Author: OTSG Staff

Inventors of the South Tigris

| OTSG Staff

Inventors of the South Tigris is set during the height of the Abbasid Caliphate, circa 850 AD. Over the past decades, Baghdad has become home to thousands of mathematicians, astronomers, chemists, and physicians. As inspired innovators, players are eager to develop clever contraptions to impress their peers. Will your ingenious devices adorn the House of Wisdom, or are they destined for dust and decay?

The aim of Inventors of the South Tigris is to be the player with the most Victory Points (VP) at the game’s end. Points are primarily gained by Inventing, Building, Testing, and Publishing Devices. Players can also score points by training their Craftspeople, developing their Workshops, Researching, and Influencing the 3 scientific Guilds.

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.46

Inventions: Evolution of Ideas

| OTSG Staff

Since the dawn of time, humanity has sought new ideas, forever developing them into still newer concepts. Their genius made them stand out from the other animals. Each invention is a veritable evolutionary step. Humans’ use of tools surpasses the efforts of all others, making Homo sapiens technologists since before historical records were invented.

Inventions: Evolution of Ideas follows humanity’s most noteworthy innovations and places the power of these technological developments in your hands to evolve your societies over the ages.

In Inventions, cards simulate these new concepts. Cards are the ideas that eventually become inventions. Once they are invented, these technologies can be shared with the world, and everyone involved in the process spreads the exciting news, giving credit where credit is due. Developing these inventions progresses your society, advancing its technology, economy, and culture. You can even share with other societies, boosting the inventions’ efficacy even more!

Inventions is a tactical game, but you will do best by building these tactics around a long-term strategy. Each society’s progress will be measured in Intellectual Property Points (IPP), and the player who has the most IPP has the strongest society and wins the game.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 150 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.59

Intent to Kill

| OTSG Staff

Intent to Kill is a thrilling detective noire game in which you will find yourself in the middle of a police investigation. You can take the role of a notorious serial killer, while the other shall become an experienced detective following the tracks of a criminal.

The game is different for each of these roles: the murderer has to plan every step while hiding their motive; the detective has to collect evidence and question witnesses — but not all of them are truthful…

A new murder is committed each round. The detective can move around the blocks and question civilians that might have useful information. The murderer can intimidate civilians to stall the investigation. The game ends after the fifth murder.

Use your actions and abilities efficiently, the detective has to find the murderer among civilians and determine their motive by analyzing the murders. If the detective fails, the murderer wins.

The game allows for many ways to enrich gameplay — when you get comfortable with the basic rules you can combine different motives, add new components and play through scenarios. Once you have enough practice, you will be able to rediscover the complexity of the game: our game tests show that a truly intense battle begins when experienced players that have mastered both roles go against each other.

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.39

Innovation 4th Edition

| OTSG Staff

Innovation is Carl Chudyk’s tableau-builder of infinite possibilities, taking you on a journey from pre-history all the way to the present…and the near future! In this game, you build a civilization using only cards; there’s no map, no tokens, no dice, no pieces. The game’s 105 innovations — or in the fourth edition, 115 innovations — are each represented by a card with a unique effect, organized into ten (or eleven) ages. Each innovation’s effect is tied thematically to its identity, allowing you to either elevate your society or attack your opponents.

In addition to directly affecting your opponents, you can share in the effects of their technologies if you amass enough visible icons on your board. Strategically building your tableau of cards to share often and defend against demands is crucial to success.

To win, you must claim achievements, which you can attain by amassing points or by meeting certain criteria with the innovations you have built. No two games of Innovation play the same way.

[Admin note: The specific card effects have changed across the four editions of Innovation, in addition to age 11 being added in the fourth edition, but the core gameplay has remained consistent across all editions, so all editions are listed on a single page in the database.]

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.78

Imperium: Horizons

| OTSG Staff

Formidable adversaries are arrayed against you. Your people stand ready. History beckons.

In your hands lies the destiny of one of the most storied peoples of history. Under constant threat of attack, you must conquer new lands, oversee dramatic scientific and cultural advances, and lead your people into the era of empire. Expand too rapidly and unrest will bring your civilisation to its knees; build up too slowly, however, and you might find yourself a mere footnote of history. As one of fourteen radically asymmetric civilisations, you will compete to become the most dominant empire the world has ever seen.

Imperium: Horizons is a standalone game that contains the Abbasid, Aksumite, Cultist, Gupta, Inuit, Japanese, Magyar, Martian, Mayan, Polynesian, Sassanid, Taino, Tang, and Wagadou civilisations. Each makes for a unique and challenging opponent in both multiplayer and solo games.

Fully compatible with Imperium: Classics and Imperium: Legends for those wanting to expand their pool of civilisations even further, Imperium: Horizons also incorporates a new trade module that allows players to recreate all the intrigue, wealth generation, and dynamic politics of a thriving economy.

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 40 – 160 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.97

Impendium

| OTSG Staff

Immediately following the events of Nova Lux, you will take up the mantle of building the universe anew. Civil unrest and fear have caused factions among the star colonies to subvert the federation. As it works to ignite new stars and forge galaxies which can once again perpetuate life, your factions will position for power and prosperity in the new Galactic Order. But creation comes with a cost. As the inhabitants of your universe not only defy but reverse the natural law of Entropy, the Void takes notice.

On your turn you will move around the universe, undertake assignments from the federation to construct new stars or battle harbingers of the void, build star colonies to generate resources, and recruit new factions to enhance your abilities and expand your influence.

Once a player control enough of the newly constructed universe, they win!

Impendium is the stand alone successor to Nova Lux. The faction cards from Nova Lux can be used with Impendium.

-description from designer

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

I Would Kill Hitler

| OTSG Staff

The first game made out of spite!

The game is simple! Players answer “What Would You Do?” to original hypotheticals using cards in their hands to complete their story! Play is similar to other party card games (rotating judge, point based system)

1. All players have 5 Plot Cards in hand.
2. Plot Cards are items, POVs, dialogue, people, or story elements you MUST include in your story if played.
3. There will be one judge per round who will read the Hypothetical Card to the group.
4. Players then select one Plot Card from their hand. They MUST incorporate it into their story.
5. The judge decides who’s story was funniest, most realistic, or most plausible. That player wins the round.
6. The winning player keeps the hypothetical card to track their score.
7. After a player collects 5 Hypothetical Cards, that player wins the game.

The game is inspired by an improv warm up exercise the creators play before performances, but has been fine tuned and workshopped to be EXTREMELY approachable.

What connects the creators most though is spite. Spite for a man it was too hard to do. Spite for a man that ruined our night with his narcissism. Every copy we sell is in spite of him.

-description from designer

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 8 Players
  • 20 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

I Made You a Mixtape

| OTSG Staff

It’s the early 90s. Baggy jeans and flannel shirts reign supreme, and the unmistakable sound of dial-up internet fills the air. Dan DiLisio, the coolest kid in your neighborhood, is heading off to University, and is letting you and your school friends raid his beloved music collection before he goes.

In return he’s asked you to make him a mixtape for his road trip up to college. To make things more interesting he’s said that the kid who makes the best tape will win his Quantum Leap poster signed by Scott Bakula.

Man, you really want that poster…

“I Made You a Mixtape” is a I-split-you-choose card game where you will be competing with the other players to make the best compilation possible out of an album collection. Your tape will be judged on how well it’s themed, how the tracks flow with each other, and the balance of lengths between side A and side B.

-description from designer

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.31

Hunt the Ravager

| OTSG Staff

A vengeful samurai has risen from beyond the grave, seeking the ruin of the Empress that betrayed him. In search of three imperial treasures, the spirit ravages all in his wake. Now the Empress must call upon her three most trusted hunters to locate the Ravager before he exacts his vendetta.

Hunt the Ravager is an asymmetric, card-driven game of hidden movement where 2-4 players will each take turns as the Ravager or the hunters seeking him. The Ravager will score points for destroying the land and successfully returning treasures to his hidden lair. The hunters will need to quickly locate the Ravager to protect the treasures and minimize the ruin to the Empress’ lands.
Hunt the Ravager

– Hidden movement, card based, asymmetric game for 2-4 players with a feudal Japan theme.
– Beautifully presented with artwork from the acclaimed Andrew Bosley.
– Modular game board and point based rather than binary victory conditions, makes each game played completely unique!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00