boardgamevideo
  • Trending
  • Videos
  • Games
  • Channels
  • Lists
  • Shorts

Explore

  • Home
  • Trending
  • Channels
  • Videos
  • Games
  • Lists
  • Shorts
  • Conventions
  • Year in Review

Browse by type

  • Reviews
  • How to play
  • Playthroughs
  • Unboxing
  • Top 100 lists
  • Featured videos
  • Trending this week
  • Rising games
  • Games with fresh review perspectives

Information

  • About
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022–2026 BoardGameVideo.com

Powered by BGG
  • Videos
  • Trending
  • Shorts
  • Channels
  • Games
  • Lists
Ponzi Scheme

Ponzi Scheme

2015·Jesse Li

3 - 5 players
60 - 90 min
Medium weight: Teach it in one sitting

From BoardGameGeek

Based on the textbook example of financial scams, "Ponzi Scheme" is the term used to describe the technique Charles Ponzi employed in 1919 to operate one of the most notorious financial frauds in history. The goal of the game is simple: Don't be the first player to go bankrupt! In the game Ponzi Scheme, players are scammers trying to trick investors into funding fraudulent investments with the promise of extremely high returns. You need elaborate trading skills to keep your operation afloat as long as possible, and as time goes on the dividends you need to pay every turn will only pile higher and higher! But when someone declares bankruptcy, the remaining fraudster who forged the biggest shell corporation wins the game! In more detail, on each turn, players must take one new Fund card from the Funding boards along with a corresponding Industry tile and cash as indicated on the card. You need to pay the "promised reward" of each Fund card in a number of rounds. After all players have taken their Fund cards, they may choose to initiate an "inside trade" with one other player in order to buy the Industry you want with a price they can't refuse, or sell your own Industry to them with a good price. At the end of the round, players rotate their Time Wheel 1 or 2 spaces, and pay the "promised reward" to the bank if any Fund card is due. The game continues until at least one player cannot pay the "promised reward" due and goes bankrupt. That player is out of the game, and the remaining player who has the most VP on their Industry wins.

Ponzi Scheme

Which Ponzi Scheme video should I watch?

Ponzi Scheme has 3 videos from 3 creators: 2 reviews and 1 other video. They date from 2025 to May 2026.

If you like it, try Heiki Strike Alternative and Guns & Steel: Renaissance, also by Jesse Li, or Distilled and Bohnanza, which share several of its mechanics.

All videos

Ponzi Scheme - First Play ReviewReview11:18

Ponzi Scheme - First Play Review

Getting Games

Getting Games

Ponzi Scheme: Review: Economic Board GamesReview13:46

Ponzi Scheme: Review: Economic Board Games

Economic Board Games

Economic Board Games

Ponzi Scheme #boardgames #boardgamelife #龐式騙局0:07

Ponzi Scheme #boardgames #boardgamelife #龐式騙局

給肥龍一盒桌遊

給肥龍一盒桌遊

Creators who cover this

All channels
Economic Board Games
Economic Board Games
1 video of this game
Getting Games
Getting Games
1 video of this game
給肥龍一盒桌遊
給肥龍一盒桌遊
1 video of this game

Games like this

All games

Heiki Strike Alternative

2019·Afong Lee, Jesse Li

Videos
3
Creators
3
Mostly reviews and playthroughs

2 players·30 - 45 min·Light weight

Guns & Steel: Renaissance

2016·Jesse Li

Videos
1
Creators
1
How-to-play

2 - 4 players·40 - 70 min·Medium weight

Distilled

2023·Dave Beck

Videos
146
Creators
107
Mainly reviews

1 - 5 players·30 - 150 min·Heavy weight

Bohnanza

1997·Uwe Rosenberg

Videos
64
Creators
50
Mainly reviews

3 - 7 players·45 min·Light weight

About Ponzi Scheme

From BoardGameGeek:

Based on the textbook example of financial scams, "Ponzi Scheme" is the term used to describe the technique Charles Ponzi employed in 1919 to operate one of the most notorious financial frauds in history. The goal of the game is simple: Don't be the first player to go bankrupt! In the game Ponzi Scheme, players are scammers trying to trick investors into funding fraudulent investments with the promise of extremely high returns. You need elaborate trading skills to keep your operation afloat as long as possible, and as time goes on the dividends you need to pay every turn will only pile higher and higher! But when someone declares bankruptcy, the remaining fraudster who forged the biggest shell corporation wins the game! In more detail, on each turn, players must take one new Fund card from the Funding boards along with a corresponding Industry tile and cash as indicated on the card. You need to pay the "promised reward" of each Fund card in a number of rounds. After all players have taken their Fund cards, they may choose to initiate an "inside trade" with one other player in order to buy the Industry you want with a price they can't refuse, or sell your own Industry to them with a good price. At the end of the round, players rotate their Time Wheel 1 or 2 spaces, and pay the "promised reward" to the bank if any Fund card is due. The game continues until at least one player cannot pay the "promised reward" due and goes bankrupt. That player is out of the game, and the remaining player who has the most VP on their Industry wins.

Designer

Jesse Li

Artists

Chih-Fan Chen, Ossi Hiekkala

Publisher

Homosapiens Lab

Categories

Economic

Mechanics

Resource ManagementSet CollectionMarket & Trading
View on BoardGameGeek ›
Home
Games
Ponzi Scheme
cached: 180899