Once Upon a Time in Phlogiston
2025
BGG Average Rating
7.1
community average
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Players
1-4
Weight
3.00/5.00
Playtime
90 min
Age
15+
⚙️ Game Mechanics
How this game works - core systems and player actions
🏢 Publishers
📖 About This Game
Once Upon a Time in Phlogiston is a simultaneously selected action-programming worker placement game set in a sprawling interstellar mafia empire.
After decades of conquest and expansion, the Jena Federation — a rogue immigrant ship-turned-superpower — has reached the peak of its influence across the Star Systems. But with the sudden death of its supreme leader, the Federation descends into turmoil. Players take on the roles of high-ranking lieutenants in the criminal hierarchy, each vying to become the next supreme leader.
Over the course of the game, players will gather allies, build influence, complete underworld jobs, and expand their territory across a network of planets and operations. Every round, players secretly choose their actions and then resolve them simultaneously, leading to tight strategic choices, daring bluffs, and unpredictable power struggles.
With a rich theme blending space opera, criminal politics, and high-stakes betrayal, Phlogiston delivers a deeply strategic euro-style experience wrapped in a cinematic narrative arc.