Tag: Deduction

In Deduction games, players rely on their logic and reasoning skills to attempt to find the correct solution to a problem.

Hidden Leaders

| OTSG Staff

The island of Oshra is in turmoil. Following the death of the Emperor, the conflict between the Hill Tribes and the Imperial Army escalated. While the Water People try to maintain balance between the old rivals, the Undead aim to escalate the war. All hope rests on the six children of the Emperor: Who of them will claim the throne?

In Hidden Leaders, you take the role of one of six secret leaders, each of them is allied with two of the four factions/colors. By playing heroes into your tableau, either openly or secretly, you influence the outcome of the conflict.

At the end of the game, one of the four factions will win:
Red leading > Red victory
Green leading > Green victory
Tie between Red & Green > Blue victory
Red & Green in War Zone > Black victory
Each player who is aligned with the winning faction can claim the victory. However, they must have more heroes of this color than any competitor.

Hidden Leaders is a quick, light strategy card game with direct player interaction. It combines tableau building and deduction elements with its unique winning mechanism. This is a game of great tension with no-down time, that’s fast to learn. Its distinctive artwork and character names will make you smile.

—description from designer

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.82

Harrow County: The Game of Gothic Conflict

| OTSG Staff

A witch named Hester was hung, burned, and buried under a tree. Some time later, the family of Hester came to Harrow County to destroy it, but standing in their way is eighteen-year-old Emmy who mysteriously has powers of her own.

In the asymmetric combat game Harrow County: The Game of Gothic Conflict, players can play as one of the Protectors, trying to rescue townsfolk, or as one of the family, trying to destroy Harrow County. You can instead play as a third faction that originates from the surprise return of Emmy’s twin sister, Kammi, who wants to rule Harrow County. Players activate mason jars to move their haints (undead creatures) around the hex-based board as they try to accomplish their missions. Combat is resolved using a never-before-seen cube tower that’s built into the actual box.

Finally, a third player can enter the game: Hester, the dead witch buried under the tree. She controls the roots of the tree and using the cube tower, Hester can infect haints on her roots, which causes a snake to be placed into its ear. That player can still control this haint, but now so can Hester. If Hester comes back to life, then she needs to eat the other legends to gain all her power back to win.

In short, Harrow County is a thematic, tactical game of territory control and enemy elimination to determine the fate of Harrow County.

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 3 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.71

God Save The King MISSING

| OTSG Staff

God Save the King thrusts players into the center of the conflict between warring kingdoms. The crown is threatened; the duty to take up arms falls to every living subject, whether knight, marshal, captain, footman, squire or cup-bearer. Even the Queen, herself may be called upon to give her life, in order that the King may be spared.

“God Save the King” is an abstract strategy game that can be played using a standard deck of 52 playing cards. However, the talented Inna Kozak has illustrated a custom deck of cards featuring thematically-rich characters, where every card is a unique face card.

Simple to learn, but with layers of complexity, players must use induction, deduction, and deception, in an attempt to seize the rival King(s) while protecting their own.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 0 Players
  • 5 – 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50

Castle Nightingale

| OTSG Staff

Castle Nightingale looms out of the night, both intimidating and full of promise. Three ninjas have slipped inside, searching for the fabled treasure hidden within…yet a vigilant samurai patrols the halls, watching and listening for intruders.

Two players face off in Castle Nightingale, with the ninja player trying to steal five relics before the samurai player can capture the three ninja thieves. The castle is comprised of an inaccessible garden surrounded by four double-sided floor boards, each showing two secret passage spaces and areas in five colors.

Each turn, the ninja and samurai each choose one of three action cards in hand, with the samurai also choosing a nightingale tile not used on the previous turn. The ninja player resolves their action, then moves across the floor, marking each space of their movement with a footstep token. If they step on a colored space matching the samurai’s hidden nightingale tile, the ninja stands revealed; otherwise, next turn the ninja can treat any of their footsteps as their starting space.

If the ninja picks up a vase, the samurai can still recover it on their turn by either closing the final secret passage or landing on the ninja’s space…as long as the ninja has been revealed that turn. While the ninja moves space to space, the samurai treats each colored area as a single space, allowing them to move quickly within the castle.

Each player has specialized one-shot equipment they can use at any time, starting with one item and gaining more as they play certain cards. Each player has ten cards that they’ll cycle through until either the samurai has captured all three ninja or the ninja have stolen five of the six relics hidden in the eight vases.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.25

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

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

Fractured Sky

| OTSG Staff

Fractured Sky is a game of deduction, sneaky strategy, and resource management set on a fantastical island. Players lead their kingdom in the hunt for shards of fractured falling stars, which are rumored to grant wishes to those that can amass enough of them.

Using airships, players send their armies to regions with the star shards, but finding those is not always easy and hiring seers to predict their falls can be worth the investment. Over time, players will increase their presence on the island, placing permanent buildings to give them advantages like extra resources or increasing the size of their troop numbers.

Only one wish will be granted, so who will amass the most shards before the final star falls?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 75 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.43

Flip Over Frog

| OTSG Staff

The flippin’ frogs are coming! Help your brightly coloured frogs take control of your little corner of the rainforest!

Cleverly place frogs on the game board to flip adjacent tiles, hiding some frogs and revealing others. Each player is given a secret Frog Token at the beginning of the game, determining what colour frogs they are trying to get on to the board. After dealing three tiles to each player, the game begins. Tiles can be placed on any empty space on the 4×4 board, or on the back of any face down tile. Frogs may NOT be placed on top of face up tiles.

When placed, the arrows on the tile which surround the frog tell the player which nearby tiles should be flipped. If a tile is stacked on another, both tiles are flipped together. Only the newly placed tile causes other tiles to flip.

Also included are four Snake Tiles which remove any one face up Frog Tile from the game. Both the Frog and Snake are discarded, freeing up a space for a new tile to be played.

Players keep playing a tile and drawing back up to a hand of three until either no more tiles can be played or the board has sixteen face up frogs on show. This triggers the end of the game, and the player with the most frogs face up is the winner.

Plan ahead, watch out for snakes, and flip your way to victory!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.10

Fiction

| OTSG Staff

Fiction is a Wordle-inspired game of deception. One player is the Lie-brarian and will choose a secret word from a classic work of literature. The other players will, as a team, use logic and literacy to deduce the secret word as quickly as possible.

Players have ten guesses and two ten-minute time periods to deduce the secret word, but beware! The Lie-brarian’s clues will always contain exactly one lie. The Guessers win if they figure out the word; the Lie-brarian wins if the time or number of guesses runs out.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.71

Gnomi

| OTSG Staff

Gnomi is a quick strategy card game about mushroom-farming gnomes for 2-6 players. Steal mushroom cards from other players, and use your gnomes to enact special abilities. Once cards have been used, you flip them up-side-down in your hand. The last player with right-side-up cards in their hand wins.

Gnomi is designed so that you can play anywhere, since your hand is also your discard pile. After dealing, you can keep the decks in your pocket.

Deduction and resource management are needed to win.

Play a quick game while waiting in line, or as a filler at game night. Games take 10 minutes. 2-6 players.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~10 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.25