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.

EGO

| OTSG Staff

We are not alone! It is the 23rd century, and proof of alien life has finally been discovered beyond our solar system. In fact, recent developments in technology have triggered a cascade of discoveries throughout the galaxy; intelligent life and advanced civilizations are now known across many planets, moons, and asteroids in the Milky Way. Now the race is on to establish interstellar relations with the aliens. The only chance we have of reaching alien life is by pooling our resources to build the required Super Ship. In an unprecedented, albeit uneasy, co-operation between the planetary governments, the peoples of our solar system have finally built the first of these Super Ships. Now, the coalition known as the Extraterrestrial Greeting Organization — EGO — is now ready to launch our first mission.

In EGO, players proceed through a sequence of major and minor events including auctions, drafts, risks, and more. Risks and egos are the lifeblood of this game as players will frequently find themselves in a game of chicken with their rival ambassadors as they try to impress various alien civilizations and earn political power. At the end of the game, players earn significant bonus points or suffer serious penalty points depending on how offensive the aliens find them to be. Ultimately, the ambassador with the most prestige and respect will earn a seat in the Galactic Senate and be crowned the winner of the game.

EGO is a drastic reimagining of the strategic, push-your-luck auction game, Beowulf: The Legend and introduces many innovations by:

  • Revamping the polarizing risk mechanism while preserving its excitement and drama
  • Increasing the set-up variety with a randomized sequence of interchangeable civilization boards
  • Streamlining the endgame push-your-luck token system in which players can score big or suffer immensely
  • Introducing exciting new features such as currency cards and transmission events
  • Balancing the bidding tie-breaker system with the simple solution of ranked cards
  • Speeding up the playtime with a condensed and focused sequence of events
  • Doubling the number of unique special cards that can be drafted as rewards
  • Spicing up the risk events with varying rewards and penalties
  • Sharpening the endgame hand management decisions with tempting rewards following a climactic final auction
  • Broadening the appeal of the theme and presentation with vivid galactic artwork by Marie Bergeron

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction / Bidding
  • Hand Management
  • Modular Board
  • Open Drafting
  • Push Your Luck
  • Variable Set-up

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 40 – 80 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.40

Everdell: Silverfrost

| OTSG Staff

Silverfrost is the next standalone edge of the map series of Everdell. Beyond the snow-capped Spirecrest mountains to the south of Everdell Valley, lies the bold country of Silverfrost. It is your task to build and maintain a city in this challenging landscape. You must clear the piling snow, burn the fires to keep your citizens warm and prosperous, and complete important quests for the Ranger’s Guild.

In Silverfrost, you send critter workers to various Locations on the board, cards, or the mountain to gather resources and activate unique effects. You use these resources to play cards face up in front of you, forming your own city. Each turn, you take 1 of 3 possible actions — Place a worker, Play a card, or Prepare for the next season.

You may place 1 of your workers on any Basic Location, Red Destination card in your city or opponent’s cities, the Forge, the Hot Springs, or a mountaintop Beacon, so long as it is not blocked by Snow or another worker. You then claim the listed resources or perform the action. If there is Snow at the location, you must first spend a Fire resource to clear the snow pile. If you use your unique Ranger worker, you can visit an occupied location, or gain a Fire resource if visiting a location alone.

To play a card, you must pay the listed cost of resources. If it is a Critter, you may instead play it for free by using 1 of your 2 Chimneys, so long as you have the necessary Fire to light it. Cards may be played either from your hand, or from the area of face-up cards on the board known as the Valley. Nearly all of the cards in Silverfrost feature new and powerful abilities, offering a huge variety of strategic depth and combos to explore.

If all of your workers are deployed, you may prepare for the next season by bringing back all of your workers, gaining a new worker, and performing the action described for the following season, introducing new snowfall to the board and to your city, as well as other challenges. A player is finished when they have played through the last season (Spring) and cannot perform any more actions. After all players have finished, the player with the most points is the winner.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.23

Finspan

| OTSG Staff

You are a marine researcher seeking to find and observe an array of aquatic life in the colorful Sunlight Zone, ghostly Twilight Zone, and pitch-black Midnight Zone of the world’s seas and oceans. In Finspan, the fish you discover over four weeks will generate a series of benefits as you dive deeper into the ocean.

Each dive site specializes in a key aspect of expanding your research:

  • Grow your collection of fish.
  • Discover freshly laid eggs.
  • Hatch eggs into young and consolidate young to form schools.

The winner is the player with the most points gained from fish, eggs, young, schools, and achievements.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.33

Faraway

| OTSG Staff

Welcome to Alula, a mysterious continent with ever-changing geography, shaped after the rhythm of the seasons. Beyond the Sea of Mists lies the mysterious continent of Alula. Roam across the land in search of its secrets, meet its inhabitants, and list its wonders in order to gain more fame than your opponents.

Throughout a game of Faraway, you will play a row of 8 cards in front of you, from left to right. These cards represent the regions you will come across while exploring the lands. Characters on these cards will grant you victory points if you later fulfill the conditions they demand. At the end of the game, you walk back the same way, scoring cards in the opposite order you played them. There lies the heart of the gameplay. Throughout the game, the cards you play will serve both to set new objectives, and to meet the ones you played previously.

Each turn, you play a card from a hand of 3. Then you pick a new card from a face-up river. As play is simultaneous in Faraway, you must take into account a clever priority system in all of your choices – being last to pick a card leaves you with fewer options and often less profitable choices for the next turns.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 15 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.92

Fantasy Realms: Deluxe Edition

| OTSG Staff

Bruce Glassco’s Fantasy Realms is a modern classic, and this new Deluxe Edition has updated every card with a sleek, intuitive graphic design. The base game cards have also been updated to include new art from Anthony Cournoyer to match his beloved work on The Cursed Hoard expansion, giving the entire game a fresh look!

It includes:

  • The original base game with all new art and graphic design!
  • The Cursed Hoard, which includes two expansion modules, also with new graphic design!
  • The Jester and Phoenix cards, previously only available as promo cards!
  • 100+ art sleeves to protect all the included cards, plus some extras!

In Fantasy Realms, you build your Realm, one card at a time, as you collect Beasts, Armies, Wizards, 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’ll draw a new card from the deck or discard, and discard one card from your hand, always trying to improve your Realm! Whoever’s realm scores the most points is the winner!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.05

Fantasy Fluxx

| OTSG Staff

Fluxx is a card game in which the cards themselves determine the current rules of the game. By playing cards, you change numerous aspects of the game: how to draw cards, how to play cards, and even how to win.

At the start of the game, each player holds three cards and on a turn a player draws one card, then plays one card. By playing cards, you can put new rules into play that change numerous aspects of the game: how many cards to draw or play, how many cards you can hold in hand or keep on the table in front of you, and (most importantly) how to win the game.

In Fantasy Fluxx, you want to gather your friends for a party — an adventuring party, that is! Pack up your Second Breakfasts, and set off on a classic quest with your faithful companions: the Helpful Elf, the Dwarven Warrior, the Gallant Swordsman, the Wise Old Wizard, and of course, the Humble Young Hero! Learn from the Cranky Magic Teacher how to use your Wand to cast spells like Invisibility or Fireball! You may need them as you encounter the Dreaded Pirate, or when you find out that Captured Princess is actually the Mother of Dragons! Will you and your fantasy favorites survive the Final Showdown with the Dark Lord?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 10 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50

Family Plot

| OTSG Staff

In Family Plot, each player strives to build their perfect family while keeping other players by killing them off one by one.
Gameplay begins by a player laying out any “Family Members” in their hand that match their Family Tree. Afterwards a player can launch an assault using REAPERS and ACTION CARDS that could unleash anything from a Zombie Apocalypse to a Psycho Killer, sending their opponents family members to the graveyard! The chosen victim can block the attack on their “Family” by using ANGELS, WEAPONIZED FOOD, or even TEARS OF A UNICORN that they have in their hand. That way when it gets to your turn simply complete your unique Family Tree and YOU WIN!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.13

Fairy Tale

| OTSG Staff

Players use card drafting and simultaneous action selection to score points while interfering with other players’ ability to do so. The game consists of four rounds. In each of them, players are dealt five cards. They simultaneously select one each and pass the remainder, repeating until done. Then, they start playing cards simultaneously, playing three and discarding two. When the cards are revealed after each selection, card abilities turn other cards face-up or face-down. At the end of the four rounds there are 12 cards in front of each player. The players each score based on their face-up cards.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.77

Fado: Duetos e Desgarradas

| OTSG Staff

“The Great Day of Fado” is coming.

There is no memory of such an event, thousands of tourists and fado lovers from all corners of the world are expected. Managers from all over the country are working on the organization of the event. From north to south of Portugal, one, two and even three shows are planned simultaneously. It will be days, nights and, sometimes, even early morning parties!
Failure is out of the question, and to organize the perfect show, it is necessary to choose the best artist, the right alignment, the perfect melody and the most appropriate of the scenarios. It is the ideal time for some managers, hitherto unknown, to show how much they are worth.

No one will miss and this is your moment to shine!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.75

Ezra and Nemahiah

| OTSG Staff

In his first year as king of Persia, Cyrus the Great issued a decree in writing to the Israelite exiles living under his rule:

The God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build a temple for Him in Jerusalem. Any of his people may go up to Jerusalem in Judah to build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel. And in any place where survivors may now be living, the people of Persia are to provide them with silver, gold, goods, livestock, and offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem. – Ezra 1:2-4 (paraphrased).

Decades later, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes reign, the king noticed a sadness in his cupbearer, Nehemiah. When asked why he looked so ill, Nehemiah replied:

May the king live forever! Why should I not look sad when the city of my ancestors lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire? If it pleases you, and if I have found favor in your sight, let me go to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I may rebuild it. – Nehemiah 2:3-5 (paraphrased).

The aim of Ezra and Nehemiah is to be the player with the most victory points (VP) at game’s end. Points are gained primarily by building the temple, rebuilding the city walls and gates, and by teaching the Torah to the returning exiles. Players may also seek to develop their land, travel to settlements outside the city walls, or stoke the altar’s fire to keep it burning day and night. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah will be doing their part to keep the people focused on what is most important.

Over three weeks (rounds), players will use their hand of cards, workers, and resources to do their part in rebuilding the great city of Jerusalem. After six days of work comes a Sabbath day of rest when food will be needed, and the week’s work will be reflected upon. The game ends after the third Sabbath has been completed.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.83