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Timeline: Inventions

Timeline: Inventions is a card game played using 109 cards. Each card depicts an invention on both sides, with the year in which that invention was created on only one side. Players take turns placing a card from their hand in a row on the table. After placing the card, the player reveals the date on it. If the card was placed correctly with the date in chronological order with all other cards on the table, the card stays in place; otherwise the card is removed from play and the player takes another card from the deck.

The first player to get rid of all his cards by placing them correctly wins. If multiple players go out in the same round, then everyone else is eliminated from play and each of those players are dealt one more card for another round of play. If only one player has no cards after a bonus round, he wins; otherwise play continues until a single player goes out.

Timeline: Inventions can be combined with any other title in the Timeline series.

In Carcassonne, players build the area surrounding this impressive city, one tile at a time. They then place a follower on fields, cities, roads or monasteries in order to score as many points as possible. These followers will become knights, monks, farmers and thieves, depending on where they are placed. No matter their followers’ function, the player who places their followers most intelligently, and who builds the playing area most deviously, will win the game.

An adventure game in which the players all possess different parts of treasure maps, Tobago has everyone hunting for buried riches. Gradually, more and more information about the locations of the treasures are revealed and their possible locations narrowed down. When a player identifies the location of one of the treasures, they try to reach it as fast as possible to secure whatever might be buried there.

K2 is a board game in which each player controls a team of two mountaineers. Their objective, to reach to the summit of K2 and return before anyone else… and without the mountain killing them. Every player uses an identical deck of cards to move their climbers or to acclimatize them to the cold. It’s a deadly mountain and staying alive is not going to be easy.

This is a true classic, and now brought back by Stronghold Games with completely upgraded components, and now in a 30th Anniversary Edition!

In “Survive”, you try to lead your Explorers from the sinking central island of Atlantis to the safety of one of four islands nearby. Your Explorers can get there quickly by boat (if they find one) or more slowly by swimming. But it will be a perilous journey as they must avoid Sea Serpents, Whales, and Sharks! When the volcano on Atlantis explodes, the game is over. The player with the most Explorer points wins!

As compared to its previous versions from other publishers, all of the components for “Survive” have been upgraded to the highest-quality levels, including slotted wood boats to carry the Explorer tokens, as well as Land Tiles of 3 different thicknesses to give Atlantis a 3-D look.

This card game recreates an old-fashioned spaghetti western shoot-out, with each player randomly receiving a character card to determine their special abilities, and a secret Role card to determine their goal. The Sheriff has to clean out the town, with the aid of their hidden deputy, while the Outlaws must take down the law. The Renegade? Well, they’re all on their own…

In Jungle Speed, you must rely on your keen sense of observation and quick reflexes. It requires a steady hand — which can be hard to maintain during the many fits of maniacal laughter! The wooden Totem sits in the middle of the table, waiting for the player with the fastest reflexes to snatch it up and win the game.

Each player is dealt a hand of cards. In order to win you must be the first player to get rid of all of your cards. Each turn, all of the players reveal one of their cards. If two cards are identical, those players must make a grab for the Totem. The faster player then gives their cards to their unfortunate adversary.

To add to the difficulty, certain cards are almost identical, which can trick a hapless player into grabbing the Totem by mistake — a grave error. Other cards force all players to make a grab at once, change the method of play, or otherwise add to the difficulty.

A perfect balance of cooperative gameplay and back-stabbing goodness.

An artifact of untold power lies in your hands. To claim it, you must escape the caverns alive. No less than nine horrific beasts stand in your way – that, and the greed of the other players.

In this game of kill-stealing, you decide whether to swing for a whopping 50 points of damage – or hold back, awaiting a more opportune time to strike. Only the final blow matters if you are to score the kill. Hold back or sabotage other’s plans too much – and the entire party will die, without a winner.

This game entry refers to two nearly identical games which are not compatible with one another. Ages 6 and up. PitchCar and Carabande are dexterity games where large, wooden, puzzle-like pieces are used to construct a race track that looks very similar to a slot car track when finished. But instead of using electrons, players use finger-flicks to send small pucks around the track, a la Carrom. PitchCar is produced by Ferti. It currently has five expansions which add “tight” curves, crossroads, small jumps, long straightaways, 45-degree curves, and curved bottlenecks. PitchCar apparently also has two editions, where the first edition has the black laminate on the top and bottom of the track pieces, where the second edition only has the laminate on the top of the track pieces. In the BGG photo gallery, PitchCar has red rails.

You are head of a family in an Italian city-state, a city run by a weak and corrupt court. You need to manipulate, bluff and bribe your way to power. Your object is to destroy the influence of all the other families, forcing them into exile. Only one family will survive…

In Coup, you want to be the last player with influence in the game, with influence being represented by face-down character cards in your playing area. Each player starts the game with two coins and two influence – i.e., two face-down character cards; the fifteen card deck consists of three copies of five different characters, each with a unique set of powers.

When you take one of the character actions – whether actively on your turn, or defensively in response to someone else’s action – that character’s action automatically succeeds unless an opponent challenges you. In this case, if you can’t reveal the appropriate character, you lose an influence, turning one of your characters face-up. Face-up characters cannot be used, and if both of your characters are face-up, you’re out of the game.

If you do have the character in question, you reveal it, the opponent loses an influence, then you shuffle that character into the deck and draw a new one, perhaps getting the same character again and perhaps not. The last player to still have influence – that is, a face-down character – wins the game!

Timeline: Inventions

Carcassonne

Tobago

K2

Survive: Escape From Atlantis!

Bang!

Jungle Speed

Cutthroat Caverns

PitchCar

Coup

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