Category: Hand Management

Back to Categories
3 Ring Circus

3 Ring Circus

Rating: 7.2 | Players: 1–4

Game Type:

Strategy

The circus has come to town! Under the tent jugglers clowns magicians strongmen and wild beasts capture the curiosity of a dedicated audience that applauds non-stop. After each performance your little troupe accumulates fame and may one day pique the interest of P.T. Barnum the greatest circus mogul of all time.In 3 Ring Circus players take on the role of a circus director who tours the United States at the end of the 19th century. Your objective is to hire artists and offer performances in various towns and cities with the intention of gaining fame. In towns features are easy to set up and give you starting resources to upgrade your cast; small cities are somewhat more demanding but they allow you to come into contact with better artists; audiences in big cities are even more demanding and want to see very specific numbers but performing there brings you much more fame!On their turn players can hire an artist or host a performance. At the beginning of the game each player's circuses are empty so it will be necessary to contract to form the company. The artist cards grant more or fewer benefits depending on the order in which they act so one of the keys to the game is planning the shows that will be offered.If they decide to act the players must move to a free space on the map. If it is a town they receive the most basic currency cards as a prize. If you perform in a small city depending on the number of pedestals you have in your company you can claim more or fewer entry cards (the second most valuable) or fame points. In the big cities you get a lot of fame points but the public always demands a specific type of artist.While your little circus tries to survive the great and splendid Barnum Circus travels across the country and when it arrives in a big city a score is held in that region and the circuses that have given the most performances there will gain even more fame.-description from the publisher

Mangrovia

Mangrovia

Rating: 7.2 | Players: 2–5

Game Type:

Family

In Mangrovia a light gamer's game/family game with a Caribbean mangrove setting a clever role selection mechanism allows the players to choose two different bonuses/actions as well as the turn order in which they want these actions to be carried out — all by placing just one marker. Victory is achievable through a number of viable options which guarantees high re-playability.The game is a fight over acquiring the best locations for your huts in this appealing and unspoiled landscape. If you manage to do so you will become the rightful successor of the old chief and win the game. You gain Chief points by having the most huts (and the secondmost huts) along each of the eight divine paths monitored by the statues of Gods. Additional Chief points are earned by controlling sacred locations by collecting amulets and simply by building huts at lucrative spaces.Building a hut requires that the space's landscape is active and that you can pay the exact price (not overpay) for the space. Therefore the game feels tight even from the very start. The game gets tighter and tighter towards the end of the game as you have fewer choices of spaces and as the actions you choose become more and more crucial.In order to succeed in this game you should carefully choose and time the best possible combination of actions called ritual sites. A boat goes from ritual site to ritual site first on the west side then on the east side (in opposite order) triggering each action. If for instance you choose a ritual site high up you will have an early choice of cards but a late choice of space to build your huts or to collect amulets (and vice versa). A fourth action type is to select active landscapes and become starting player which makes it possible to control the next round. After all players have performed two actions the round ends. The game is usually played over 10-14 rounds and ends when one player builds his last hut.Collecting amulets may be key in this game. Instead of keeping them as Chief points you may use them to build huts on designated spaces which require payment in amulets instead of cards — and still to the exact price. Building huts on such spaces may be exactly what you need to get the majority along one or two divine paths. In order to gain enough amulets — and amulets of the appropriate values — you should position some of your huts on amulet spaces. The more huts you build on such spaces the more amulets you can draw. The probability of getting the amulets you need will therefore increase.The game board is built as a matrix system with some spaces being part of two divine paths while other spaces belong to just one. The spaces that are part of two divine paths are obviously most tempting but can you afford to build your huts there?

Transmissions

Transmissions

Rating: 7.3 | Players: 1–4

Game Type:

Uncategorized

Based on the lovely illustrated world of Matt Dixon Transmissions brings his world of mechanical friends to life. In the game players share robots as workers moving around a rondel-styled board collecting engrams and electricity. These are used to gather ideas to improve your use of the robots or items to score points at the end of the game. You also build your own set of connected flowing pipes while gathering birds and butterflies to score even more points. The game ends when no ideas are left a player's robots are complete or no pipes remain to be built. After all other players take one more turn the player with the highest total score wins!The game features a unique mechanism of worker selection and sharing with incredible illustrations adorable miniature robots and very welcoming play for everyone!—description from the publisher

Cyberion

Cyberion

Rating: 8.0 | Players: 1–2

Game Type:

Strategy

The factory of the world of dreams is on the brink of destruction! The Evil Cogs have sabotaged all the machines and it is only a matter of minutes before everything implodes. At the head of a robot squad will you manage to repair the factory before all the failsafes have collapsed?Cyberion is a game of hand-management and you must use your robot cards wisely either to repair the machine cards or to trigger powerful effects. The machines get harder to repair throughout the game but you'll also have opportunities to increase the magnitude of the effects your robot can trigger.—description from the designer

Daimyo: Rebirth of the Empire

Daimyo: Rebirth of the Empire

Rating: 7.3 | Players: 1–4

Game Type:

Strategy

Long after the end of the Time of Man the few remnants of humanity have newly retaken the world treading on the ruins of ancient civilizations. Within the Archipelago of the 6 the Clans live according to an absurd reinterpretation of Bushido. You are a Daimyo a leader of a Clan and you want to become the new Emperor of this archipelago. To do this you must gain Popularity! Send your Governors to influence the local populaces but they must remain wary of assassination by deadly Shadows while your Scavengers unearth glorious Relics from long ago. Seize control of this archipelago with the help of the new Heroes of this world!OBJECTIVEIn Daimyo you are the leader of a Clan striving to become Emperor. At the end of the 5th round the player who has accumulated the most Popularity points (PP) will be proclaimed Emperor.There are 4 major ways to gain Popularity points:• DURING THE GAME:INFLUENCE: At the end of each round each player earns Popularity points according to their level of influence on each island.• AT THE END OF THE GAME: RELICS: Each player earns Popularity points according to the number of Relics they have restored. BUILDINGS: Each player earns Popularity points according to the number of Buildings of each type they have constructed. HEROES: The players with the greatest combined values of army and Gold earn Popularity points.

Tiger & Dragon

Tiger & Dragon

Rating: 6.9 | Players: 2–5

Game Type:

Family

Players in Tiger & Dragon play tiles from their hand to participate in waves of attack and defense. Be the first player to empty your hand to score points based on whichever one of ten scoring cards are in use this round.The game contains 38 tiles: 36 numbered tiles with one 1 two 2s etc. up to eight 8s along with a tiger and a dragon. Shuffle the tiles face down then each player takes tiles based on the player count with the round's starting player taking one additional tile. With four players for example the starting player draw ten tiles and all other players nine. At least one tile will remain out of play.The start player attacks by playing a tile from their hand. The next player can either pass or defend the attack by playing the same tile. Note that the dragon defends against any odd-numbered tile and the tiger against any even-numbered tile. After defending place a tile of your own to attack. If a player passes the next player either passes or defends. If all other players pass on your attack place a tile from your hand face down then choose a new tile to attack again. If you attack with the dragon or tiger a player can defend with any odd- or even-numbered tile respectively.The first player to empty their hand wins the round and scores points based on the last tile that they played and the specific scoring card for that round. They score 1 bonus point for each time an attack of theirs went undefended. At the end of a round if a player has scored 10+ points they win.Tiger & Dragon is based on the popular Japanese traditional game GOITA and it can be played with team rules like that earlier team. Teammates sit across from one another and the first team to collectively score 15+ points wins.

12 Chip Trick

12 Chip Trick

Rating: 6.8 | Players: 2–4

Game Type:

Family

In 12チップトリック (12 Chip Trick) a trick-taking game for exactly 3 players the players are attempting to score the most points but if a player scores 21 or more their points are halved.The game uses 12 discs half red and half black numbered 1 to 12. It is a may follow game where the players draft the discs played to the trick back to their hands. The winner takes a disc face up not to be used again. The other players take discs face down into their hand.The game ends once a player has no discs to play. All players reveal their 4 discs and sum their points. The player with the most points after a number of rounds wins.

Bag of Chips

Bag of Chips

Rating: 6.4 | Players: 2–5

Game Type:

Family

Bag of Chips is a party game in which you will face crucial choices to score as many points as possible at the end of each round. Be careful though because if you're too greedy you will lose a lot!At the start of a round each player is dealt six objective cards and the 25 chips — in five colors ranging from 7 yellow potato chips to 3 orange chicken chips — are placed in the bag. Someone draws five chips from the bag and places them on the table then everyone discards two of their objective cards. The player draws four more chips then everyone discards another objective card. The player draws three more chips after which everyone places two of their cards on the positive scoring side of their playing area and the final card on the negative scoring side. The player then draws two more chips one by one both for increased drama and for some of the objective cards.If a played objective card has not been completed discard it. Add the points from your completed positive objective cards (if any) then subtract points from your negative objective card (if any). The player with the highest score wins two reward tokens and the player with the second highest score wins one reward tokens. Complete rounds until someone has four or more reward tokens and wins. (In a two-player game only the player with the higher score receives a reward token and whoever first collects three tokens wins.)

Kitara

Kitara

Rating: 6.8 | Players: 2–4

Game Type:

Family

Kitara is a strategy game that mixes conquest movement and battle. Manage your cards to plan your actions: the more territories you control the more options you get! Strengthen your army of hunters cheetah-centaurs and heroes! Protect livestock and crops move your troops and go to war. Kitara is a dynamic strategy game full of tension and suspense.A play turn consists of drafting kingdom cards recruiting pawns moving pawns and attacking neighboring areas. A successful attack garners one or more hero tokens which allots victory points. Attacking and retreating is based on the number of pawns in each group. The player with the most victory points wins the game.—description from the publisher

Stellarion

Stellarion

Rating: 7.3 | Players: 1–2

Game Type:

Family

You are the director of the Observatory. With your telescopes aimed at the stars planets and nebulas of the Oniverse you are ready to launch daring spaceships into the skies.Stellarion the seventh entry in the Oniverse series is a deck-management game. All the cards you need are split into eight decks and you know the contents of each one. You'll need to manage all these resources to ensure that you have the right cards available at the right time.—description from the designer

Axio

Axio

Rating: 6.8 | Players: 1–4

Game Type:

Abstract

In Axio players take turns adding tiles to a shared playing area. Each time you play a tile — with tiles bearing one or two colored symbols — you score points for symbols of the same type that are in rows extending from the recently-placed tile. Tiles can be placed on other tiles in some situations.When the game ends players check the scores for each of their symbols and their final score is equal to the lowest value among them. Whichever player has the highest low score wins!

The Portuguese King has called the finest stonemasons of the country to pave one of the most important squares with calçada tiles (worldwide famous black and white tiles that pave several squares in Portugal). But the task is enormous and players will have to count with the aid of helper cards who will help them score points and/or collect money.In Rossio players start the game by drawing five cards and keeping three of them on their hands.On a player's turn players will first recruit a card from their hands placing it on the rightmost space under their player board sliding to the left all cards previously recruited discarding the card that slides off their boards (under each player board there are only 3 card slots). If the newly recruited card is played face-up players must pay its cost in coins. If the card is played face-down no money needs to be spent.Then ALL cards under a player board will activate: face-up cards will give the player Points for each time the pattern depicted on the card is found on the square. Face-down cards will provide the player 1 coin each.Then players must build the leftmost calçada tile of their player boards. Players can never voluntarily change the order of the tiles on their board. At any moment players can however spend 1 coin to swap 2 pieces on their board that are orthogonally adjacent. The tile must be built in the square orthogonally adjacent to at least 2 elements: 1 tile and 1 wall or 2 tiles. And must be built on the leftmost available space of the line it is being built. If the players manage to build orthogonally adjacent to a similar tile they can as bonus build the next leftmost tile and so on until they decide to stop or until they can't build more. Players collect then 1 coin for each coin depicted on the spaces that were left free on their player boards after tiles were built.Finally players end their turn by drawing 1 card into their hand from the 4 cards available on the market. However the amount of cards players can choose from depends on the number of tiles that they have built. So if players build only 1 tile they must take the 1st card. If they build 3 tiles for example they can choose between the 1st 2nd or 3rd cards. Players end their turns by refilling the empty spaces of their player boards with tiles from the facedown stacks.As the square is being cooperatively built certain patterns appear more often than others and the scoring of face-up cards becomes exponential. Also when players complete a column they collect a bonus that can be either 1 coin or drawing more cards. Money is very tight in this game so gaining an extra coin can be crucial to recruiting a card from your hand face-up.The game ends when the square is finished and the player with most points wins the game.Rossio is all about timing: Recruit a card face-up late in the game and then it will score fewer times than expected. Recruit it too early and it will score you a few points since there are few tiles built on the square. To many cards recruited face down will give that extra amount of money but they won't score any points. Build several tiles and you're probably helping your opponents. Build fewer tiles and you probably won't have money next turn to recruit a face-up card.Rossio is a game with very simple rules but with high interaction between players and interesting decisions every single turn.—description from the designer

Lofoten

Lofoten

Rating: 6.6 | Players: 2

Game Type:

Uncategorized

Categories:

Now considered to be one the most beautiful archipelagos in the world Lofoten was an important Viking territory. Knowing how to adapt to various situations Vikings were not only peaceful settlers and builders but invaders and skilled merchants as well. With your fleet of longships you are determined to make the most of the 4 essential goods. Also try to become the most powerful Jarl of the archipelago!Goal of the Game In Lofoten you must load merchandise from the market into your longships and bring them back to your clan. For each type of merchandise a particular scoring will grant you an advantage over the opposing Jarl. No matter what the situation is your goal is to earn more PP (Power Points) than the opposing Jarl in the final scoring to become the most powerful Jarl in the archipelago!Lofoten is a game for two players with innovative card hand management and a rotating board.

Digimon Card Game

Digimon Card Game

Rating: 7.5 | Players: 2

Game Type:

Customizable

Categories:

The Digimon card game is a competitive trading card game.Each player has a companion Digimon in the battle area to attack the opponent. Your Digimon evolves gets stronger and gains new power!You win by beating your opponent’s security (reducing your opponent’s Security Area cards to zero) and delivering a knockout blow!The system uses a cost system similar to that of Chrono Clash.

Guess Club

Guess Club

Rating: 7.0 | Players: 2–8

Game Type:

Uncategorized

Description from the designer:The host of this renowned club receives you with a smile of welcome. Its proximity to the harbor makes it a hub for travelers around the globe all gathering here to compete against each other. These vying travelers wear a swaggering smile on their faces and invite you to join their game. From the sharp bead-like eyes peeking behind the cards you realize they do not just want to have a bit of fun but aim at winning all your money away. However your huge reservoir of knowledge won’t let them have their way. Who will be the smartest mind reader laughing at the end of game?Play rock–paper–scissors to decide which players decide the categories for the 3 rounds to be played respectively. There’s no limitation on categories selectable but the category deciding player should be able to come up with at least 10 answers. For example a category can be Asian countries Olympic ball sports etc. After understanding the decided category write or draw your answers on the cards. You must fill each card with a different answer. Be careful that no one sees your answers. You are not allowed to use an internet search engine to find the answers. Your brain is the only resource available to you.Players must guess the answers of others or to predict how many correct answer sets this round will have. The game ends after 3 rounds. The player having the largest sum of chips wins.

Ethnos: 2nd Edition

Ethnos: 2nd Edition

Rating: 7.6 | Players: 1–6

Game Type:

Uncategorized

In the faraway land of Ethnos a new Age is dawning. The ashes of the old Age have left the Six Regions empty and the twelve Clans scattered to the winds. Now is the time for a clever leader to unite them into a powerful alliance skillfully using the unique talents of each Clan to control the Regions. Do you have the wit and the wisdom to become the next Emperor of Ethnos and usher in a Golden Age?Unite the Clans to Control EthnosWhat was old has been made new again. The land of Ethnos has been rendered empty and a new Age is beginning. Someone must take up the mantle of Emperor. Will it be you?In Ethnos 2nd Edition players must take control of the various clans of Ethnos gathering members and unleashing them into the six regions. Each clan has different special abilities and depending on who you choose to lead your groups different strategies can be employed. 2nd Edition includes updated rules and rules for Solo mode.