Civilization (1980 board game)

Lore & Background

The Civilization board depicts areas around the Mediterranean Sea, divided into many regions. Each player plays a historic civilization and starts in the area appropriate for that civilization, attempting to grow and expand their empire over successive turns. The goal is to be first to advance to the final space on the Archaeological Succession Table (AST) and then meet an additional condition—having the most cities or a specific number of cities. The AST starts at 8,000 B.C. and ends at 250 B.C., containing fifteen spaces that players advance each turn, though certain conditions must be met at several points, such as having a certain number of cities. Games usually last more than fifteen turns because any given civilization is unlikely to meet the advancement criteria at every stage.

Reader's Guide

Civilization is unusual in that it does not focus on war and combat, as many games of its genre do. Instead, players are encouraged to trade and cooperate to advance, though war and combat are entirely permissible and sometimes inevitable. The game is designed to limit players' geographical expansion possibilities, forcing them to deal with other civilizations militarily, diplomatically, or otherwise. Trade is the most important activity: trade cards give wealth, which helps a civilization advance on the AST. Players can convert excess population into cities, each granting a trade card of one of eleven commodities, such as iron, salt, and grain. Collecting more cards in a set gives a larger payout (number of cards squared times the commodity value). Along with trade cards come eight calamity cards, such as volcano eruptions, famine, and civil war, which destroy population and cities. The player stuck with a calamity card at the end of trading suffers that calamity. After trading and calamities, players cash in commodity sets to purchase civilization cards, such as agriculture, coinage, philosophy, and medicine, which grant special abilities and bonuses. The game's legacy includes several expansions, such as Advanced Civilization (1991), and computer adaptations like Incunabula (1984) and Avalon Hill's Advanced Civilization (1995).

Did You Know?

• The game typically takes eight or more hours to play.
• It was out of print for many years before republication in 2018 by Gibsons Games.
• There are eight calamity cards, including volcano eruptions, famine, and civil war.

Legacy and Influence on Strategy Gaming

Civilization (1980) is widely regarded as one of the most influential titles in the strategy board game genre. It is cited as a foundational work for both the grand strategy and 4X subgenres that would later dominate the medium. Perhaps its most enduring mechanical contribution is being the first game to incorporate what is now universally called a technology tree—a progression system in which players must acquire certain items or abilities before unlocking others. This prerequisite-based advancement structure became a staple across both board games and video games in the decades that followed. The game's emphasis on long-term civilizational growth, resource management, and incremental progress over simple military conquest set a template that countless later titles would follow. Even after spending many years out of print, the Civilization brand (now owned by Hasbro) saw a revival when Gibsons Games republished it in 2018, a testament to the lasting cultural footprint of Tresham's original design.

A Game Built on Commerce, Not Conquest

Unlike most strategy board games of its era, Civilization deliberately de-emphasizes direct military combat as the primary path to victory. While war and conflict remain entirely permissible—and the game's design actually limits geographical expansion, sometimes making confrontation unavoidable—the core engine of progress is trade and cooperation. Players are encouraged to negotiate, barter, and build economic relationships with neighboring civilizations. The trade system is intricate: each city grants a commodity card from eleven types, and collecting multiple cards of the same commodity yields a payout calculated as the number of cards squared times the commodity's base value. This quadratic reward structure means that assembling a full set of gems (four cards, worth 128 points) or salt (nine cards, worth 243 points) becomes a central strategic pursuit. To facilitate set collection, players must trade with one another, offering cards while truthfully stating only one card and the total point value of the deal. These trade sessions often become loud, exuberant affairs as players attempt to outmaneuver each other.

The Archaeological Succession Table and Game Structure

The central victory condition in Civilization revolves around the Archaeological Succession Table, a fifteen-space progression track spanning from 8,000 B.C. to 250 B.C. Players advance along this table each turn, but at several key points they must satisfy specific prerequisites—such as maintaining a certain number of cities—before they can move forward. Because no single civilization is likely to meet every advancement criterion on schedule, typical games extend well beyond fifteen turns, often lasting eight hours or more. The game accommodates two to seven players, each representing a historic civilization that begins in its geographically appropriate region on a Mediterranean-focused board. Population starts as a single token and expands exponentially in early turns, forcing players to spread out and eventually encounter one another. Cities are built by gathering six population tokens in favorable areas or twelve elsewhere. The board's limited space naturally constrains expansion, creating the friction that drives both trade and conflict throughout the game's lengthy sessions.

Calamity, Risk, and the Human Element

One of Civilization's most distinctive and socially engaging features is its calamity card system. Alongside the trade commodity cards, players also manage eight calamity cards representing disasters like volcanic eruptions, famines, and civil wars, each of which wipes out population and cities when it lands on a player. The tension arises during trade: a player must truthfully state one card in their offered set and the total point value, but the remaining cards are undisclosed. This means a calamity card can be slipped into a trade, and the player who ends up holding it at the close of trading must suffer its devastating effects. The result is a layer of psychological warfare embedded within what is ostensibly a cooperative economic exchange. Players must weigh the risk of accepting a trade against the potential benefit of completing a valuable commodity set. The combination of this hidden-information mechanic, the quadratic scoring that rewards set completion, and the vocal, exuberant trade negotiations creates a uniquely social and emotionally charged experience that distinguishes Civilization from more mechanically sterile strategy games.

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