Tag: Grid Movement

Grid Movement is a game mechanic where game pieces move on a predetermined grid in various patterns.

Thrive

Thrive

Thrive

Thrive is a two-player abstract strategy game with incredibly simple rules that grows in complexity as you play.

You play as one of two lotus flowers, competing to control the pond. Be the first to capture all but one of your opponent’s seed pods and win this game of tactical decision making!

Each turn you move a piece, then add two additional pegs to any of your pieces, giving them more possibilities for movement on future turns.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Grid Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.56

Survive: Escape from Atlantis!

Survive: Escape from Atlantis!

Survive: Escape from Atlantis!

Survive is a cutthroat game where players seek to evacuate their pieces from an island that is breaking up, while remembering where their highest-valued pieces are located to maximize their score.

An island made up of 40 hex-tiles is slowly sinking into the ocean (as the tiles are removed from the board). Each player controls ten people (valued from 1 to 6) that they try and move towards the safety of the surrounding islands before the main island finally blows up. Players can either swim or use boats to travel but must avoid sea serpents, whales and sharks on their way to safety.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Bluffing
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Memory
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.70

Scooby Doo! Betrayal at Mystery Mansion

Scooby Doo! Betrayal at Mystery Mansion

Scooby Doo! Betrayal at Mystery Mansion

Based on the award-winning Betrayal at House on the Hill board game, Betrayal at Mystery Mansion is the mash-up fans have been clamoring for!

Play as Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, or Fred as you explore the mansion and its grounds, finding clues, encountering strange occurrences, and maybe even catching sight of a monster! When you find enough clues to learn what’s really going on, that’s when the haunt starts, and one player will switch sides to play the role of the monster! Will you be able to stop them before they carry out their sinister plan?

Betrayal at Mystery Mansion contains 25 new haunts based on popular episodes and movies from the Scooby-Doo oeuvre, with different monsters, items, events, and locations each time you play.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Role Playing
  • Storytelling
  • Team Based
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 25 – 50 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.80

Santorini

Santorini

Santorini

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.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Grid Movement
  • Racing
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.73

Mountains out of Molehills

Mountains out of Molehills

Mountains out of Molehills

Moles have traveled from all over to compete in the annual Mountain Maker tournament. In this light strategy game, competitors show their skill based on how high they can pile their Molehills, and by how many Mountains they control. The Mole that can build and control the most Mountains out of Molehills over 6 rounds will be declared the “Top Tunneler” and win the game. Features a two-level game board and full-color acrylic standees for each Mole!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Grid Movement
  • Open Drafting
  • Programmed Movement
  • Puzzle

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50

Karuba

Karuba

Karuba

Many moons have come and gone since your boats departed on the journey to Karuba. Once you arrive on the island, each player will lead an expedition team of four adventurers. Now you just have to navigate your way through the dense jungle to make it to the temples. “Just” may be something of an understatement; the ancient jungle trails have to be found and uncovered first! Hurry up and be the first to reach the temples to collect the most valuable treasures. Many paths have dead ends and you need to be patient to find the right/best way (through the jungle). Look! A gold nugget! You can pick it up and collect it, same applies to the shiny crystals along the paths.

Game Mechanics:

  • Bingo
  • Grid Movement
  • Network Building
  • Puzzle
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.45

Good and Bad Ghosts

Good and Bad Ghosts

Good and Bad Ghosts

In Good & Bad Ghosts!, each player has four good ghosts and four evil ghosts – but only the player who owns a ghost can see whether it’s good or evil. These ghosts start the game in the back rows of a 6×6 game board with the corners removed. Each turn, a player moves one of his ghosts one square orthogonally. Moving into an opponent’s ghost kills that ghost. To win, you must get rid of your own evil ghosts, kill your opponent’s good ghosts, or move one of your good ghosts off the board from one of your opponent’s corner squares.

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Grid Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.31

Glux

Glux

Glux

Glüx is a family game all about illuminating rooms. Every player tries to play the brightest light tokens in different areas on the board, thus gaining the majority in those areas. Who can place their light tokens in the cleverest way and illuminate the most areas?

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Area Control
  • Grid Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.60

Forbidden Island

Forbidden Island

Forbidden Island

Dare to discover Forbidden Island! Join a team of fearless adventurers on a do-or-die mission to capture four sacred treasures from the ruins of this perilous paradise. Your team will have to work together and make some pulse-pounding maneuvers, as the island will sink beneath every step! Race to collect the treasures and make a triumphant escape before you are swallowed into the watery abyss!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Cooperative
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.74

Escape the Curse of the Temple

Escape the Curse of the Temple

Escape the Curse of the Temple

Escape is played in real-time, with all players rolling dice and taking actions simultaneously. You must roll the right symbols to enter a room, and if you’re at an open doorway, you can roll to reveal the next tile in the stack and add it to that doorway. Some rooms contain combinations of red and blue symbols, and if you (possibly working with other players in the same room) roll enough red or blue symbols, you “discover” magic gems, moving them from a separate gem depot onto that tile.

The real-time aspect is enforced by a soundtrack to be played during the game. At certain points, a countdown starts, and if players aren’t back in the safe room when time is up, they lose one of their dice.

Once the exit tile is revealed, players can attempt to escape the temple by moving to that tile, then rolling a number of blue dice equal to the magic gems that haven’t been removed from the gem depot. Thus, the more gems you find, the easier it is to escape the temple. When a player escapes, he gives one die to a player of his choice. If all players escape before the third countdown, everyone wins; if not, everyone loses, no matter how many players did escape.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Dexterity
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Push Your Luck
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 10 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.48