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.

Iquazu

| T3d-1978
Iquazu

Iquazu

The Inox people have been living peacefully in the Land of the Waterfalls for a long time, but now there is a dangerous threat. Evil Rhujas roaming the land want to capture the gemstones of the Inox. That’s why the Inox have selected the hardest to reach and most dangerous place to hide their gemstones: the rock wall behind the Iquazú waterfall. Their water dragon Silon blocks the waterfall so that the brave Inox can rappel down the rock wall behind it to place their gemstones there, out of harm’s way. The gushing water and the dangerous water snakes at the bottom will stop the Rhujas from getting the gemstones. Which player in Iquazú will manage to use their cards skillfully and place their colored gemstones in the best spots?

Each turn in Iquazú, players either draw four cards or play cards of a single color from their hand to place one of their gems in an empty space on the board the same color as the cards they played. If you place in the leftmost column, you play only one card, in the secondmost left column, two cards, and so on. The last player in turn order adds a water droplet to the highest empty spot in the leftmost column after their turn.

Once the leftmost column is full, players earn points based on how many gems they have in this column and they earn a bonus token if they have the most gems in a horizontal row. Bonus tokens can let you draw cards, ignore the color rule, earn points at the end of the game, and take another turn. Players then slide the waterfall right one column to make new bonuses appear and the leftmost gems disappear. Whoever holds the water droplet box passes it right. Players continue taking turns until the final column is filled, at which point players collect bonuses for the final time, then added any points collected to their score.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~50 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.86

If Wishes Were Fishes!

| T3d-1978
If Wishes Were Fishes!

If Wishes Were Fishes!

Players are fishermen, trying to catch the most valuable fish and sell them in the market for the best prices. With limited space for storing caught fish, players must use their wits to get the right fish to market at the right times. This is where the granting of wishes is most helpful. Just catch the fish who will grant the wish you want, throw it back, and you get your wish. Sounds simple, but the game does require a bit of thinking and planning. The wishes can help you increase the value of fish when sold, grant you extra storage space, and several other useful things.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Economic
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.95

Helionox: Deluxe Edition

| T3d-1978
Helionox: Deluxe Edition

Helionox: Deluxe Edition

Helionox is a movement based deck building board game where great leaders vie for control in a shattered solar system. One to four players can attempt mastery over competitive, cooperative, and solo modes. Designed to play fast with a quick setup and an imminent ending, Helionox has tension to spare from the first turn to the last.


The Deluxe Edition of Helionox brings together the original core set of Helionox: The Last Sunset and incorporates it with a brand new expansion called Mercury Protocol. The Kickstarter will offer a full sized box and game board along with the expansion and can be purchased via Kickstarter with or without the original core set.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.59

Heat: Pedal to the Metal

| T3d-1978
Heat: Pedal to the Metal

Heat: Pedal to the Metal

Based on simple and intuitive hand management, Heat: Pedal to the Metal puts players in the driver’s seat of intense car races, jockeying for position to cross the finish line first, while managing their car’s speed if they don’t want to overheat. Selecting the right upgrades for their car will help them hug the curves and keep their engine cool enough to maintain top speeds. Ultimately, their driving skills will be the key to victory!

Drivers can compete in a single race or use the “Championship System” to play a whole season in one game night, customizing their car before each race to claim the top spot of the podium. They have to be careful as the weather, road conditions, and events will change every race to spice up their championship. Players can also enjoy a solo mode with the Legends Module or add automated drivers as additional opponents in multiplayer games.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management
  • Racing

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.16

Guildhall: Job Faire

| T3d-1978
Guildhall: Job Faire

Guildhall: Job Faire

The not-so-Dark Ages is blowing up! Skilled workers clamor to get into your Guildhouse. Organize them into chapters and put them to work. Each additional worker you add to a chapter provides a bigger bonus to the workers you play in the future – but look out as your opponents might steal your valuable workers for their own chapters!

In Guildhall: Job Faire, 2–4 players compete to create a prosperous kingdom by recruiting skilled laborers into their guild chapters. Collect sets of cards with unique abilities. Use completed sets to claim victory cards. But will you go for points or use a special power? Which will lead to ultimate victory?

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.18

Godzilla: Tokyo Clash

| T3d-1978
Godzilla: Tokyo Clash

Godzilla: Tokyo Clash

In Godzilla: Tokyo Clash, you play as the Earth’s most fearsome Kaiju — Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Megalon — battling for dominance as the most terrifying monster in Japan. With detailed miniatures of the legendary monsters and a modular cityscape of 3D buildings to destroy, it’s an epic battle every time you play!

In more detail, each player has their own deck of cards unique to the kaiju they control. As you throw trains and tanks at the opponents and attack them directly to cause damage, you can burn cards out of their deck, reducing their options on future turns. As you stomp through the city, you can earn energy, which can help you lay out permanent enhancements to your abilities.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.24

Gates of Delirium

| T3d-1978
Gates of Delirium

Gates of Delirium

You have finally set out to find the truth. You’ve heard the rumors of ancient runes and the lost pages of a scattered tome that tell of ancient and evil monstrosities, calling for their return. You’ve heard tales of those who came before you in this search losing grip on their sanity as they grew nearer to the truth. As you press on, you can’t help but notice that you feel less attached to reality yourself. Some days you lose track of time and can’t account for hours of the day. The whispers of secret gates to another world are growing stronger, and while no one knows who is building them, you have a dreadful hunch…

Could you be the hidden architect of the Gates of Delirium?

In Gates of Delirium, players have a hand of split action cards: one side sane, and the other insane. Every round, one player decides whether the round is sane or insane, and all players must play that side of their cards. During sane rounds, players search for maps and lost pages to a secret tome, while assigning investigators to help them in their cause. During insane rounds, players collect ancient runes and work to build gates to release the monstrosities that their sane selves have been trying so hard to understand and prevent. Earn the most victory points by the time the last monstrosity is released to win Gates of Delirium.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Funfair

| T3d-1978
Funfair

Funfair

Can you build the best theme park in town?

Choose and build an exciting mix of attractions in your very own theme park. Upgrade them to match blueprints, or just to stack up towering rides that pull in the crowds and make the most cash. Hire staff members and build super attractions to maximise your park’s strategy for the win!

Game Mechanics:

  • City Building
  • Economic
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.14

Four Gardens

| T3d-1978
Four Gardens

Four Gardens

Long ago, in a beautiful Eastern kingdom, a queen and her people pleased their Gods by building a mystical pagoda. The pagoda housed the four Gods and towered strong over the magnificent kingdom. As time passed, the queen fell ill, and she summoned her people to compete for her crown. The crown would be passed on to the person who could build the most pristine garden around the pagoda. The heir would be chosen by the four Gods themselves.

The goal of Four Gardens is to accumulate the most points on the score board by completing landscape cards and finishing sets. Each finished set creates a panoramic view of a garden, and these sets are called (no surprise) “panoramas”.

Players can finish panoramas by first laying groundwork cards, acquiring resources by turning the 3D pagoda, and allocating those resources to satisfy the requirements of each groundwork card. Once satisfied, a groundwork card becomes a landscape card. Multiple landscape cards laid in the correct order create a panorama. Each God has their own satisfaction meter which expresses their goodwill towards the gardens and their builders. Players try to please the Gods by completing landscape cards and finishing panoramas.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.42

Forgotten Depths

| T3d-1978
Forgotten Depths

Forgotten Depths

Forgotten Depths is a 1-3 player co-op dungeon adventure game that combines unique tile laying and hand management mechanics to deliver a substantial experience of exploration and combat.

The goal of the game is to get to the bottom of the dungeon and destroy the powerful entity that resides there. To make it, you’ll need to improve your heroes by finding items and buying new abilities with experience points you gain by exploring. Those experience points are in scarce supply and you’ll need to balance between saving them for abilities and spending them on the healing and keys you’ll also need.

The game is played by alternating between two main activities, Exploring and Encountering. You’ll start by Exploring, creating the layout of the level as you play, and discovering Ecology Elements. You choose when and where to Encounter the Elements you discover, and you go back to Exploring after each Encounter.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Hand Management
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 3 Players
  • 45 – 135 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.20