King Oil

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

King Oil by Milton Bradley

King Oil is a boardgame by Milton Bradley, created in 1974 and now long out-of-print. The game requires players to drill for oil on a three-dimensional board, acquiring property and wealth.

The board is randomized using three rotating discs, hidden inside the plastic frame of the game and containing varying hole locations. There are 512 possible set-ups for the game.

The rotating discs determine the depth of the wells that players will drill, with four possibilities: shallow depth (the "driller" passes through no holes and shows all three colors), medium depth (passes through one hole, shows two colors), deep depth (passes through two holes, shows one color), and dry hole (passes through all three holes, shows no colors).

Before drilling, players must buy property. Pipelines can be bought once you have 4 producing oil wells on a property. The pipelines span into adjacent properties, enabling the pipeline owner to siphon royalties from the adjacent property owner every turn. This game mechanic accelerates bankruptcy of opposing players, keeping total playing time within reasonable limits.

The goal of the game is to push all your opponents into bankruptcy. Once all players are bankrupt, except one, that last remaining player is the winner.

The game is played by two to four players. The game includes 1 playing surface, 1 oil well "driller", 84 derricks, 128 well caps, 24 tool sheds, 38 pipelines, and 32 King Oil turn cards.