is a stock trading game.<\/p>\n

Players try to achieve a majority in the kinds of stock they openly display in front of them, a
\nconcept already known from classic games like Sid Sackson’s “Acquire” or Alan R.
\nMoon’s “Airlines”. If a player holds the majority in any type of stock at the end of
\nhis turn he moves his Zeppelin to the next vacant city space on the board displaying that stock,
\nwith the ability of choosing between several spaces if he holds several majorities. This space is
\nthen permanently marked occupied with the player’s token. Additionally, a small player chit is
\nplaced on a city\/stock matrix at the location of that stock and city combination. The players’
\nultimate goal is to reach majorities in both the stock column and the city rows on that matrix as
\nthese provide victory points at the end of the game.<\/p>\n

Acquiring stock is performed by drawing cards from a face down stock pile and by bidding for a
\nset of stock cards drawn from that stack and auctioned off by the active player. The highest bidder
\nreceives the set of cards and distributes his money bid evenly amongst the other players. This
\nconcept creates a permanent shift of “wealth” between the players and is asking for
\nproper timing of one’s acquisitions.<\/p>\n

No stock trading game without a stock market crash, so that concept has been added as well. A
\ncrash occurs whenever a certain maximum number of stock cards are openly displayed in front of all
\nplayers. Once that number is reached the stock with the most cards on display is removed from all
\nplayers and put on the discard pile.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at the challenges the players are facing when playing “Moderne
\nZeiten”:<\/p>\n