Category: Board Games

Bullets and Teeth

| T3d-1978
Bullets and Teeth

Bullets and Teeth

Outrun a horde of zombie beasts while surviving the treachery of your friends. Use clever combinations of Weapons, Traps and Supplies to stay alive at all costs.

Bullets and Teeth is a survival game where players run from an ever growing horde of undead. Throughout the game, players pass around the Bait card, indicating who has to fight the swelling horde. Players use traps to put each other in harms way, while The Bait plays multiple cards in combination to save themselves at the expense of others.

In Bullets and Teeth you don’t have to outrun the dead, if you can outrun the living.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Player Elimination

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 15 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Broken and Beautiful

| T3d-1978
Broken and Beautiful

Broken and Beautiful

“Kintsugi” is the Japanese art of using golden lacquer to repair broken pottery.

In Broken and Beautiful, players draft cards like bowls, cups, and tea jars to create high-scoring sets. As some pieces inevitably break, players must judiciously repair what has been shattered.

Whole pottery is valuable. Broken dishes are worthless. That which has broken and been repaired is uniquely precious.

Game Mechanics:

  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.29

Bristol 1350

| T3d-1978
Bristol 1350

Bristol 1350

The dreaded Black Death has descended upon the town of Bristol. You are racing down the streets in one of the three available apple carts, desperate to escape into the safety of the countryside. If your cart is the first to leave the town and it is full of only healthy villagers when you leave, you and your fellow cart-mates successfully escape and win the game!

However, some villagers on your cart may already have the plague! They are hiding their early symptoms from you so that they can enjoy their last few days in peace. If you leave town with a plagued villager on your cart, you will catch the plague. You must do whatever is necessary to make sure that doesn’t happen!

On the surface Bristol 1350 is part co-operative teamwork, part racing strategy, and part social deduction. In reality, it’s a selfish scramble to get yourself out of town as quickly as possible without the plague, by any means necessary.

The game comes in a magnetic book box and includes a rubber playmat, 9 wood pawns, 3 miniature carts, 6 rat/apple dice, a linen bag, and 64 cards. The deluxe version adds 6 coins, 6 cards, and 3 metal carts. This standalone game is Volume 4 in the “Dark Cities Series” by Facade Games following Salem 1692, Tortuga 1667, and Deadwood 1876.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deduction
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hidden Roles
  • Party Game
  • Player Elimination
  • Racing

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 9 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.54

Bohnanza

| T3d-1978
Bohnanza

Bohnanza

In the game, you plant, then harvest bean cards in order to earn coins. Each player starts with a hand of random bean cards, and each card has a number on it corresponding to the number of that type of beans in the deck. Unlike in most other card games, you can’t rearrange the order of cards in hand, so you must use them in the order that you’ve picked them up from the deck — unless you can trade them to other players, which is the heart of the game.

On a turn, you must plant the first one or two cards in your hand into the “fields” in front of you. Each field can hold only one type of bean, so if you must plant a type of bean that’s not in one of your fields, then you must harvest a field to make room for the new arrival. This usually isn’t good! Next, you reveal two cards from the deck, and you can then trade these cards as well as any card in your hand for cards from other players. You can even make future promises for cards received right now! After all the trading is complete — and all trades on a turn must involve the active player — then you end your turn by drawing cards from the deck and placing them at the back of your hand.

When you harvest beans, you receive coins based on the number of bean cards in that field and the “beanometer” for that particular type of bean. Flip over 1-4 cards from that field to transform them into coins, then place the remainder of the cards in the discard pile. When the deck runs out, shuffle the discards, playing through the deck two more times. At the end of the game, everyone can harvest their fields, then whoever has earned the most coins wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Negotiation
  • Set Collection
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 7 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.67

Boba Mahjong

| T3d-1978
Boba Mahjong

Boba Mahjong

Boba Mahjong is a 2-player mahjong variant card game using set collection and rummy mechanics. In the game, players create sets of three cards during their turn. After creating a set, the player keeps one of the cards as an ingredient card. When a player has five sets of ingredient cards, the round ends. Players will use the best six ingredients to make their boba drink and collect points based on the freshness, smoothness, complexity, and presentation of their drink. The game will continue for several rounds until a player has 30 or more points, and the player with the most points wins the game!

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Blockbuster

| T3d-1978
Blockbuster

Blockbuster

Blockbuster is a movie game for anyone who has seen a movie, and like all the best films it comes in two parts:

In the Movie Buzzer Battle, both teams are given a topic, such as “Movies with dogs”. You start the 15-second timer, yell out a relevant movie, then whack the buzzer to reset the time. The other team is now in the hot seat and has to do the same. Whoever runs out of time hands the advantage to the other team, which takes control of the next round: Triple Charades Jeopardy.

In this round, teams have to guess the movie, while you act it, use one word, or quote from it. There is all sorts of strategy and stealing, too.

Game Mechanics:

  • Acting
  • Party Game
  • Team Based
  • Trivia

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 10 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.08

Blasting Boxes

| T3d-1978
Blasting Boxes

Blasting Boxes

A simple style euro game suitable for kids and families. Each player needs to get as many points as possible.

In the game, players assume the roles of warehouse workers, each of them needing to stack his/her shelf with as many boxes as possible without letting the boxes break. Whoever gets the most points becomes the new store manager.

There are some rules, bonus points, and special combo cards that allow you to tackle your opponents or increase your own score.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Pattern Building

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Bites

| T3d-1978
Bites

Bites

New version of the Spiel des Jahres Recommended Big Points with a new theme, more engaging components, and rule tweak cards to make sure every play is different.

Four page illustrated rulebook. 20min play time. Highly interactive with no direct conflict.

Players move ants along a trail and collect food as they go. However, the value of that food depends on how the other ants move.

Shared incentives mean you are always trying to figure out what the other players are up to. Variable “rules cards” tweak the rules to every game so that each play is fresh.

During setup, a trail of food is laid out. On each player’s turn, they can move any ant to the next food in the trail that matches their color (red ant to apple, purple ant to grapes, etc). Then the player takes the food token directly in front of or behind the ant, saving it to score at the end of the game.

However, players don’t know for sure how much the food is going to be worth until the matching ant makes it to the ant hill at the end of the trail. This creates shared incentives as players work together to advance some ants and hold others back.

Along the way players also have the chance to pick up chocolate, which can be turned into special actions, and wine, which provides a way to score bonus points.

There are four decks of cards that define the rules for the game. Each game, one card is chosen from each deck to provide a unqiue combination. Players have to adapt their strategy to the actions the other players are taking and the unique rules for this game. The “rule decks” are:

  • Ant Hill – Food tokens are worth more points if the matching ant gets to the hill FIRST. Or, food tokens are worth more points if the matching ants get to the ant hill LAST.
  • Wine – The wine tokens have a different way of scoring in every game.
  • Chocolate – The chocolate tokens provide a different special power in every game. And, the best way to use that power will change based on the other special rules in play.
  • Variant – One special rule that applies to this game which offers an extra twist.

Your actions will change the incentives for the other players. Can you manage these cascading effects to collect the most valuable food collection?

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50

Biblios

| T3d-1978
Biblios

Biblios

THE GAME CONCEPT
You are an abbot of a medieval monastery competing with other abbots to amass the greatest library of sacred books. To do so, you need to have both the workers and resources to run a well-functioning scriptorium. To acquire workers and resources, you use a limited supply of donated gold. In addition, you must be on good terms with the powerful bishop, who can help you in your quest.

OUTLINE OF GAME PLAY
The object of the game is to score the most Victory Points. You win Victory Points by winning any of the 5 categories: Illuminators, Scribes, Manuscripts, Scrolls, and Supplies. You win a category by having the highest total number of workers (Scribes, Illuminators) or resources (Manuscripts, Scrolls, Supplies) in that category. This is determined by the numbers in the upper left corner on the cards. At the start of the game, each category is worth 3 Victory Points. As the game progresses, the values on the Value Board will change and some categories will become worth more or fewer Victory Points than others. The game is divided into 2 stages: a Donation stage and an Auction stage. During the Donation stage, players acquire free cards according to an established plan. In the Auction stage, players purchase cards in auction rounds. After the two stages, winners of each category are determined and Victory Points awarded. The player with the most Victory Points wins.

GAME CHARACTERISTICS
The game involves a good deal of strategic planning, some bluffing, and a little bit of luck. The rules are easy to understand, but you have to play it a few times to develop a playing strategy. It plays differently from 2-4 players, but each game is equally fun and challenging.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Closed Drafting
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.68

Bearly Working

| T3d-1978
Bearly Working

Bearly Working

Welcome to your City! As the newly elected Mayor it is your duty to attend and bid at a 5-day bear auction in hopes of creating a prosperous society with a diverse workforce. Watch out though because you’ll be facing rival Mayors with the same objective! Bearly Working is an “auction-based card collecting game” where the end goal is to have more points than your opponents while managing your resources wisely. Develop your city by purchasing bears with special skills and hire covert criminals to sabotage your opponents! Whatever your strategy…

Running a city is grizzly business!
—
This is an auction-based game for two to four players and takes around 20 to 30 minutes to play.
The game lasts 5 days and each day is broken into 3 phases.
The first phase is the auction, where you will face off against the other mayors in an open bidding system. One by one, a bear is showcased and then auctioned off. The winning bidder hires the worker into their city. The second phase is payday. There are two types of bears. One provides victory points and the other provides income. Mayors with income bears in their city will collect their total paycheck from the bank. The third phase is the action phase. Mayors will have three opportunities to either collect five coins from the bank or enlist the help of criminals.

These crooks will be essential in sabotaging your competition. They do devious things such as fixing the auction, stealing some money or kidnapping bears. At the end of the third phase, the day is complete, and this cycle is repeated for a total of 5 times. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game, is the winner!

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Set Collection
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 35 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.33