My Nucleum journey has really been on the upswing.

When I reviewed the base game—released in 2023 by Board&Dice, designed by Simone Luciani and David Turczi—I had a lot of good things to say, but I wasn’t sure Nucleum was on the list of all-time classics. Now, about 15 plays in, I’ve landed on higher ground: this is some of the best medium-heavy strategy gaming out there, particularly perfect for fans of games that combine the best of Euro-style asymmetric power titles and route-building extravaganzas such as the Brass system (Age of Industry, Lancashire, and Birmingham).

Nucleum is something else. My love affair has only grown since late 2025, when the base game appeared in alpha on Board Game Arena. While a solo mode was not included in the first pass on alpha, it’s been easy to find multiplayer games with others who love the Nucleum system.

“I’ll make Nucleum expansions as long as [Board&Dice] keeps letting me,” Turczi told me during a conversation I had with him at SPIEL Essen 2025. “I love Nucleum.” Turczi, along with a team that includes Borys Bielaś and Andrei Novac, designed the latest expansion, Nucleum: Energy Research Institute. It’s an expansion that keeps things simple: Energy Research Institute is for Nucleum superfans, or those who think they…

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