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|  Small World | | | | | |
| FAST AREA CONQUEST WITH UNIQUE RACES
In Small World, players vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all.
Designed by Philippe Keyaerts as a fantasy follow-up to his award-winning Vinci, Small World is inhabited by a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs, and even humans, who use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth.
Picking the right combination from the 14 different fantasy races and 20 unique special powers, players rush to expand their empires - often at the expense of weaker neighbors. Yet they must also know when to push their own over-extended civilization into decline and ride a new one to victory!
On each turn, you either use the multiple tiles of your chosen race (type of creatures) to occupy adjacent (normally) territories - possibly defeating weaker enemy races along the way, or you give up on your race letting it go into decline. A race in decline is designated by flipping the tiles over to their black-and-white side.
At the end of your turn, you score one point (coin) for each territory your races occupy. You may have one active race and one race in decline on the board at the same time. Your occupation total can vary depend on the special abilities of your race and the territories they occupy. After the final round, the player with the most coins wins.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: Area Control
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2009 |
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| Agricola | | | | | |
| WORKER PLACEMENT GAME WITH A FARMING THEME
In Agricola, youre a farmer in a wooden shack with your spouse and little else. On a turn, you get to take only two actions, one for you and one for the spouse, from all the possibilities youll find on a farm: collecting clay, wood, or stone; building fences; and so on. You might think about having kids in order to get more work accomplished, but first you need to expand your house. And what are you going to feed all the little rugrats?
The game supports many levels of complexity, mainly through the use (or non-use) of two of its main types of cards, Minor Improvements and Occupations. In the beginners version (called the Family Variant in the U.S. release), these cards are not used at all. For advanced play, the U.S. release includes three levels of both types of cards; Basic (E-deck), Interactive (I-deck), and Complex (K-deck), and the rulebook encourages players to experiment with the various decks and mixtures thereof. Aftermarket decks such as the Z-Deck and the L-Deck also exist.
Agricola is a turn-based game. There are 14 game rounds occurring in 6 stages, with a Harvest at the end of each stage (after Rounds 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 14).
Each player starts with two playing tokens (farmer and spouse) and thus can take two turns, or actions, per round. There are multiple options, and while the game progresses, youll have more and more: first thing in a round, a new action card is flipped over.
Problem: Each action can be taken by one player each round, so its important to do some things with high preference.
Each player also starts with a hand of 7 Occupation cards (of more than 160 total) and 7 Minor Improvement cards (of more than 140 total) that heshe may use during the game if they fit in hisher strategy. Speaking of which, there are countless strategies, some depending on your card hand. Sometimes its a good choice to stay on course, and sometimes it is better to react to your opponents actions.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: Resource Management
Category2: Worker Placement
Rating: 4
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2007 |
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| Sneaks & Snitches | | | | | |
| SUCCESS BY RIGHT-GUESSING AND CORRECT-CALCULATIONS
In this fast paced game you are the boss of sneaky thieves who are after prestige rather than money. Decide well what category of items you will be after and try to predict what other bosses will do. Send your team to the least expected location. Send your snitch to give police information about competing groups. Let the world know who’s number one in your domain!
Imagine you are the head of a company of thieves. Oh, not a filthy band of cutpurses and pickpockets, but rather an elite cadre of elegant ladies and gentlemen skilled in the art of illegal acquisition. As their criminal mastermind, your job is to coordinate their efforts and gain recognition as the best in the business.
You decide whether to enter the presitigious and risky field of information theft. You decide how much effort to focus on stealing artifacts and jewelry. And don’t forget about gold! Only the top thieves in each category will win the respect and admiration of their peers. Out-guess your competition and foil their plans, while sending your team after items no one expected you to steal.
Sneaks and Snitches is a fast-paced game of psychological suspense. To win, you will need to be perceptive, clever, and daring.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: Cards
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2010 |
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| Terra Mystica | | | | | |
| STRATEGY GAME WITH LITTLE LUCK
In the land of Terra Mystica dwell 14 different peoples in seven landscapes, and each group is bound to its own home environment, so to develop and grow, they must terraform neighboring landscapes into their home environments in competition with the other groups.
Terra Mystica is a game with very little luck that rewards strategic planning. Each player governs one of the 14 groups. With subtlety and craft, the player must attempt to rule as great an area as possible and to develop that groups skills. There are also four religious cults in which you can progress. To do all that, each group has special skills and abilities.
Taking turns, the players execute their actions on the resources they have at their disposal. Different buildings allow players to develop different resources. Dwellings allow for more workers. Trading houses allow players to make money. Strongholds unlock a groups special ability, and temples allow you to develop religion and your terraforming and seafaring skills. Buildings can be upgraded: Dwellings can be developed into trading houses; trading houses can be developed into strongholds or temples; one temple can be upgraded to become a sanctuary. Each group must also develop its terraforming skill and its skill with boats to use the rivers. The groups in question, along with their home landscape, are:
Desert (Fakirs, Nomads)
Plains (Halflings, Cultists)
Swamp (Alchemists, Darklings)
Lake (Mermaids, Swarmlings)
Forest (Witches, Auren)
Mountain (Dwarves, Engineers)
Solitude (Giants, Chaos Magicians)
Proximity to other groups is a double-edged sword in Terra Mystica. Being close to other groups gives you extra power, but it also means that expanding is more difficult...
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: Area Control
Category2: Resource Management
Rating: 5
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| Ticket to Ride Europe | | | | | |
| TRAINS LINKING USING CARDS COMBOS
With elegantly simple gameplay, Ticket to Ride can be learned in 3 minutes, while providing players with intense strategic and tactical decisions every turn. Players collect cards of various types of train cars they then use to claim railway routes in North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.
The rules are simple enough to write on a train ticket – each turn you either draw more cards, claim a route, or get additional Destination Tickets, says Ticket to Ride author, Alan R. Moon. The tension comes from being forced to balance greed – adding more cards to your hand, and fear – losing a critical route to a competitor.
Ticket to Ride: Europe takes you on a new train adventure across Europe. From Edinburgh to Constantinople and from Lisbon to Moscow, youll visit great cities of turn-of-the-century Europe. Like the original Ticket to Ride, the game remains elegantly simple, can be learned in 5 minutes, and appeals to both families and experienced gamers. Ticket to Ride: Europe is a complete, new game and does not require the original version.
More than just a new map, Ticket to Ride: Europe features brand new gameplay elements. Tunnels may require you to pay extra cards to build on them, Ferries require locomotive cards in order to claim them, and Stations allow you to sacrifice a few points in order to use an opponents route to connect yours. The game also includes larger format cards and Train Station game pieces.
The overall goal remains the same, collect and play train cards in order to place your pieces on the board, attempting to connect cities on your ticket cards. Points are earned both from placing trains and completing tickets but uncompleted tickets lose you points. The player who has the most points at the end of the game wins.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: Area Control
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2005 |
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| Kemet | | | | | |
| QUICK PACE GAME THAT WINS BY ATTACKING
In Kemet, players each deploy the troops of an Egyptian tribe and use the mystical powers of the gods of ancient Egypt – along with their powerful armies – to score points in glorious battles or through invasion of rich territories. A game is typically played to 8 or 10 victory points, which may be accrued through winning attacks, controlling temples, controlling fully-developed pyramids, sacrificing to the gods, and wielding particular magical powers.
The conquest for the land of Kemet takes place over two phases: Day and Night. During the day, choose an action amongst the nine possible choices provided by your player mat and perform it immediately. Once every player has taken five actions, night falls, with players gathering Prayer Points from their temples, drawing Divine Intervention cards, and determining the turn order before the start of the new day.
As the game progresses, they can use Prayer Points to acquire power tiles. Some of these enroll magical creatures and have them join their troops. In addition to intimidating enemies, these creatures provide special powers!
Detailed miniature components represent the combat units and the supernatural creatures that are summoned to enhance them. Combat is resolved through cards chosen from a diminishing six-card hand and enhanced by bonuses.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: War Strategy
Category2: Resource Management
Rating: 5
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| Lords of Waterdeep | | | | | |
| DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS WORKER PLACEMENT GAME
Waterdeep, the City of Splendors – the most resplendent jewel in the Forgotten Realms, and a den of political intrigue and shady back-alley dealings. In this game, the players are powerful lords vying for control of this great city. Its treasures and resources are ripe for the taking, and that which cannot be gained through trickery and negotiation must be taken by force!
In Lords of Waterdeep, a strategy board game for 2-5 players, you take on the role of one of the masked Lords of Waterdeep, secret rulers of the city. Through your agents, you recruit adventurers to go on quests on your behalf, earning rewards and increasing your influence over the city. Expand the city by purchasing new buildings that open up new actions on the board, and hinder – or help – the other lords by playing Intrigue cards to enact your carefully laid plans.
During the course of play, you may gain points or resources through completing quests, constructing buildings, playing intrigue cards or having other players utilize the buildings you have constructed. At the end of 8 rounds of play, the player who has accrued the most points wins the game.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Resource Management
Category2: Worker Placement
Rating: 4
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| Gangster | | | | | |
| ABSTRACT GAME OF AREA DOMINATION
Throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s, rival gangsters compete in a life or death struggle for control of the gleaming city on the shores of Lake Michigan. Each district is hotly contested, because in the end there can be only one “King of Chicago!”
You play a mob boss. You compete with your fellow bosses. Through careful placement of your “boys,” you control important locations throughout the city. But time is limited! Only three days remain for you to exert influence in the neighborhoods. Use these days wisely, because the gangster with the most influence at the end is proclaimed the boss of bosses! Beware! Your opponents seek the same raw glory. Take care, because if a gangster is invited down to the river for breakfast, he might not be around for supper!
Gather up your boys, hop in the sedan, and see if you have the skill, the cunning, and the ruthlessness to become Chicago’s top Gangster!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Area Control
Category2: Abstract Strategy
Rating: 5
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2007 |
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| Relic Runners | | | | | |
| In Relic Runners, each player takes on the role of a character keen to exploit and acquire relics that have been unearthed in a long lost part of the jungle. Each would-be archaeologist has a colorful past — retired university professor, former army captain, etc. — and wants to be the first to get their hands on the precious loot to earn the most victory points.
Players must navigate a series of paths in order to visit temples. The archaeologists are restricted in their movement by their access to rations, but thankfully they can place markers on paths to allow them to travel for free in future turns. The players also have a toolkit that can be upgraded in three particular ways to break the rules in some way or offer them an advantage as they move around.
Each time a player visits a temple, he takes a token. Initially the temples offer up victory points or some form of in-game bonus. When the final token is taken, a relic is placed there to be collected. The players earn large victory points for collecting relics of different types (set collection) and players can also earn bonus points for creating long routes and traveling along these to collect relics.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Abstract Strategy
Category2:
Rating: 4
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2013 |
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| BattleCON: Devastation of Indines | | | | | |
| FIGHTING GAME IN A BOARD
As new villains appear to lay claim to the world of Indines, new heroes rise to challenge them. BattleCON: Devastation of Indines puts you in control of 30 mighty heroes and deadly villains to decide the fate of the world.
BattleCON: Devastation of Indines is a standalone dueling card game designed for head-to-head and team play. Each player selects a character who uses a unique gameplay mechanism to give them an edge in combat. Take control of guitar-playing summoner, a pair of tag-teaming werewolves, a prodigal paladin, a genius artificer, and more! Each characters play style requires new strategies, but uses the same foundational tactics, making a new character easy to learn, but challenging to master.
Players move along a seven-space-long board, trading blows and attempting to strike the opponent, using attacks formed by combining a characters unique styles and abilities with a set of basic cards that all characters share. The last player standing wins!
BattleCON: Devastation of Indines can be played on its own or combined with BattleCON: War of Indines to create an even greater pool of characters and play variants.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Cards
Category2: fighting
Rating: Not Rated
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2013 |
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| Ra | | | | | |
| TILE BIDDING FOR GREAT FUN
Ra is an auction and set-collection game with an Ancient Egyptian theme. Each turn players are able to purchase lots of tiles with their bidding tiles (suns). Once a player has used up his or her suns, the other players continue until they do likewise, which may set up a situation with a single uncontested player bidding on tiles before the end of the round occurs. Tension builds because the round may end before all players have had a chance to win their three lots for the epoch. The various tiles either give immediate points, prevent negative points for not having certain types at the end of the round (epoch), or give points after the final round. The game lasts for three epochs (rounds). The game offers a short learning curve, and experienced players find it both fast-moving and a quick play.
Minimum Players: 3
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Auction/bidding
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 1999 |
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| Yedo | | | | | |
| BATTLE IN JAPAN
Japan, 1605 – Hidetada Tokugawa has succeeded his father as the new Shogun, ruling from the great city of Edo (a.k.a. Yedo), the city known in present times as Tokyo. This marks the beginning of the golden age of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the so-called Edo Period that will last until 1868. Naturally, the most powerful families in Edo immediately try to curry favor with the new Shogun – and this is the opportunity our clan has been looking for, our chance at power and glory. Our clan will prove ourselves to be indispensable to the new Shogun. We will work from the shadows to acquire information about our rival clans. We will kidnap those who might oppose our ascent and assassinate those who prove a threat. We will use cunning to prevent our adversaries from doing the same to us. We will find glory and honor in the eyes of this new Shogun – or failing that we will end his rule by any means necessary.
In the strategy game Yedo, players assume the roles of Clan Elders in the city of Edo during the early years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The object of the game is to amass Prestige Points, mainly by completing missions. To do so, players must gather the necessary assets and – most importantly – outfox their opponents and prevent them from completing their missions.
There are several ways to reach your goal. Will you try to complete as many missions as possible and hope that your efforts catch the Shoguns eye? Or will you choose a more subtle way of gaining power by trying to influence the Shogun during a private audience? You can also put your rivals to shame by buying lots of luxury goods from the European merchants. Its all up to you – but be careful to make the right choices, for in Yedo, eternal glory and painful disgrace are two sides of the same coin...
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: Resource Management
Category2: Worker Placement
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| The Speicherstadt | | | | | |
| NEW CONCEPT FOR AUCTION
The Speicherstadt is an auction card game. Players compete for victory points, which come mainly from contracts (sets of resources) and special cards (like a collected set of 1-4 identical counting offices, the port rewarding collected ship cards etc.). The game is build on two core concepts:
1. Players bid for cards by building towers with their meeples over them. Each meeple in a tower increases the cost of a card - but only for players below it. This is the main mechanic of the game - players must consider WHEN to bid (place their meeple) over a certain card and when to use their meeples to make others pay more. This important, because a player can make only three bids during a round.
2. Players are punished by negative points for not collecting firemen cards. Thus, ignoring security may cost a player a victory. By many players, the punishing mechanic is considered a trademark of the author - Stefan Feld.
The deck is divided into four seasons - winter, spring, summer and autumn. In later seasons, more powerful cards appear, so players need to think ahead in managing their resources.
---- Promotional blurb from the publisher ----
Hamburg around 1900 - the gate to the world. Within the harbour there stretches a unique complex of storehouses: Speicherstadt. The network of canals and bridges houses a terminal for spices, coffee, tea and carpets from all over the world.
As one of Hamburg´s wholesaler at the heyday of the Speicherstadt you acquire shiploads for the storehouses, not too expensive, of course, as you like to make a profit selling them. Who makes the best deals within a year and supplies his clients with the right goods will be the winner of the game. But beware! Sudden fires cause heavy losses. You might be advised to invest in fire protection early.
Playing Speicherstadt you will be thrilled by the simple and original mechanism of acquiring desired action cards.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 0
Category1: Auction/bidding
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2010 |
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| De Vulgari Eloquentia | | | | | |
| AREA MOVEMENT GAME
Italy, late Middle Ages. The fabric merchants need to write down their contracts in a language that everyone can understand and the literates are looking for an alternative to the elite of the traditional Latin language. So, the Volgare, the language spoken by the common people, taken from the dialects spoken in the various Italian regions, starts to gain relevance.
During this period, Francesco D’Assisi writes his famous Canticle of the Sun and Dante writes the Divine Comedy both written in Volgare.
The players will have to do their part in the creation of this new language! But who will provide them the proper knowledge to understand the manuscripts in the different dialects? Who will succeed to uncover the secrets of the books inside the Papal Library? Who will embrace the religious life and who will remain a merchant? Some of the players can become a famous banker, someone else can climb the church’s hierarchy to be the next Pope! But in the end, who will be the most appreciated and respected for his status and his culture?
The aim of the game is to obtain more Volgare points. The players will gain VP from reading manuscripts, looking for important documents like the Canticle of the Sun or The Riddle from Verona. Players can also gain VP by improving their social status, for example, if the merchant become a banker or the Friar becomes a Benedictine Monk or the Cardinal becomes Camerlengo or Pope.
Moreover, VP can be gotten with money and with the support of Politicians, Noblemen, Abbesses, and of the Amanuensis.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2010 |
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| Through the Desert | | | | | |
| From the award-winning game designer Reiner Knizia comes a game of strategy, patience, and cool plastic camels! The desert is still treacherous, mysterious, and without mercy. But for those willing to risk the dangers of the shifting, sun-baked sands, the desert holds riches beyond compare.
In Through the Desert, two to five players each control a tribe of nomads vying for control of the desert. By establishing caravans and taking over oases, the players gain points as their tribes increase in power.
Strategy is essential in deciding how and where to build your tribes caravans. There are multiple ways to gain points and several ways to win. Should you try to build the longest caravan? Or should you dominate the deserts oases? Dont forget to keep an eye on your opponents caravans, or you may find your own tribe cut off from valuable water holes.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Abstract Strategy
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 1998 |
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| Quebec | | | | | |
| INNOVATIVE AREA MAJORING AND WORKER PLACEMENT
Québec puts you at the head of a rich family who wants to leave its name in history by building Québec city. The game spans four centuries during which you erect the most prestigious buildings and places of the city. Construction is not enough: you also have to ensure your presence in the great spheres of power. It is up to you and your opponents to build Québec City in your colors!
A game takes place over four centuries. Each player plays on average 5 to 7 turns per century. On each turn, players choose one of 4 actions. By contributing to the numerous buildings, players acquire influence with the authorities of the time.
Québec introduces a unique and addictive majority rule. The player with the majority in a zone cascades half of his workers by moving them to the next zone. Players must not only fight to get majorities, they must also erect the most prestigious buildings. The game ends after the fourth century. Players then receive points for the buildings they completed. The player with the most points is declared the winner.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Area Control
Category2: Worker Placement
Rating: 4
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2011 |
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| EDO | | | | | |
| SIMULTANEOUS PROGRAMMING ACTION CITY BUILDING GAME
In Edo, players represent daimyo in mid-second millennium Japan who are trying to serve their shogun by using their samurai to construct castles, markets and houses in Tokyo and surrounding areas.
At the start of Edo – which won best evening-length game in the 2010 Hippodice Game Design competition under the name Altiplano – each player has five samurai tokens, seven houses, one market and three square action cards, each of which has four possible actions on it. Each turn, the players simultaneously choose which actions they want to take with their three cards and in which order, programming those actions on their player cards, similar to the planning phase in Dirk Henns Wallenstein and Shogun. Players then take actions in turn order, moving samurai on the board as needed (paying $1 per space moved) in order to complete actions (to the forest for wood, the rice fields for rice, cities to build, and so on). Before a player can move samurai, however, he must use an action to place them on the game board; some actions allow free movement, and others allow a player to recruit additional samurai beyond the initial five.
Once at least one player has twelve points by building on cities, the game finishes at the end of the round, with players scoring endgame bonuses for money in hand and other things. The player with the most points wins.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 12
Category1: Resource Management
Category2:
Rating: 5
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| FBI | | | | | |
| CAPTURE THE BAD GUYS
You are the leader of a team of inspectors. Your aim: Catch as many bad guys as possible and arrest them. The media and your boss put a lot of pressure on you. Nobody is perfect...and so from time to time you arrest a blameless citizen. However, you should get them out of prison as soon as possible, otherwise you score a lot of negative points. The winner is the player who has arrested the most notorious bad guys. To achieve this aim you need a quick mind, tactical skill and a little bit of luck.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Cards
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2004 |
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| Patrician | | | | | |
| BUILD THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE CITY
Patrician takes place in the Middle Ages when men were men and wealthy men were inspired to build magnificent towers in order to show off how prosperous they were. As the old saying goes, the taller the tower, the more influential the family.
Players are master builders trying to profit from these vanity-driven families. You build these towers floor by floor, ready to take credit for making them look good. From Mayfair’s description of the game: “You must shrewdly accept the building orders of the patrician families to position yourself in the right place at the right time. Play your cards right, and your name will be famous among the rich and powerful!”
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Area Control
Category2:
Rating: 4
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2007 |
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| Hearts of AttrAction | | | | | |
| Hearts of AttrAction features the same gameplay as in AttrAction, but with heart-shaped magnets that put a new spin on shots. In the game, players must flick their shooter magnet into the playing area to attract and collect other magnets. Of course, its not quite that easy since the magnets repel as easily as they attract! Strategies unfold and develop in reaction to the patterns on the table.
Hearts of AttrAction is a fun and challenging game in which a mix of skill and luck, plus the strong force of the magnets, produces exciting and unexpected twists!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: dextility
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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| Council of Verona | | | | | |
| FIGURE OUT THE STORY REVOLVES ROMEO AND JULIET
The citizens of Verona have grown tired of the constant quarrel between the houses of Capulet and Montague. As ruler of the region, Prince Escalus has formed a council to help mediate the conflict and bring lasting peace to Verona.
In Council of Verona, players take on the role of influential citizens of Verona and act to use their influence to either add characters to the council or cast them into exile. Through thoughtful hand management of their cards and clever placement of influence tokens, players gain victory points based upon the agendas of the characters at the end of the game. The player with the most victory points wins!
Weve all heard the story of Romeo and Juliet – now is your chance to steer the story and determine who will rule Verona once and for all!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Bluffing
Category2: Cards
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2013 |
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| Port Royal | | | | | |
| PUSH YOUR LUCK AND SCORE HIGH
The merchant players in Port Royal, which won the Austrian Game Designers Competition under the title Händler der Karibik, are trying to earn as much as they can out of the Caribbean Sea, but if they set their goals too high, they might take home nothing for the day.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: Cards
Category2: Luck driven
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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| Last Will | | | | | |
| SPEND MONEY FAST FOR BANKRUPT
In his last will, your rich uncle stated that all of his millions will go to the nephew who can enjoy money the most. How to find out which nephew should be rich? You will each be given a large amount of money and whoever can spend it first will be the rightful heir. Visit the most exclusive theatres or eat in the most expensive restaurants. Buy old properties for the price of new ones and sell them as ruins. Host a huge party in your mansion or on your private boat. Spend like your life would depend on it. Spend to become rich! If youre the first to run through the money on hand, youll receive the rest of his inheritance – oh, and win the game.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Cards
Category2: Worker Placement
Rating: 5
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2011 |
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| Belfort | | | | | |
| WORKER PLACEMENT FOR AREA CONTROL SCORING
Belfort is a worker placement game with area majority scoring in each district as well as for each type of worker. Buildings give you influence in the districts as well as income, but taxes increase based on your score so the winning players will have to pay more than those behind! Manage your resources and gold well, choose your buildings wisely, and help build the city of Belfort!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 12
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2: Area Control
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2011 |
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| Factory Fun | | | | | |
| Players attempt to build the most successful factory to produce the best products by connecting input and output reservoirs smartly to your machines to build the most profitable factory!
Players each start with a unique empty factory floor with a support pillar in the middle. During the game you purchase machines to place in your factory. Each machine takes 1 to 3 inputs from reservoirs (yellow, blue, red, and brown) and produces one output (of the same colors, or black end products). You must always connect all reservoirs and machines correctly by using the connectors (the pipelines). At the start this is easy, but becomes more puzzling during the game.
Players start with one of each color reservoir, and can sometimes acquire additional reservoirs. On the machine-tiles you see the revenue of each machine. Connecting machines to each other (input on output) makes more advanced products which brings extra profit. But building connectors and reservoirs costs money and you must try to have the most money at the end.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Abstract Strategy
Category2: Puzzle/Maze
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2006 |
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| Penny Press | | | | | |
| STRONG THEME WINNER
Set during the tumultuous yellow journalism years at the end of the 19th century, Penny Press has players taking on the role of newspaper magnates such as Pulitzer and Hearst as they strive to become the dominant paper in old New York City.
Players move up on the circulation track throughout the game by publishing newspapers, and they are awarded bonuses at the end of the game for best covering the five news beats or leading news categories of the day: War, Crime & Calamity, New York City, Politics, and the Human Condition.
To publish newspapers, players assign some or all of their five reporters to the popular stories of the day. When theyre ready, players roll the presses to claim those stories where their reporters have a majority and assemble them on their front page player mat. The score of each press run is determined by the current values in each of the five news beats. Stories also have star values, and the player with the most stars in each news beat gets that beats endgame bonus.
The end of the game is triggered when one player publishes his fourth (in a two- or three-player game) or third (in a four- or five-player game) newspaper. The player who moved farthest along the circulation track is the winner of Penny Press.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Area Control
Category2: Worker Placement
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| rattus cartus | | | | | |
| PLAY SAFE AND ESCAPE FROM THE PLAGUE
In 1347, The Black Death ravages Europe. The ruler of your land has just succumbed to the plague, and now you, the princes of the land, compete against one another in a struggle to replace him. To do this you travel around the land to gather loyal supporters from among the various classes of the middle ages. Each day you visit a different town, each containing different kinds of buildings and each providing different kinds of benefits. When entering a building belonging to a given class, you recruit followers from that class. Once in a while, you also take a chance on recruiting some of the strangers lurking in the streets. There are a few rats in those streets, too, but a rat or two wont kill you, right?
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: Cards
Category2: Bluffing
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| Gentlemen Thieves | | | | | |
| STEAL AT THE RIGHT TIME TO WIN
Gentlemen Thieves is a board game with secret identities, bluffing and theft featuring Arsène Lupin and other characters inspired by author Maurice Leblanc. Whoever ends up with the biggest stack of loot at the end of the game wins!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Secret Roles
Category2:
Rating: 4
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| The Doge Ship | | | | | |
| COMPETE TO BUILD THE BEST SHIP PARTS
In The Doge Ship, the players play the role of the most skilled shipbuilders of Venice who are called by the Doge to cooperate on the construction of the new ship. Each player has to build parts of the Ship in order to earn victory points, but also Gondolas to get money, and Barriers for the protection of the shipyard and the city. The task is not easy: At the beginning of each round, the cost of the actions might change, as well as the demands of the Doge. When the construction of the ship is finished, only one will be the winner and will gain the favour of the Doge.
In this game players have to manage their five actions per round competing with other players on these available. Players can work on a part of the Doge Ship to gain VP, on Gondolas to make money, or on Barriers to protect Venice from High Water effects and save their shipyard. Manage money is fundamental as all materials costs something. The game ends when the Doge Ship is complete.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Auction/bidding
Category2: Resource Management
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| Code 777 - 30th Anniversary Edition | | | | | |
| RACE TO DECODE YOUR OWN NUMBERS
The clever little game Code 777 combines the elements of a good, logical deduction game and Indian poker. Each player receives a rack for keeping three tiles drawn from a pool of tiles, which are seven different numbers in seven different colors (28 tiles in total); however, the rack is turned away from you. When players sit in a circle, each player can see everyone elses tiles, except their own. Each turn, players draw a card with a question like, Do you see more yellow sevens or more blue sevens? which should help the others determine their tiles. Once youre reasonably sure of which tiles you have in front of you, you can take a guess — but if youre wrong, you have to start over with a fresh set of tiles...
Code 777 was explicitly inspired by Whats That on My Head?, and Alex Randolph credited Robert Abbott with co-designing this game based on that inspiration.
In 2010, Stronghold Games released Code 777: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, adding both a fifth player to the game and symbols to make it colorblind-friendly. In 2015, Stronghold Games released Code 777: 30th Anniversary Limited Edition, which is the final edition from Stronghold Games.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Abstract Strategy
Category2: Deduction
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 1987 |
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| cat box | | | | | |
| CAT PLACEMENT FOR MAJORITY
Cat Box is played with cards divided into quadrants each showing an empty box or one of five cats (in a box). Players take turns playing these cards to a shared display, overlapping previous cards by one or two quadrants. Each player is assigned a secret identity; if you are a cat you want as many of your cats showing at the end of the game as possible, and as large a group of them as possible, but if you are the chihuahua you want empty boxes and groups of exactly three cats.
Players can play cards held by themselves or any of their opponents, but one side of the card is used when playing your own cards and the other (mirror image) side when playing other peoples.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 6
Category1: tile placement
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Rhino Hero | | | | | |
| BUILD TALL
Super Rhino! presents players with an incredibly heroic – and regrettably heavy – rhinoceros who is eager to climb a tall building and leap other tall buildings in a single bound. First, though, you need to construct that building.
Players each start the game with five roof cards, and they take turns adding walls and roofs to a single building. On a turn, you first place walls on the highest floor, then you choose a roof card in your hand and place it on the wall. Each roof card bears markings that indicate where the next player must place walls on the card. In addition, some roof cards force a player to perform special actions, such as placing a second roof, changing the direction of play, or moving Super Rhino to a new location on the tower. Keep your hands steady!
The first player to build all of his roof cards wins the game. Alternatively, if the building collapses, the player who caused the collapse automatically loses, and the player with the fewest roof cards in hand wins.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 5
Category1: dextility
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2011 |
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| Linko! Abluxxen | | | | | |
| TRICK TAKING GAME WITH A TWIST
In Linko! (a.k.a. Abluxxen), you take turns playing number cards, and the more cards of the same number you play, the better as cards score points at the end of the game. If someone else plays the same amount of cards with a higher number, however, your cards get nicked! Stealing cards can be good, but if you cant use them later, and end the game with cards in hand, theyll cost you points.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Cards
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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| Blood Rage | | | | | |
| LIFE IS BATTLE, BATTLE IS GLORY, GLORY IS ALL
In Blood Rage, each player controls their own Viking clan’s warriors, leader, and ship. Ragnarök has come, and it’s the end of the world! It’s the Vikings’ last chance to go down in a blaze of glory and secure their place in Valhalla at Odin’s side! For a Viking there are many pathways to glory. You can invade and pillage the land for its rewards, crush your opponents in epic battles, fulfill quests, increase your clans stats, or even die gloriously either in battle or from Ragnarök, the ultimate inescapable doom.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Area Control
Category2: War Strategy
Rating: 5
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Spyrium | | | | | |
| WORKER PLACEMENT AND CARD BIDDING
Spyrium is set in an alternate world, an England set in a steampunk-based universe. Players build factories, needing workers to manage the production of a commodity previously unknown to us called Spyrium. Producing Spyrium in one factory, then processing it in the next results in victory points (VPs) for that particular player. Alternatively, Spyrium can be purchased, but the material is rare and expensive, and players are constantly scraping for money.
Only those who from the beginning of the game manage to increase their regular income or their base of permanently employed workers (who can be used again and again to raise money) will be flexible enough to get their hands on the important end-of-game buildings to generate many VPs.
The circular nature of the game is flexible as each player can decide for himself when to move out of the placement phase and into the activation phase. With the two tracks in the game, those involved with delivery during the worker phase can then be used to raise money, to purchase an adjacent card, or to work on their own in an idle factory. All of these things are important, but in the end only the player who has dealt best with the lack of money, workers and Spyrium will win.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 12
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2: Resource Management
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2013 |
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| Shogun | | | | | |
| WAR AND WORKER PLACEMENT
Japan during the Sengoku or “Warring States” Period: each player assumes the role of a great Daimyo with all his troops. Each Daimyo has the same 10 possible actions to develop his kingdom and secure points. To do so he must deploy his armies with great skill. Each round, the players decide which of the actions are to be played out and in which of their provinces. If battle ensues between opposing armies, the unique Cubetower plays the leading role. The troops from both sides are thrown in together and the cubes that fall out at the bottom show who has won immediately. Owning provinces, temples, theaters, and castles means points when scores are tallied. Whichever Daimyo has the highest number of points after the second tally becomes – SHOGUN!
Minimum Players: 3
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 12
Category1: Resource Management
Category2: War Strategy
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2006 |
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| Power Grid: Factory Manager | | | | | |
| MATH OPTIMIZATION WORK FOR GLORY
Each player owns a factory and tries to earn the most money during the game. To be successful, each player must use his workers to buy the best machines and robots at the market and to run the machines most effectively in his factory. Because of increasing energy prices, the players must be careful to check the energy consumption of their factories and to avoid using only energy-consuming machines. Otherwise, their profit will suddenly vanish, the worst fear of a good businessman.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 12
Category1: Resource Management
Category2: Auction/bidding
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2009 |
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| Flock | | | | | |
| BIRDS, BIRDS, BIRDS ...
During the game Flock, players try to expand their flock with the goal of scoring the most victory points after three rounds of play. Victory points are scored by controlling the action cards at the end of each round. Also, be sure to have enough tasty worms to feed your birds at the end of each round, or otherwise they will fly away. Will your flock be on top of the pecking order?
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: Cards
Category2: Worker Placement
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2016 |
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| The Prodigals Club | | | | | |
| LOSE EVERYTHING TO WIN THE GAME
In The Prodigals Club, you compete in three separate competitions: trying to lose an election, trying to get rid of all your possessions, or trying to offend the most influential people in high society. You can play any two competitions in combination or play all three simultaneously. Each competition interacts with the other two. To win, you need to balance your strategy and play all the competitions well.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: Cards
Category2: Worker Placement
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Stockpile | | | | | |
| SPECULATE STOCK MARKET WITH INSIDER INFORMATION
Stockpile is an economic board game that combines the traditional stockholding strategy of buy low, sell high with several additional mechanisms to create a fast-paced, engaging and interactive experience.
In Stockpile, players act as stock market investors at the end of the 20th century hoping to strike it rich, and the investor with the most money at the end of the game is the winner. Stockpile centers around the idea that nobody knows everything about the stock market, but everyone does know something. In the game, this philosophy manifests in two ways: insider information and the stockpile.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: commodity sales
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Bruxelles 1893 | | | | | |
| MODULAR BOARD WORKER PLACEMENT GAME
Bruxelles 1893 is a worker placement game with elements of bidding and majority control. Each player is an architect of the late 19th century and is trying to achieve through various actions, an architectural work in the Art Nouveau style. The most successful building yield the most points. Each player can also create works of art to increase his score.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2013 |
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| Floating Market | | | | | |
| In Floating Market, players each control Customers (Ama’s grandchildren), which they will assign to fruit boats (to collect Fruit) and to buildings (to receive special abilities). Each player will also add a die to the dice pool each round in an attempt to influence a thrilling die roll that determines which fruit boat will hand out fruit.
Floating Market utilizes polyhedral dice, worker placement, and dice speculation to create a unique and accessible experience for gamers of all levels. The rules and turns are simple and intuitive and the game teaches quickly, making it perfect for a family or group of new gamers. Experienced gamers will appreciate the unique blend of new and familiar mechanics and the quick, fun gameplay that uses polyhedral dice in a new and interesting way.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Luck driven
Category2: other
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Rococo | | | | | |
| Rokoko is a Eurostyle board game with an interesting take on deck-building. Each turn you play one of your employee cards and let that employee perform a task: hire a new employee, buy resources, manufacture a coat or dress, or invest in the balls decorations. But not every employee is up to every task, so you must choose and lead your employees wisely – especially since each employee grants a unique bonus and some of these bonuses generate prestige points.
After seven rounds, the game ends with the big ball and a final scoring. Then you gain prestige points for certain employee bonuses and for coats and dresses that you rent out to guests at the ball as well as for decorations that you funded. The player who collected the most prestige points wins.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 12
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2: Area Control
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2013 |
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| Roll For The Galaxy | | | | | |
| Roll for the Galaxy is a dice game of building space empires for 2–5 players. Your dice represent your populace, whom you direct to develop new technologies, settle worlds, and ship goods. The player who best manages his workers and builds the most prosperous empire wins!
This dice version of Race for the Galaxy takes players on a new journey through the Galaxy, but with the feel of the original game.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Luck driven
Category2: Resource Management
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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| The Great Dinosaur Rush | | | | | |
| In The Great Dinosaur Rush, players compete to grab bones from the best dig sites, and build new dinosaurs for prestigious museums, gaining notoriety in the process by stealing bones, sabotaging dig sites, and otherwise impeding your fellow paleontologists.
The game is played over turns, each with two main phases: dig and build. During the dig phase, players collect different-colored bones from dig sites and perform actions. Some dirty actions give players secret notoriety tokens. Notoriety adds to players scores at the end of the game, but having the MOST notoriety SUBTRACTS from the score! During the build phase, players create their dinosaurs from the bones they collected, maximizing them to score points in various museum categories: length, size, height, ferociousness, etc.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: set collection
Category2: other
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2016 |
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| Broom Service | | | | | |
| Score the most victory points by delivering potions via Broom Service throughout the magical realm.
Broom Service is a card-based game that combines luck and skill and balances timely bluffing with clever hand management.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: pick and deliever
Category2: Luck driven
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Black Gold | | | | | |
| Black Gold is a board game of drilling and discovery for 2-5 prospectors, and play can last from 1-2 hours. Competitors attempt to claim the best wells, bid wisely against their neighbors, and sell their oil at the highest price in order to finish the game with the most money when the Oil Baron’s train reaches the last track.
To secure wealth, players explore the terrain of the provided map tiles for oil wells, and they survey and build their derricks. Map tiles are double-sided and modular, ensuring a unique experience every time. Money is made if a player can transport his oil to one of three oil companies, and win the right to sell at auction. The Oil Barons train moves nearer every turn, counting down the rounds of the games thrilling ride; all the while it begs you and your fellow prospectors to ask the question: Am I making enough money?
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: commodity sales
Category2: Auction/bidding
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2011 |
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| Fürstenfeld | | | | | |
| Fürstenfeld is a game with easy rules, which you can immediately start. Each time you are confronted with new challenges:
- When do you start to build your palace?
- Which goods do you produce?
- Which additional buildings are helping you the most?
And when you finally master the base game, the expert game will already wait for you!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Resource Management
Category2: other
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Not available
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2010 |
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| Specter Ops | | | | | |
| A secret agent of A.R.K. has infiltrated a top secret Raxxon facility, attempting to complete three mission objectives before they escape — but they are hunted by genetically modified Raxxon Hunters. Players can choose which side they wish to join.
Specter Ops is a sci-fi, stealth ops game of hidden movement thats similar to Scotland Yard. Players are trying to locatecapture a mysterious agent, who keeps track of their sneaking via a private map. The other players take control of unique characters who must use their wits, abilities and technology to help them hunt down this infiltrator. Items like flash grenades, scanners, and the like are at the disposal of this covert agent.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Hidden Moves
Category2: action point allowance
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Caylus | | | | | |
| The players embody master builders. By building the Kings castle and developing the city around it, they earn prestige points and gain the Kings favor. When the castle is finished, the player who has earned the most prestige wins the game. The expansion Caylus Expansion: The Jeweller was included in the 2nd Edition.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 12
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2: Resource Management
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2005 |
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| Fairy Tale | | | | | |
| Players use card drafting and simultaneous action selection to score points while interfering with other players ability to do so. The game consists of four rounds. In each of them, players are dealt five cards. They simultaneously select one each and pass the remainder, repeating until done. Then, they start playing cards simultaneously, playing three and discarding two. When the cards are revealed after each selection, card abilities turn other cards face-up or face-down. At the end of the four rounds there are 12 cards in front of each player. The players each score based on their face-up cards.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Cards
Category2: set collection
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2004 |
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| Samara | | | | | |
| Travel back through history to a settlement called Samara, where you lead a group of builders. At the start of the game, they can build only a sandcastle, cave or huts. For more complex buildings, you first invest time in skills, strength, or new workers. Building special projects gives you benefits or hurts all your rivals. In the end you want to have the most prestigious buildings.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: tile placement
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Hawaii | | | | | |
| Dont expect to lie around the sun, lazily sipping cocktails and passively watching hula dancers, because the tactical game Hawaii is not a paradise for idlers, but rather for bold, active strategists. Restlessly, theyll move their pieces on the game board, facing constant challenges in terms of making their beautiful villages on this beautiful island as profitable as possible. Only those who will be able to use their dwindling resources to meet the increasing demands over five rounds will find a spot for themselves on the beach.
In Hawaii, players must make use of their limited resources to score points by growing their villages and exploring the surrounding islands. Your chieftains move around the board to purchase new tiles for their villages, hopefully grabbing the best deals before their opponents. Three different currencies are used to pay for these trips, so make sure you dont run out of any of them too quickly. Players are also rewarded for providing for their people (measured essentially by how much they bought on a given turn), but your meager income shrinks as the game goes on. Players will have to balance a number of ways to score points to secure their victory.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 13
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2: Resource Management
Rating: 5
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2011 |
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| Zooloretto | | | | | |
| In Zooloretto, each player uses small, large, wild, and exotic animals and their young to try to attract as many visitors as possible to their zoo – but be careful! The zoo must be carefully planned as before you know it, you might have too many animals and no more room for them. That brings minus points! Luckily, your zoo can expand. A zoo of a family game in which less is sometimes more...
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: set collection
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2007 |
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| Istanbul | | | | | |
| In Istanbul, you lead a group of one merchant and four assistants through 16 locations in the bazaar. At each such location, you can carry out a specific action. The challenge, though, is that to take an action, you must move your merchant and an assistant there, then leave the assistant behind (to handle all the details while you focus on larger matters). If you want to use that assistant again later, your merchant must return to that location to pick him up. Thus, you must plan ahead carefully to avoid being left with no assistants and thus unable to do anything...
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2: Resource Management
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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| Tokaido | | | | | |
| In Tokaido, each player is a traveler crossing the East sea road, one of the most magnificent roads of Japan. While traveling, you will meet people, taste fine meals, collect beautiful items, discover great panoramas, and visit temples and wild places but at the end of the day, when everyone has arrived at the end of the road youll have to be the most initiated traveler – which means that youll have to be the one who discovered the most interesting and varied things.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| Praetor | | | | | |
| In Praetor, you will take the role of a Roman engineer, and you will work together with the other players to build a magnificent city. You will manage your limited resources wisely and look for new ones, you will recruit new Workers while your old experienced ones will retire, you will build settlements to keep the population happy, and you will praise the Gods to earn their favor. Caesar will reward you if you give away precious resources to build Hadrian’s Wall, thus increasing your chances of becoming Praetor.
Every turn, you will place your Workers on previously built City Tiles to gain resources, Morale, new Workers, or Favor points. You may also assign Workers to build new City Tiles or spend resources to meet Caesar’s demands to gain Favor Points. At the end of each turn, you will have to pay your Workers. Otherwise, the mood in the city will deteriorate.
Most of the actions your Workers will perform will help them gain experience. They will become increasingly skilled in collecting resources. Your most experienced Workers will eventually retire and bring you additional Favor Points, but you will still have to show solidarity and pay them until the end of the game.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 12
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2: tile placement
Rating: 4
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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| Las Vegas | | | | | |
| Developer Stefan Brück at alea describes Las Vegas as an easy, dice-rolling, fun-and-luck game with a lot of interaction and schadenfreude. Who doesnt love schadenfreude? (Well, other than those being schadened, I suppose...)
In more detail, Las Vegas includes six cardboard casino mats, one for each side of a normal six-sided die. For each mat, players draw money cards until at least $50k is showing, but the amount may end up being a lot more, making that casino more desirable.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 0
Category1: gambling
Category2: Luck driven
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2012 |
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| Century: Spice Road | | | | | |
| Century: Spice Road is the first in a series of games that explores the history of each century with spice-trading as the theme for the first installment. In Century: Spice Road, players are caravan leaders who travel the famed silk road to deliver spices to the far reaches of the continent for fame and glory. Each turn, players perform one of four actions:
Establish a trade route (by taking a market card)
Make a trade or harvest spices (by playing a card from hand)
Fulfill a demand (by meeting a victory point cards requirements and claiming it)
Rest (by taking back into your hand all of the cards youve played)
The last round is triggered once a player has claimed their fifth victory point card, then whoever has the most victory points wins.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: set collection
Category2:
Rating: 5
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2017 |
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| Portal Heroes | | | | | |
| The portals of Molthar have opened! The players travel through the portal into a world of a type that you know only through folklore and fairy tales. By collecting magic pearls and trading them in a timely fashion for fantastic and powerful character cards, you draw ever closer to victory — but only the one who first manages to gather twelve insignias of power will save Molthar and win the game.
At the start of Die Portale von Molthar, four pearl cards and two character cards lie face up in the middle of the table. The rest of the character and pearl cards are set nearby in separate decks. Each player receives their own player portal and places it face up in front of them.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Cards
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| In the Year of the Dragon | | | | | |
| Stefan Felds 3rd game by Alea is In the Year of the Dragon.
Players take on the role of Chinese rulers around the year 1000. The game plays out in twelve rounds, with each round representing one month in a year that seems to go from bad to worse. Disease, drought, and attacks from the Mongols may claim lives, but make sure you have enough money to offer a tribute to the Emperor.
The game play is easier than it may appear. Every player has a set of person cards. Each round, you choose one action (most of which call on your workers abilities) to help you prepare for the months ahead. Then you play one person card, recruiting that person and placing him into one of your palaces. Each person brings different skills and abilities to help you ride out the year. (Farmers help you gain rice to survive a drought month, Tax Collectors raise money, etc.) At the end of each round, that months event is triggered, which may cost you some of your workers, some money, or give you points.
Careful planning is the key to surviving the year of the dragon, but survival alone may not win you the game.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 12
Age & Difficulty: 0
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2007 |
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| gangsi | | | | | |
| For centuries, people havee troed to find the well-hidden Gangsi’s tomb, as these Chinese mummies buried all their wealth with them. Now the tomb has been exposed and four courageous treasure hunters venture inside to salvage its treasures.
However, the Gangsi cannot rest and wanders the halls. Will one of the treasure hunters succeed in finding the requested treasures or can the Gangsi expel the intruders in the end?
One player will act as the Gangsi, and the other will be the treasure hunters. The hunters find the treasures on one side of the board, while Gangsi find the hunters on the order side, which means that Gangsi does not know where the are hunters. Gangsi can only deduce the position of hunters by the moment when hunters announce they find the treasures.
Hunters win when they find the treasure they were assigned to find. Gangsi wins the game when it can eat a certain number of hunters depends by the number of players.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: Deduction
Category2: Puzzle/Maze
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: In Stock
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2016 |
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| Carcassonne: Amazonas | | | | | |
| In Carcassonne: Amazonas, players sail their boats to the Amazon to discover abundant wildlife. Players score points not only for discovering animals, but also for visiting native villages and water courses while their boat moves forward on the Amazon. Amazon is full of caimans and piranhas which often (and somewhat unpredictably) bring points to those who are farthest down the river (you move your boats forward when you encounter boat symbols on your water courses and also when you do not place any meeple on water courses or villages, nor huts in jungles). The game ends - as usual - when all tiles have been used up, and the two boats fartherst down the river score some bonus points (depending on the number of players).
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: tile placement
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2016 |
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| carcassonne | | | | | |
| Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which the players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, etcetera. Having placed a tile, the player can then decide to place one of his meeples on one of the areas on it: on the city as a knight, on the road as a robber, on a cloister as a monk, or on the grass as a farmer. When that area is complete, that meeple scores points for its owner.
During a game of Carcassonne, players are faced with decisions like: Is it really worth putting my last meeple there? or Should I use this tile to expand my city, or should I place it near my opponent instead, giving him a hard time to complete his project and score points? Since players place only one tile and have the option to place one meeple on it, turns proceed quickly even if it is a game full of options and possibilities.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: tile placement
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2000 |
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| ESSEN The Game: SPIEL13 | | | | | |
| ESSEN the Game is a strategy game where each player is a visitor at the International Game Fair of Essen.
With your wishlist, face the crowd and make your way to the stands of your favorite publishers. However, beware that games availability is limited. To achieve your goals, you have to manage your budget and encumbering. The number of games that you carry will reduce your moves in the fair. You will need to come back to the parking lot to store your purchases in your car before getting back to the fair in search of that special game.
ESSEN The Game is the opportunity to live or relive a crazy day in the Kingdom of Games!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Worker Placement
Category2: Resource Management
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Not available
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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| Jórvík | | | | | |
| For several decades during the Viking age, parts of England were occupied by the Norsemen. Under their influence, one of the larger cities turned into a flourishing center of trade and craftsmanship. The Vikings called the city and its surrounding kingdom Jórvík, which is today known as the city of York.
In the game Jórvík, players assume the roles of Viking jarls. They gather prestige points by trading goods, holding big feasts, funding pillages, commissioning craftsmen and hiring soldiers to defend the city against recurring invasions. The player with the most prestige points wins.
The game is a re-design of Die Speicherstadt (2010). In this game, players acquire cards from a card display through a simple yet brilliant worker placement and bidding mechanism to build up their trading empires. Jórvík includes two versions: A base game that is equivalent to Die Speicherstadt, and an advanced game that equates to Die Speicherstadt including its expansion Kaispeicher.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Auction/bidding
Category2: Worker Placement
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Not available
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2016 |
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| Tales & Games: The Hare & the Tortoise | | | | | |
| The Hare & the Tortoise, originally published as Royal Turtle, is a card-driven betting game about animal racing loosely based on one of Aesops Fables.
At the start of a race, each player secretly bets on up to two of five animals: turtle, rabbit, lamb, wolf and fox. One animal is chosen at random for each player, then after receiving a hand of seven cards, each player places one of his cards face-down (possibly the same animal) as an additional bet. Players then take turns laying down 1-4 cards, with all cards needing to show the same animal, then refilling the hand to five cards. As soon as eight total cards have been played or four cards of any one animal, the animals move (maybe).
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 7
Category1: Race
Category2: Cards
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2011 |
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| Face Chase | | | | | |
| How good are you at remembering faces? Flex your facial recall muscles in this mad dash to get rid of all your cards first!
In Face Chase, you race to match any features on your cards — such as hair, eyes, nose and mouth — to the quickly changing faces on the board. Find a match and drop it fast! The first to dump all their cards wins!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 7
Category1: Party
Category2: Real Time
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Not available
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Yeti | | | | | |
| In Yeti players are competing adventurers and mountaineers, looking for traces of the Yeti, the legendary Snowman in the Himalaya. They want to find its footprints — or even better take photos of it — in order to collect points. To achieve this, they need to improve their equipment and acquire the help of Sherpas to lead them up the mountains. Most importantly, though, they should hope for good weather because if too much snow falls, the search of all players comes to a halt...
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: Luck driven
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2016 |
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| Shipwrights of the North Sea | | | | | |
| Shipwrights of the North Sea is set in the early years of the Viking Age, circa 900 AD. As Viking shipwrights, players compete to build the greatest fleet on the North Sea. Players must collect oak, wool and iron, as well as getting other craftsmen on board to help. Gold is a precious commodity, and must be spent wisely. As you would expect, the township is filled with an array of characters, bad and worse. Better hope theyre on your side!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Cards
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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| Mammut | | | | | |
| Another day, another mammoth hunt. But the spoils of the hunt remains to be divided, and everyone tries to secure the largest share for themselves in this quick and clever family strategy game. Each round the tiles are shuffled in the bag and dropped onto the table. The face up symbols show the spoils of todays hunt.
The tiles are then divided by a unique mechanic: When it is your turn, you may either A) Take any number of tiles from the pool, or B) Claim that another player has been too greedy, taking all of that players tiles, but returning at least one tile to the pool (you must of course show yourself to be a little less greedy).
The next player without tiles then follows in turn. This way the size of the pool will gradually increase, and the round is over once the last player without tiles decides to take whats left in the pool. Every player will then have a share of tiles, and a scoring phase follows.
Tactical play will help you get the meat, fur, tusks, animals, and tools you want (each tile has a different way of scoring), but you may also play cards for immediate effects or to secretly influence the scoring.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 8
Category1: set collection
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2011 |
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| Bomb Squad Academy | | | | | |
| In Bomb Squad Academy there are four decks of cards representing the four “wires” of the bomb, and a trigger track next to each deck. Every round, each player secretly decides (then simultaneously reveals) the wire that they will cut this round (or perhaps they’ll chicken out, or even call “Wait!” preventing a wire from being cut). After actions are revealed, the chosen wires are “cut” by flipping cards from those decks. When a card is flipped, its value dictates how far the trigger moves down the trigger track and how many points are earned; cutting wires alone is worth a lot more than cutting the same wire as other players. Push the triggers too far and the bomb will explode! Whoever causes the bomb to explode loses points. Players earn useful Tools during the game that they can use to break the rules. Get through three gruelling bombs with the cleverest cuts to finish your final exam with the most points!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Luck driven
Category2:
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2015 |
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| Dead of Winter: The Long Night | | | | | |
| Dead of Winter: The Long Night is a standalone expansion for Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game that introduces the Raxxon location where horrible experiments will spill out into the town unless players can contain them.
The game has players at a new colony location trying to survive with new survivors against brand new challenges. Can you handle being raided by members of other colonies? Will you explore more and unravel the mysteries of the Raxxon pharmaceutical location to find powerful items but release stronger enemies? Or will you upgrade your colony to help it better withstand the undead horde? These are all choices you will get to make in this new set, and if you want, you can mix in the survivors and cards from the original set to increase the variety even more.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: story telling
Category2: Cooperative
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2016 |
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| Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game | | | | | |
| Dead of Winter is a meta-cooperative psychological survival game. This means players are working together toward one common victory condition — but for each individual player to achieve victory, he must also complete his personal secret objective. This secret objective could relate to a psychological tick thats fairly harmless to most others in the colony, a dangerous obsession that could put the main objective at risk, a desire for sabotage of the main mission, or (worst of all) vengeance against the colony! Certain games could end with all players winning, some winning and some losing, or all players losing. Work toward the groups goal, but dont get walked all over by a loudmouth whos looking out only for his own interests!
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 14
Category1: story telling
Category2: Cooperative
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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| Royals | | | | | |
| In Royals, players take on the roles of the great noble houses of the 17th century, fighting for supremacy in Europe at that time. With the help of the right country cards, they occupy influential positions and obtain bonuses for this in the form of victory points. The higher the rank of the title associated with the position, the more country cards required. Already-occupied positions can be contested by playing intrigue cards.
The game proceeds over three periods, with a scoring taking place after each of them. During scoring, the players with the greatest influence in each of the four countries score victory points. After the third period scoring, the game ends with the scoring of the individual titles. The player with the most victory points wins.
Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Age & Difficulty: 10
Category1: Area Control
Category2: Cards
Rating: 3
New Copy for sale: Can be ordered
In-store Play Copy: In Store
Year Published: 2014 |
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