Frequently asked questions - Game Rules
MEGA EMPIRES is a strategy board game for 3-18 players, based on historical context. In this massive game, players lead their civilizations as they try to gain victory points by expanding their populations, trading and developing cultural advancements. One of the major game play elements is interaction between players by both commodity trading and area control. Conflict may occur, but players will benefit most through the use of diplomacy, trading tactics and strategic alliances. The long term strategy will eventually create the most powerful civilizations.
At this point, the games are not yet available. But pre-ordering will be open soon at the Ares Games Shop.
As soon as pre-orders are available, this website will have a redirect shop available as well. Until that moment, the shop is disabled on this website.
Latest update: 1 September 2024.
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There are various ways to find organized games or look for other players in your neighborhood:
• Join the Mega Empires Facebook group.
• Follow the Mega Empires Facebook information page.
• Post in a forum on Board Game Geek.
• Subscribe to the Mega Empires newsletter.
Yes, these games are fully compatible.
Yes, these games are fully compatible.
No, this product is out of stock and has been superseded by Mega Empires: The West. This is a revised edition and is fully compatible.
No, this product is out of stock and has been superseded by Mega Empires: The East. This is a revised edition and is fully compatible.
No, this product is out of stock and has been superseded by Mega Empires: The West and Mega Empires: The East. These are standalone revised editions.
We are working on a details list with FAQ on the rules which can be downloaded here. These will be published soon. This goes as well for all rulebooks once they are available.
If you have any question at this point, please consult our pages at Board Game Geek, or send an email through our contact form.
We are working on a details list with FAQ on the rules which can be downloaded here. These will be published soon. This goes as well for all rulebooks once they are available.
If you have any question at this point, please consult our pages at Board Game Geek, or send an email through our contact form.
This depends on the product.
Mega Civilization:
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
Western Empires:
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
Western Empires – THE SPECIAL BUILDINGS EXPANSION
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
Eastern Empires:
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
Eastern Empires – THE SPECIAL BUILDINGS EXPANSION
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
MEGA EMPIRES: THE WEST:
This product is published by Ares Games. For customer service please contact customercare@aresgames.eu
MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST:
This product is published by Ares Games. For customer service please contact customercare@aresgames.eu
Colossus Games is a Dutch company that designs and develops high-quality strategic board games, founded in 2024 by long time friends and cousins Flo de Haan and Gerart de Haan. Mega Empires is the key product offered by Colossus Games.
Colossus Game are the designers and developers of Mega Empires and are not the publishers.
To read more, please visit our website.
Flo de Haan is a board game designer from the Netherlands. In the mid 2000s he and Gerart de Haan joined the initiative of John Rodriguez for making an expanded and upgraded version of the Civilization Board game, which resulted in the release of Mega Civilization (2015), Western Empires (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021), expansions and upgrades.
Together with cousin and friend Gerart he took the lead in taking Mega Empires to a new level. In 2024, Flo and Gerart founded Colossus Games with the aim to reissue the Mega Empires products and to develop new products under this brand. After working together for over 15 years, John Rodriguez and the team parted ways in friendly way.
Photo: Henk Rolleman
Gerart de Haan is a board game designer from the Netherlands. In the mid 2000s joined the initiative of John Rodriguez and Flo de Haan for making an expanded and upgraded version of the Civilization Board game, which resulted in the release of Mega Civilization (2015), Western Empires (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021), expansions and upgrades.
Together with cousin and friend Flo he took the lead in taking Mega Empires to a new level. In 2024, Flo and Gerart founded Colossus Games with the aim to reissue the Mega Empires products and to develop new products under this brand. After working together for over 15 years, John Rodriguez and the team parted ways in friendly way.
Photo: Henk Rolleman
John Rodriguez is a board game designer from Texas, USA. In the early 2000s he started an initiative for making an expanded and upgraded version of the Civilization Board game. John had great ideas that sparked the idea of making a game this big. John was later joined by Flo de Haan and Gerart de Haan, after which the project was taken to a next level expanding and improving the game even more. Eventually this cooperation resulted in the release of Mega Civilization (2015), Western Empires (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021).
In 2024, the game 3 authors discussed the potential for a reissue of Mega Empires products and the development of new products. John then decided to step away from the new activities and focus on his private life instead, after which his cooperation with Flo and Gerart was ended by mutual agreement in a friendly way.
Ares Games is an Italian game publisher, known for producing high-quality strategic board games such as War of the Ring and Wings of Glory. In 2024, Colossus Games and Ares Games announced a new partnership with Colossus Games for the publication and distribution of Mega Empires products.
999 Games is a Dutch publisher of board games and card games, founded by Michael Bruinsma in 1990 and mainly active in the Dutch and Belgian market. In 2015 they published Mega Civilization, followed by Western Empires and The Special Buildings expansions (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021).
In 2024, the authors of Mega Empires and 999 Games ended their partnership for the publication and distribution of Mega Empires products by mutual agreement.
After publishing Mega Civilization (2015), Western Empires (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021), 999 Games decided to focus on a different segment in the board game market, mainly focusing on the Netherlands and Belgium. The authors of Mega Civilization and 999 Games have ended their partnership by mutual agreement and have founded Colossus Games afterward.
Michael was the founder and director of 999 Games, who supported the release of Mega Civilization in 2015 and follow-up products in the subsequent years. This made him a key person in the realization and success of Mega Empires. Sadly, Michael passed away in 2022. The authors of Mega Empires are very grateful to Michael for his involvement and passion for board games, and have much appreciated his enthusiasm, hospitality, and unconventional character.
Francis Tresham (1936-2019) was one of the most brilliant board game designers ever existed. He was the inventor of the board game Civilization in 1980, and as well of many more great board games such as 1829, 1830 and Revolution. Sadly he passed away on the day of the release of Western Empires in 2019. The designers of Mega Empires pay great hommage to Francis Tresham as Mega Empires was inspired by Civilization.
Way before Mega Civilization, in the early 90s, there has been a dispute between the copyright owners of a computer game called Civilization and a board game called this way. This resulted in a settlement where the computer game became the now famous Sid Meier’s Civilization, and the board game was tied to strict rules to be able to call it this way. This meant that only the unchanged 1980 original can be called Civilization.
When we released Mega Civilization in the mid 2010s, an agreement was made with the licensor of that brand at that point, which granted us the right to use ‘Civilization’ within our name. In 2018 this license for using the trademark was traded, and new negotiations were made. The new owners of the trademark were planning to release a reissue of the 1980 game, and our game had proved to be rather more distinct than similar. To create an own identity and avoid confusion with several other board- and computer games that carry name Civilization, in consultation with the owners of the Civilization trademark and copyright to the original board game, it was decided in 2018 to rebrand the overall branch to Mega Empires in 2018. Ever since the name Civilization is no longer used. This paved the way to work onto the future of our branch and create the modular concept of Mega Empires.
Apart from naming the branch Mega Empires, we decided to publish the game formerly known as Mega Civilization as two stand alone editions being named Western Empires and Eastern Empires.
In 2018 Mega Civilization was rebranded to Mega Empires.
Western Empires and Eastern Empires were already part of the overarching brand Mega Empires. After the partnership with 999 Games ended, the authors planned to continue this line of games with a new publisher and to develop new products which are compatible with the existing ones.
In coordination with Ares Games, the new publisher, it was decided to rename the reissued versions to Mega Empires: The West and Mega Empires: The East respectively to emphasize the new direction taken and prepare for new products under the Mega Empires brand.
Many people enjoy online games, just as many enjoy tabletop games.
At Colossus Games, we believe in fostering connections by bringing people together around a table, rather than providing a semi-solo experience typical of online games. Our goal is to create an experience where players can look each other in the eye while trading cards, deciding whether to trust or betray one another, and enjoy each other’s company in the same room. It’s about witnessing the joy or disappointment when someone achieves their goal or faces betrayal from another player. This is the core of the game. This is the essence of board gaming in general. A game of Mega Empires is a full day of fun, playing, eating, drinking, and conversing together. Even though some might like to express the mechanics of Mega Empires in a digital version, automating most actions, we are convinced that this unique experience cannot be replicated in an online format. Some attempts were done by people, unsupported by us, using email-based turns. In our opinion this does not come close to the real experience, where we focus on simultaneous playing, taking actions at real time, all players at the same time, rather than following a turn-by-turn structure as many games do. We try and step away from a turn-by-turn approach as much as possible.
This is why we do not offer an online version of Mega Empires, nor do we plan to collaborate with anyone developing such a game. Please enjoy one of the thousands and thousands of other online games instead, if you prefer to play online games.