# Nucleum

Nucleum is a board game for 1–4 players. It plays in 60–150 minutes and is meant for ages 14 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 3. It is rated 8.5 out of 10 by 62 Ludoya reviewers. The cheapest copy in stock is $54.99 (United States).

- **Players:** 1–4 (best with 3)
- **Playing time:** 60–150 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 14+
- **Complexity:** 4.2 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2023
- **Categories:** Industry / Manufacturing, Science Fiction, Economic
- **Mechanics:** Solo / Solitaire Game, Tech Trees / Tech Tracks, Network and Route Building, Income, End Game Bonuses, Variable Player Powers, Hand Management, Contracts, Action Retrieval, Market
- **Ludoya rating:** 8.5 out of 10, from 62 reviews
- **Owned by:** 159 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 434
- **Unique players:** 497

**Designers:** Simone Luciani, Dávid Turczi

**Artists:** Zbigniew Umgelter, Andreas Resch, Piotr Sokołowski

**Publishers:** Board&Dice, 狗吠火車

## Where to buy in United States

| Shop | Price | Link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cardhaus Games | 54.99 $ | https://www.cardhaus.com/nucleum/ |
| Atomic Empire | 59.5 $ | https://www.atomicempire.com/Item/344839 |
| 401 Games | 73.95 $ | https://store.401games.ca/products/nucleum |
| Mathom | 61.6 € | https://mathom.es/es/otros-juegos-de-tablero/57573-nucleum-8436578817276.html |
| Svet deskovych her | 1095 Kč | https://www.svet-deskovych-her.cz/produkty/12949/nukleum |
| Lautapelikauppa | 48.93 € | https://lautapelikauppa.com/products/nucleum |
| Good Games | 81.24 $ | https://www.goodgames.com.au/products/nucleum |
| Outlet Games | 53.41 € | https://www.outletgames.es/juegos-de-mesa/maldito-games/nucleum-p-MDG-8436578817276.html |
| Fantasy Shop | 55.24 € | https://www.fantasy-shop.gr/en/nucleum.html |
| Spelexperten | 649 kr | https://www.spelexperten.com/sallskapsspel/strategispel/nucleum.html |
| Zatu Games | 49.49 £ | https://zatu.com/products/nucleum |
| TLAMA games | 1449 Kč | https://www.tlamagames.com/deskove-hry/nukleum--cesky/ |
| Hyggeonkel | 449.95 kr | https://www.hyggeonkel.dk/produkt/nucleum |
| Games Empire | 99.99 $ | https://gamesempire.com.au/products/nucleum |
| Alphaspel | 699 kr | https://alphaspel.se/491-bradspel/199241-nucleum-en |
| Milan Spiele | 62.5 € | https://www.milan-spiele.de/nucleum-engl-p-35004.html |
| La Gameria | 62.95 € | https://gameria.es/juegos-de-mesa/nucleum-14251.html |
| Juegos de la Mesa Redonda | 62.96 € | https://juegosdelamesaredonda.com/15218-nucleum-8436578817276.html |
| Va de jocs | 63 € | https://vadejocs.es/producto/nucleum |
| Goblin Trader Barcelona | 63 € | https://www.goblintrader.es/es/inicio/51037-nucleum.html |
| Magia de Tinta | 63.95 € | https://www.magiadetinta.com/es/juegos/7676-nucleum-8436578817276.html |
| Mono de Juegos | 65 € | https://www.monodejuegos.shop/juego-de-mesa/nucleum/ |
| Dragons Lair | 739 kr | https://dragonslair.se/products/nucleum |
| Pelipeikko | 67.95 € | https://pelipeikko.fi/fi/lautapelit/2622-nucleum |
| World of Board Games | 779 kr | https://www.worldofboardgames.com/nucleum |
| Spielezar | 69.9 Fr. | https://www.spielezar.ch/brettspiele/nukleum |
| Game Ninja | 869 kr | https://www.gameninja.no/produkt/nucleum/ |
| Fantasiapelit | 85.4 € | https://www.fantasiapelit.com/index.php?main=ai&kat=single&mista=indeksi&etsittava=_227296 |

## Expansions

- [Nucleum: Australia](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-australia)
- [Nucleum: Court of Progress](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-court-of-progress)
- [Nucleum: Patrons Set](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-patrons-set)
- [Nucleum: Energy Research Institute](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-energy-research-institute)
- [Nucleum: Acrylic Nucleums Promo](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-acrylic-nucleums-promo)
- [Nucleum: Nucleum Half Tiles Promo](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-nucleum-half-tiles-promo)
- [Nucleum: Neons Promo](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-neons-promo)
- [Nucleum: New Contracts Promo](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-new-contracts-promo)
- [Nucleum: Gibraltar](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-gibraltar)
- [Nucleum: Turbine Development Tiles Promo](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-turbine-development-tiles-promo)
- [Nucleum: New Military Technologies Promo](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-new-military-technologies-promo)
- [Nucleum: Dice Tower Promo 2025](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-dice-tower-promo-2025)
- [Nucleum: New Starting Contract Tiles](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-new-starting-contract-tiles)
- [Nucleum: Railway-only Action tiles Promo](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-railway-only-action-tiles-promo)
- [Nucleum: Plutonium Mines Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-plutonium-mines-expansion)
- [Nucleum: Neutral Buildings Promo](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum-neutral-buildings-promo)

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- [Galactic Cruise](https://www.ludoya.com/games/galactic-cruise)
- [Stephens](https://www.ludoya.com/games/stephens)

## Rules questions

### Do I always need a Worker to place a railway tile, and what about red railway spaces?

You must place a Worker on the tile when you place a railway tile and you may not choose the Railway option if you cannot obtain a Worker (you can spend Uranium to gain one in a pinch); placing on red railway spaces additionally costs 2 Thaler (see p.11).

### When I Energize a power plant, can I use other players' rails and how much Uranium can I transport?

You may use any completed rail lines (not just your own) to transport coal or Uranium to the selected plant; Uranium can only be transported if the plant has a Nucleum and from your connected Mines, and you can transport 1 Uranium by default plus +1 for each Turbine present (techs can modify this); if you use another player's Turbine you must pay them 1 Thaler per Turbine (see pp.15–16).

### How do I calculate electricity when Energizing and which Building can I energize?

Electricity = 1 per transported coal, 2 per transported Uranium, plus any electricity from the Action tile, your Turbines, or Technologies; you then choose exactly one connected unenergized Urban Building whose requirement is ≤ the electricity produced, take its printed benefits and Achievement tokens, and flip it to its energized side (energized VPs score at game end, Praha double) (see pp.16–17 & p.21).

### How does coal import pricing and discounts work when I import coal to a power plant?

Each imported coal costs the price shown on the Coal Import Wagon in that import area and the import tiles are flipped/removed so the price progresses up to a maximum of 3 Thaler; discounts from your Special Directive or Turbine effects apply to the total amount spent on coal (not per individual coal) (see p.16).

### What happens during Recharge if I must place my Milestone on the “0” space—do I get a penalty?

If you place a Milestone on the “0” Achievement space you get a bailout of 2 Thaler and 1 Worker immediately, but each Milestone marker on that space costs you 3 VP at game end; Recharge also grants income, may trigger King's Day scoring when a Milestone space is emptied, and forces you to discard all Achievement tokens (see pp.17 & 19).

### How do Contracts work—which colors can I take and how are they refilled?

With the Contract action you take one Silver or Gold Contract (Purple cannot be taken this way), immediately place it into an empty Contract slot on your player board and receive the listed reward, then refill the offer from the same color draw pile (or from the other color if that pile is empty); drawing the last Contract from the last pile is an endgame trigger (see pp.14 & 22).

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum)
- [Nucleum in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/nucleum)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/396790)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-19. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._