Board Games

The Cosmic Citizenship Council has announced it will allow two new alien species to join its ranks, but they forgot to make two copies of the filing form — which means that only one species can join! Now, the two candidates must battle for control of the planets to determine who deserves the right to become a Certified Civilization.

Cosmic Encounter Duel is a competitive standalone two-player game in the Cosmic Encounter universe in which you and your closest frenemy race to be the first to control five planets. Each of twenty-seven alien species comes equipped with its own unique abilities that play with the game mechanisms in some way, offering you an edge in the fight, e.g., the Cheater, who can reserve an additional tactic that they can put toward any fight in the game — as long as their opponent doesn't call out how they're trying to "cheat". How your game of Cosmic Encounter Duel plays out will inevitably be affected by which powers each dueling species has and how they play off of one another.

In addition to your unique species and its ability, you have twenty spaceships to traverse the cosmos and maintain control over the five planets you need to become a Certified Civilization. As long as you have a ship on a planet, you have control of it, even if your opponent also has ships there and you must share control. You can deploy these ships to fight in duels, use them to act as reinforcements, or draw them back for a tactful retreat. Just don't lose them to the Warp or let them be claimed by the black void between the stars and end up lost in space forever!

To play, players draw and resolve Destiny cards, which come in three types: Discovery cards, Event cards, and Refresh cards. Discovery cards have you and your opponent discover a planet and duel for control, while Event cards ask you both to test your mettle against a variety of challenges and cosmic calamities, and Refresh cards offer a respite in which you can recover ships, gather allies, and ultimately prepare for another clash.

At the start of a duel, you and your opponent secretly decide how many ships to send to the planet, and once they have been deployed, you can call upon any befriended envoys. To plan your attack, you secretly choose a card from your hand and a standing tactic from your collection to either guard your ships or blast your opponent's ships, then you fight, sending ships to face-off for control of the planet until the winner claims their prize while the loser retreats. After you and your opponent resolve a Destiny card, you check the icon on the bottom of the card to determine which deck to draw from next, then the race continues.

In Costa Ruana you are a tribal chief. Send your natives to nearby islands to get your hands on more pirate treasure than your rivals. If you become Shaman, your decisions affect events, so your rivals will try to influence you by fair means or foul...

Your aim is to score the most points by having treasures in your hut and natives in your reserve at the end of the fifth round. Treasures are the key: Each round you collect one from each island on which your tribe has a majority (or a minority, if other tribes are tied there). Cards let you move treasures, place natives on islands, bring them home, or move them between islands. In each round everyone plays one card face up in front of ANY player (including themselves), followed by another card, face down (also in front of anyone). Lastly, you may place one native on any played card — even a hidden card played by an opponent, if you are very bold! — to copy its effect for yourself. The background to each card is one of four colors, but in each round only cards of two colors will be resolved, affecting the players in front of whom they are played. The Shaman determines these colors by turning over one of two condition cards. If you are the Shaman, use your power to best effect; otherwise try to outguess the others or influence the Shaman. Remember the number of treasures in other players' huts and manage your natives carefully – a few points can make the difference!

Scheming, double-guessing, and bluffing: Welcome to Costa Ruana!

In Cottage Garden, you compete in the art of gardening and are working two beds with a variety of flowers. Whenever no unplanted box is visible on a bed, you have completed it, then you count your points and replace it with a fresh, unplanted bed. You gain points for all of the visible plant pots and planting bells.

In more detail, players select various polyomino tiles of flower beds from a central market grid, depending on the location of the "gardener", then place them on one of their two personal garden boards. Each board has several garden elements that are worth points when not planted over, and these are scored on two different tracks as soon as a garden has been finished. Crossing over a line on each track awards bonus tokens that can fill in empty spaces or give you a better selection of the flower bed tiles. Whenever a garden is finished, you receive a new one to complete. After the gardener completes her fifth lap around the market, the game enters its last round. The player with the most points from their completed gardens at the end of the game wins.

Cottage Garden is the first part of Uwe Rosenberg's puzzle trilogy.

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:

• Duke: Take three coins from the treasury. Block someone from taking foreign aid.
• Assassin: Pay three coins and try to assassinate another player's character.
• Contessa: Block an assassination attempt against yourself.
• Captain: Take two coins from another player, or block someone from stealing coins from you.
• Ambassador: Draw two character cards from the Court (the deck), choose which (if any) to exchange with your face-down characters, then return two. Block someone from stealing coins from you.

On your turn, you can take any of the actions listed above, regardless of which characters you actually have in front of you, or you can take one of three other actions:

• Income: Take one coin from the treasury.
• Foreign aid: Take two coins from the treasury.
• Coup: Pay seven coins and launch a coup against an opponent, forcing that player to lose an influence. (If you have ten coins or more, you must take this action.)

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 (or don'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 and choose to 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!

A new & optional character called the Inquisitor has been added (currently, the only English edition with the Inquisitor included is the Kickstarter Version from Indie Boards & Cards. Copies in stores may not be the Kickstarter versions and may only be the base game). The Inquisitor character cards may be used to replace the Ambassador cards.

• Inquisitor: Draw one character card from the Court deck and choose whether or not to exchange it with one of your face-down characters. OR Force an opponent to show you one of their character cards (their choice which). If you wish it, you may then force them to draw a new card from the Court deck. They then shuffle the old card into the Court deck. Block someone from stealing coins from you.

Explore the dark and horrifying mysteries of the unknown as you battle insanity and fiendish cults in Cthulhu Fluxx! Follow the wild-eyed Poet, the obsessed Artist, and the expeditions of the Professor as they investigate Eldritch Secrets no mortal was meant to discover. Someone has stolen the Necronomicon from the library at Miskatonic Univeristy, and a Farm in the hills is undergoing a horrifying Metamorphosis. Meanwhile, unspeakable abominations stir in Penguin-riddled Tombs beneath the ice. Are you Inevitably Doomed to a lifetime of Nightmares in the Sanitarium, or are you, in fact, a Secret Cultist, worshiping the Minions of Darkness?

Like the other games in the Fluxx family, in Cthulhu Fluxx players will modify the rules of the game by playing cards, changing numerous aspects of game play: how many cards to draw or play, how many cards you can hold in hand or keep on the table in front of you, and of course how to win the game. Players collect Keeper cards to satisfy the victory requirements but watch out for Cthulhu and other fiendish Creepers that will prevent you from winning – even if you otherwise have the winning combination!

Enter the Realm of the Incarnations. Face the very essence of Anguish, Pride, Hope and Despair. Take up sword against all four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — including Death himself. If Fortune is by your side, you may just come out alive and wealthy beyond imagining.

Welcome back to Cutthroat Caverns, the semi-cooperative game of kill-stealing and backstabbing in a deadly dungeon. Death Incarnate is an expansion dedicated to the most feared encounters in the game, the Incarnations. Here their numbers are more than doubled, new events are themed for their spheres of influence, and legendary relics are imbued with their incredible powers — one for each Incarnation since you first braved the caverns.

Embark on a quest and see whether you are cutthroat enough to become its very Incarnation.

The Dark Souls board game is a brutally hard exploration miniatures game for 1-4 players. Prepare to die.

The game features a "fast set-up, long reveal" mechanism that gets you into the game quickly and builds the location as you explore. The sense of danger is palpable as you discover new locations and the monsters that inhabit these dark places. The core combat mechanism and enemy behavior system forces deep strategic play and clever management of stamina to survive.

Dark Souls includes numerous boss and mini-boss encounters — including one against the Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough — and utilizes an innovative behavior mechanism so that no two encounters are ever the same, thus giving the game near infinite replayability.

In Deus: Egypt, you are now the head of an extraordinary ancient civilization: Egypt. Can you lead this dynasty to expand and impose itself upon the surrounding lands?

This first expansion for Deus adds 96 building cards: 16 for each area of development. Players can use this deck in place of the one in the base game, or swap in one or more groups of 16 cards for those in the base game. Each group of 16 cards delivers a new set of rules and strategies.

With a piece of land to call your own, a handful of resources, a few families and a head full of dreams you embark on a journey of a lifetime. Beyond lies the New World full of opportunities to make your dreams of a new home a reality. But beware, other settlers have come here as well, and although their beginnings are as humble as yours, each of them will want to influence these new lands as much as you. Will you become the most powerful?

Dice Settlers is a civilization dice game of pool building, resource gathering and area control. Each turn players reach into their bags of dice, roll and choose their own actions: from exploring new lands and building the board, through gathering resources and trading, to developing technologies which offer new abilities, each player chooses their own path to victory.

A changing board, a set of different technologies every time you play, and a vast array of available strategies await!

In Dinosaur Island, players will have to collect DNA, research the DNA sequences of extinct dinosaur species, and then combine the ancient DNA in the correct sequence to bring these prehistoric creatures back to life. Dino cooking! All players will compete to build the most thrilling park each season, and then work to attract (and keep alive!) the most visitors each season that the park opens.

Dinosaur Island is a worker placement game where players build attractions and add dinosaurs to gain victory points. At the beginning of every game two Plot-Twist cards will be dealt out that will break the rules of the game in myriad ways. These rule-changes will drastically alter your strategy and decision making throughout the game. In addition to the Plot Twists, the goal cards in each game will be unique.

The game ends when a round finishes with one 1 Objective card left. Players total their points and the player with the most victory points wins.

In a mystical land, far away from here, two prestigious martial arts tournament have been held since the ancient times: the White Lotus Tournament and the Black Lotus Tournament. These two tournaments are the most important show of legendary martial arts used by powerful athletes. Extraordinary masters are always looking for new talented athletes that will be forged into the ideal of the Perfect Warrior by exhausting training and life experiences that will fortify body, mind and soul.

"Dojo Kun" means "Dojo Rules" and is a set of principles that guide the physical and spiritual development of the martial art practitioners. Dojo Kun is a game in which each player heads one of the four dojo (Tiger, Crane, Bear, Cobra). The main goal is to train your athletes and attract new ones, buy new training machines, expand your dojo, find adventures, and eventually lead your athletes into winning the martial arts tournament.

The game is divided into two seasons. During each season there are three preparation turns based on worker placement mechanics in which you will manage your dojo and train your athletes.

During the season, the athletes can also learn special techniques by visiting one of the ancient masters hidden in the central part of the board. Each season ends with the martial arts tournament, where each dojo can send up to two athletes. In case of empty slots in the tournament, athletes from the fifth dojo (the Skull Dojo) will attend. (These athletes are managed by the game and can even win the tournament!)

Combat between athletes is simulated by throwing a set of custom dice. There are four different dice, one for each fighting technique. Players will roll dice according their athlete's experience level (Dan): the higher the Dan, the higher the chance of winning the match! Before a fight, the players that are not attending can predict the winner of that fight to gain prestige.

The tournament ends with the grand final in which a new champion will be crowned. At the end of the second season the Dojo with most Prestige Points will win the game.

"You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner.

"But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn't be proud, but your grandparents, on your mother's side, would be delighted.'"'

In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can "buy" as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end.

Dominion is not a collectible card game (CCG), but the play of the game is similar to the construction and play of a CCG deck. The game comes with 500 cards. You select 10 of the 26 Kingdom card types to include in any given play—leading to immense variety.

Dominion (Second Edition) replaces six Kingdom card types from the first edition with six new types of Kingdom cards, while also replacing the blank cards in the game with a seventh new Kingdom card. These new cards are available on their own in the Dominion: Update Pack. The rulebook has been rewritten, three cards have mild functional changes ("you may" added to Moneylender, Mine, Throne Room), and other cards have been rephrased (while remaining functionally the same).

Don’t Mess with Cthulhu is a social deduction game with secret identities. Players are either Investigators trying to keep Cthulhu from waking and controlling the world, or Cultists that want to bring the world to a disturbing end.

The game takes place over four rounds. The Investigators must uncover all the Elder Signs to win; the Cultists win when Cthulhu is revealed or if the game ends before all the Elder Signs are discovered.

Before each round players receive a number of Investigation cards, which they look at but then shuffle and put in front of themselves so they know what cards they have, but they don't know which card is which. Each round has a number of actions equal to the number of players in the game. Players take actions to reveal Investigation cards, and gather all unrevealed cards are shuffled an redistributed evenly among the players.

Reveal Cthulhu, and the Cultists win instantly. Reveal all the Elder Signs, and the Investigators win. If you want to play multiple rounds (it's highly recommended), the losers in each game get Insanity tokens. Get three tokens, and the night is over with the winner(s) being those most sane.

This is a deck of 50 cards that uses the Versatiletters system. Each card displays a letter, which becomes a different letter with a different point value when the card is rotated 180 degrees. The instructions include rules for:
i) The Final Word, in which two players take turns forming words from a selection of 12 cards. The player who forms the final word keeps the cards that were used to form it. Twelve more cards are drawn; the process is repeated; and the player with more cards after four rounds wins;
ii) Finders Stealers, in which 3 to 6 players each play two cards simultaneously face up onto the table. The player who is able to form the longest word within 30 seconds keeps the cards used to form that word, and the player with the most cards after three rounds wins;
iii) Word Wars I.II.III, which has its own BGG entry; and
iv) Solitaire Dare, in which each of five columns contains ten overlapping cards, with only the bottom card in each column face up. Make a word with the letters on the face-up cards, set aside the used letters, flip the uncovered cards, and repeat. Win if no unused cards remain at the end.

Forsaken Lore, an expansion for Eldritch Horror, thrusts investigators headlong into perilous and strange new encounters, while Ancient Ones defeated in the past attempt to reclaim the world. In order to stop them, investigators will need to uncover new mysteries, and dig even deeper into the lore surrounding each of the game's Ancient Ones with the help of new Research cards.

Meanwhile, Yig's cultists and Serpent People work to prepare the way for the Father of Serpents to dominate our planet. With the help of powerful new Spells and Assets, along with mighty new Artifacts, Investigators must once again race across the globe in order to prevent humanity's destruction in Forsaken Lore.

Within the charming valley of Everdell, beneath the boughs of towering trees, among meandering streams and mossy hollows, a civilization of forest critters is thriving and expanding. From Everfrost to Bellsong, many a year have come and gone, but the time has come for new territories to be settled and new cities established. You will be the leader of a group of critters intent on just such a task. There are buildings to construct, lively characters to meet, events to host—you have a busy year ahead of yourself. Will the sun shine brightest on your city before the winter moon rises?

Everdell is a game of dynamic tableau building and worker placement.

On their turn a player can take one of three actions:

a) Place a Worker: Each player has a collection of Worker pieces. These are placed on the board locations, events, and on Destination cards. Workers perform various actions to further the development of a player's tableau: gathering resources, drawing cards, and taking other special actions.

b) Play a Card: Each player is building and populating a city; a tableau of up to 15 Construction and Critter cards. There are five types of cards: Travelers, Production, Destination, Governance, and Prosperity. Cards generate resources (twigs, resin, pebbles, and berries), grant abilities, and ultimately score points. The interactions of the cards reveal numerous strategies and a near infinite variety of working cities.

c) Prepare for the next Season: Workers are returned to the players supply and new workers are added. The game is played from Winter through to the onset of the following winter, at which point the player with the city with the most points wins.

In Evolution, players adapt their species in a dynamic ecosystem where food is scarce and predators lurk. Traits like Hard Shell and Horns will protect your species from Carnivores, while a Long Neck will help them get food that others cannot reach. With over 4,000 ways to evolve your species, every game becomes a different adventure.

Evolution is played in a variable number of rounds. Each round, players draw 3 Trait cards to enhance their species, create new species or feed their existing animals. Play continues until the Trait deck has been finished and needs to be reshuffled. Reshuffling the Trait cards signals the final round of the game. At the end of the game the player with the most food, traits, and population wins.

Evolution packs a surprising amount of variety for a game with simple rules. The variety comes from the synergies between the trait cards and from the different personalities at the table. Some players thrive on creating Carnivores to wreak havoc on their fellow players. Others prefer to stay protected and mind their own business. Evolution encourages both play styles by giving each of them multiple paths to victory. And it is the mix of play styles at the table that ultimately determines the ecosystem in which the players are adapting. So gather your friends and see who can best adapt to the changing world around them.

Evolution: Climate is a standalone game that introduces climate into the Evolution game system.

In Evolution: Climate, players adapt their species in a dynamic ecosystem where food is scarce, predators lurk, and the climate can swing between scorching hot and icy cold. Traits like a Hard Shell and Horns can protect your species from Carnivores while a Long Neck will help them get food that others cannot reach. Heavy Fur and Migratory can protect your species from the cold while being Nocturnal or Burrowing will provide protection from the cruel desert sun. With over 200,000 ways to evolve your species, every game evolves into a different adventure.

The Climate standalone game dramatically changes game play with several simple additions to the Evolution base set:

• Players draw 4 cards +1 per species per round (instead of 3 cards + 1 per species).
• Each species may have up to 4 traits (instead of 3).
• The climate moves along a Climate Track based upon the food cards played each round.
• There are additional trait cards that provide protection from the heat and cold.

Evolution: Climate changes Evolution from a two-dimensional game (dealing with the threat of Starvation and Carnivores) into a three-dimensional game (dealing with the threat of Starvation, Carnivores, and Climate effects) while increasing the vividness of the theme. It adds additional layers into what was already a dynamically strategic game.

For those shipwrecked on the beach of this forgotten island, a chained boat is the only hope — but the mysterious owner has left puzzles over the whole island. Will the team solve them, free the boat, and escape?

Exit: The Game – The Forgotten Island is a puzzle game modeled after escape rooms.

The Fantasy Fair is about to begin, and storybook characters from all over the realm are coming to town for the show. Everyone knows there's only one place the visitors all want to stay: The Fairy Tale Inn!

It's everyone's favorite home away from home, and like always, the place is going to be fully booked. Each of the Inn's two owners compete to be the one who takes the best care of the guests. They take turns ushering guests into enchanted rooms, gaining gold for strategic placement, and successfully keeping the guests from fighting. (Note to self: NEVER put Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf in adjoining rooms!)

In Fairy Tale Inn, two players try to earn the most gold coins by the end of the game. To set up, players select the character cards of guests who will be present during that game, then take the corresponding character tokens and toss them into the mixing bag. Next, players randomly draw those tokens to fill up the guest list board. After randomly choosing who goes first, the first player gets a gold coin, while the other player gets two. Now the game begins!

On a player's turn, they pick a character token from the guest list board, paying the cost indicated on the board, then they place that guest in the inn, sliding the token into the vertical game board with the colored side facing themselves (while the monochrome-colored side faces their opponent).

After the token slides into the slot, the player may score points based on the room the guest ended up in, as well as any other guests that might be around. Each character has different abilities that say how they give gold to their corresponding innkeeper. For example, the Little Pigs like to be close to one another; they automatically give the player who placed them 1 gold coin and an extra gold coin for each other Little Pig token connected to them. The Big Bad Wolf, on the other hand, gives their player three gold coins for each row where their innkeeper played more Big Bad Wolf tokens than their opponent at the end of the game. (In case of a tie, neither player gets gold.) There's an art to placing guests as several rooms of the Inn are enchanted and will give a bonus or penalty to the player that places a guest there.

The game continues with players picking and placing guests until three columns in the inn have been completely filled. When that happens, players gain gold from characters with end of game abilities, then the player who has gained the most gold wins.

FORGING THE FUTURE
In the near future, talented space corporations and agencies set out to explore, mine, and colonize outer space. Your organisation will compete to design the most efficient and powerful spacecraft, to gather scientific knowledge, construct facilities on distant worlds, and transport colonists to the farthest reaches of our Solar System. Charge up the monster rocket boosters, crew up, and race for space!

Designed by King's Forge designer Nick Sibicky, Farlight is a well-oiled game of blind bidding, tile placement, and light resource management. Each turn players will make bids for spacecraft module designs or missions, and assemble spacecraft designed to complete missions of increasing difficulty. The game is for 2-5 players, and plays in around 45 minutes.

Your goal is to use the elastic band to quickly launch as many discs as possible through the door slot and into the opposite camp. But beware, your opponent is trying to do it too - at the same time! Boisterous matches are exciting for both the players and the spectators alike. Constructed of solid wood, Le Passe-Trappe Micro is a fast, two-player game that can be enjoyed by players ages 4 to 104.

From the Publisher:
In this disc-flinging game, your goal is to shoot all of the wooden discs to the other camp. The catch? The opening is only a quarter-inch wider than your ammo.

Aim carefully as you pull back on the elastic band to fire your discs. But don't delay or you will be bombarded by your opponent's zooming discs. Ride the fine line between speed and accuracy to win!

All wooden game.

Fief: France 1429 is a game of dynastic ambition in which players assume the roles of nobles in the 15th century kingdom of France. Each player strives to become the most powerful ruling force in the kingdom by gaining control of Fief and Bishopric territories. In turn, they acquire Royal and Ecclesiastical (church) titles which give their families influence to elect the next Pope and King. Players strengthen their positions by negotiating marriage alliances between their families, setting the stage for love, treachery and deception!

Fief is a classic French-language game and is being re-introduced by Academy Games in English with updated rules, new units, a new and larger consolidated map, and more. This edition also includes additional components, which enhances game play.

The game board represents a portion of the Kingdom of France in the Middle Ages. Villages have square outlines that are connected by roads that allow Lord and Troop movement. The villages are grouped into eight colored background areas that represent individual Fiefs, which are domains given to Lords to preside over. Fiefs have different colored backgrounds and Bishoprics have heavy bordered outlines that include several different Fiefs. Each village also belongs to one of five church Bishoprics; each Bishopric is outlined with a heavy border line and is numbered between 1-5 along the edge of the board inside a Bishop's Mitre.

Each player controls up to four family members, comprised of male and female nobles. These family members will rise in power by gaining Royal and Ecclesiastic Titles.

In Fief: France 1429, a player may attempt to gain control of all the villages in a Fief to gain the Royal Title of Baron, Earl or Duke. For each Fief a player controls, he gains 1 VP. These Titled Lords may now take part in the election for the next King. They may even be a candidate to become King, thus bringing 1 VP and more power to the family! Other members of your family may follow the calling of the Church to gain the Ecclesiastical Titles of Bishop and then Cardinal. These titles allow you to Tithe Bishoprics, taking the Church's (i.e. "your") fair share of income from other Fief Lords! The highest goal your clerical family member can attain is to be elected Pope, bringing 1 VP and special privileges to your family!

You win the game as soon as you have 3 VPs. This is easier said than done and you may need to form alliances with other players through diplomacy and marriage to obtain your goal. When one of your family members marries a noble of another family, the two of you become allied. You now win the game together with 4 VPs and cannot win alone, unless your marriage is annulled by the Pope or your spouse is "mysteriously" murdered or dies of some other foul means!

In addition to being wary of your fellow players, you may draw event cards that can quickly change your destiny. Bounty Event cards are beneficial to the Player and include "Good Harvest", "Good Weather" and "Added Taxes" cards. But some cards are Disaster Cards that can randomly effect all players in specific Bishoprics. These include "The Plague", "Heavy Rain", "Famine", and "Peasant Uprisings"!

Income can be increased by players imposing church tithes on their opponent's villages or taxing their own Fiefs. Players may purchase new Fief titles, improve their village incomes with mills, and fortify their cities.

Players will also need to protect their land and castles. Men at Arms and Knights can be purchased, as well as Siege Engines. If you feel that other players are not running their Fiefs as well as you can, you may try to invade their territories! But you must risk one of your family members to lead the troops into possible battle, where they might be killed or taken prisoner. If two opposing armies are in the same village square, a Battle may be initiated. The players assess the size and strength of their armies, which determine the number of Battle Dice each may roll. Each "f" rolled is a hit. Men at Arms are defeated with one hit, while Knights require three hits to be removed from the battle.

The Kickstarter Edition of Fief: France 1429 included the Fief: France 1429 Expansions Pack and offered 3-D buildings and metal coins as 'add ons.' These items are all still available directly from Academy Games.

Crossing into the Land of 1001 Nights, your caravan arrives at the fabled Sultanate of Naqala. The old sultan just died and control of Naqala is up for grabs! The oracles foretold of strangers who would maneuver the Five Tribes to gain influence over the legendary city-state. Will you fulfill the prophecy? Invoke the old Djinns and move the Tribes into position at the right time, and the Sultanate may become yours!

Designed by Bruno Cathala, Five Tribes builds on a long tradition of German-style games that feature wooden meeples. Here, in a unique twist on the now-standard "worker placement" genre, the game begins with the meeples already in place – and players must cleverly maneuver them over the villages, markets, oases, and sacred places tiles that make up Naqala. How, when, and where you dis-place these Five Tribes of Assassins, Elders, Builders, Merchants, and Viziers determine your victory or failure.

As befitting a Days of Wonder game, the rules are straightforward and easy to learn. But devising a winning strategy will take a more calculated approach than our standard fare. You need to carefully consider what moves can score you well and put your opponents at a disadvantage. You need to weigh many different pathways to victory, including the summoning of powerful Djinns that may help your cause as you attempt to control this legendary Sultanate.

Fluxx is a card game in which the cards themselves determine the current rules of the game. By playing cards, you change numerous aspects of the game: how to draw cards, how to play cards, and even how to win.

At the start of the game, each player holds three cards and on a turn a player draws one card, then plays one card. By playing cards, you can put new rules into play that change numerous aspects of the game: how many cards to draw or play, how many cards you can hold in hand or keep on the table in front of you, and (most importantly) how to win the game. There are many editions, themed siblings, and promo cards available.

In the game of thrones, knowledge is as powerful a weapon as Valyrian steel or dragonsfire. Without wielding swords, ambitious characters likeTyrion Lannister, Petyr Baelish, and Olenna Tyrell successfully navigate deadly political upheavals and wars. What you know can benefit you, and even cripple your opponents, but in the words of Petyr Baelish, “what we don’t know is what usually gets us killed.”

Game of Thrones: The Trivia Game lets you use your knowledge to compete for the Iron Throne. You and your friends answer questions about the first four seasons of the hit HBO series in order to conquer key locations in Westeros. Whoever controls the most locations in the Seven Kingdoms wins! Choose more difficult questions to immediately gain more control over a location, accumulate resources to earn the favor of iconic characters, and cunningly make and break alliances with other players. Questions are organized by season to ensure that your game is free from spoilers. With over 1,200 questions included, you are certain to find fresh challenges and learn new details about Westeros with every game.

From Dunwich to Innsmouth, from the halls of Miskatonic University to the Charles Dexter Ward at Arkham Asylum, trouble is in the air. The stars are almost right, and terrors from beyond space and time are beginning to break through. When Cthulhu rises, we're all doomed – but whose downfall will be the most entertaining?

Cthulhu Gloom takes the game play of Atlas' Gloom and puts a Lovecraftian spin on it. Each player controls a group of protagonists, and your goal is to make them as miserable and insane as possible – preferably with them dying quickly while your opponents' heroes remain sane and (at a minimum) alive. In the publisher's description: "While your characters Gibber With Ghouls and Learn Loathsome Lore to earn negative points, you'll encourage your opponents to be Analyzed by Alienists and to Just Forget About the Fungus to pile on positive points. When one group finally falls prey to the interdimensional doom that awaits us all, the player whose characters have suffered the most wins."

As in Gloom, the cards in Cthulhu Gloom are transparent, allowing you to stack multiple modifier cards on a character card to alter its stats or undo what an opponent has done to you. While Cthulhu Gloom can be played on its own or combined with Gloom and its many expansions, it does introduce two new types of cards:

• Story cards can be in play from the start of the game, and the first player to meet a Story card's conditions – e.g., drawing the attention of The King in Yellow or heeding The Call of Cthulhu – claims the card and gains its benefits (or drawbacks).

• Transformation cards mutate a character for the remainder of the game, no matter which modifiers might come its way later. What's more, the character's image is replaced with "something hideous and slimy". You'd expect no less really...

Using four cones, three scoops, two hands and one challenge card in Go Go Gelato!, you want to scoop your way to victory as quickly as you can.

To start the game, each player takes four cones (one of each color) and three scoops of gelato (in three of the four colors), then places those scoops in the matching cones. Someone reveals a challenge card, then everyone races to maneuver the right scoops into the right cones — all without dropping the scoops or touching them by hand. No one will want to eat that! Fulfill the order first, and you claim the challenge card. Whoever collects five challenge cards first wins!