In A Message From the Stars, a team of scientists seeks to decipher cryptic messages from an extraterrestrial civilization.
Set against a backdrop of cosmic mystery, players take on the roles of brilliant scientists tasked with decoding a series of perplexing satellite transmissions. These transmissions are believed to contain vital messages from an alien race that could hold the key to the destiny of Earth. The catch? The messages are incomprehensible, written in an entirely unknown alien language.
Using engrossing deduction mechanics, players will collaborate with their fellow scientists to send messages back to the extraterrestrial senders. By exchanging these messages, you hope to unravel the intricate linguistic code that conceals the true intentions of the alien entity. Each interaction yields a numerical value, a piece of the puzzle that you'll need to solve the riddle of the alien language.
Players can engage in cooperative gameplay, where all scientists pool their collective intellect to crack the alien code and unveil the hidden message. Alternatively, delve into team play, with two alien players sending messages across the galaxy.
The future of interstellar relations lies in your hands!
Whodunnit? A suspicious lineup of supervillains lies before you and your team, and you're tasked with finding the true criminal.
To start the game, you're secretly given information about two innocent suspects.
Cooperatively, associate your two characters with a one-word clue. If everyone does that correctly, you've found the culprit!
Be careful; your clue might erroneously point at another player's villain.
Play sizzlin' specials and captivating combos in this climbing card game.
Played in teams of two, you'll try to get rid of your cards with your teammate following close behind.
Bacon Card Game is a fixed-partnership climbing game for up to 6 players that is all about going out early as a team.
The only team that scores is the team that goes out first. That said, their score depends on when their partner also goes out (more points if the partner goes out quickly).
If your team does NOT go out first, your job is simple: make the other team go out as late as possible!
Players place down combos (such as runs or three-of-a-kind) or 'specials.'
Combos have to follow the lead combo. Specials (like straight flushes or hexes) are harder to create, but don't have to follow the previous hands.
Come one, come all to Big Top! Hire the wildest and most wonderful acts to attract crowds of delighted spectators.
In this fast-paced auction game, you'll be bidding on show-stopping acts for your Big Top to draw in the crowds. Beware - each winning bid will make your competition that much richer.
BUT WAIT - that's not all! Even the attractions you've already won will affect bids in future auctions. For those attractions to score, you'll have to fill in all their circles. Do this by bidding specific amounts in future auctions.
To create the best circus, you'll have to keep a close eye on both your winnings and your opponents' bids!
Bites is an indirect-conflict commodity speculation game based on Big Points, a Spiel des Jahres Recommeded game in 2008, refreshed with a new theme, more engaging components, and rule-tweaking cards.
If you're looking for a longer game, with a little more time for the story and strategies to develop, then Double Bites will give you a second set of those lovely double layer food tokens. And then you can play Bites with a trail that is twice as long.
Bites is an indirect-conflict commodity speculation game based on Big Points, a Spiel des Jahres Recommeded game in 2008, refreshed with a new theme, more engaging components, and rule-tweaking cards.
Bites: New Recipes adds exciting game changing possibilities to the core game of Bites. One of the things that made the original game so exciting and replayable were the variable scoring cards.
This expansion takes them to an entirely different level. You'll be able to play with over a dozen new rule cards that have noticeably larger effects than the cards in the base game. In addition to the rule cards, you'll have new characters and objects to play with. With this expansion, it can feel like you are playing a completely different game!
Sail: Seafarers introduces a variety of brand new content to the base game. Included are four new scenarios that challenge players with new hazards they'll need to overcome, such as whirlpools and pirate ships. Seafarers also introduces four new pirate characters with new pirate powers that add even more ways to strategize and work together.
Rock the Funway, multiple auctions at once!
Take on the role of a fashion model as you hit the runways in New York, Paris, and Tokyo to build your career! It's hard to be everywhere at once. Bid wisely and become a fashion icon! Or, spread yourself too thin and end up a fashion flop!
Every turn, there are three simultaneous auctions. You can't win them all. But, can you win the right ones? Compete to model different types of fashion, each with their own scoring criteria.
Each turn, new cards will be available in each of the three cities. Simultaneously, all players make secret bids in each city using their influence card. The player who bids the most in a particular city gets the first pick in that city. Second most, second pick, and so on.
Some of the cards you collect will give you immediate points. Others will replace influence cards in your hand, giving you more bidding power. However, most of the cards help you compete for magazine covers through set collection. These score big points at the end of the game.
The model with the highest score after seven rounds wins the game!
Part of the 1-Minute to Teach series.
Beautiful gardens await, where will you plant your dandelions?
Transform into a dandelion, and float through clear blue skies on a pleasant breeze in this dice-rolling, area-majority game with a little direct-competition edge. Your quest is to find the best spots for your seeds to grow across a variety of vibrant, beautiful, and cozy gardens.
In Dandelions, players roll a group of dice, then choose one to move to a beautiful garden. Along the way, you can harness the power of the wind with three special actions - float, puff, and gust - to get the most points. The game ends after all the dice are used, and whoever receives the most victory points as combined from two different scoring methods wins.
All players roll all 11 of their dice and sort them in front of themselves.
Each turn, pick one of your dice, and move your pawn that many spaces. If you land on the same space as another player, don't stop there. Repeat your movement.
Put the die you used in the garden you land in. If that garden already has other dice with the same number, blow those dice into an adjacent garden.
Repeat these steps until you've used all 11 of your dice.
Score each die based on the value of the garden it is in. Additionally, for each garden, if you have the most dice, score your pips.
The rules might sound simple, but the interactivity and the two scoring conditions make for interesting strategy and decisions.
Every round, reveal a new card. Simultaneously, all players choose a hand gesture to guess how the card relates to the previous one (? for higher value, ? for lower value, ? for same suit, or ? to guess a fairy).
Guess the correct value relation and get two points. Guess same suit correctly and get four points. Call one of the three fairies in the deck? That's seven points!
Any wrong guess loses you a point. First player to fifteen wins!
Fiction is a Wordle-inspired game of deception. One player is the Lie-brarian and will choose a secret word from a classic work of literature. The other players will, as a team, use logic and literacy to deduce the secret word as quickly as possible.
Players have ten guesses and two ten-minute time periods to deduce the secret word, but beware! The Lie-brarian's clues will always contain exactly one lie. The Guessers win if they figure out the word; the Lie-brarian wins if the time or number of guesses runs out.
Two ancient clans work to overpower, outwit, and outmaneuver each other to claim victory!
In this two-player duel, you'll send out your elite warriors to vie for control of seven battlefields. Each warrior adds their strength and ability to the battlefield where they're placed.
You control a battlefield if you have more total strength there than your opponent. If you control the most battlefields at the end of the game, you win!
With tricky cards that cause others to be returned to hand, amplify the power of cards at the same battlefield, and more, you'll have to be clever to triumph.
Cherry blossom season is here with the Sakura Slam Board game!
The epic stand-alone sequel to Kabuto Sumo has a new arena, and new wrestlers!
Use Kabuto Sumo's signature coin-pushing mechanic to knock your opponents off the edge.
Sakura Slam boasts a square arena with fixed corner posts and a notched pushing platform to bring new, dynamic obstacles to the game. It also features eight new wrestlers with epic powers, bringing the total number of released wrestlers to 28!
With simple rules, surprising depth, and delightful toy-factor, the first game took the tabletop community by storm.
The Sumo-beya are crumbling, and now factions have risen within World Insect Wrestling.
With powerful insects and arachnids joining the league, new teams and tournament formats emerge. The Era of Swarms has begun.
In Kabuto Sumo Board Game: Swarm Expansion, you'll draft 3 Kabuto Sumo wrestlers for a multi-match swarm showdown. A different wrestler must enter the ring each match, but they can use the unique swarm moves provided by their ringside partners.
Set up powerful combos and overwhelm your opponents!
Ganbare!
A drafting game with style!
In Llama Llama, players pass cards to craft hands around the different scoring conditions.
These conditions are secretly chosen by the players at the start of the round.
Try to guess the goal cards and make the best scoring hand!
Lunar Board Game is a quick-playing, trick-taking game for two or four players in which players combine the phases of the moon and nocturnal animals to form cards played into tricks, which are combined to determine their value within each trick.
In Lunar, you'll have to play cleverly and have chemistry with your teammate to succeed.
Each round consists of twelve tricks played, and at the end of each round, a score is awarded based on the number of tricks and cards acquired. Once one player (or team) reaches 30 points, the game ends, and the side with the most points wins!
Welcome to the world of competitive fishing!
Players compete to collect the most points by reeling in fish cards. To catch a fish, players roll their dice to beat the fish's target number, as well as meet any specific requirements on the card. Whoever completes those requirements and is closest to the target catches the fish!
Players secretly bid on how many dice to use before the round starts. Bid less dice to go first, but use more dice to make it easier to catch.
Most points wins after the deck of fish cards runs out!
Will you play aggressively and use fewer dice? Or, will you count on your opponents to be too risky? Let's fish!
Lure: Deep Waters adds 15 new, harder-to-catch fish and a new d4 die per player to roll more precisely.
Where Is Your Mind? A Mindful Polyomino Roll & Write
Breathe in?Breathe out? Achieve serenity! Mind Space is a roll-&-write game in which players try to seek calm and peacefulness by adding pursuits to their brains. Each pursuit is a polyomino shape of a certain color.
How does anyone fit all of that in?
Five pursuit (polyomino) cards are available each round. You roll five dice to assign colors to those shapes. Then, you have to decide which shape to draw on your brain board.
Along the way, you can earn points by fitting different aspects of your life together.
After 12 rounds, the game's over! Receive points by completing sections of the brain, achieving public goal cards, and meeting the criteria of each color.
Your goal in Money! is to trade currencies with the bank and other players so that you end up with more value than anyone else.
Each player starts with a hand of six cards from a deck that contains cards in seven currencies ranging in value from 20-60, along with coins worth 10. Four cards from the deck are placed face up to its left and to its right.
In a round, each player chooses a bid of one or more cards from their hand, then everyone reveals their bid simultaneously. Whoever bid the highest sum takes the four cards to the left or right of the deck or another player's bid, adds these cards to their hand, then places their bid next to the deck or in front of the player whose bid they took. (Alternatively, the player can return their bid to hand.) Then the next player with the highest bid resolves their bid similarly. Once all players have resolved their bids, draw cards from the deck to refill the lots to the left and right of the deck to four cards. When the deck runs out, play one final round, then score your cards in hand.
If you have 200 or more in a single currency, score that many points. If you have less than 200 in a currency, subtract 100 from that amount but don't go below 0. If you have all three 20s or 30s in a currency, score 100 points in addition to whatever the currency itself scores for you. Sum these amounts, along with whatever coins you have in hand. Whoever has the highest score wins.
It's a wild race to the top! Will you be greatest goat or get kicked off the top spot?
In Mountain Goats, roll dice to move your goats to the top of 6 different mountains. If you're at the top, score points as long as you stay there.
You can share spaces with other goats on the way up, but there is only room for one goat at the top of each mountain! If someone else's goat moves to the mountaintop, they kick you off and you'll have to start your trek over. Mountain Goats is a combination of luck and strategic planning. Plus, we've got the best goat meeples this side of the Matterhorn!
Mountain Goats is a game about timing. Not only do you need to get to the top of the mountain, but get there when no one else is in position to knock you off. Depending on the rarity of the roll, the mountain's elevation is different. Should you use those harder rolls, even though other goats are right behind you?
Keep an eye on your opponents! Maximize your score, but also making sure you don't let anyone else score too much.
Knocking each other off the top doesn't feel too mean because you can only knock back goats that are in a scoring position. It isn't a devastating setback, but a normal part of the cycle of the game.
Mountain Goats: Expansion Pack adds a 5th player and the Big Mountain expansion to the king of the hill style game.
The Big Mountain expansion offers an additional target for your goat, a big mountain. There is only room for one goat at each step in the path ascending this bigger mountain. However, only a few goats with the greatest ascent will earn points.
Roll your dice and decide whether to compete for king of the hills from the base game or instead commit your goat to the big mountain. Timing is important on the big mountain. Goats committed to the big mountain may not even score depending on thier relative position on the big mountain. The Big Mountain expansion increases the tension and impact the final few rounds.
Additionally, this expansion increases the maximum player count to 5 which can be applied to the base game or the Big Mountain expansion.
This was packaged together along with two other expansion in 10-Minute Games: Expansions, but is now available by itself as well.
Eureka! The fascinating flora and fauna on this strange island are unlike any you've ever seen! How? odd!
As an intrepid investigator of all things idiosyncratic, your job is to explore the island and document these fantastic creatures. On your turn, explore by placing a terrain card somewhere on the island (with the ability to cover up previous terrain!).
Then, place one of your seven flora or fauna tokens on the card you've just played. These tokens score based on their surroundings?for example, the pigehorse scores better adjacent to a longer coastline.
In The Big and The Bold expansion, add the majestic whalephant and chilled-out cheetoise to your game for extra replayability!
Players collect and discard cards in an attempt to build a set in their hand. The deck consists of cards from A to G with varying number of copies. You win if you start your turn with a completed set on your hand and say "Meow!" If you don't have a set, you may either draw a card from the deck, take a card from an opponent's discard pile, or discard a card from your hand. If you discard an "A" card, each player must pass one of the cards from their hand to the player on their left.
Collect, discard, swap, meow!
Quick and tasty! In Pies Card Game, you'll play cards to determine the draft order, and draft those exact same cards.
Then, you can finally bake pies by combining the cards in set recipes.
Will you play high and snag a card you've been looking for? Or, will you try and aim low, bolstering your inventory of plums? Will your opponents allow either strategy?
Special actions on specific cards further complicate the decisions!
Make the most delicious pie mixes to win the game!
And remember: no one likes a soggy bottom!
Grow a lush garden of beautiful blooms in order to attract helpful pollinators to their favorite flowers. Lay tiles in the right spots so that they pollinate your flowers instead of your opponents'. Make sure you win the right mix, because Pollen has a unique scoring system!
There are some classic Reiner Knizia mechanisms at the heart of Pollen that guarantee an interactive (and even cutthroat!) game. The endgame scoring makes you pay extra attention to which types of insects you are collecting, not allowing you to focus only one one.
Beth Sobel's incredible illustrations combine with stellar components to tie it all together. With Pollen, you can create a stunning garden right on your table!
Prey spotlights the clever and satisfying gameplay of trick-taking into a quick, 12-hand Tiny Game.
Players begin by rolling dice to determine their bids. In order to score, win the number of tricks matching your bid. First to two points wins!
After a trick has started, players must follow suit if able. You'll play six tricks with the Predator side of the cards.
The final six use the Prey side. Figure out which cards you need to use quickly, and which ones you want to save for the second half!
Rainbow is a quick-playing hand management game where players play solo cards, sets, or runs to win points on cards in the center of the table.
The cards that were played in the previous round are the NEW points available to win in the next round. Most points at the end of the game wins!
Welcome to River Valley! The beautiful pieces of glass that can be found along the river here have attracted the most entrepreneurial of woodland creatures to set up shop.
In River Valley Glassworks, you play as one of these pioneers, drafting glass from the market of river tiles. To do so, you have to play a piece from your inventory into the river. Each river tile can take only a specific shape, and you must play into a space adjacent to where you want to draft from. After you pick up your glass, the river shifts forward, revealing new pieces and new opportunities.
Store the glass you pick up strategically in your shop. Depending on how the glass pieces are placed, your score will change drastically. Fill in rows and columns to gain bonus points, but don't draft too many of one type to avoid negative points!
Welcome to River Valley! The beautiful pieces of glass that can be found along the river here have attracted the most entrepreneurial of woodland creatures to set up shop.
In River Valley Glassworks, you play as one of these pioneers, drafting glass from the market of river tiles. To do so, you have to play a piece from your inventory into the river. Each river tile can take only a specific shape, and you must play into a space adjacent to where you want to draft from. After you pick up your glass, the river shifts forward, revealing new pieces and new opportunities.
Store the glass you pick up strategically in your shop. Depending on how the glass pieces are placed, your score will change drastically. Fill in rows and columns to gain bonus points, but don't draft too many of one type to avoid negative points!
The Deluxe Editions includes the following upgrades:
This River Glass & Other Sundries Expansion for River Valley Glassworks Board Game contains 6 modules to expand your game with player powers and new scoring conditions!
The six modular mini-expansions are:
In this beautifully illustrated roll and write, you'll take on the role of a young woman going on a once-in-a-lifetime journey around the world. Travel to incredible landmarks all over the globe - from the Pyramid of Giza to the Matterhorn. Follow the young artist's journey through her postcards, sent back home to her family to recount the details of her trip.
Try to be the first player to fill in enough boxes to make it to the top of the landmark in this roll-and-write.
All players will pull from the same pool of numbers rolled on the active dice, using the values to make their way up from the bottom to the top of each landmark. Numbers must increase as you climb, so combine the values carefully!
Each location card will bring a series of unique rules, mixing up play and adding to the challenge! At the end of each round, use the action die to change the dice pool and continue your race to the top!
Featuring many of the classic Roll to the Top landmarks, this new edition provides new-and-improved game mechanics plus all-new illustrations by artist Horia Tundrea.
Craft unique, transparent cards in this shedding game where you uncover ancient ruins and find treasure.
On your turn, upgrade a card and play it. Upgrades can stack into wild, game-altering combinations (like a card that equals four 11's!). You get to claim one card the entire game?how will you construct the perfect combo?
Race to play your last card and score!
Strap on your eye patch! Navigate your ship through turbulent waters in this cooperative trick-taking 2-player game. Steer your boat and fight the Kraken with cards and winning tricks. Avoid taking damage and sail with great teamwork (or your crew will be sleeping with the fishes!).
Work through four difficulty levels in the scenario book. Or, build your own on the customizable map.
Each round, you and your partner will play tricks until one of you wins four tricks.
Play a card that follows suit. Attempt to play icons that pair with what your partner plays to move your ship or fight the Kraken. Playing icons that form the wrong kind of pair makes the Kraken attack you!
No talking allowed!
Can you get on the same page as your partner and make it to the finish before the end of the 5th round? If you don't, you're fish food!
In Sequoia you are trying to grow the tallest trees in 11 different forests. After your 10 turns, if you have the tallest tree, then you get the victory points from that forest. Second place gets a small consolation prize.
Each turn, you get to grow two of your trees. Which trees you choose will determine if you win or lose. Do you keep fighting in a forest with competition, or start growing your tree somewhere else? You'll have to wrestle with the dice to grow the tree you want.
Sequoia is a game of choosing your battles.
The dice will always give you choices, but they will be hard choices.
Ties in each forest are decided by extra tie-breaker rounds that can lead to epic finishes.
Hakkeyoi, Nokotta! In this 2-4 player hand management game, try to force your opponent to go above 10 or below 0 to achieve a SLAMBO! Stay balanced or get slammed!
Each card you play raises or lowers the balance by the number printed on the card. Blue cards raise it, and red cards lower it. Can you stay in the fight long enough to win?
Let's Hit The Trails!
Lace up those hiking boots, grab your trusty trekking poles, and fight over these tiles!
Players embark on an epic mountain-trekking expedition, blazing a trail through uncharted terrain. Your goal? Mark the path along the way and hike the most paths.
Each turn, you place one of your three tiles on the map and then either 1) place one of your hikers on that tile or 2) buddy up two of your hikers to save for a double move later.
The rules are simple, but the decisions are tough!
Hikers only score if they are on a path of 4 continuous numbers. Do you join an opponents' trail to team up, or block their path with one of your own? Do you forgo a sure placement to buddy up your hikers for a perfect space next turn? Will that space even be available next turn?
Start the timer and begin your quest! Tear up your sheet to defeat monsters, collect treasure, and prove you're the best ripper!
Tear-able Quest Board Game is played over 3 rounds. Each round, you and your friends have 2 minutes to tear pieces out of your sheets.
When time's up, you score points for your pieces that complete quests on the cards in the middle.
At the end of the round, you keep what's left of your sheet to tear next round. You only get 1 sheet for the whole game, so think ahead and tear wisely!
There are bonuses and curses on the back of your paper - make sure you check the back or hold your paper up to the light! The player with the most points after three rounds wins.
Playable in solo mode too!
In the center of the table, place the Rings and form a triple Venn diagram. Designate one player to be "The Knower." The Knower knows the different logic rules for each Ring and will facilitate the game. All other players start with a hand of five object cards.
Depending on the Ring, the logic rules will be related to different characteristics, like spelling, grammar, physical properties, cultural relevance, or industry.
On your turn, place an object card from your hand into the Venn diagram. If it fits that ring's rules, place another card. If it doesn't fit the rules, "The Knower" moves the card to the right area. The player then draws another card.
The point of the game is to get rid of all of your cards. Can you figure out the Rings' logic before your opponents? Don't forget, you can play in the overlapping spots of the Venn diagram, or even outside it completely!
In this 2-6 player bluffing game, players have hidden information about which casinos are corrupt. Take turns playing money tiles (two 2's, two 4's, one 5, one six, one seven) into the different casinos.
When scoring a corrupt casino, the highest bidder wins the jackpot (and everyone else gets nothing). In a non-corrupt casino, whoever has the most points there LOSES, and everyone else gets points equal to their bid.
Players can't place more than two tokens at a casino, and can't place their highest token at the casino they know is corrupt.
20 unique casino power cards change up the formula every game. Take a gamble to win big!
The High Stakes expansion cards add five new casino powers! With more interactive/advanced rules on them, this promo adds new gameplay decisions and replayability.
Wordsy is a streamlined re-implementation of Prolix, a word game from 2010.
Each round, players study the 8 letters (always consonants) on the board in real time. The first player to write down a word flips a 30-second timer. That player is now the fastest player, and every other player now has 30 seconds to write down their word.
Once time has run out, the fastest player scores their word by counting the point value of each of the matching letters on the board. Players are not limited to the letters on the board; they can add any letters they'd like. Letters score based on which of the 4 columns of the board they're in, and how rare they are.
After the fastest player scores, the first player clockwise scores their word, and compares it to the fastest player. If that player scored more than the fastest player, they score a small bonus.
Every other player scores their word and checks for a bonus. Once they've all done this, the fastest player scores a bonus if their score is equal to or higher than half the other player's scores.
After 7 rounds, players add the scores their best 5 words, plus their bonuses. The player with the most points wins!