Is Brass: Birmingham good for kids? Age and difficulty

You are an entrepreneur in England's Industrial Revolution, building canals, railways and industries such as cotton mills, coal mines, iron works and breweries across the West Midlands. Each turn you discard a card to take two actions from build, network, develop, sell, loan and scout. Coal, iron and beer have to be connected and consumed, and money spent decides turn order. The game has a canal era and a rail era, and the most points after both wins.

What age is Brass: Birmingham for?

Box says 14+

We suggest 13+ with an adult helping, 14+ on their own.

Costs, card rules, resource connections, loans and two scoring eras all have to be learned and planned together. Choosing a card, then two linked actions, then watching turn order change with spending is hard to do well. A 13 year old can join with an adult explaining the network and supply rules, and 14 is when they can plan long chains and manage money and income on their own.

  • Hard to learn
  • 2 to 4 players
  • 60 to 120 minutes
  • About 15 minutes to set up (our estimate)
  • Competitive

Players can block each other. Players can hurt each other's plans directly. Content: A business game with no fighting. You can build over an opponent's coal mine or iron works, but only when no coal (or iron) is left anywhere on the board, including the market, and you can take loans that lower your income. Beer barrels are a resource, and the rulebook's historical notes mention children as young as seven working in mills and girls working in nail making.

Rated from the rulebook, checked 2026-10-19

How we rate games

Rules as of the Roxley English rulebook, v2018.11.

Where do these facts come from?

Age, players and play time come from the publisher. The difficulty and our age suggestions come from reading the official rulebook. We have not built a lesson or setup guide for Brass: Birmingham yet.

What else could you try?

  • Root: Fight for the forest with animal factions that each play by completely different rules.
  • Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion: A cooperative campaign of card-driven fantasy battles for experienced players.
  • Spirit Island: Work together as island Spirits to push back colonists before the land is blighted.
  • Terraforming Mars: Run a corporation and turn Mars green by playing hundreds of different project cards.

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