Category: New Games

Big Top

| T3d-1978

Come one, come all to Big Top! Hire the wildest and most wonderful acts to attract crowds of delighted spectators.

In this fast-paced auction game you’ll bid on show-stopping acts to draw crowds to your circus, but beware – each winning bid will make your competition that much richer.

But that’s not all! Even the attractions you’ve already won will affect bids in future auctions. Each attraction card lists a number – bid that amount in any auction to place a coin on that card and gain the points! That means you don’t need to win an auction – or even WANT to win it – to benefit from bidding!

In this competitive world of circuses, you’ll have to keep a close eye not just on your winnings, but on all of your opponents’ bids.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Auction / Bidding

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • ~40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.93

9 Lives

| T3d-1978

9 Lives is a trick-taking game where players compete to earn the most points. The game uses 3-4 suits which show the color of the cards on the rear.

Players make bids of if they will win 1-6 tricks, and can bid exactly or a range. Each number may only be bid up to two times. Points are earned when a player hits their bid and lost if they miss it.

The game is “must follow” with a fixed trump suit. The winner of a trick also takes one of the cards played to the trick other than theirs to place in their hand.

The game ends after either 4 rounds or a player has earned 9 points, and the player with the most points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Predictive Bid
  • Trick-taking

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.42

Cities

| T3d-1978

You’ve been tasked by the city council to put together a plan to transform a whole neighborhood in the city. You have the opportunity to build new housing, office buildings, parks, and leisure areas near the waterfront. It is in your hands to make the city a better place.

Cities is a city-building game in which you draft the best projects and arrange them in your own playing area. With action and resource draft mechanisms, it will give you the opportunity to visit the cities of Sydney, Venice, New York, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires. Can you design the most magnificent neighborhood?

The game is played over eight rounds (or four rounds in a two-player game). Each round, players use their workers to collect 1 scoring card, 1 city tile, 1-2 feature tiles, and 2-4 building pieces. City tiles are made up of park spaces, water spaces, and building spaces. Building pieces are placed on building spaces of the same color to form buildings, which can be 1-4 stories high. Whenever a player fulfills an achievement, they place one of their discs on the achievement board. At the end of the game, players add up the points they have gained from all of their scoring cards and achievements.

Game Mechanics:

  • Contracts
  • Pattern Building
  • Set Collection
  • Tile Placement
  • Variable Set-up
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.92

All Aboard!

| T3d-1978

“We sink!” shouts the elephant, “That mouse is too heavy!” “Don’t worry!” whispers the lion, “If I eat the giraffe, we can lose a little weight.”

In All Aboard! you must get your gang of animals to safety in the different boats, but be careful not to exceed their capacity, or else they will sink. Designed by Paco Yánez and illustrated by Monsuros, this fun card game can be played as a couple or in groups of up to 5 players, from 7 years old, in games lasting about 20 minutes.

Before starting, each player receives a set of 12 cards with the 12 different animals in the game (mouse, peacock, fox, octopus, monkey, sloth, elk, zebra, giraffe, lion, bear and elephant). The game is played over 4 rounds and each one consists of two phases: boarding the boats and setting sail. In the boarding phase, players will place one of the animals face up in any of the boats, taking into account that there can be no more than 3 animals in each one. In the second turn, they will place a new animal in any of the available boats, but this time face down; Finally, in the third turn a third animal will board the available boats, again face up.

At the beginning of the setting sail phase, all animal cards that have been played face down are revealed and then a check is made to see if there are two or more animals of the same species. If there are 2, they both fall in love (and the players will receive points for it). If there are 3, they fight and the boat sinks. Next, the animals activate their effects and finally the sum of the weight of the animals on board the boat is checked. If the weight of the animals is equal to or less than the weight that the boat can withstand, the animals manage to set sail and will score at the end of the game. Each player takes their animals and places them in a pile of saved animals in their playing area. If, on the other hand, the boat sinks, the animals are discarded.

Knowing when to play each animal is one of the keys to the game. However, depending on how your rivals play the cards, unforeseen situations can arise on the ships. Each animal has its own power, which can unleash chaos or balance the scales. Will you be able to save as many animals as possible?

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Push Your Luck
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.60

Battalion: War of the Ancients

| T3d-1978

Take charge of the formidable Roman legions and their allies. Command the powerful crossbowmen of the Han dynasty as they traverse unfamiliar deserts. Steer the renowned Greco-Bactrian cavalry, and fight for every oasis. Direct Hannibal’s diverse array of mercenaries, elephants, and the Sacred Band of Carthage.

To lead is to walk the tightrope. Choose a faction, consider its ranks, assemble them into units, and as they fight, carefully balance their orders and sustain your forces in the field. The unique traits of each rank tile will make your units stronger, but combine too many and your units will become unwieldy.

Battalion: War of the Ancients is an accessible two or four-player game. Command a wide range of units from four playable historical factions, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Employ faction-specific tactics cards to outmaneuver your opponents. Compose your unique forces with rigor. Judge the tempo of battle with precision. Seize victory for your people!

Game Mechanics:

  • Secret Unit Deployment
  • Team-Based Game
  • War Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.88

Commit to the Bit

| T3d-1978

Commit to the Bit is a fast-paced game designed to engage your creative spark. Random cards set the scene and even more random cards will disrupt it! Stay in character and elicit crowd reactions, in this exciting game of improvisation and imagination. Plays best with 4 or more players.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Improv

Game Specifications:

  • 4+ Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Classified Information

| T3d-1978

You are part of the spy organization for one of the two factions in the cyberpunk city of Intellexia. You have been charged with the protection of a secret code that the other player cannot discover. But they have their own code which would be invaluable in this new dystopian world. The both of you will battle it out in this fast-paced deduction game, each turn either playing a card for its ability, its guild affiliation, or just discarding it out of the game. Pay close attention to what your opponent does, and obfuscate your own actions in Classified Information.

Game Mechanics:

  • Card Game
  • Deduction
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 10 – 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.33

Circus Flohcati

| T3d-1978

Board Game Overview

In Circus Flohcati, you’re competing to collect all 10 acts (colors) from the flea circus before anyone else can. You do so by flipping through cards from the deck – but be careful! You don’t want the same-colored cards, you’ll only score one card for each act. If you do ever have three cards of the same color in your hand, though, you can play them to get an automatic 10 points. Push your luck in this fun and easy game!

Game Mechanics:

  •  Open Drafting
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.23

Anarchy, The 🟠

| T3d-1978

At the end of 1135, Henry I, King of England, died unexpectedly leaving no male heir to reign in his stead. Henry’s daughter, Empress Matilda, believed she should rule by succession. However, the late king’s favorite nephew, Stephen de Blois (“blue-a”), was quicker to the throne, and with the help of his brother, the Bishop of Winchester, was crowned king.

Those loyal to the empress were enraged by Stephen’s coronation and would not accept him as their new ruler. Over the next eighteen years, England saw a breakdown in law and order as civil war spread throughout the country. This conflict came to be known as “The Anarchy”…

In The Anarchy, players take on the role of English nobles loyal to King Stephen. Over five rounds, players must build their domain, defend their castle from attacks by the approaching Angevin armies, and storm strongholds loyal to Matilda with their own crafted siege weapons. The player who can accumulate the most bravery, loyalty, influence and might — while avoiding discontent — will prove to King Stephen they are his most loyal ally, thereby earning his largest earldom.

Game Mechanics:

  • Chaining
  • Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Tech Trees / Tech Tracks

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.00