Illimat has the style and flavor of a classic card game with a dynamic twist. As you play, you combine cards and collect them, trying to gather more than your opponents. But hidden Luminaries and changing seasons can alter your plans. Featuring a cloth board, metal tokens, and illustrations by Carson Ellis.
Illimat supports two to four players and a single round takes approximately fifteen minutes. The cloth board is divided into four fields, and the box the game comes in is also a component of the game: it sits in the center of the board and sets the seasons for each field, which affects the actions that can be performed in each field. Turning the box and changing the seasons is a critical part of the strategy of the game.
Illimat has been playtested with devoted gamers and people who haven't played a game in years. The result is a game that's easy to learn, dynamic, and just a little bit addictive.
—description from the publisher
Game Types
Abstract Games
Categories
Abstract Strategy
Card Game
Mechanics
Hand Management
Set Collection
Illiterati
2023
1-5 players
30 minutes to play
Rating: 7.18
Complexity (1-5): 2.07
Could not set favorite on game:
The Illiterati are an evil secret organization that has taken over the world. Your job as a member of the League of Librarians is to save the world's books — one word at a time.
Illiterati is a real-time, co-operative word game in which players work together to form words and bind books. Each player starts the game with five letter tiles and a red torched book that shows a condition that player must achieve to restore that book, e.g. using 8+ tiles with at least 3 green symbols, create words that are all animals. A library of three random tiles is placed in the center of the table. The game takes place in three-minute rounds, and before the round begins each player draw seven letter tiles from the draw bag.
Once the countdown begins, players can talk and trade letters as much as they want with one another and the library to try to achieve their goal. Once time ends, if the library contains too many letters — and this threshold is based on your difficulty level — then you trigger a burn event. Flip all of these letters face down, then remove one of them from the game, then discard excess letters to the discard bag. If you burn too many letters, you lose the game. If you didn't burn any letters and you've completed your goal, flip your red book face down and draw a blue waterlogged book to give yourself a new goal.
At the end of the round, draw an illiterati villain card and resolve its effect. If you've drawn this villain previously — and the deck contains five copies of five villains — then all of the previous effects from this villain also resolve in a chain attack from newest to oldest. Villain attacks often strip letters from words, which means you'll need to create new words with what's left during the next round to avoid burning another letter.
Once all players have completed two books — or three or four depending on your difficulty level — draw one more book, the Final Chapter, with all players needing to complete this challenge in the same round, e.g., using 12+ tiles, create words in which all of your vowels are the same color. If all players meet this goal during the same round, you win; if even one person fails, another villain attacks, then you draw new tiles to start another round. You can discard and redraw up to seven tiles at the start of a round, but you must draw a second illiterati villain card that round — and if the villain deck runs out, you lose.
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Real-time
Word Game
Mechanics
Cooperative Game
Real-Time
Simultaneous Action Selection
Spelling
Trading
Illuminati
1982
2-6 players
60-120 minutes to play
Rating: 6.18
Complexity (1-5): 2.48
Could not set favorite on game:
Illuminati is a classic Steve Jackson (I) game of world domination. Each player takes on the role of a secret society attempting to spread its tendrils into special interest groups throughout the world.
The game consists of three different cards (illuminati cards, group cards, and special event cards) and money. During a player's turn, a new card is drawn from a deck containing both group cards and special event cards. If it is a special event, the player in turn keeps the card and plays it when desired. If it is a group card, it is turned up along with any other face-up cards. The player in turn may then attempt to take over any group. This can be either a group on the table or a group already controlled by another player. If another player already controls the group it is more difficult to take it over, but not impossible.
How difficult it is to take over a group depends on the strength of the controlling group, the resistance of the group being taken over, the proximity of the group being taken over to the controlling player's illuminati card (if someone already controls it), and other factors. Once this is determined, both the attacking and defending player can modify the odds further by spending "megabucks". Once a group is taken over, it has to be attached to the card structure the player already controls. How cards can be attached to each other is limited by in- and outbound arrows on the cards, and maintaining a well-structured tree of groups can be vital to success.
The winning condition for each player is different and depends on what illuminati card that player has.
This first edition contains 54 small black and white cards.
Expanded by:
Illuminati Expansion Set 1 Illuminati Expansion Set 2 Illuminati Expansion Set 3
Re-published as:
Illuminati
CCG Version:
Illuminati: New World Order
Magazine Articles:
Imagine (Issue 6 - Sep 1983) European Illuminati - New cards.
The Space Gamer (Issue 59 - Jan 1983) Illuminating the Post Office - Converting six groups to Illuminati.
Space Gamer (Issue 72 - Jan 1985) Death to Deadheads! - Variant rules for Illuminati, The Evil Geniuses Are Here! - Variant new cards for Illuminati, More Groups Illuminated! - A couple more illuminated groups for Illuminati, The Monty Python Illuminati - The British Illuminati, 24 groups, and 3 special cards with a Monty Python theme.
Game Types
Strategy Games
Thematic Games
Categories
Card Game
Novel-based
Political
Science Fiction
Mechanics
Hand Management
Impact
2003
2 players
30 minutes to play
Rating: 4.43
Complexity (1-5): 1.50
Could not set favorite on game:
From the publishers website: Earth is about to be invaded. From another galaxy, the Dinosaur Raptor Scout team is on a mission to shoot or capture humans and take over the earth so that they can steal its natural resources. Can you take them on the dangerous mission to win; or will you lead the special human squad in capturing the enemy and sending them back to where they came from? The choice is yours…
Players move their figures across desert terrain broken up by mesas (of various sizes) whilst they fire at their opponent’s figures with firing spring guns. They can also capture enemy figures.
Integrates with:
Impact: The Battle for Wolf Ridge
Categories
Action / Dexterity
Fighting
Miniatures
Science Fiction
Mechanics
Action Points
Modular Board
In a Pickle
2004
2-6 players
20-30 minutes to play
Rating: 4.66
Complexity (1-5): 1.21
Could not set favorite on game:
Does a sofa fit in a shopping cart? It all depends on how you size it up in this game of creative thinking and outrageous scenarios. Try to win a set of cards by fitting smaller things into bigger things - a baby goes in a bathtub, which is in a house, in Hollywood. Play the fourth word card to claim a set, unless one of your opponents can trump with a larger word. The player with the most sets at the end is the winner.
Game Types
Party Games
Categories
Party Game
Word Game
Mechanics
Hand Management
Storytelling
Incubation
2019
2-5 players
30-40 minutes to play
Rating: 6.23
Complexity (1-5): 1.14
Could not set favorite on game:
An incredible discovery has been made that will change the world forever. High in the snow-capped mountains, explorers have come across a number of large, colorful dragon eggs! Now the whole world is clamoring to get their hands on what's inside. It's a good time to get into the egg-hatching business!
In Incubation, 2-5 players take on the role of entrepreneurial dragon breeders looking to make a fortune by collecting the required resources and feeding them into their special dragon egg incubators to hatch them. There are four different types of dragons, as well as hybrid and mystery eggs. As the dragons begin to emerge from their eggs, players can use them to fulfill objective cards, which earns them coins. The breeder who has earned the most coins through hatched dragon eggs, completed objectives, and collected tokens wins!
Incubation features easy-to-learn rules and a fast playing time, making it a perfect fit for families and players new to the hobby.
Categories
Animals
Card Game
Dice
Fantasy
Farming
Mechanics
Dice Rolling
Push Your Luck
Set Collection
Innovation
2010
2-4 players
45-60 minutes to play
Rating: 7.30
Complexity (1-5): 2.77
Could not set favorite on game:
This game by Carl Chudyk is a journey through innovations from the stone age through modern times. Each player builds a civilization based on various technologies, ideas, and cultural advancements, all represented by cards. Each of these cards has a unique power which will allow further advancement, point scoring, or even attacking other civilizations. Be careful though, as other civilizations may be able to benefit from your ideas as well!
To win, you must score achievements, which you can attain by amassing points or by meeting certain criteria with the innovations you have built. Plan your civilization well, and outmaneuver your opponents, and with some luck you will achieve victory!
Game Types
Strategy Games
Categories
Card Game
Civilization
Mechanics
Follow
Hand Management
Layering
Melding and Splaying
Take That
Tech Trees / Tech Tracks
In the Palm of Your Hand
2020
2-8 players
20-30 minutes to play
Rating: 6.77
Complexity (1-5): 1.00
Could not set favorite on game:
In the Palm of Your Hand is a new team-based game from first-time designer Timothée Decroix! Help your grandparent relive their memories using 11 different 3D objects and over 100 beautifully-illustrated cards!
One player (grandchild) must “mime” memories depicted on cards by using objects in the palm of another player (grandparent), whose eyes are shut.
The grandchild draws 2 random cards from their hand, secretly looks at them, then uses any of the 11 3D objects included in the box to mime the memories in the grandparent's palm.
Cards are added (by the opposing team and from the deck) until there are 8 cards total. The grandparent then opens their eyes and must find the 2 correct memories out of the 8 cards on the table!
The game ends once everyone has had a chance to be the grandparent!
Categories
Deduction
Party Game
Mechanics
Communication Limits
Cooperative Game
Team-Based Game
Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King
2015
2-5 players
30-50 minutes to play
Rating: 7.39
Complexity (1-5): 2.25
Could not set favorite on game:
Isle of Skye is one of the most beautiful places in the world, with soft sand beaches, gently sloping hills, and impressive mountains. The landscape of Isle of Skye is breathtaking and fascinates everyone.
In the tile-laying game Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King, 2–5 players are chieftains of famous clans and want to build their kingdoms to score as many points as possible—but in each game only four of the sixteen scoring tiles will be scored.
Thanks to the scoring tiles, each game is different and leads to different tactics and strategies, but having enough money is useful no matter what else is going on. Managing that money can be tricky, though. Each turn, each player places two area tiles in front of them and sets the selling price for the tiles. Setting a high price is great, but only so long as someone actually pays the price because if no one opts to buy, then the seller must buy the tiles at the price they previously requested.
In the end, the player with the best kingdom—and not the richest player—becomes the sovereign of the island.
Game Types
Family Games
Strategy Games
Categories
Economic
Territory Building
Mechanics
Catch the Leader
Commodity Speculation
I Cut, You Choose
Set Collection
Tile Placement
Turn Order: Progressive
Istanbul
2014
2-5 players
40-60 minutes to play
Rating: 7.54
Complexity (1-5): 2.58
Could not set favorite on game:
There's hustle and bustle at Istanbul's grand bazaar as merchants and their assistants rush through the narrow alleys in their attempt to be more successful than their competitors. Everything must be well organized: wheelbarrows must be filled with goods at the warehouses, then swiftly transported by the assistants to various destinations. Your goal? Be the first merchant to collect a certain number of rubies.
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...
In more detail, on a turn you move your merchant and his retinue of assistants one or two steps through the bazaar, either leave an assistant at that location or collect an assistant left earlier, then perform the action. If you meet other merchants or certain individuals at the location, you might be able to take a small extra action. Possible actions include:
Paying to increase your wheelbarrow capacity, which starts the game with a capacity of only two for each good. Filling your wheelbarrow with a specified good to its limit. Acquiring a special ability, and the earlier you come, the easier they are to collect. Buying rubies or trading goods for rubies. Selling special combinations of goods to make the money you need to do everything else.
When a merchant has collected five rubies in his wheelbarrow, players complete that round, then the game ends. If this player is the only one who's reached this goal, he wins immediately; otherwise ties are broken by money in hand.
Game Types
Family Games
Strategy Games
Categories
Economic
Mechanics
Contracts
Dice Rolling
Grid Movement
Modular Board
Network and Route Building
Pick-up and Deliver
Race
Variable Set-up
Worker Placement
Istanbul: Letters & Seals
2016
2-5 players
40-60 minutes to play
Rating: 7.75
Complexity (1-5): 2.85
Could not set favorite on game:
You, the merchants of Istanbul, have come up with a new and quite lucrative way of earning extra money: delivering messages to the shopkeepers of the bazaar! While doing so, you can catch some useful information here and there that you can sell to the secret society for rubies. In order to keep your regular business running, you have hired a companion who is actively supporting you. True, he is a little slower than you would like but in return he does not require any assistants.
Istanbul: Letters & Seals is an expansion for Istanbul.
Game Types
Strategy Games
Categories
Economic
Expansion for Base-game
Mechanics
Dice Rolling
Grid Movement
Modular Board
Pick-up and Deliver
It's a Wonderful World
2019
1-5 players
45 minutes to play
Rating: 7.65
Complexity (1-5): 2.32
Could not set favorite on game:
In It’s a Wonderful World, you are an expanding Empire and must choose your path to your future. You must develop faster and better than your competitors. You’ll carefully plan your expansion to develop your production power and rule over this new world.
It’s a Wonderful World is a cards drafting and engine building game from 1 to 5 players. Each round, players will draft 7 cards and then choose which ones will be recycled to immediately acquire Resources, and which ones will be kept for construction to produce Resources each round and/or gain victory points.
When a card is fully built, it’s added to the player’s Empire to increase the player’s production capacity for each round. The mechanical twist being that the production phase works in a specific order. You'll have to plan your constructions carefully!
For a deeper insight of the gameplay, please follow this link : It's a Wonderful World - First steps
In addition to the base game, players can also enjoy expansions boxes introducing an innovative Campaign mode. Each Campaign offers a storyline to follow and many gameplay twists. At the end of each campaign, players will open a reward booster to unlock new cards, enhance their base game and keep a memory of what happened during the campaign. All the campaigns can be replayed and don’t imply game components destruction.
More info on the Campaign mode : It's a Wonderful World - Campaign Mode
—description from the publisher
Game Types
Strategy Games
Categories
Card Game
Civilization
Economic
Science Fiction
Mechanics
Closed Drafting
End Game Bonuses
Hand Management
Income
Set Collection
Simultaneous Action Selection
Solo / Solitaire Game
Variable Player Powers
Jaipur
2009
2 players
30 minutes to play
Rating: 7.49
Complexity (1-5): 1.46
Could not set favorite on game:
You are one of the two most powerful traders in the city of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, but that's not enough for you because only the merchant with two "seals of excellence" will have the privilege of being invited to the Maharaja's court. You are therefore going to have to do better than your direct competitor by buying, exchanging, and selling at better prices, all while keeping an eye on both your camel herds.
Jaipur is a fast-paced card game, a blend of tactics, risk and luck. On your turn, you can either take or sell cards. If you take cards, you have to choose between taking all the camels, taking one card from the market, or swapping 2-5 cards between the market and your cards.
If you sell cards, you get to sell only one type of good, and you receive as many chips for that good as the number of cards you sold. The chips' values decrease as the game progresses, so you'd better hurry! On the other hand, you receive increasingly high rewards for selling three, four, or five cards of the same good at a time, so you'd better wait!
You can't sell camels, but they're paramount for trading and they're also worth a little something at the end of the round, enough sometimes to secure the win, so you have to use them smartly.
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Card Game
Economic
Mechanics
Hand Management
Hidden Victory Points
Market
Open Drafting
Score-and-Reset Game
Set Collection
Jaws
2019
2-4 players
60 minutes to play
Rating: 7.08
Complexity (1-5): 2.14
Could not set favorite on game:
In JAWS, one player takes on the role of the killer shark off Amity Island, while the other 1-3 players take on the roles of Brody, Hooper and Quint to hunt the shark. Character and event cards define player abilities and create game actions for humans and the shark. Gameplay is divided into two acts — Amity Island and The Orca — played on a double-sided board to replicate the film's story:
In the Amity Island phase, the shark menaces swimmers and avoids capture. Other players attempt to pinpoint the shark's location and save swimmers from shark attacks. In the Orca phase, played on the reverse side of the game board, Brody, Hooper and Quint are aboard the sinking ship engaging in a climactic battle against the shark, while using additional action and strategy cards to defend the Orca from targeted shark attacks.
If humans kill the shark, they win; if the shark attack on the Orca succeeds, the great white shark wins.
Game Types
Thematic Games
Categories
Animals
Fighting
Movies / TV / Radio theme
Nautical
Mechanics
Action Points
Area Movement
Card Play Conflict Resolution
Hidden Movement
Map Deformation
Map Reduction
Modular Board
Player Elimination
Secret Unit Deployment
Team-Based Game
Variable Player Powers
Jekyll & Hyde vs Scotland Yard
2023
2 players
20 minutes to play
Rating: 7.41
Complexity (1-5): 2.25
Could not set favorite on game:
Jekyll & Hyde vs Scotland Yard is a co-operative trick-taking game for two players that's a standalone spin-off of Jekyll vs. Hyde.
You're Dr. Jekyll, the kind doctor and valuable friend — but you're also the infamous Mr. Hyde, who is hunted by Scotland Yard for the many misdeeds committed in the City of London. Your objective is to maintain the balance in the duality of your personality, while staying ahead of Scotland Yard's investigation.
This is a story-based game in which you have to achieve the objectives of every chapter of the story to complete the game.
—description from the publisher
Categories
Card Game
Novel-based
Mechanics
Communication Limits
Cooperative Game
Hand Management
Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game
Track Movement
Trick-taking
Jenga
1983
1-8 players
20 minutes to play
Rating: 5.65
Complexity (1-5): 1.10
Could not set favorite on game:
Jenga is tower building game played with 54 wooden blocks; each block is 3 times as long as it is wide, and slightly smaller in height than in width. The blocks are stacked in a tower formation; each story is three blocks placed adjacent to each other along their long side, and each story is placed perpendicular to the previous (so, for example, if the blocks in the first story are pointing north-south, the second story blocks will point east-west). There are therefore 18 stories to the Jenga tower. Since stacking the blocks neatly can be tedious, a plastic loading tray is included.
Once the tower is built, the person who built the tower moves first. Moving in Jenga consists of taking one and only one block from any story except the completed top story of the tower at the time of the turn, and placing it on the topmost story in order to complete it. Only one hand at a time may be used to remove a block; both hands can be used, but only one hand may be on the tower at a time. Blocks may be bumped to find a loose block that will not disturb the rest of the tower. Any block that is moved out of place may be left out of place if it is determined that it will knock the tower over if it is removed. The turn ends when the next person to move touches the tower, although he or she can wait 10 seconds before moving for the previous turn to end if they believe the tower will fall in that time.
The game ends when the tower falls in any significant way -- in other words, any piece falls from the tower, other than the piece being knocked out to move to the top. The loser is the person who made the tower fall (i.e. whose turn it was when the tower fell); the winner is the person who moved before the loser.
The same game concept was published in 1984 by Fagus under the name "Hoppla - eins zuviel!" According to the designer, the game was developed from Takoradi blocks/bricks. "Jenga" is Swahili for "build".
Game Types
Party Games
Categories
Action / Dexterity
Party Game
Mechanics
Physical Removal
Single Loser Game
Stacking and Balancing
Jenga
1983
1-8 players
20 minutes to play
Rating: 5.65
Complexity (1-5): 1.10
Could not set favorite on game:
Jenga is tower building game played with 54 wooden blocks; each block is 3 times as long as it is wide, and slightly smaller in height than in width. The blocks are stacked in a tower formation; each story is three blocks placed adjacent to each other along their long side, and each story is placed perpendicular to the previous (so, for example, if the blocks in the first story are pointing north-south, the second story blocks will point east-west). There are therefore 18 stories to the Jenga tower. Since stacking the blocks neatly can be tedious, a plastic loading tray is included.
Once the tower is built, the person who built the tower moves first. Moving in Jenga consists of taking one and only one block from any story except the completed top story of the tower at the time of the turn, and placing it on the topmost story in order to complete it. Only one hand at a time may be used to remove a block; both hands can be used, but only one hand may be on the tower at a time. Blocks may be bumped to find a loose block that will not disturb the rest of the tower. Any block that is moved out of place may be left out of place if it is determined that it will knock the tower over if it is removed. The turn ends when the next person to move touches the tower, although he or she can wait 10 seconds before moving for the previous turn to end if they believe the tower will fall in that time.
The game ends when the tower falls in any significant way -- in other words, any piece falls from the tower, other than the piece being knocked out to move to the top. The loser is the person who made the tower fall (i.e. whose turn it was when the tower fell); the winner is the person who moved before the loser.
The same game concept was published in 1984 by Fagus under the name "Hoppla - eins zuviel!" According to the designer, the game was developed from Takoradi blocks/bricks. "Jenga" is Swahili for "build".
Game Types
Party Games
Categories
Action / Dexterity
Party Game
Mechanics
Physical Removal
Single Loser Game
Stacking and Balancing
Jetpack Joyride
2019
1-4 players
20 minutes to play
Rating: 6.49
Complexity (1-5): 1.21
Could not set favorite on game:
Jetpack Joyride is a real-time competitive puzzle game adapted from the mobile game of the same name! Players need to fly their way through a lab using a stolen jetpack over a series of three rounds. During each round:
1) Players receive four new lab cards. 2) All players, in real-time and at the same time, grab tiles from the common pool and lay them to trace their way through their lab. 3) Points are scored through mission cards or by collecting coins! 4) The first player to reach the end of their lab triggers the end of the round. 5) Scores are totaled and written down for the round. 6) Players, starting from the one with the lowest score, pick a permanent gadget out of a river of four. 7) A new round begins!
Whoever has the most points at the end of the third round wins!
—description from the publisher
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Puzzle
Real-time
Video Game Theme
Mechanics
Race
Real-Time
Solo / Solitaire Game
Tile Placement
JoCo Cruise branded version of Anomia, custom made for us
Could not set favorite on game:
Joking Hazard
2016
3-10 players
30-90 minutes to play
Rating: 6.24
Complexity (1-5): 1.02
Could not set favorite on game:
From the creators of Cyanide & Happiness comes a card game where players compete to finish an awful comic strip.
The creators said:
"Someone on the Internet once told us that making stick figure comics is easy as hell, and that we were ugly and stupid.
They were right on all counts. So, after crying for a few hours, we created the Random Comic Generator which since its inception in 2014 has entertained millions with its computer-generated comedy.
After a few weeks of playing with the Random Comic Generator, we started to wonder if its hundreds of random panels might lend themselves to a card game, where you compete against your friends to finish a comic with a funny punchline. So we printed out all of the RCG panels and started playing with them."
Draw 7 cards. The deck plays the first card, select a Judge to play the second, then everyone selects a third card to create a three panel comic strip. The Judge picks a winner.
The game includes a deck of 350 unique panel cards - that’s 15.4 million combinations of comics!
Game Types
Party Games
Categories
Card Game
Comic Book / Strip
Humor
Mature / Adult
Party Game
Mechanics
Hand Management
Player Judge
Simultaneous Action Selection
Junk Orbit
2018
2-5 players
30-40 minutes to play
Rating: 6.89
Complexity (1-5): 1.54
Could not set favorite on game:
Space — the final junkyard. Good thing one planet's trash is another planet's treasure! In Junk Orbit, you're captain of your own scavenger ship, picking up space junk and transporting it to any city that will take it. Launch your junk ... uh, *cargo* ... out of your airlock to propel your ship! Race to deliver your cargo as you navigate the orbits of nearby planets and moons! It's astrodynamics for fun and profit! On your turn, carry out these three steps:
1. Launch junk — Choose any one junk tile in your cargo hold and move it away from your ship (clockwise or counter-clockwise, your choice) a number of spaces equal to its numeric value. If it reaches its destination city this way, you have made a remote delivery. Otherwise, it simply comes to rest after moving its full distance. It is also possible to hit an enemy ship with launched junk, causing that opponent to discard one junk tile from their cargo.
2. Move ship — Your ship must now move the same distance that your launched junk did, but in the opposite direction. When your ship reaches a transfer point between location boards, you may choose to switch orbits. If you do, your ship changes direction (from clockwise to counter-clockwise, or vice versa) as it enters the new orbit. If the space your ship lands on is the destination of any junk in your cargo, you have made a direct delivery.
3. Pick up junk — After moving your ship, pick up all junk tiles present in your current city, adding them to your cargo hold. Then, refill your current city with one new junk tile from the corresponding stack (e.g., if at a Mars city, refill from the Mars stack).
Each player has their own ship with a unique ship power that breaks the rules above in some way. The end of the game is triggered when a city cannot be refilled because its stack is empty. When this happens, every player gets one final turn, then players tally the values from all of their delivered junk tiles, and whoever has the highest total wins.
Game Types
Family Games
Strategy Games
Categories
Science Fiction
Transportation
Mechanics
Pick-up and Deliver
Point to Point Movement
Variable Player Powers
Just Desserts
2015
2-5 players
25 minutes to play
Rating: 5.80
Complexity (1-5): 1.33
Could not set favorite on game:
The guests are here, and they're hungry, so try to be the best waiter at this café by making sure that all the guests get their Just Desserts!
In this card game, each player starts with a hand of three dessert cards while three guest cards are placed in the center of the table; each dessert card shows 1-3 tastes that it satisfies, such as chocolate, fruit, or pastry, while the guest cards show what they crave as well as what they refuse to eat. On a turn, you draw a dessert card, add a guest card to the table from the deck, then take one of three actions:
Serve (and claim) one or two guests by discarding one or more dessert cards to give them what they want (while avoiding what they don't want); if you give a guest their favorite item, you get tipped with an extra dessert card. Draw one more dessert card. Dump as many dessert cards as you want, then drawing that many cards from the deck.
At the end of your turn, discard guests from the table so that only one guest of each "suit" is still waiting to be served — but the guest heading out the door (on top of the discard pile) can still be claimed by any waiter. If at any time you've served three guests of the same suit or five guests of different suits, then you win!
Just Desserts includes game variants that allow you to steal guests from another waiter by sending more sweets their way, to force other waiters to each give up one guest, and to hold a surprise party to claim a guest out of turn.
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Card Game
Mechanics
Contracts
Open Drafting
Pattern Recognition
Race
Set Collection
Just One
2018
3-7 players
20-60 minutes to play
Rating: 7.60
Complexity (1-5): 1.04
Could not set favorite on game:
Just One is a cooperative party game in which you play together to discover as many mystery words as possible. Find the best clue to help your teammate. Be unique, as all identical clues will be cancelled!
A complete game is played over 13 cards. The goal is to get a score as close to 13 as possible. In case of a right answer, the players score 1 point. In case of wrong answer, they lose the current card as well as the top card of the deck. Thus losing 2 points. In case of lack of answer, the players only lose the current card, and therefore only 1 point.
You have the choice – make the difference!
Small Historical Point:
Originally, Just One was called We Are The Word and was published by Fun Consortium.
Repos Production bought the rights in early 2018 and adapted the game. The Sombrero-wearing Belgians decided to improve the quality of the components, add 50 new words, and change the name of the game. Following this new edition, the game went from having only a French edition to having a world-wide edition.
Game Types
Party Games
Categories
Party Game
Word Game
Mechanics
Communication Limits
Cooperative Game
Paper-and-Pencil
Just One
2018
3-7 players
20-60 minutes to play
Rating: 7.60
Complexity (1-5): 1.04
Could not set favorite on game:
Just One is a cooperative party game in which you play together to discover as many mystery words as possible. Find the best clue to help your teammate. Be unique, as all identical clues will be cancelled!
A complete game is played over 13 cards. The goal is to get a score as close to 13 as possible. In case of a right answer, the players score 1 point. In case of wrong answer, they lose the current card as well as the top card of the deck. Thus losing 2 points. In case of lack of answer, the players only lose the current card, and therefore only 1 point.
You have the choice – make the difference!
Small Historical Point:
Originally, Just One was called We Are The Word and was published by Fun Consortium.
Repos Production bought the rights in early 2018 and adapted the game. The Sombrero-wearing Belgians decided to improve the quality of the components, add 50 new words, and change the name of the game. Following this new edition, the game went from having only a French edition to having a world-wide edition.
Game Types
Party Games
Categories
Party Game
Word Game
Mechanics
Communication Limits
Cooperative Game
Paper-and-Pencil
Kabuto Sumo
2021
2-4 players
15 minutes to play
Rating: 6.75
Complexity (1-5): 1.18
Could not set favorite on game:
Spring time in Japan means the return of the rhinoceros beetles — "Kabutomushi", which is Japanese for "helmet bug" — and their athletic contests of dominance. Out in the wild, you can find them butting heads trying to show off their strength and impress their insect friends with their wrestling skills. This is the origin of the phenomenal World Insect Wrestling Championship.
In Kabuto Sumo, you are one of the contending beetles that is battling for supremacy in the ring and your place in the pantheon of legendary wrestlers. The gameplay of Kabuto Sumo resembles the coin-pusher arcade games in which you strategically drop quarters and anxiously anticipate coins cascading off the platform. This game features a similar experience, with you trying to strategically slide pieces onto the board and push the other players out of the ring. It's an exciting combination of dexterity, strategy, and luck.
—description from the publisher
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Action / Dexterity
Animals
Fighting
Mechanics
Slide / Push
Variable Player Powers
Karuba
2015
2-4 players
30-40 minutes to play
Rating: 7.17
Complexity (1-5): 1.43
Could not set favorite on game:
This is a tile-laying race game with players starting with boards that are identical, and one player drawing tiles that they all will use. They race to get their explorers to temples first and earn points. Along the way they can collect additional points by collecting items off the paths they create. The game ends when one player gets all of their explorers to their corresponding temples or whenever the last tile is drawn and placed. Most points wins.
Description from the English Ruleset:
Many moons have come and gone since your boats departed on the journey to Karuba. Once you arrive on the island, each player will lead an expedition team of four adventurers. Now you just have to navigate your way through the dense jungle to make it to the temples. „Just“ may be something of an understatement; the ancient jungle trails have to be found and uncovered first! Hurry up and be the first to reach the temples to collect the most valuable treasures. Many paths have dead ends and you need to be patient to find the right/best way (through the jungle). Look! A gold nugget! You can pick it up and collect it, same applies to the shiny crystals along the paths.
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Exploration
Puzzle
Mechanics
Bingo
Connections
Grid Movement
Network and Route Building
Simultaneous Action Selection
Tile Placement
Kill Doctor Lucky: Doctor Lucky's Mansion That is Haunted
2017
2-8 players
Rating: 7.13
Complexity (1-5): 1.00
Could not set favorite on game:
Description from the publisher:
Doctor J. Robert Lucky wishes to sell his haunted house to a pair of unsuspecting newlyweds from across town — but the ghosts of Lucky Mansion have a different plan. They love Doctor Lucky so much, they want him to stay with them forever!
With the Doctor Lucky's Mansion That Is Haunted expansion board, the players are ghosts, so they can move through ceilings, walls, and floors! Any two rooms are connected as long as they share an edge, not just a corner. Players can see from their current room into all the connected rooms, but no farther. What's more, the board contains three secret portals that connect two rooms, represented by duplicate objects (the raven, globe, and portrait); you can move through these portals, but you can't see through them.
This game board can be folded in half to create different play spaces with at most 4-5 players in the game, or the entirety of it can be used for games with up to eight. Whenever the number of players is close to the upper limit of the board, you should probably play with the Cat; if the board seems too roomy, you should add the Dog instead.
Categories
Expansion for Base-game
Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot: Remix
2009
2-8 players
45 minutes to play
Rating: 5.64
Complexity (1-5): 1.60
Could not set favorite on game:
Playroom Entertainment is excited to announce Killer Bunnies® Remix! Now players can enjoy a sampling of favorite cards from the classic version of Killer Bunnies® and the Quest for the Magic Carrot™, hand-picked by the game’s creators.
KB Remix can be found exclusively at Target and Barnes & Noble locations nationwide. The game features 310 cards, taken from the KB Quest Blue Starter Deck and its Boosters. Designed for an easier jump into Killer Bunnies world, players will find many of the funny cards and addictive game play, without the more advanced mechanics that the core game contains.
KB Remix does not mix with the KB Quest Blue Starter or Booster decks, as the cards are of a different quality, with different backs.
Whether you are a novice player or have been enjoying Killer Bunnies Quest for years, you'll love this mix of fantastic cards, images and hysterical references from this top-selling game series!
Playroom Entertainment will continue to produce and support the KB Quest line for the specialty market and the game's huge fan base. In fact, we have some new surprises coming soon, so stay tuned for updates!
KB REMIX DOES: Include some of the best cards from the original game Serve as the perfect intro to Killer Bunnies Cause riotous laugher and hilarity
KB REMIX DOES NOT: Mix with other KB Quest Starter or Booster decks Have every card from the full game Contain any cards not found in KB Quest
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Animals
Card Game
Humor
Negotiation
Mechanics
Hand Management
Kinfire Delve: Callous' Lab
2024
1-2 players
45-60 minutes to play
Rating: 8.30
Complexity (1-5): 2.20
Could not set favorite on game:
In Kinfire Delve: Callous' Lab, a tactical and cooperative card game for 1-2 players, you will fight your way through the well deck of challenge cards to reach Callous, the Master of the Well, and face him in an epic final battle.
Callous' Well is made up of four challenge cards, with Callous himself in the middle. As a challenge is defeated, another takes its place, with 57 challenge cards in total. As you face the challenges of the Well, you may play a skill card from your hand only when it matches the color of the challenge card, e.g., if you're facing a red challenge card, then you may play only a red skill card. Some cards have two colors, and some are white, that is, wild. If the card you play does not defeat the challenge, you'll be able to add some progress to it and attempt it again, though you may suffer a penalty for doing so.
Other seekers can provide help by playing one of their own cards as a boost, but beware. Running out of cards nets you an exhaustion card before you can draw a new hand. Exhaustion cards are never good, but some are worse than others.
Defeating a challenge provides you a reward, such as regaining health or delving deeper into the Well, which is represented by discarding unseen challenge cards. Once you've made your way to the bottom of the Well, you'll face Callous himself. All Seekers share a health pool, and if the pool reaches zero, you're defeated. This is a game that requires teamwork and persistence as the wells of Atios are unpredictable and quite dangerous.
-description from publisher
Categories
Card Game
Fantasy
Horror
Mechanics
Cooperative Game
Dice Rolling
Multi-Use Cards
Kinfire Delve: Scorn's Stockade
2024
1-2 players
45-60 minutes to play
Rating: 8.09
Complexity (1-5): 2.09
Could not set favorite on game:
In Kinfire Delve: Scorn's Stockade, a tactical and cooperative card game for 1-2 players, you will fight your way through the well deck of challenge cards to reach Scorn, the Master of the Well, and face them in an epic final battle.
Scorn's Well is made up of four challenge cards, with Scorn himself in the middle. As a challenge is defeated, another takes its place, with 57 challenge cards in total. As you face the challenges of the Well, you may play a skill card from your hand only when it matches the color of the challenge card, e.g., if you're facing a red challenge card, then you may play only a red skill card. Some cards have two colors, and some are white, that is, wild. If the card you play does not defeat the challenge, you'll be able to add some progress to it and attempt it again, though you may suffer a penalty for doing so.
Other seekers can provide help by playing one of their own cards as a boost, but beware. Running out of cards nets you an exhaustion card before you can draw a new hand. Exhaustion cards are never good, but some are worse than others.
Defeating a challenge provides you a reward, such as regaining health or delving deeper into the Well, which is represented by discarding unseen challenge cards. Once you've made your way to the bottom of the Well, you'll face Scorn himself. All Seekers share a health pool, and if the pool reaches zero, you're defeated. This is a game that requires teamwork and persistence as the wells of Atios are unpredictable and quite dangerous.
—description from publisher
Categories
Card Game
Fantasy
Horror
Mechanics
Cooperative Game
Dice Rolling
Multi-Use Cards
Kinfire Delve: Vainglory's Grotto
2023
1-2 players
45-60 minutes to play
Rating: 7.91
Complexity (1-5): 2.07
Could not set favorite on game:
Kinfire Delve: Vainglory's Grotto is a tactical and cooperative card game for 1-2 players. As Seekers, you will fight your way through the well deck of challenge cards to reach Vainglory, the master of the well, and face her in an epic final battle.
To defeat Vainglory, you'll battle and puzzle your way through her well deck of 57 challenge cards before facing her final gauntlet. On your turn, attempt a challenge by playing a matching skill card and rolling the dice. Add enough progress tokens to a challenge and you'll be richly rewarded. But fail and you'll face the penalty by losing health, discarding cards, or being forced to return cards to the well deck.
Even when it's not your turn, the cards in your hand can be played to boost your teammate's action. But be cautious–emptying your hand means gaining exhaustion and suffering effects that can lose you the game.
Survive long enough to reach the bottom of the well and reveal Vainglory's final form. Break through her gauntlet of protectors in order to face and defeat her once and for all and win the game.
—description from publisher
Categories
Card Game
Fantasy
Horror
Mechanics
Cooperative Game
Dice Rolling
Multi-Use Cards
King of Tokyo: Power Up!
2012
2-6 players
30 minutes to play
Rating: 7.59
Complexity (1-5): 1.71
Could not set favorite on game:
With King of Tokyo: Power Up! – an expansion for the King of Tokyo base game – Included is the new monster Pandakai, a giant panda bear. After choosing a monster, each player takes the eight Evolution cards associated with that monster, shuffles those cards, and creates a personal deck. At the end of a player's turn, if she has three hearts, she draws one Evolution card and adds it to her hand; this is possible even in Tokyo (when hearts are normally useless) and even if the hearts are used for some other action, such as healing.
A player can reveal and play an Evolution card at any time. Some Evolutions are temporary, allowing a one-time bonus, while others are Permanent, such as Gigazaur's "Tail Sweep", which allows him to change one die to a 1 or 2 each turn. Each Evolution card also identifies whether a monster is a Mutant, Invader, or Robot, and while not relevant for Power Up!, this species identification could come into play in future expansions.
The rules for King of Tokyo: Power Up! contain a few variants: Players start with a random Evolution in play, or draw two cards and choose the one they want, or draft a set of Evolutions prior to the start of play. However you play, the goal of the game remains the same: Score 20 points or be the last monster standing amid the rubble of what was once Tokyo.
Part of the King of Tokyo series.
Game Types
Family Games
Thematic Games
Categories
Expansion for Base-game
Dice
Movies / TV / Radio theme
Science Fiction
Mechanics
Dice Rolling
Variable Player Powers
KLASK
2014
2 players
10 minutes to play
Rating: 7.63
Complexity (1-5): 1.05
Could not set favorite on game:
The KLASK game board is shaped like a ball field with two deep holes functioning as goals in each end of the field. In the middle of the field, three white magnetic pieces serve as "obstacles" – do NOT attract them to your own gaming piece! Your gaming piece is a black magnet. You control it by holding a large magnet under the board. This magnet is connected to a small magnet placed on the field. The purpose of the game is to push the small, red ball around on the field with your magnet/gaming piece, shoot the ball past the obstacles and your opponent and into the goal hole (Klask). It’s so much fun when your opponent suddenly is covered in white obstacles or you drop your gaming piece into the goal – something which might happen if you get a little too eager!
Place the game board on a table between the two players. Place the three white magnetic pieces on the white fields on the board. Put two coins in each point slot next to the "0". Each player has a black magnetic gaming piece in two parts. Place the short (thin) part on top of the board and the long (thick) part under the board in such a way, so the two parts “catch” each other. Place the ball in the corner start field. Steer it with the black gaming pieces.
The youngest player starts the game. You score a point if:
The ball ends in your opponent's hole and stays in the hole. Two or all of the three white magnetic pieces stick to your opponent's gaming piece. The opponent accidentally pulls their gaming piece into their own goal hole. If the opponent loses their gaming piece.
Each time you get a point, you must move your coin one point forward in the point slot. The player who first reaches the KLASK field wins.
During the game:
If one of the white magnetic pieces sticks to a gaming piece, the game continues; if two of the white magnetic pieces stick to one gaming piece, the opponent gets one point. If the ball falls over the edges of the board, you must place the ball in the corner start field in the half from which the ball fell. If one or more white magnetic pieces fall over the edges of the board, the game continues. Each time a player scores a point, you must put the white magnetic pieces back on the white fields on the board, and the player who did not score a point places the ball in their corner start field.
Game Types
Family Games
Party Games
Categories
Action / Dexterity
Real-time
Mechanics
Real-Time
Score-and-Reset Game
KOI
2018
1-4 players
40-60 minutes to play
Rating: 6.35
Complexity (1-5): 2.00
Could not set favorite on game:
As a koi fish, you spend your days (turns) swimming to and fro by playing a number of movement cards, with the goal of gobbling up as many dragonflies and frogs as you can every day. Each movement card has from two to four programmed moves — straight, turn, rotate any direction and leap over a space — with some moves being mandatory when played and others being optional.
Your tranquil koi pond begins with some decorative stone and a few lily pads, but you will also receive natural beauty cards in your hand that allow a player to add more lily pads, cherry blossoms, ornamental stone and frogs — which both enhances the beauty of the pond and causes turmoil beneath the still waters for the other koi. Lily pads are great as they spawn dragonflies every turn, each of which is worth 3 victory points when eaten. Cherry blossoms ripple the surface of the water as they land, causing all living things to scatter in the opposite direction — and if you play the blossoms wisely, right into your mouth! Stones prevent fish from entering a space and are best placed to block an opponent's path to a meal. Frogs are delicious 1 VP meals all their own, but they also eat dragonflies in adjacent spaces, so often they are placed to deprive opponents of their dinner.
As the weather changes and a new event card is revealed for the day in KOI, so must your strategy change. At the end of seven days, the game comes to an end, with the best-fed fish being declared the winner. Be wise, be quick, or go hungry. Persevere and you shall succeed.
Also features a solo play mode, where you must outscore a programmed AI opponent, with adjustable difficulty settings.
Categories
Animals
Card Game
Mechanics
Events
Grid Movement
Hand Management
Hexagon Grid
Take That
Kremlin
1986
3-6 players
75 minutes to play
Rating: 6.97
Complexity (1-5): 2.85
Could not set favorite on game:
A game of political intrigue set in the Soviet Politburo of the early 20th century, with a satirical edge. With politicians like Eduard Boremtodev, Nikolai Shootemdedsky and Natasha Nogoodnik vying for control of the party, you know the battle will be an entertaining one.
At the start of the game, a number of politician cards are laid out to fill the positions of the politburo. Players then secretly note influence on ten politicians they hope to control during the game, indicated by a number from 1 to 10. Gameplay is not clockwise, but proceeds phase by phase with the politician holding the relevant office performing the appropriate action by the player who reveals the greatest influence on the politician in question. Players attempt to remove politicians opposed to their interests by purging, exiling them to Siberia or by demoting them within the Politburo. One’s own preferred politicians can be promoted or pardoned of their previous ‘sins’. But each action a politician takes causes him (or in one case, her) to age by one or more years (a measure of the aging effect of the stress of the job). Each turn, politburo members face a health check which can result in the politician becoming ill, or even dying. The 'older' a politician gets the more likely it is that he (or she) will become ill. At the end of each turn, the Party Chief must be healthy enough to wave to the crowd at the October parade. Controlling a politician who succeeds at this three times makes you the winner.
The original Fata Morgana edition included rules requiring the players to hold funeral speeches for deceased party chairmen and drinking vodka with it, for instance. The later Avalon Hill edition scrapped these rules and gave the game a less satirical and more serious tone.
Jolly Roger reimplemented an edition providing three different KREMLIN games in one box -See Kremlin (Third Edition)-:
1: The 'original' with fictional politicians, set in a USSR where KGB investigations send those found guilty to Siberia. This version will have victory conditions based on the original Fata Morgana rules.
2: A version inspired by the Avalon Hill variant titled 'Revolution'. Set in the 1920s, it uses historical politicians as well as fictional politicians. It's a more violent game as those arrested by the KGB are shot and removed from the game
3: A new version, set in the modern USSR and Russia, an era of entrenched bureaucracy and alternatives for escaping KGB persecution. This version introduces the concept of "Going into Exile" to avoid Siberia. It also includes modern politicians from the 1960s onwards, whether it is Kosygin or Putin and Gorbachev.
Game Types
Strategy Games
Thematic Games
Categories
Negotiation
Political
Mechanics
Voting
Labyrinth
1986
2-4 players
20 minutes to play
Rating: 6.41
Complexity (1-5): 1.34
Could not set favorite on game:
Labyrinth (formerly The aMAZEing Labyrinth) has spawned a whole line of Labyrinth games. The game board has a set of tiles fixed solidly onto it; the remaining tiles that make up the labyrinth slide in and out of the rows created by the tiles that are locked in place. One tile always remains outside the labyrinth, and players take turns taking this extra tile and sliding it into a row of the labyrinth, moving all those tiles and pushing one out the other side of the board; this newly removed tile becomes the piece for the next player to add to the maze.
Players move around the shifting paths of the labyrinth in a race to collect various treasures. Whoever collects all of his treasures first and returns to his home space wins!
Labyrinth is simple at first glance and an excellent puzzle-solving game for children; it can also be played by adults using more strategy and more of a cutthroat approach.
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Children's Game
Maze
Puzzle
Mechanics
Map Deformation
Modular Board
Network and Route Building
Point to Point Movement
Slide / Push
Square Grid
Tile Placement
Lacrimosa
2022
1-4 players
90 minutes to play
Rating: 7.66
Complexity (1-5): 3.16
Could not set favorite on game:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is dead. His last conscious action on his deathbed was composing the Lacrimosa movement of his Opus Requiem. You, as one of his sponsors, will meet with the widow in order to participate one last time in the funding of the works of the Austrian genius. Also, you will reminisce and retell all your memories alongside Mozart in order to make sure that she portrays you under the best light when writing her memoirs in order to enter history as Mozart's most important patron.
In Lacrimosa, players take the roles of patrons of the late musician, contributing with their fundings to the composer's works one last time. During the game, you play in two different timelines: the present and the past. In the present, you commission the missing parts of the Requiem from other composers in order to complete it. When developing past events, the game takes place in five epochs in which you contribute by buying new compositions from the composer to sell or exhibit, accompany him on the different journeys through the main courts and theaters in Europe, and gather the resources you need in order to support the musician during his career.
During the game, you play cards from a limited hand that you will improve as the game progresses. These cards can be played either as actions or as resource generators, and players need to optimize their resources and finances in order to support their best version of the story and their relationship with Mozart.
—description from the publisher
Game Types
Strategy Games
Categories
Music
Mechanics
Area Majority / Influence
Deck, Bag, and Pool Building
End Game Bonuses
Movement Points
Multi-Use Cards
Open Drafting
Lacuna
2023
2 players
10-15 minutes to play
Rating: 7.45
Complexity (1-5): 1.03
Could not set favorite on game:
Lacuna is a game for 2 players about collecting flowers on a pond at night. It takes seconds to set up and plays entirely on a cloth mat.
The rules are simple: draw an imaginary line between 2 flowers, place a pawn, and collect both flowers.
—description from the publisher
Game Types
Abstract Games
Categories
Abstract Strategy
Mechanics
Zone of Control
Lanterns: The Harvest Festival
2015
2-4 players
30 minutes to play
Rating: 6.86
Complexity (1-5): 1.54
Could not set favorite on game:
The harvest is in, and the artisans are hard at work preparing for the upcoming festival. Decorate the palace lake with floating lanterns and compete to become the most honored artisan when the festival begins.
In Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, players have a hand of tiles depicting various color arrangements of floating lanterns, as well as an inventory of individual lantern cards of specific colors. When you place a tile, all players (you and your opponents) receive a lantern card corresponding to the color on the side of the tile facing them. Place carefully to earn cards and other bonuses for yourself, while also looking to deny your opponents. Players gain honor by dedicating sets of lantern cards — three pairs, for example, or all seven colors — and the player with the most honor at the end of the game wins.
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Abstract Strategy
Mechanics
Hand Management
Pattern Building
Set Collection
Tile Placement
Last Bastion
2019
1-4 players
45 minutes to play
Rating: 7.45
Complexity (1-5): 2.61
Could not set favorite on game:
A handful of heroes have just stolen the powerful relics of the Baleful Queen. Without them, the immortal sovereign is weakened; recovering them is now her sole purpose.
With the High Mages attempting to destroy them, the heroes have fallen back into the Bastion of the Ancient Kings, where they must defend the fort to the peril their lives.
Unceasingly, the hordes led by the Warlords besiege the ramparts. If this citadel falls, an entire civilization will be swept away, and an entire world will fall into chaos...
Last Bastion is a cooperative game in which the players take on the roles of heroes defending an ancestral Bastion against the monstrous hordes of the Baleful Queen. The players struggle together against the game, either they all win victory, or else they all suffer defeat.
Game Types
Strategy Games
Categories
Fantasy
Fighting
Medieval
Miniatures
Mechanics
Cooperative Game
Dice Rolling
Die Icon Resolution
Grid Movement
Modular Board
Move Through Deck
Player Elimination
Solo / Solitaire Game
Square Grid
Variable Player Powers
Variable Set-up
Las Vegas Royale
2019
2-5 players
45-60 minutes to play
Rating: 7.47
Complexity (1-5): 1.41
Could not set favorite on game:
Las Vegas Royale combines the original Las Vegas dice game from 2012 with some elements of the Las Vegas Boulevard expansion from 2014.
Las Vegas is an easy-to-learn, dice-rolling game that includes six cardboard casino mats, one for each side of a normal six-sided die. For each mat in the basic game, 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.
Each player has eight dice of a different color, which they take turns rolling. When you roll your dice, you can choose to place them on the relevant casino cards; for example, a die showing a 1 will be placed on the casino mat marked "1". You must place all dice of one number on one casino in your turn. All players take turns doing this until all the dice have been used. Finally, the player with the most dice on each casino card takes the highest-valued money associated with it, then the player with the secondmost dice takes the next highest-valued money card. In case of a tie, the non-tied player with the most dice takes the highest-valued money card at that casino, while the tied players get bupkis.
Las Vegas Royale includes twelve expansion tiles, and to play a more involved game, you can place an expansion tile at random by each casino. These tiles have special abilities on them, and by placing dice on them, players can activate these abilities. The expansion components also include a larger than normal die for each player that counts as two dice.
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Dice
Mechanics
Area Majority / Influence
Dice Rolling
Lazer Ryderz
2017
2-4 players
30-60 minutes to play
Rating: 6.28
Complexity (1-5): 1.40
Could not set favorite on game:
Description from the publisher:
Lazer Ryderz is a trackless racing game for up to 4 players with light push-your-luck, area denial, and strategy elements. Players construct their lazer paths with various pre-formed punchboard pieces that are placed according to speed and desired direction.
In Lazer Ryderz, players take on the role of one of four Ryderz as they race to capture all three Prisms needed to charge the Portal to their next destination. The Portal only allows one Ryder to pass through before moving on to a new location in the galaxy, so speed is essential to meet your goal. But the faster a Ryder goes the harder it is to turn, and if a Ryder runs into another player's lazer, that Ryder is toast! Who will continue on their quest and who will be left behind?
Will it be the Galactic Waveryder - the adrenaline-fueled surfer who's seeking the next great thrill and most radical solar waves? Or the Lazer Shark - always on the hunt for her next prey as she seeks the fabled Blood Nebula to restart her species? Perhaps the Super Sheriff - greatest of the Law Star Rangers who travels to the outer reaches of the known (and unknown) galaxy to bring the universe's criminals to speedy justice? Or will it be the Phantom Cosmonaut - the ghost from a long-distant era whose true quest is a mystery to those he encounters, but with speed that is without question as he moves in the blink of an eye?
Categories
Maze
Racing
Science Fiction
Video Game Theme
Mechanics
Chaining
Movement Template
Network and Route Building
Race
Tile Placement
Variable Player Powers
Le Havre
2008
1-5 players
30-150 minutes to play
Rating: 7.84
Complexity (1-5): 3.71
Could not set favorite on game:
In Le Havre, a player's turn consists of two parts: First, distribute newly supplied goods onto the offer spaces; then take an action. As an action, players may choose either to take all goods of one type from an offer space or to use one of the available buildings. Building actions allow players to upgrade goods, sell them or use them to build their own buildings and ships. Buildings are both an investment opportunity and a revenue stream, as players must pay an entry fee to use buildings that they do not own. Ships, on the other hand, are primarily used to provide the food that is needed to feed the workers.
After every seven turns, the round ends: players' cattle and grain may multiply through a Harvest, and players must feed their workers. After a fixed number of rounds, each player may carry out one final action, and then the game ends. Players add the value of their buildings and ships to their cash reserves. The player who has amassed the largest fortune is the winner.
Game Types
Strategy Games
Categories
City Building
Economic
Industry / Manufacturing
Nautical
Mechanics
Automatic Resource Growth
End Game Bonuses
Increase Value of Unchosen Resources
Loans
Ownership
Solo / Solitaire Game
Worker Placement
Letter Jam
2019
2-6 players
45 minutes to play
Rating: 7.17
Complexity (1-5): 1.96
Could not set favorite on game:
Letter Jam is a 2-6 player cooperative word game where players assist each other in composing meaningful words from letters around the table. The trick is holding the letter card so that it’s only visible to other players and not to you.
At the start of the game, each player receives a set of face-down letter cards that can be arranged to form an existing word. The setup can be prepared by using a special card scanning app, or by players selecting words for each other. Each player then puts their first card in their stand facing the other players without looking at it, and the game begins.
The game is played in turns. Each turn, players simultaneously search other players’ letters to see what words they can spell out (telling the others the length of the word they can make up). The player who offers the longest word can then be chosen as the clue giver.
The clue giver spells out their clue by putting numbered tokens in front of the other players. Number one goes to the player whose letter comes first in the clue, number two to the second letter etc. They can always use a wild card which can be any letter, but they cannot tell others which letter it represents.
Each player with a numbered token (or tokens) in front of them then tries to figure out what their letter is. If they do, they place the card face down before revealing the next letter. At the end of the game, players can then rearrange the cards to try to form an existing word. All players then reveal their cards to see if they were successful or not. The more players who have an existing word in front of them, the bigger their collective success.
—description from the publisher
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Card Game
Deduction
Party Game
Word Game
Mechanics
Communication Limits
Cooperative Game
Spelling
Letters from Whitechapel
2011
2-6 players
90 minutes to play
Rating: 7.34
Complexity (1-5): 2.64
Could not set favorite on game:
Get ready to enter the poor and dreary Whitechapel district in London 1888 – the scene of the mysterious Jack the Ripper murders – with its crowded and smelly alleys, hawkers, shouting merchants, dirty children covered in rags who run through the crowd and beg for money, and prostitutes – called "the wretched" – on every street corner.
The board game Letters from Whitechapel, which plays in 90-150 minutes, takes the players right there. One player plays Jack the Ripper, and his goal is to take five victims before being caught. The other players are police detectives who must cooperate to catch Jack the Ripper before the end of the game. The game board represents the Whitechapel area at the time of Jack the Ripper and is marked with 199 numbered circles linked together by dotted lines. During play, Jack the Ripper, the Policemen, and the Wretched are moved along the dotted lines that represent Whitechapel's streets. Jack the Ripper moves stealthily between numbered circles, while policemen move on their patrols between crossings, and the Wretched wander alone between the numbered circles.
Game Types
Strategy Games
Thematic Games
Categories
Bluffing
Deduction
Murder / Mystery
Post-Napoleonic
Mechanics
Hidden Movement
Memory
Point to Point Movement
Secret Unit Deployment
Team-Based Game
Letter Tycoon
2015
2-5 players
30 minutes to play
Rating: 6.76
Complexity (1-5): 2.00
Could not set favorite on game:
Letter Tycoon is the word game for 2-5 capitalists!
In the game, players take turns forming a word using a seven-card hand and a three-card community card pool, scoring money and stock rewards based on their word. Players may use their earned money to buy one letter "patent" in the word they make. In the future, whenever another player uses one of your owned letters on their turn, you earn money from the bank. Letters that are used less frequently have special abilities, increasing their power.
When enough of the alphabet has been claimed, players finish the current turn, then score all money, stock and letter patents owned. Create the most valuable empire and you can become the letter tycoon!
Game Types
Family Games
Categories
Economic
Word Game
Mechanics
Commodity Speculation
Hand Management
Set Collection
Spelling
Variable Player Powers
Leviathan Wilds
2024
1-4 players
45-90 minutes to play
Rating: 7.90
Complexity (1-5): 2.50
Could not set favorite on game:
Long ago, the once-gentle leviathans lost their minds and tore the world apart. After generations of hiding and struggle, humanity discovered that the frenzied leviathans can be restored. Climbers willing to take the risk must explore the wilds and work together to remove a series of binding crystals to heal the leviathans roaming the world.
In Leviathan Wilds, 1-4 players will confront these colossal beings, with each creature being depicted across the spread of a spiral-bound storybook that makes up the game's board. The book also forms the basis of a connected campaign mode built around the game's story, with each of twenty included scenarios estimated to last around 45 minutes. Tougher difficulty levels are also available for added replayability.
Each character's deck of multi-use cards is unique, allowing them to climb, jump, and glide around the board in different ways. The number of cards left in the slim deck represents their grip on the leviathan's body; if the deck runs out, the player loses their grip and begins to fall down the board until they're able to reach a rest space, which resets their deck. Moving onto rest spaces also provides a way to regain one's grip without falling. Other spaces reduce a character's health or grip or they increase blight, a status that reduces their overall hit points.
The leviathan has its own deck of cards, which triggers various effects at the beginning of a player's turn, from targeted attacks that reduce health to effects that move players between spaces or loosen their grip. As the game progresses, the leviathan gradually gains "rage", which intensifies the effect of its event cards.
Players' characters can move around a square grid overlaid on the creature's body by spending action points — the number being determined by a card played at the start of their turn — and their remaining hand of ability cards to reach the crystals and reduce them to zero. Victory is achieved by reducing all crystals, which vary in strength, to zero.
Game Types
Family Games
Strategy Games
Categories
Adventure
Card Game
Fantasy
Fighting
Video Game Theme
Mechanics
Action / Event
Action Points
Cooperative Game
Events
Grid Coverage
Grid Movement
Hand Management
Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game
Solo / Solitaire Game
Square Grid
Variable Player Powers
Life of a Chameleon
2021
2-4 players
30-45 minutes to play
Rating: 7.30
Complexity (1-5): 1.25
Could not set favorite on game:
A chameleon’s life isn’t easy–constantly adapting to new environments and hiding from predators like snakes! It takes a lot of patience to sneak around and hunt bugs for food. No one truly appreciates the chameleon’s plight!
You are a chameleon just trying to make your way in this world, eating one bug at a time. Eat specific colors of bugs in the right order to win. Snatch tasty insects right out from under your opponents as you navigate the board fraught with dangerous snakes and other competitive chameleons.
Players take turns moving around the board to collect bugs of their same color. Throughout the game players roll to add more bugs to the board. As chameleons, players can change their own color in order to eat new bugs and pass safely by snakes of the same hue. The game includes 21 colored chameleon meeples for this very purpose.
As players start and complete objective cards they collect achievement cards which can help with additional actions or alternative ways to score. Whenever an objective is completed, the active player rolls a die and moves a progress marker along the game track. When the marker reaches the end, the game is over and all players tally their scores.
—description from the designer
Categories
Animals
Mechanics
Action Points
Area Movement
Contracts
Random Production
Set Collection
Variable Set-up
Life Siphon
2019
2-4 players
20-40 minutes to play
Rating: 6.18
Complexity (1-5): 2.25
Could not set favorite on game:
Dragons have taken over the surface, forcing humans underground. During explorations, you and your fellow humans discover a box with an orange glowing eye on the outside. The words DO NOT OPEN are carved on the sides. Of course you open it...ONLY TO BE INSTANTLY CURSED!
The only escape is to take out your closest friend with your new cursed powers to summon Familiars and cast spells at the cost of your own life.
Each player's goal in Life Siphon is to defeat the player to their left, and the game ends when the first player drops to zero health, meaning you must plan your strategy to be effective offensively against one player while defending against another. Since everything costs your own health, the heavier your offense, the more vulnerable you are. You may even find yourself aiding your attacker to give you the opportunity to make the killing blow.
Categories
Fantasy
Fighting
Medieval
Mechanics
Hand Management
Linkee!
2012
2-30 players
30 minutes to play
Rating: 6.39
Complexity (1-5): 1.11
Could not set favorite on game:
Linkee is a trivia party game that can be played by individual players or teams.
Questions on a card are read out but answers are kept secret. Once all questions and a further clue have been given players must work out what links those answers and shout Linkee! Get it right and win the card. Each question card has a letter on the back. Once you have the correct letters to spell Linkee you win the game.
Described as a shouty outy family game, the game is intended to be boisterous family fun.
Categories
Party Game
Trivia
Help
Play time is the manufacturers specification. JoCo Cruise recommends adding 20-30 minutes if your party has not played before.