Crystal Palace is set in the World’s Fair of 1851, in London, England, which featured a 990,000 square foot structure of iron and glass known as the Crystal Palace.  In the game, players display inventions from such minds as Phileas Fogg, Levi Strauss, and Amelia Edwards, including such unlikely gadgets as the Thinking Machine, Beer Glass Counter, and Climate Changer.

To accomplish their goals, players place dice on a variety of locations around London to gather resources and device patents.  Players can choose to use higher value dice, which awards better actions, but must pay for the dice they use, possibly forcing them to take loans.  The player who can put together the best display of inventions while pursuing their nation’s goals wins the game.

The game was created by Carsten Lauber (Drachensachen) and features artwork by Andrea Alemanno (Ascended).  It comes with 12 double-sided location boards, 1 main administration board, 5 double-sided player mats, 5 cardboard “treasure chests,” 60 cards, 75 tiles, 101 cardboard tokens, 115 wooden tokens, and 30 dice.  It is intended for 2 to 5 players, ages 14 and up, and takes 90 to 150 minutes to play.  MSRP is $69.95.

Capstone will also release the Splotter Spellen board game Bus in November (see “Alter the Time-Space Continuum with ‘Bus’”).