Tag: Bluffing

Bluffing board games typically require players to lie to each other to gain a competitive advantage.

Station Master

Station Master

Station Master

Station Master is a train-themed card game for 2-6 players. In the game, players are working at the station, attaching railcars to Locomotives and boarding passengers on trains, trying to score the most Efficiency Points to win!

We have restored this timeless train game, creating stunning all-new artwork based on classic locomotives, railcars, and railroad history. In addition, the rules have been refined and streamlined for modern audiences, as well as adding in upgrades and new material to create the greatest possible Station Master experience!

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 50 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Sheriff of Nottingham

Sheriff of Nottingham

Sheriff of Nottingham

Prince John is coming to Nottingham! Players, in the role of merchants, see this as an opportunity to make quick profits by selling goods in the bustling city during the Prince’s visit. However, players must first get their goods through the city gate, which is under the watch of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Should you play it safe with legal goods and make a profit, or risk it all by sneaking in illicit goods? Be mindful, though, as the Sheriff always has his eyes out for liars and tricksters and if he catches one, he very well may confiscate those goods for himself!

In Sheriff of Nottingham, players will not only be able to experience Nottingham as a merchant of the city, but each turn one player will step into the shoes of the Sheriff himself. Players declare goods they wish to bring into the city, goods that are secretly stored in their burlap sack. The Sheriff must then determine who gets into the city with their goods, who gets inspected, and who may have their goods confiscated!

Do you have what it takes to be seen as an honest merchant? Will you make a deal with the Sheriff to let you in? Or will you persuade the Sheriff to target another player while you quietly slip by the gate? Declare your goods, negotiate deals, and be on the lookout for the Sheriff of Nottingham!

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Bribery
  • Hand Management
  • Negotiation
  • Open Drafting
  • Party Game
  • Role Playing
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.80

The Red Dragon Inn: Character Trove

The Red Dragon Inn: Character Trove

The Red Dragon Inn: Character Trove

The Red Dragon Inn 5: The Character Trove is a fast-paced, light-hearted card game for two or more players. You and your increasingly mighty party of adventuring companions have spent all day slogging through the dungeon, killing monsters and taking their stuff. Now you’re back in town, healed up, cleaned up, and ready to party at the Red Dragon Inn. Drink, gamble, and roughhouse with your friends. But don’t forget to keep an eye on your gold. If you run out, you’ll have to spend the night in the stables. Oh… and try not to get too beaten up or too drunk. If you black out, your friends will continue the party without you… after they loot your body for gold, of course! The last conscious adventurer with gold wins the game!

The Red Dragon Inn 5: The Character Trove is a standalone game for 2-4 players. It expands on “The Red Dragon Inn” family of box sets and single-character expansions called Allies. You can mix and match characters from any of these sets, letting you build the party composition of your choice! Each of the box sets includes four unique characters, a drink deck, gold pieces, and all the parts for 2-4 players to play right out of the box. Each of the Allies expansions includes a character deck as well as gold pieces and bits so you can add another character to a box set (thus making a 2-4 player collection playable by 2-5 players).

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Hand Management
  • Party Game
  • Player Elimination

Game Specifications:

  • 2+ Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.65

Quest

Quest

Quest

In Quest, all will show their true colors as Good and Evil struggle for the future of civilization. Hidden amongst King Arthur’s loyal servants are Mordred’s unscrupulous minions. These forces of Evil are few in number, but if they go unknown, they can sabotage Arthur’s great quests.

Players are secretly dealt roles that determine if their allegiance is to Good or to Evil. Then, players debate, reason, and lie as they decide who to send on Quests—knowing that if just one minion of Mordred joins, the Quest could fail. Quest includes 25 different characters and many different ways to play the base game.

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Deduction
  • Hidden Roles
  • Memory
  • Negotiation
  • Party Game
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 10 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.83

Museum Suspects

Museum Suspects

Museum Suspects

DRRRiiiiiiiiinnnnng! Hurry, close the doors, a museum piece has been stolen! The director calls in a number of highly skilled investigators to find the thief or thieves amongst the 16 suspects held inside the building. Some clues are more valuable than others. Find the best ones to solve the case while obstructing your competitors’ investigations!

The culprit and his possible accomplices may still be around!

  1. Look for a clue in one of the museum’s rooms.
  2. Cover your tracks to deceive your opponents.
  3. Accuse a suspect by deduction.

What will be the outcome of this case? Will you find the culprit(s), unless they have escaped before the closing of the doors?

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Deduction

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 25 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Good and Bad Ghosts

Good and Bad Ghosts

Good and Bad Ghosts

In Good & Bad Ghosts!, each player has four good ghosts and four evil ghosts – but only the player who owns a ghost can see whether it’s good or evil. These ghosts start the game in the back rows of a 6×6 game board with the corners removed. Each turn, a player moves one of his ghosts one square orthogonally. Moving into an opponent’s ghost kills that ghost. To win, you must get rid of your own evil ghosts, kill your opponent’s good ghosts, or move one of your good ghosts off the board from one of your opponent’s corner squares.

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Grid Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.31

Full Throttle!

Full Throttle!

Full Throttle!

The wild moped riders are ready to race with their souped-up mopeds! Knowing that neither your courage nor your health insurance lets you take part in such a dangerous race, you and your friends instead choose the safe way to enjoy these races and start betting on the mopeds.

While the six mopeds race three times around the racetrack, trying to avoid getting stuck behind other mopeds or at the choke points, you assess the situation round by round and bet on your favorite mopeds. Who will finally win, place, or show?

In Full Throttle!, no one controls the mopeds, with them racing around the track in a “self-controlled” manner. Each round, reveal racing cards and move the mopeds around the track. Then draft the racing cards to be used as your hidden bets. The undrafted cards are reused for future movement of the mopeds. Choose your bets carefully because the cards you choose will make those mopeds go slower.

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Closed Drafting
  • Racing

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.20

Downforce

High-stakes bidding on million-dollar race cars. Frantic bets placed in secret even as the cars race around the track. And to the victor, the biggest purse of all. But in the world of motor racing, the margin between victory and defeat can be a single moment: a steep banked turn, tires screaming and spitting out smoke, and the downforce, pressing you down in your seat and keeping you on the track as you make your move inside to pull ahead.

Downforce is a card-driven bidding, racing, and betting game for 2-6 players based on Top Race, the award-winning design by the legendary Wolfgang Kramer. Players first bid to own the six cars in the race, then they play cards from their hand to speed them around the track. However, most cards will also move their opponents’ cars. So figuring out just the right time to play a card is the key to victory. Along the way, players make secret bets on who they think will win the race. Whoever has the most money from their prize money, winning bets, and remaining bank wins.

This is a game whose design needed no attention. Years of play and multiple versions have honed it to near perfection. On the contrary, one of the design challenges was figuring which of the many rules modules to incorporate to create the most fun version. Downforce also adds variable player powers to improve replayability. But mostly, it improves the look of the game to make it gorgeous and easy to play. Special attention was paid to the colors, the layout of the cards, the design of the cars, the details on the board, and more.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Hand Management
  • Racing

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.74

Ca$h ‘n Guns

In an abandoned warehouse a gangster band is splitting its loot, but they can’t agree on the split! It’s time to let the guns talk and soon everyone is aiming at everyone. The richest surviving gangster wins the game!

Ca$h ‘n Guns helps you relive the best scenes of your favorite gangster movies. The goal is to have more money than anyone else after eight rounds while still being alive.

Each round, one player is the Boss, and he controls the pace of play. First, loot cards are revealed on the table to show what’s up for grabs. Next, players load their guns by secretly selecting either a “Bang!” or a “Click! Click!” card from their hand. The Boss counts to three, and on “Three” each player points his foam gun at someone else; due to his status, the Boss can tell one player who’s pointing a gun at him that he needs to point it in another direction. After a pause to observe threats and measure the seriousness in an opponent’s eyes, the Boss counts to three again and anyone who doesn’t want to risk getting shot can chicken out and remove themselves from the round.

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Negotiation
  • Take That
  • Open Drafting
  • Variable Player Powers

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 8 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.25

Balderdash

A clever repackaging of the parlor game DictionaryBalderdash contains several cards with real words nobody has heard of. After one of those words has been read aloud, players try to come up with definitions that at least sound plausible, because points are later awarded for every opposing player who guessed that your definition was the correct one.

Versions of the game as a parlor game go back at least as far as 1970, although Balderdash itself was not published until 1984.

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Paper and Pencil
  • Party Game
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.40