In a board game, an engine is a mechanic that produces more and more points, money, or resources as the game goes on. As a generic example, players might lay down cards that chain actions together to produce more resources than any of those cards would alone; the chained cards would be considered the “engine”.

In a game that relies heavily on engines as a mechanic (“Engine Building Game”), players must build or set up their “engines” as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to win.

• Example: Through the Ages, Agricola, Terraforming Mars, Wingspan