Glass Road

Glass Road leads you into the Bavarian Forest of the 18th century. With two Production wheels at your disposal, you will be tasked with the production of glass and bricks as well as managing other resources. You will need to develop your very own landscape and build upon it a variety of buildings that will grant you many benefits. At the heart of the game is your set of 15 specialists, of which you will only use 5 during each of the game’s building periods. But it is not as simple as that, for your opponents also have access to the same cards, and if one of them plays a card you’ve chosen, your options will be reduced drastically. In this game about glass making, flexibility will be your best asset to seize victory!

Glass Road is a game that commemorates the 700-year-old tradition of glass-making in the Bavarian Forest. (Today the Glass Road is a route through the Bavarian Forest that takes visitors to many of the old glass houses and museums of that region.) You must skillfully manage your glass and brick production in order to build the right structures that help you to keep your business flowing. Cut the forest to keep the fires burning in the ovens, and spread and remove ponds, pits and groves to supply yourself with the items you need. Fifteen specialists are there at your side to carry out your orders...

The game consists of four building periods. Each player has an identical set of fifteen specialist cards, and each specialist comes with two abilities. At the beginning of each building period, each player needs to choose a hand of five specialists. If he then plays a specialist that no other player has remaining in his hand, he may use both abilities of that card; if two or more players play the same specialist, each of them may use only one of the two abilities. Exploiting the abilities of the specialists lets you collect resources, lay out new landscape tiles (e.g., ponds and pits), and build a variety of buildings. There are three types of buildings:

1. Processing buildings
2. Immediate buildings with a one-time effect
3. Buildings that provide bonus points at the end of the game for various accomplishments

Mastering the balance of knowing the best specialist card to play and being flexible about when you play it – together with assembling a clever combination of buildings – is the key to this game.

Learn more about Glass Road on boardgamegeek.com