In Colony, players constructs and upgrades buildings, while managing resources to grow their fledgling colony. In a clever twist, dice are used as resources, with each side/number symbolizing a different resource. Some resources are stable, allowing them to be stored between turns, while others need to be used right away. Buildings give new capabilities, such as increased production, resource manipulation, and additional victory points. Using dice-as-resources creates a dynamic, ever-changing resources management mini-game while players work to earn victory points by adding building to their tableau on their way to victory.

Colony comes with 28 different building card types, of which only seven are used each game in addition to the fixed buildings that are used each time that you play.