Category: Ω Board Games

Glasgow

| OTSG Staff

In Glasgow, players travel the city (in an abstract manner) to collect resources, take special actions, and most important of all construct buildings. Build a factory, and you’ll receive more goods from it when other buildings are constructed in the right areas in relation to it; build a train station, and you may or may not score from it depending on what else you build; build a monument, and you’ll merely collect a lot of points — and in the end, points are what matters.

In slightly more detail, to set up the game, lay out a ring of town figures at random, with two of them being removed from play each game. Whoever is farther behind in the circle around town takes the next turn, advancing to whichever town figure they want to visit. Most of them give you resources — brick, steel, or money — and you have a limit on how many resources of each type you can hold. Some figures have two random building plans at them, and if you visit one with the right resources, you can pay them, then build something. If you pay extra, you can then build something else, too!

The first building is placed anywhere in the midst of play, then each subsequent building is placed adjacent to something already built, with the buildings eventually filling in a 4×5 (or 5×4, determined as the game progresses) grid of the players’ own creation. As soon as the twentieth building is erected, the game ends and players score points for what they built. Who has contributed more to the current state of Glasgow?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.02

Gladius

| OTSG Staff

In Gladius, play as cunning Roman spectators trying to make the most money by betting on gladiators competing in the gladiatorial games. Through the skillful use of underhanded tactics, players can help and hinder teams to alter the outcome of each battle. Can you outwit your opponents to turn a profit, or will you be left empty-handed?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.71

Fantasy Realms: Greek Legends

| OTSG Staff

In the standalone card game Fantasy Realms: Greek Legends, you build your realm, one card at a time, as you collect heroes, quests, monsters, and more! Each card is unique, and scores points based on the other cards in your hand. You start with seven cards, and each turn, you draw a new card from the deck or discard area, then discard one card from your hand, always trying to improve your realm. Whoever’s realm scores the most points wins.

Fantasy Realms: Greek Legends takes the classic Fantasy Realms formula and adds new twists to match its theme. In addition to combining the right suits and attribute tags, you will:

  • Send cards to the afterlife, costing precious points but unlocking powerful abilities
  • Complete quests with unique card combinations
  • Vanquish legendary monsters with the right heroes

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Ghosts Galore

| OTSG Staff

In Ghosts Galore you’re helping monsters to build a fun ghost train in an abandoned mineshaft. Every monster want’s the track tiles laid their way – so YOU have to keep them calm, coordinate and optimize their track. Over the course of 8 rounds, each player builds a unique track on their 3×3 playground for the ghost train.

This family friendly tile placement game comes with a unique drafting mechanism and is quick to play while offering various strategies​: Will you stick with your drafted tile or go for a bold move which brings you even more scares?

After only 8 rounds, all tracks are set and the project is done. Sounds easy? Well, only the master who lines up the best scares, wins!

Ghosts Galore is another addition to the Lookout GreenLine, manufactured 100% eco-friendly.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.38

Bomb Busters

| OTSG Staff

There is a bomb full of wires and the countdown has started… Who are you gonna call? YOU! To clear the bomb, you need to collaborate with your team of bomb disposal experts! Using the wires on the tile holder in front of you, try and figure out your teammates’ wires. Find and cut identical wires, but watch out, if you cut a red wire: BOOM! Use your equipment wisely to meet the varied challenges which get harder and harder. Tick tock tick tock… Will you figure it out before it’s too late?

In Bomb Busters, there is a set of 48 normal wire cards numbered 1-12 (4 of each value) with some yellow and red wire cards. These are dealt out. Each mission is different, but your goal is always the same: go through all 12 numbers without blowing up!

Players place the tiles on their stands and then take turns pointing at each others’ wires and guessing their values. If the guess is correct, the wires are cut. If not — the detonator advances! If you manage to cut all wires without blowing up — good job, the mission is completed! But if the bomb goes off – Try again!

With 66 missions, there will be:
=> 66 different ways to play depending on your moods (in order, by level of difficulty, favorite configuration)
=> 66 challenges to play over and over (even if you already blew your top!)
=> Plenty of tricky bombs which become more and more dangerous (but don’t get cut up about it!)

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Gift of Tulips

| OTSG Staff

In Gift of Tulips, tulip enthusiasts explore Amsterdam’s tulip festival to build colorful bouquets, give tulips to others (scoring points in the process), and manipulate the value of the market.

The deck includes tulips of four colors, with values 2-4. Lay out four festival cards based on the player count, with these cards showing the number of points scored for giving away tulips, keeping tulips, and having a majority of certain colors at the end of the game. Draw two cards of different colors, and place them under the festival cards in first and second place based on their value. Deal two cards to each player; keep one card face up in front of you and add the other face down to the “secret festival” pile.

On a turn, draw a card from the deck and KEEP/GIVE/ADD it, then draw a second card and take one of the actions you didn’t just take. The actions:

  • KEEP: Place the card face up in front of you, scoring points for it if that color is currently ranked third or fourth in the festival.
  • GIVE: Give the card to another player, who places it face up in front of themselves; you score “giving” points based on the current ranking of that color in the festival, plus points equal to the value of that tulip.
  • ADD: Place the card face down in the secret festival or add it face up to the festival, altering the ranking of colors if needed so that the color with the highest sum is first, etc.

When the deck runs out, shuffle the cards in the secret festival, then draw five at random and add them face up to the festival, adjusting the ranking as needed. (If fewer than five cards are in the secret festival, add all of these cards to the festival.) For the three highest ranked colors in the festival, whoever has the most and secondmost cards in these colors scores points as listed on the festival cards; in games with five and six players, the player with the thirdmost cards of a color also scores points. In case of a tie for card count, the tied player with the higher value of a color wins that tie. Whoever has the most points wins.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.77

Ghosts Love Candy Too

| OTSG Staff

It’s a little-known fact that ghosts love to eat candy. But they can only eat it one night a year…Halloween! On that night, the ghosts travel through the neighborhood looking for delicious candy. Using their best scare tactics, ghosts will haunt the costumed kiddos to steal their sweet sweet candy. But they have to be careful not to scare them away. Ghosts just want a candy delight, not to cause them a fright.

This new edition expands upon the original version with more kids (100 total!), a new “junk” set of treats that you do not want to collect (like toothbrushes, rocks, ketchup packets, pennies, etc.) and new ghosts.

Playing the game is easy. Select one of your ghost cards to bid for turn order. Then resolve by choosing a kid to haunt, taking their candy then using their unique ability. Treats score at the end of the game based on your ghosts specific preferences.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

GENSMAK!

| OTSG Staff

GENSMAK!

A party trivia game for everyone. That happens to be trivia. With strategy & hints by comedians. Designed for people of all ages to play. Even trivia skeptics.

Win by being the first to twenty points and correctly answering one question from every generation, so be strategic! Pay attention to the categories and difficulty levels of the cards you choose as you chart your path to glory— the game changes with every card.

Don’t know the answer? Take the hint! Our hints are mini logic problems and plays on words that give you a fighting chance at getting the answer right every time, even if you don’t get the reference. It’s a big reason people love the game, even those who typically hate trivia! As one fan says, “It’s like TikTok and Jeopardy had a love child!”

Enjoy hours of laughter, nostalgia, stories, and surprise with your favorite people. Love it or we’ll refund your money. No cap.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 10 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.67

Gathering of the Wicked

| OTSG Staff

Imagine a dark and desolate realm, filled only with chaos and misfortune, where only the truly evil and most powerful villains can survive and thrive. In a world where everyone is wicked, is there anyone you can really trust?

In Gathering of the Wicked, based on Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow, you play as a Disney villain such as Maleficent, Hades, or Captain Hook who is gathering in a dark realm with various henchmen. There, two teams fight for control, alternating between day and night phases. Each night, the villains wake up one by one and use their unique abilities to chase their objectives. Each day, the gathering debates and tries to unmask the traitors amongst them, but since no one knows which team other players are on, trusting each other will be tricky, and bluffing will be their best route to dominance within their new surroundings.

While each role is known by the other players, every character also has a “secret alignment” that determines their objective — making it even trickier to know who to trust!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 6 – 12 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.67