Mandala

The Mandala: the symbol of an ancient and sacred ritual. Colored sand is laid to create a symbolic map of the world before the pattern is ceremonially destroyed and the sand cast into the river. In the two-player game Mandala, you are trying to score more than your opponent by collecting valuable cards — but … Read more

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Troika

Not far into the future, a stone was found in a star — then more stones were found, and it turns out that if you combine three of these stones in the right way, you create a very valuable jewel. What’s more, you can combine them in a different way to create fuel.

In Troika, you are an adventurer who has dreamed of making a fortune, so you’ve traveled to this star along with other wanderers. Unfortunately, your spacecraft has no more fuel, so while you’d like to create jewels, if you don’t also create fuel, you’ll die as the richest person at the end of the universe!

In the game, you place all the heptagonal tiles face down on the table, and on a turn you either draw a face-down tile or take a face-up tile that someone returned to the table. You have a hand limit of seven tiles, and within that limit you’re trying to collect both three tiles of the same number (to serve as fuel) and three tiles in numerical order (to transform into a gem). If you have no fuel, you can’t win the game; of those who do have fuel, the player with the most valuable jewel wins.

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Zogen

In Zogen, a.k.a. ゾーゲン, the player researchers want to rid themselves of their microorganism cards as quickly as they can, but they can do so only by observing the current lab environment and watching the one thing that changes, then “recording” it by playing their card.

In more detail, each player starts with a hand of sixteen cards, with each card showing 0-4 types of microorganisms, which are named “Maru”, “Tsuki”, “Yama”, and “Siri”. The start player for the round places one of their cards face up on the table, then everyone plays at once, trying to lay down a card that differs from the initial card by exactly one microorganism, whether one more or one less.

Thus, if a card shows “Maru” and “Tsuki”, you can lay down a card that shows either “Maru” or “Tsuki” or a card that shows “Maru” and “Tsuki” along with one of the previously missing microorganisms. You must say the name of the microorganism that is added or removed when you play a card, then everyone must match the card that you just played.

When a player has only three cards in hand, the round ends and players score points based on their rank in terms of how many cards they hold. Whoever has the most points after you’ve played the agreed-upon number of rounds wins.

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A Fake Artist Goes to New York

エセ芸術家ニューヨークへ行く – which is pronounced as “Ese Geijutsuka New York e Iku” and can be translated as Fake Artist Goes to New York – is a party game for 5-10 players. Players take turns being the Question Master, whose role is to set a category, write a word within that category on dry erase cards, and hand those out to other players as artists. At the same time, one player will have only an “X” written on his card: they are the fake artist!

Players will then go around the table twice, drawing one contiguous stroke each on a paper to draw the word established by the Question Master, then guess who the fake artist is. If the fake artist is not caught, both the fake artist and the Question Master earn points; if the fake artist is caught and cannot guess what the word is, the artists earn points.

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Startups

There are six companies that will change the world as we know it! You can be part of their success and be a investor. Try to become rich by making the right decisions!

Only the one biggest investor can get money out of each company. You must try to read the next steps of your rivals and use your capital and your three hidden cards to win against them and become the biggest shareholder!

You have to be lucky in this game but you must also think about your moves and analyze your rivals! You can play this card game with only a few players but also with many!

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Nine Tiles Panic

In Nine Tiles Panic (ナインタイル パニック), each player has a set of nine double-sided town tiles.

At the start of a round, three scoring cards are revealed, such as most aliens on a single road, most dogs visible, or longest road. All player then race to assemble their town in whatever pattern seems best, trying to score points for one, two, or three of the scoring cards as they wish. As soon as the first player decides that they’re done, they flip the sand timer and everyone else has 90 seconds to complete their town, then players determine who scores for which cards, with ties being broken in favor of whoever finished first. Players score points based on the number of players in the game, and players track their score on a chart over multiple rounds.

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TomaTomato

TomaTomato includes four card types — Tomato, Mato, Ma, To — that you will turn over and line up one by one, and after a turn, you must read the entire line of cards from start to finish. At the start you may have to say only “Tomato”, but quickly the cards will escalate into the difficult tongue-twister “Tomatotomatomama!” It sounds great when you can say it smoothly and hilarious when you can’t!

With its simple rules, TomaTomato is a party game full of laughter that anyone can enjoy.

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Shifty Eyed Spies

Face off in a stealthy competition of covert communication. Use a wink to signal that you have a delivery for another spy, then await their eye-shift that indicates the rendezvous location. Be discreet – if anyone intercepts you, the mission is blown!

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Hive

Hive

Hive is a highly addictive strategic game for two players that is not restricted by a board and can be played anywhere on any flat surface. Hive is made up of twenty two pieces, eleven black and eleven white, resembling a variety of creatures each with a unique way of moving. With no setting up to do, the game begins when the first piece is placed down. As the subsequent pieces are placed this forms a pattern that becomes the playing surface (the pieces themselves become the board). Unlike other such games, the pieces are never eliminated and not all have to be played. The object of the game is to totally surround your opponent’s queen, while at the same time trying to block your opponent from doing likewise to your queen. The player to totally surround his opponent’s queen wins the game.

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Santorini

Santorini

Santorini is a non-abstract re-imagining of the 2004 edition. Since its original inception over 30 years ago, Santorini has been endlessly developed, enhanced and refined by mathematician and educator, Dr. Gordon Hamilton.

Santorini is a highly accessible pure strategy game that is simple enough for an elementary school classroom. But with enough gameplay depth and content for even hardcore gamers to explore, Santorini is truly a game for everyone. The rules are deceptively simple. Each turn consists of 2 steps:

1. Move – move one of your builders into a neighboring space. You may move your Builder Pawn on the same level, step-up one level, or step down any number of levels.

2. Build – Then construct a building level adjacent to the builder you moved. When building on top of the third level, place a dome instead, removing that space from play.

Winning the game – If either of your builders reaches the third level, you win.

Variable player powers – What makes Santorini truly special is its seamless integration of variable player powers into a pure-strategy game. Dr Hamilton has designed over 40 thematic god and hero powers, each fundamentally changing the way the game is played.

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