Tag: Hand Management

Hand Management is a game mechanic in which players are rewarded for playing cards in a specific order. This mechanic often encourages players to hold cards for later turns.

Crew, the: The Quest for Planet Nine

| kithorning

In The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, you and your friends embark on a perilous journey as astronauts investigating an unknown planet. Each astronaut will have a specific mission to complete, portrayed through a classic trick-taking game. However, communication is difficult in space, and while you are all on the same team, not everyone knows your specific mission. It will take trust and a good sense of timing to successfully complete all 50 missions!

Game Mechanics:

  • Communication Limits
  • Cooperative Game
  • Hand Management
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.96

Crew, the: Mission Deep Sea

| kithorning

The sequel to The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, this trick-taking game builds onto the original with more missions, more flexibility, and an improved scalability system for different player counts. 

In The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, you and your friends are assuming the roles of deep-sea explorers in a classic trick-taking game. Unlike most games, you all must work together to accomplish unique tasks – without being able to tell each other what that is. Some players will need to win specific card while others will need to avoid it entirely! With 32 missions, each game is sure to offer a new challenge representing the immense pressure of the depths of the ocean.

Game Mechanics:

  • Communication Limits
  • Cooperative Game
  • Hand Management
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.04

Cover Your Kingdom

| T3d-1978

Cover Your Kingdom is an insanely fun, fast-paced, ruthless game based off of Cover Your Assets. In this game, each player will take on the role of a ruler to their own kingdom which, through some unfortunate accident, has lost all of its legendary creatures and therefore all of its magic. Your job is to recruit clans of these legendary creatures back to your kingdom, either in the Valley or the Mountains, by playing sets of the same creature. However, your rival rulers can lure your clans away from your kingdom by playing a matching creature, triggering a back-and-forth match battle until one person cannot or does not want to play another card. You can protect your existing clans by playing a new one on top of them, rotated 90 degrees from the previous one, as only the top clan in the stack can be recruited. 

Cover Your Kingdom also introduces Free Creatures, which do not join kingdoms but can be played to utilize their special abilities, giving you an edge over the other kingdoms. Whoever ends up with the most magic from the creatures in their kingdom wins the game!

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • 25 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.83

Cover Your Assets

| T3d-1978

In Cover Your Assets, you have one simple goal: be the first to become a millionaire. You will do this by stacking sets of valuables such as jewels or piggy banks. But be warned, your assets are very vulnerable! On their turn, other players can play a matching asset to steal your stack. You can play another matching asset card to prevent the thievery, sparking a back and forth battle until someone runs out of cards. Alternatively, you could cover your assets by playing a new set which always goes on top of your previous one (or stealing one yourself). Now, people have to steal your new assets before they can get to your true valuables. Be clever, be careful, and be sure to cover your assets!

Game Mechanics:

  • Set Collection
  • Hand Management
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.13

Cosmoctopus

| T3d-1978

In Cosmoctopus, you take on the role of a devotee guiding the great Cosmoctopus through the Inky Realm. Your goal is to gather resources, obtain powerful relics, scriptures, hallucinations, and constellations to create powerful combinations and gather the most sacred of item – the great tentacle. The first to eight tentacles will gain the Great Inky One’s favor and be declared the most dedicated follower. 

The turns in Cosmoctopus are simple, the fun and strategy lie in building your engine to best maximize your turns and take advantage of your hand of cards. Cosmoctopus is also an incredibly versatile game, allowing you to easily altar the difficulty along with optional cooperative and solo modes!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Movement
  • Cooperative Game
  • Hand Management
  • Modular Board
  • Race

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.21

Comic Hunters

| T3d-1978

You have spent years of your life cultivating the perfect comic book collection – your favorite heroes, villains, and storylines all together at last. Well, except for some very special, very rare comic books. In Comic Hunters, you are seeking to fill in these holes, hunting down Number 1 issues, First Appearance issues, New Visual issues, Special Edition issues, and Memorable Clashes issues across four different locations. You’ll only have three rounds to collect, moving up on various tracks for specific heroes depending on the type of Comic Book you acquired. But don’t forget! You aren’t the only one with your eyes on these priceless books, so you have to plan carefully and make sure you get your hands on what really matters. Happy collecting!

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction
  • Closed Drafting
  • Open Drafting
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.23

Colt Express

| T3d-1978

It is July 11th, 1899, in Folsom, New Mexico. The Union Pacific Express has just departed, full of precious jewels, wallets, and suitcases – right into the trap set by you, one of many bandits ready to rob these citizens blind! A bandits life isn’t easy sailing, though. You’ll have to compete with other bandits to get the biggest score, not even to mention avoiding the Marshall and navigating the 3D train.

Colt Express takes place over 5 rounds, with two phases each round. In phase 1, “Schemin'”, you and your fellow bandits will prepare your actions a play cards to form a deck. Then, in phase 2, “Stealin'”, all the action cards are carried out as you and your fellow bandits wreak havoc on the train. Avoid bullets, and hope that no one else ruins your plans.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Action Queue
  • Hand Management
  • Memory
  • Programmed Movement
  • Take That
  • Variable Player Powers

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.83

Colossal Cat in the Box

| T3d-1978

Cat in the Box is a trick taking game where your suit is every color all at once – until you observe it. Players are dealt a hand of cards with no suit but different numbers, and over the course of the game they will claim various suits to best meet their bid. But be warned! Because of the nebulous nature of the cards, a paradox can form at any time! The player who causes the paradox will lose points, while everyone else will get the opportunity to score based off of their completed tricks and any patterns they made on the research board. 

Colossal Cat in the Box is a supersized version of Cat in the Box!

Game Mechanics:

  • Enclosure
  • Hand Management
  • Predictive Bid
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Colonists, the

| T3d-1978

You and your opponents will take on the role of mayors of different villages forming in a newly established colony. The goal is to have the highest level of employment, and as mayor you’ll have to create jobs, educate your people, and strategically use your limited resources to expand your city and sow the seeds for greatness in the future.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Area Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Modular Board
  • Open Drafting
  • Solo/Solitaire
  • Tile Placement
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 360 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.06

Codex Naturalis

| T3d-1978

In Codex Naturalis, you are competing with your opponents to create the best manuscript of living species in primary forests. You’ll do this by placing down cards, overlapping them to assemble an overall manuscript, providing yourself with resources or points! You’ll have to plan carefully to maximize your points, and you’ll have to be willing to make sacrifices to get the best possible outcome.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Hand Management
  • Layering
  • Open Drafting
  • Pattern Building

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.74