Category: Beginner Games

Colt Express

| T3d-1978

It is July 11th, 1899, in Folsom, New Mexico. The Union Pacific Express has just departed, full of precious jewels, wallets, and suitcases – right into the trap set by you, one of many bandits ready to rob these citizens blind! A bandits life isn’t easy sailing, though. You’ll have to compete with other bandits to get the biggest score, not even to mention avoiding the Marshall and navigating the 3D train.

Colt Express takes place over 5 rounds, with two phases each round. In phase 1, “Schemin'”, you and your fellow bandits will prepare your actions a play cards to form a deck. Then, in phase 2, “Stealin'”, all the action cards are carried out as you and your fellow bandits wreak havoc on the train. Avoid bullets, and hope that no one else ruins your plans.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Action Queue
  • Hand Management
  • Memory
  • Programmed Movement
  • Take That
  • Variable Player Powers

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.83

Colossal Cat in the Box

| T3d-1978

Cat in the Box is a trick taking game where your suit is every color all at once – until you observe it. Players are dealt a hand of cards with no suit but different numbers, and over the course of the game they will claim various suits to best meet their bid. But be warned! Because of the nebulous nature of the cards, a paradox can form at any time! The player who causes the paradox will lose points, while everyone else will get the opportunity to score based off of their completed tricks and any patterns they made on the research board. 

Colossal Cat in the Box is a supersized version of Cat in the Box!

Game Mechanics:

  • Enclosure
  • Hand Management
  • Predictive Bid
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Clue Escape: The World’s Fair Board Game

| T3d-1978

The crew from Clue is back, and this time they’re at the World’s Fair. But trouble seems to follow them as a brilliant scientist winds up dead. Uncover clues, solve puzzles, find out who, what, and where the murder happened, and see if you can escape!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative Game
  • Modular Board

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Clue Escape: Treachery at Tudor Mansion

| T3d-1978

It’s the classic clue game – in an escape room board game! You and your acquaintances have all been invited to Tudor Mansion for dinner by Boddy Black, who dramatically dies after he threatens to blackmail all of you. Now you must discover who killed him where and with what, and escape the mansion before it’s too late.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Cooperative Game
  • Modular Board

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.33

CATtitude!

| T3d-1978

This playful game pits you and your friends against each other to see which cat can cause the most trouble by collecting cards and moving around the board to steal, knock over, and destroy various items throughout the house! But be careful, players will also get a chance to play as the human and try to catch casts in the middle of their devious acts! Use evade cards to frame others for your mischief or sneak away to safety, but whatever you do– Don’t Get Caught!

Game Mechanics:

  • Pick-up and Deliver
  • Set Collection
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 25 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

CATastrophe: A Game of 9 Lives

| T3d-1978

Catastrophe is a game as spontaneous and unexpected as cats themselves.

Players start with 9 lives. Your goal is to survive the chaotic mayhem. The last cat standing is crowned champion! Power Cats will help guide you to victory with unique abilities. But, be careful, it’s no catwalk!

One second, you’re slapping down attack and curiosity cards, the next you’re rolling a die and playing fun catastrophic mini-games to determine your destiny. However, magical Yarn Balls may alter your fate. You are eliminated when you lose all of your lives. Beware of the villain, the Grim Reapurr, who is plotting your untimely demise and attempting to be the sole victor!

This is an all-out claws out kind of game with only one victor and many catfights! Will your strategy be to play with caution… or wild abandon… Either way, you’re in for a treat.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Player Elimination
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

CATAN: New Energies

| T3d-1978

It’s the 21st Century, and Catan is at a crossroads. Long gone is the agrarian society of the island’s Viking ancestors. Today’s Catanians need energy to keep society moving and growing, but pollution is wreaking havoc on the island.

You must decide: Invest in clean energy resources, or opt for cheaper fossil fuels, potentially causing disastrous effects for the island?

CATAN: New Energies is a new standalone game rooted in classic CATAN mechanisms of harvesting, trading, and building. New gameplay elements including power plants, energy tokens, and environmental events that add new strategies and stories to a familiar foundation.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hexagon Grid
  • Modular Board
  • Trading
  • Variable Set-up

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • ~90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.40

Bloomchasers

| T3d-1978

30-min light strategy game for adults – grow your flowers and outwit opponents on a stunning 3D tree, either solo, as a team, or competitively.

Each turn, players — affectionately called “Bloomchasers” — place a new branch onto the tree, along with a “bud” of your color. Your goal is to place your buds in certain shapes so when a Bloom card is drawn, you’re set up to grow flowers (and your opponents aren’t!). Your ability to read and predict the weather will help you bloom faster and make sure you’re growing the most valuable flowers to win.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative Game
  • Pattern Building
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Three Dimensional Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.75

Cargo Noir

| T3d-1978

In Serge Laget’s Cargo Noir – his fourth standalone box game from Days of Wonder – players represent “families” that traffic in smuggled goods in a 1950s noir setting. Each turn, you’ll set sail to various ports where cargo is known to get “lost” for the right price – Hong Kong, Bombay, Rotterdam, New York and more – and you’ll make an offer for the goods on display. If another family then offers more in that port, you’ll need to up your bid or take your money and slink away to look for goods elsewhere. Stand alone in a port, though, and you’ll be able to discretely move the goods from the dock to your personal warehouse. Says Laget in a press release accompanying the game announcement, “Everything in Cargo Noir grew from a core auction mechanism that is simple and trivial to explain – you can only bid up, and the last bidder standing gets the goods.”

Once you collect goods, you can trade them in to add more ships to your fleet – allowing you to scout for wares in more locations – purchase Victory Spoils, or take other actions. The more goods you collect, the more valuable they can be. The player with the most Spoils at game end wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction / Bidding
  • Set Collection
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2- 5 Players
  • 30 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.09

Carcassonne, Mists Over

| T3d-1978

Mists over Carcassonne is a co-operative version of the well-known tile-laying game Carcassonne. Working together, you place tiles and score points while trying to stop the spread of ghosts, contain haunted ground in cemeteries, and use haunted castles to your advantage. If too many ghosts are loose on the ground or you’ve collected too few points when the tiles run out, you lose the game. If you do manage to survive three days, you can adjust the difficulty level of the game to increase the challenge.

Mists over Carcassonne includes 45 meeples in two new types and 60 tiles that match the graphics of the 2021 edition of Carcassonne, and this game includes rules for how to incorporate material in a regular competitive game of Carcassonne.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Cooperative
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • ~ 35 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.12