Category: Ω Board Games

Blank Slate: Challenge

| T3d-1978

A game of anticipated predictions! Pick from the Word Cue Cards (150 cues in all), write the two words you think best completes the phrase – and try to match it exactly to your partner’s words without giving a single hint. How well can you put your finger on what they’re thinking?

Just grab a slate, write your words, and get ready to make a match! Who knows – if you get good enough at it, soon you might be finishing each OTHER’S ______.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Anxiety Attack!

| T3d-1978

Play cards to move opponents closer to the Anxiety Spiral and yourself closer to safety.

Each turn, players play cards from their hand:

  • Trigger Cards are numbered 1-7 and move characters ahead toward the Anxiety Spiral.
  • Defuse Cards are numbered 1-3 and move characters back toward the Oasis. Play either card type on any player, including yourself. Playing one of these cards completes the player’s turn unless they want to play an Instant card.
  • Instant Cards can be played at any time according to the function on the card. Play them quickly before another card is played or a player moves.

If a player lands exactly on a space with an arrow, move to the space indicated. Landing on the same space as another player bumps the player who was there first ahead one space. Use Trigger and Defuse cards strategically to find safer routes for yourself and move opponents faster!

Red and Orange split paths may have certain advantages and disadvantages, choose wisely!

Landing on a Panic Room or Retreat space for the first time sends a player to a safe haven. For the next round, that player may not play nor can they be played on. After their next turn they are sent out according to the arrow, where they will be vulnerable to play. If all opponents are in safe havens a remaining player MUST play a card on themself.

The first player to be sent to the Anxiety Spiral loses. But they are not out of the game because misery LOVES company! The losing player may now move one space in either direction EVERY TIME a card is played. If the losing player lands on the same space as a remaining player, the remaining player is sent directly to the Anxiety Spiral and then begins to go after other players in the same fashion until there is only one active player.

The last person to be sent to the Anxiety Spiral is the winner!

Game Mechanics:

  • Open Drafting
  • Player Elimination

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Cat Between Us

| T3d-1978

Do you understand what the cat wants? Try to get as close to the cat as possible without passing it by.

Each round in Cat Between Us, you first draw a card from the deck, then place the cat token on the numbered space on the track matching the tiny number on the card. Shuffle the deck, then deal all players their current hand size.

Starting with the player who won the previous round, players take turns playing one card at a time under the six items laid out on the table until each item has two cards below it. The sum of these two cards is the value of this item. Each player sums the value of each item remaining in their hand to determine where they should place their token on the track. Whoever is closest to the cat without passing it has won the round; multiple winners are possible. (If all players have passed the cat, whoever passed it least wins.)

Winners move their personal token forward on their playing card, which indicates how many rounds they have won and how many cards they receive. Each time you win, you start the round with one more card in hand, making your next victory harder! Whoever first wins three rounds wins the game.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 15 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.67

Boggle

| T3d-1978

Boggle is a timed word game in which players have 3 minutes to find as many connected words as possible from the face up letters resting in a 16 cube grid. When the timer runs out, players compare their lists of words and remove any words found by multiple players. Points are then awarded for remaining words, depending on how many letters are in the word. (In the original Boggle, all words must contain 3 or more letters to score points.)

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Spelling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 8 Players
  • ~10 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.45

Bear Raid

| T3d-1978

In Bear Raid you’ll put on your power suit, pajamas, or prison jumper, and start buying, selling, and shorting stocks. Like every successful trader, your goal is to try and make the most money you can.

Players will buy, sell, and short stocks in the stock market during the action phase of the game. Forecast cards with clever news headlines will be used to determine how each stock is affected.

Through the use of dice that you can manipulate and clever play, you’ll influence the market, hopefully bending the stock prices to your advantage.

The winner is the one who’s made the most money!

Game Mechanics:

  • Commodity Speculation
  • Dice Rolling
  • Stock Holding

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.88

Botanicus

| T3d-1978

How about creating your own botanical garden? As an aristocrat in the late 19th century, you have bought land, hired a gardener and set out to find the best plants there are.

As you know, the visitors are very picky about the plants they want to see, so your job is not only to acquire the plants, but also to sort them according to the visitors’ preferences.

In Botanicus, you compete for the best action-spots in a unique selection mechanism, and then make the most of the options available to you. You have to collect new plants, take care of them, water them and keep an eye on the gardener. Last but not least, you have to collect some money along the way to pay for all this.
In the end, what counts is how many visitors you satisfy and how beautiful your garden is. Will you be able to outdo the gardens of your competitors?

Game Mechanics:

  • Modular Board
  • Set Collection
  • Tile Placement
  • Variable Set-up

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.40

Coffee Rush

| T3d-1978

A cup of coffee sure is relaxing — for the customer. For the coffee shop, however, orders tend to pile up during peak hours, and it is no different today at Coffee Rush. Your goal: Complete customer orders to increase your ratings and be recognized as the best barista!

In more detail, each player moves on the ingredient board to collect the ingredients that they need to fulfill orders — and fulfilling orders boosts your rating. Orders that are not fulfilled in time become penalties, which subtract from your rating. If a player has fulfilled three orders, they may activate an upgrade that lets them acquire ingredients more easily.

The game ends once all order cards have run out or after a barista collects their fifth penalty card. The player with the highest rating wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Contracts
  • Grid Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.82

Darwin’s Journey

| T3d-1978

When all you can identify in the horizon for many long days is the line that detaches the sea from the sky, the glimpse of a distant shore appearing before you will make you shiver at the understanding that the adventure is about to begin.

You find yourself astonished, landing on the shore that will be the origin of an extensive exploration through the Galapagos, a magic place of inconceivable beauty and endless biodiversity. There, you will gather repertoires and expand your knowledge of the natural sciences. Your eyes will learn how to detect the hidden species in the tropical forest, gazing at the countless colors and textures of nature. After inspiring hours spent studying and getting to enlightening conclusions, you will rest under a sparkling sky, admiring the stunning complexity of the animal realm.

Darwin’s Journey is a worker-placement Eurogame in which players recall Charles Darwin’s memories of his adventure through the Galapagos islands, which contributed to the development of his theory of evolution.

With the game’s innovative worker progression system, each worker will have to study the disciplines that are a prerequisite to perform several actions in the game, such as exploration, correspondence, gathering, and dispatch of repertoires found on the island to museums in order to contribute to the human knowledge of biology. The game lasts five rounds, and thanks to several short- and long-term objectives, every action you take will grant victory points in different ways.

Game Mechanics:

  • Contracts
  • Pick-up and Deliver
  • Set Collection
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Variable Set-up
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.90

Danger the Game

| T3d-1978

The World is a Dangerous Place!

Disappointed fathers, depressed giant squids, dynamite on train tracks, and so much more! It’s up to you to rescue those in need. Use your skills, tools, and imagination to devise foolproof plans and save the day!

The first victim is the person who lives the most dangerously. Each of the other players is called a rescuer. The victim draws and reveals a danger card containing the perilous situation they are caught in. The rescuers then place one skill card and one tool card from their hands which they will utilize to tell a story of how they will save the victim. While a Rescuerer presents their rescue story another can play a plot twist on their cards tripping them up and changing the story for more engaging play. the Victim awards the Danger card to the Rescuer with the best Rescue.

All cards are written for embellishment and lateral thinking. “Able to transform into a rock” well what kind of rock are you?!

Game Mechanics:

  • Card Game
  • Storytelling

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 12 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.20

Daitoshi

| T3d-1978

We have finally perfected the power of steam, and we can now use it to our advantage! We live in an unprecedented era of progress, and new steam-powered inventions are developed faster than ever. Cities are growing, trade is flourishing, and we are developing our most ambitious machine ever: a giant contraption that will bring even more progress to the city. Yes, some trees are being cut down, and the river doesn’t flow as plentifully as before, but there’s still an abundance of trees and water, and we can use the extra space to expand our city — and it’s not like the old creatures on those forests can do anything about it.

On your turn in Daitoshi, you either produce or move your magnate to a new district in which you will be able to send your workers to work, command the exploit of forest or river hexes to fuel your endless need for steam, and perform an action to expand and show your greatness to the city.

These actions not only help you in your search for acknowledgement, but help all the inhabitants of the big city. You will expand the city and electrify its districts, discover and develop new steam-powered inventions, and trade with faraway cities. You may even help the city build its gargantuan project: the mega-machine. Some forests might be cut down, and some rivers may be dried up, but in your generosity, you will help the displaced workers from those areas by giving them new jobs at your service.

Old legends suggest the forests and rivers are guarded by Yōkai, but progress can’t be stopped because of some old fairy tales. Just in case, though, it could be wise to participate on some reforestation projects and hide your participation in the abuse of the natural resources…

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • Follow
  • Modular Board
  • Rondel
  • Variable Set-up
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.94