The robots of the RoboRally automobile factory spend their weekdays toiling at the assembly line. They put in hard hours building high-speed supercars they never get to see in action. But on Saturday nights, the factory becomes a world of mad machines and dangerous schemes as these robots engage in their own epic race.It takes speed, wits, and dirty tricks to become a racing legend! Each player chooses a robot and directs its moves by playing cards. Chaos ensues as all players reveal the cards they've chosen. Players face obstacles like industrial lasers, gaping pits, and moving conveyor belts -- but those can also be used to their advantage! Each player aims to make it to each of the checkpoints in numerical order. The first player to reach all of the checkpoints wins.

In RoboRally players each control a different robot in a race through a dangerous factory floor. Several goals will be placed on the board and you must navigate your robot to them in a specific order. The boards can be combined in several different ways to accommodate different player counts and races can be as long or as short as player's desire.

In general, players will first fill all of their robot's "registers" with facedown movement cards. This happens simultaneously and there is a time element involved. If you don't act fast enough you are forced to place cards randomly to fill the rest. Then, starting with the first register, everyone reveals their card. The card with the highest number moves first. After everyone resolves their movement they reveal the next card and so on. Examples of movement cards may be to turn 90 degrees left or right, move forward 2 spaces, or move backward 1 space though there are a bigger variety than that. You can plan a perfect route, but if another robot runs into you it can push you off course. This can be disastrous since you can't reprogram any cards to fix it!

Robots fire lasers and factory elements resolve after each movement and robots may become damaged. If they take enough damage certain movement cards become fixed and can no longer be changed. If they take more they may be destroyed entirely. The first robot to claim all the goals in the correct order wins, though some may award points and play tournament style.

The game was reprinted by Avalon Hill (Hasbro/WotC) in 2005.

UPC 742818050029

Roll For It! is a casual, family-friendly dice and card game. Each player starts the game with six dice of a single color, and three target cards are laid face-up on the table. Players take turns doing the following: On a turn, a player rolls all of her dice not already on cards, then places any dice that match the targets on the corresponding cards. (Alternatively, before taking her turn, a player can first choose to reclaim all of her dice from all cards.)

If the player now fulfills the target with her dice – e.g., a pair of 3s, a quartet of 6s, or a specific combination of numbers – she claims the card, takes back her dice (and returns any other dice on the card to their owner), then places a new card on the table. Each card is worth a certain number of points. The first player to earn forty or more points wins!

There are two sets of Roll For It! available -- the red set comes with translucent dice and the purple set comes with pearl dice. There are no duplicate cards between the sets. Each set allows play for 2-4 players, but when they are combined, up to eight players can compete in the same game of Roll For It!

In The Ruhr: A Story of Coal Trade, the second game of Thomas Spitzer's historic coal trilogy, you are transported to the Ruhr region in the 18th century, at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Coal, after being discovered in Haspelknecht, is in high demand as cities and factories throughout the region are in need of this coveted resource. The Ruhr river presented a convenient route of transportation from the coal mines. However, the Ruhr was filled with obstacles and large dams, making it incredibly difficult to navigate. Trade coal for valuable upgrades and plan your route to victory along the Ruhr!

In more detail, the players transport and sell coal to cities and factories along the Ruhr river in the 18th and 19th centuries. By selling coal to cities and factories, players acquire unique progress markers. In the beginning, players have access only to low value coal. By selling coal to certain locations, players gain access to high value coal. In addition to selling coal, the players build warehouses, build locks, and export coal to neighboring countries in the pursuit of the most victory points.

This game, an updated version of Ruhrschifffahrt 1769-1890, includes the standalone expansion The Ohio: 1811-1861. In this game, players transport and trade goods along the Ohio River during a time when Ohio was granted statehood and became heavily populated as its industries flourished. The Ohio is played in a manner similar to The Ruhr, but with new and additional elements.

Players race against the clock to build different Rukshuk rock formations and score as many points as they can.
Game cards reveal different Rukshuk formations, bonus points and rules.
Skill, luck and strategy determine who scores the most points and wins!

How to play:


Each player selects seven game rocks from the pouch.
Game rocks are worth different points based on their ‘stack-ability’.
Players score regular and bonus points by using the rocks to build all or part of the Rukshuk formation shown on the game card in 60 seconds or less.
If a player’s Rukshuk formation topples before time expires, he must quickly rebuild it.
When time runs out, players use the score pad to tally the points from their formations.
Once scores are counted the players select new rocks, turn over the next card and build a new Rukshuk


Re-implemented by:

Rukshuk: Edition 2

In the game Rumis, the players construct an Inca building with their stones. All players receive three-dimensional pieces made of wood or plastic, which they will try to position adjacent to already placed pieces of their own color. All of their own pieces are of different shapes, which is a challenge to the three-dimensional imagination.

Cubic, wedge-shaped, or pyramidal volumes are different building limitations, which are imposed by the various building scenarios. Playing RUMIS, you will find that no game is similar to any previous one. Once your mind has mastered the puzzling shapes of the RUMIS pieces, you will explore the depth of tactical and strategic possibilities offered.

The rebrand by Educational Insights is labelled 1 to 4 players on the box, adding solitaire puzzles such as building a 3x3 cube with one color and building the various shapes using all the colors, following the rules of the multiplayer games while leaving no gaps in the structure.

Expanded by:


Rumis+

Draft dice and use the tools-of-the-trade in Sagrada to carefully construct your stained glass window masterpiece.

In more detail, each player builds a stained glass window by building up a grid of dice on their player board. Each board has some restrictions on which color or shade (value) of die can be placed there. Dice of the same shade or color may never be placed next to each other. Dice are drafted in player order, with the start player rotating each round, snaking back around after the last player drafts two dice. Scoring is variable per game based on achieving various patterns and varieties of placement...as well as bonus points for dark shades of a particular hidden goal color.

Special tools can be used to help you break the rules by spending skill tokens; once a tool is used, it then requires more skill tokens for the other players to use them.

The highest scoring window artisan wins!

Every year the Emperor walks through the imperial gardens to greet the spring, every year he stops beneath the Sakura trees, and every year you try to paint his picture. This will be your year. Artists from near and far will step over their rivals to be closest to the Emperor as he reaches the cherry blossoms, hoping to paint a portrait that will please him. However, should one of them accidentally bump into the Emperor, they would be sure to earn his ire!

Sakura is a light tactical game of pushing your luck, and pushing your friends. Each player will simultaneously decide how far to move both their character and the Emperor. The player closest to the Emperor when the Cherry Blossoms are reached will gain a huge amount of prestige, but if you push too far you risk bumping into the Emperor and walking away in disgrace.

You and your fellow samurai companions are the only standing obstacle between one frightened village and a full horde of blood-thirsty villains. The fight seems unfair as the seven of you might not seem to measure up to the dozens of enemies who want to slice you to pieces — but this comparison doesn't take into account your strong combat skills and an efficient team spirit that binds your samurai squad enough to face the threat. Above all else, when everything seems desperate and lost, your enemies will discover that inside each of you lies a true beast, a warrior spirit ready to unleash its full power!

Samurai Spirit is a co-operative game in which each player is a fierce samurai defending a village surrounded by a horde of bandits. The game plays out over three turns during which each player takes turns drawing bandit cards, then choosing whether they want to fight the bandit, defend the village, or let the bandit pass in order to help the other samurai.

The challenge of the game consists of balancing your choices: Should you fight each enemy to quickly reach your beast capacities, while also coming closer to the death and risking further loss by not defending the village sufficiently? Should you mainly defend or help the other samurai, taking the risk of remaining human too long and therefore weaker, when you know that weakness will be a major problem when facing the lieutenant and the villain bosses? Each enemy presents a tough choice to you, your team, and ultimately the whole village! Each turn ends with farms and fences being destroyed, and since those aren't unlimited, you must do what's necessary to end the game with at least one undamaged farm and enough farmers to tend it. Do you have what it takes to stand against evil and become a true hero?

Fight with courage, smartly assist your teammates, defend the poor villagers, turn into a savage beast, and wreak havoc on the enemy lines — all of this is up to you! Ultimately it would be your honor to chose to die in a ultimate sacrifice in order to save the village. All of this is what makes the true samurai spirit!

People refer to this vast place only as the desert since no one remembers what was here before. The golden age of human beings has long passed. Now there is only sand, and the only hope is in the humidity.

Travelers cross the desert that stretches from the slopes of the Akaishi Mountains to the cliffs of Seaclaw. Half-ruined ancient cities are home to the last human communities struggling to survive by foraging for what little green remains standing. These desert travelers transport goods on the backs of their caterpillars. Although their only goal is to make as much money as they can, at the same time and in a more or less deliberate way, they are helping to bring life back to the desert by carrying small plants from the artificial greenhouses of the cities to the most remote corners of this ocean of sand.

Designed by Ariel Di Costanzo and Javier Pelizzari and illustrated by Ernest Sala, Sand is a game with a main mechanism of pick-up-and-deliver that can be enjoyed alone or in groups of up to four players in games of about 120 minutes long. Players have to earn as much gold as possible after six rounds (five in a four-player game) to win.

In Sand, players put themselves in the shoes of these intrepid desert travelers who travel the paths of the board and visit the different towns. They collect goods to take them to other places and thus earn gold for the transport service. They cross the dunes on the backs of their faithful caterpillars, which, cared for, will grow and help players complete their tasks more effectively. Along the way they will be joined by helpful companions and be entrusted with missions that, if completed, will bring good benefits at the end of the journey. Help the plants take root again, and perhaps there is still some hope for this desolate place...

—description from the publisher

Santorini is a re-imagining of the purely abstract 2004 edition. Since its original inception over 30 years ago, Santorini has been continually developed, enhanced and refined by designer Gordon Hamilton.

Santorini is an accessible strategy game, simple enough for an elementary school classroom while aiming to provide gameplay depth and content for hardcore gamers to explore, The rules are 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 - Santorini features variable player powers layered over an otherwise abstract game, with 40 thematic god and hero powers that fundamentally change the way the game is played.

"The Game of Scattergories," published in 1988 by Milton Bradley, is a great game for any group to play. In the game each player fills out a category list 'with answers that begin with the same letter.' If no other player matches your answers, you score points. The game is played in rounds. After 3 rounds a winner is declared, and a new game can be begun.

Scattergories is a commercial version of an old parlour game known as Categories or Guggenheim.

Similar to:

Facts in Five

In Schotten Totten, nine boundary stones lie between you and your opponent. In front of each, you build poker-like formations of three cards on a side. Whoever plays the higher-ranking formation wins the stone. And in a unique twist, you may use your powers of logic to claim a stone even before your opponent has played all three of his cards, by demonstrating that the stone is impossible for him to win. Successfully claim five stones, or any three adjacent stones, and you win the game.

In 2000 GMT published a rethemed version as Battle Line which includes an extra 10 "tactics" cards that modify the standard game play, and with cards that run from 1 to 10 (instead of 1 to 9).

The 2004 Edition of Schottentotten has these "tactics" cards too.
Schotten-Totten FAQ.

SCOUT is a ladder-climbing game in which cards have two potential values, players may not rearrange their hand of cards, and players may pass their turn to take a card from the current high set of cards into their hand.

More specifically, cards are dual-indexed, with different values on each half of the card, with the 45 cards having all possible combinations of the numbers 1-10. During set-up, whoever is shuffling the cards should randomize both the order of the cards in the deck and their orientation. Once each player has been dealt their entire hand of cards, they pick up that hand without rearranging any of the cards; if they wish, they can rotate their entire hand of cards in order to use the values on the other end of each card, but again they cannot rearrange the order of cards in their hand.

On a turn, a player takes one of two actions:

• Play: A player chooses one or more adjacent cards in their hand that have all the same value or that have values in consecutive order (whether ascending or descending), then they play this set of cards to the table. They can do this only if the table is empty (as on the first turn) or the set they're playing is ranked higher than the set currently on the table; a set is higher if it has more cards or has cards of the same value instead of consecutive cards or has a set of the same quantity and type but with higher values. In this latter case when a player overplays another set, the player captures the cards in this previous set and places them face down in front of themselves.

• Scout: A player takes a card from either end of the set currently on the table and places it anywhere they wish in their hand in either orientation. Whoever played this previous set receives a 1 VP token as a reward for playing a set that wasn't beaten.

Once per round, a player can scout, then immediately play.

When a player has emptied their hand of cards or all but one player have scouted instead of playing, the round ends. Players receive 1 VP for each face-down card, then subtract one point for each card in their hand (except if they were the player scouted repeatedly to end the game). Play as many rounds as the number of players, then whoever has the most points wins.

It is a time of unrest in 1920s Europa. The ashes from the first great war still darken the snow. The capitalistic city-state known simply as “The Factory”, which fueled the war with heavily armored mechs, has closed its doors, drawing the attention of several nearby countries.

Scythe is an engine-building game set in an alternate-history 1920s period. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and valor. In Scythe, each player represents a character from one of five factions of Eastern Europe who are attempting to earn their fortune and claim their faction's stake in the land around the mysterious Factory. Players conquer territory, enlist new recruits, reap resources, gain villagers, build structures, and activate monstrous mechs.

Each player begins the game with different resources (power, coins, combat acumen, and popularity), a different starting location, and a hidden goal. Starting positions are specially calibrated to contribute to each faction’s uniqueness and the asymmetrical nature of the game (each faction always starts in the same place). Scythe uses a streamlined action-selection mechanism (no rounds or phases) to keep gameplay moving at a brisk pace and reduce downtime between turns. While there is plenty of direct conflict for players who seek it, there is no player elimination.

Scythe gives players almost complete control over their fate. Other than each player’s individual hidden objective card, the only elements of luck or variability are “encounter” cards that players will draw as they interact with the citizens of newly explored lands. Each encounter card provides the player with several options, allowing them to mitigate the luck of the draw through their selection. Combat is also driven by choices, not luck or randomness. Every part of Scythe has an aspect of engine-building to it. Players can upgrade actions to become more efficient, build structures that improve their position on the map, enlist new recruits to enhance character abilities, activate mechs to deter opponents from invading, and expand their borders to reap greater types and quantities of resources. These engine-building aspects create a sense of momentum and progress throughout the game. The order in which players improve their engine adds to the unique feel of each game, even when playing one faction multiple times.

Secret Moon is Seiji Kanai's interpretation of a Werewolf-like team deduction game, and a sequel to Love Letter. He is not very fond of stories of killing, thus the more romantic background. Also, he claims to be horrible at chatting and bluffing, so Secret Moon is a game that can be enjoyed by people like him, with less need to bluff and deduction based more on game flow and rules.

This was posted on an Italian gaming website (excuse the poor translation, my Italian is very poor):
(Edited with help from the English rules.)

A game published by Kanai Factory
Drawings by Noboru Sugiura

Up to three players will be part of "Team Princess" (Princess, Wanderer and Priestess), and the rest are "Team Minister" (Minister and four Guards). The Priestess can pretend to be part of the Minister's team, all in the name of helping the Princess.

Team Princess wins if the Minister is captured or the third round ends. Team Minister wins if the Princess is captured or BOTH the Princess and the Wanderer are revealed.

At the table you cannot speak except to make or answer questions permitted by the rules.

The game lasts three rounds, and each round turn order cards are dealt. On their turn, you may:

- Inspect: look at another player's character card.
- Inquire: ask another player "who goes there!", and the appropriate response is on their character card.
- Accuse: guess another player's character. If correct, they reveal their card. Otherwise, reveal yours.
- Hide/protect: defend yourself or another player for the rest of the round. (Cannot be done in third round)
- Disrupt: cause another player who hasn't taken their turn yet to lose their turn this round. You are then captured.
- Capture: "capture" a revealed character. A captured character is out of the game, but still wins if their team wins. (Guards may not capture)

Minimum age: 10 +
Language use in the game : Minimal
Duration of the game : 10 min
Players: 5-8
Manual Language : English - Japanese

Shadows in Kyoto is a two-player abstract game based with the background of Hanamikoji in which players take control of the Oniwaban, a group of undercover spies, secretly protecting the Shogun, or an intelligence agency of the Meiji Government, funding with the advanced technology of the Western Industrial Revolution.

As the commanders, the players must secretly gather key intelligence from the opponent while protecting their own interests. Through movements, conflicts, and tactics, players have three different paths to victory:
1). Capture 2 enemy agents who possess real intelligence.
2). Let your opponent captures 3 agents of your own who possess fake intelligence.
3). Succeed in the escape of 1 agent of your own who possesses real intelligence.

While digging on the slopes of Mount Ego, the Dwarves of Shafausa discovered a secret passage under the falls of the river Rain. From there they gained access into a subterranean world of obscure galleries and gigantic caves, full of immeasurable wealth. The exploitation of this area rapidly assured the small tribe a lifestyle far superior to anything previously known in Helvetia. Their neighbours, the Vampires of Zugriga, immediately realised the fantastic commercial potential of these discoveries. Thanks to a clever stock exchange system, they implicated the other Helvetian tribes in their dealings, for the joy and well-being of all – or so they claimed.

But wealth doesn't just fall from the sky, and it takes a good dose of know-how to be able to rival with the skill of a vampire...

In Shafausa, each player represents a Helvetian tribe that has come to propose a new monetary system based on an exchange of resources. Each round players can make purchases (buildings, mines, warehouses) and exchange currency – and through these transactions influence the stock market for the prosperity of their region. Each player holds three Power cards with special actions, but can use only one during the game as the other two are then removed from play. The game lasts a number of rounds, with each round having seven phases:


Extraction: Mines and certain buildings produce resources, with some buildings affecting how many resources something produces.
Order of Play: Players bid for turn order; as players drop from the bidding, they place their marker in line relative to those who have previously dropped out, so whoever stays in the longest can get the position he wants.
Buying and Constructing: In turn order, players buy at most one available building and construct two warehouses; alternatively, a player can pay to remove a building in order to make space for new buildings next round.
Management: Players can build mines, add miners to their workforce, construct purchased buildings, buy and sell resources, and construct new towns.
Administration: Players pay for buildings in reserve and check their resource limits; resource costs are adjusted based on past sales.
Speculation: In turn order, players pay to adjust the prices of various resources, with each price marker being adjustable only once.
End of Game Check: If one of a player's towns or warehouses has been filled, the game ends. Players then score points for their towns, mines, buildings, and so on, and the player with the most points wins.


In addition to this "Geek" version of the rules, Shafausa includes a "Colonial" version in which players draft start-up tiles (instead of starting with pre-determined characters who come with specific buildings, funds, etc.) and a "Family" version that removes the "Speculation" phase, simplifies turn order, and otherwise makes the game less involved.

With illustrations from the original novels, this card game goes some way to evoke the feeling of the chase through Victorian London to unmask Moriarty and other villains. Players draw and lay cards in sequence, Movement, Location, Info, Action, Detectives and Villains. So I might take a train to the Country, find a clue and use a Disguise. I can use an Inspector, Arrest or Alibi card on my opponents and so on. Play ends either when an Arrest successfully reveals a Villain, or when a player discards their last card, a Villain, who Escapes. Scoring is based on cards remaining in your hand, and if you are the arresting or guilty player, caught with a Villain in your hand.

Re-implemented by:

I Say, Holmes!

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan and famous for its 88 Buddhist temples pilgrimage. It is said people have a year of misfortune and woes — at the age of 42 for men and 33 for women — so to be cured and avoid bad luck, pilgrims of those ages attend the temple 23 called Yakuōji and place of the Buddha of healing, Yakushi Nyorai. In every step, pilgrims leave a coin while singing the Yakushi mantra, which favors them with spiritual healing and prevents misfortune.

In Shikoku, players play the role of pilgrims who are going up the 33 steps while singing mantras until they reach the pagoda. However, the "Middle Path" seeks moderation, not the extremes: To be the first one, or the last, is not welcome! The winners will be those who are second or next to last on the steps when a player reaches the top. The game is played in rounds, each of them with three phases:


Following the turn order of the mantra line, each player plays one card from their hand placing it in the mantra area along with their pilgrim.
When all players had played a card, pilgrims will be moved on the board. Players whose cards are second counting from the left and second counting from the right, don't go up. The other players go up as many steps (ICONO) as the card with their pilgrim indicates.
Move the mantra card (and its pilgrim) with the lower value from the first position to the last one of the mantra line. This will determine the turn order of the next round.


The last player in the mantra line gets a new mantra card and other players take one of the cards (in turn order) that have been played during the previous round to have three cards in their hands.

After the moving phase of a round, if one or more players reach the pagoda (square 33), the game ends and the player, or players, who are second counting from the top and second counting from the bottom, win the game.

Small Star Empires is a quick area control game for 2-4 players. In this game, players colonize the galaxy using their ships, which they move on a modular board containing hexagonal spaces (systems). The modular board is made up of seven different double-sided sector tiles, which allows for a different map and different experience each time you play the game.

During a turn, a player must move one of their ships on the board. They can move the ship only in a straight line, as far away as they want, but they cannot go over systems controlled by other players. After moving the ship, the player has to choose whether to place a colony or a trade station in that system. Both of these mark control over the system until the end of the game, but the trade station gives the player bonus points for each adjacent system controlled by their opponents. The game ends when either all of the players have placed their colonies and trade stations on the board or until none of the players' ships can move (because they have become blocked by other players' systems).

After the game ends, points are calculated. Each player gets one point for each planet that they have in their systems. (Systems have 1 to 3 planets on the board.) Players also earn points for Nebulae; the more they have from one color, the more points they earn, with bonus points from other special systems such as the Unexplored System Tiles, which are part of a variant in the game. After calculating the points, the player with the most points wins!