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.

Mahjong

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Mahjong

Mahjong

Mah-Jongg (Chinese 麻將/麻将 Májiàng [game of the] sparrow) is a traditional Chinese game using illustrated tiles, with game play similarities to rummy. It is a popular gambling game, but wagering real stakes is by no means necessary to have fun playing.

The tiles consist of three suits numbering 1-9 (Dots, Numbers or Characters, and Bamboo, the “Ace” of which almost always looks like a bird), three different dragons (Red, Green, and White [white is unusual in that it may look like a silvery dragon, or like a picture frame, or blank – think “White dragon in a snowstorm”), and the four winds (east, south, west, and north). There are four copies of each tile. This totals to 136 tiles. In addition, special Flower, Season, and Joker (American version) tiles may also be used.

Four players take turns drawing from a stock (the wall), or from the other players’ discards, in an attempt to form sets of numeric sequences (e.g., 5-6-7 of the same suit, which can only be drawn from the player at one’s left, by calling “Chow”), triplets and quadruplets (which can be drawn from the discards out-of-turn by calling “Pung”), pairs, and other patterns. “Pung” takes precedence over “Chow”, and “Mah Jongg” takes precedence over all (and is the only situation one may draw “Chow” out-of-turn.) What happens if a single discard would give two (or more!) players “Mah Jongg”? Precedence goes to the player who would play next in normal sequence.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.57

Luxor

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Luxor

Luxor

On the hunt for priceless treasures, groups of adventurers explore the legendary temple at Luxor. Their ultimate goal is the tomb of the pharaoh, but many treasures can be collected as they search. As they explore, the challenge unfolds: The player who manages to quickly get their team of adventurers to the tomb, while salvaging as many treasures as possible, will be the winner.

Luxor offers variable game play as the path that leads to the tomb is different for every game — and will even change during play!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Racing
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.91

Lucky’s Misadventures

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Lucky’s Misadventures

Lucky’s Misadventures

Lucky’s Misadventures
“Episode 42: Lost in Oddtopia”

You and your dog Lucky should not have taken that shortcut through the woods that night. How were you to know that you would be taken through a portal to Oddtopia — a surreal world of Tinkerers, Wickeds, and Oddlings? The Great Mechanical Toad reveals the fates to all.

What is your fate? Will you and Lucky find a way home, or will you stay, build your power, and become the Witchard of Oddtopia?

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

Lords of Vaala

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Lords of Vaala

Lords of Vaala

A game of power based in the universe of Dragonbond.

Raid as a dragon or raise armies as a general, destroy your enemies, and cast mighty spells, all to collect power. The player who collects 10 Power tokens, wins.

During the game, a general and a dragon entering to the same region peacefully, have a chance of becoming Dragonbonded to unlock a unique ability that interacts with each other, and playing as a team for the rest of the game.

In the planning phase players secretly play action cards in a face-down pile to program their actions across the board until one player passes; in the resolution phase, actions are resolved in order. Through these actions, players move to different regions, attack, collect power or cast spells by spending the Power collected.

Combat has a wargame feel into it due to the dice-based resolution with critical hits, counterattacks and retreats. If Power is scarce on the board, you can steal a Power token from another player entering into combat and dealing more hits than they can take.

Dragons and generals play entirely different in strategy and actions. Generals raise armies and customize them in different regions around the board to control them and harvest Power. Dragons can gain Power by devouring units, they also have a health track and must rest and recover if they get wounded too much. All characters in the game have a unique Vaala deck of spells.

In a world without gods, only you may claim your destiny.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Programmed Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.33

Lizard Wizard

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Lizard Wizard

Lizard Wizard

Astoria is a land pulsing with magic and intrigue! A handful of Arch-Mages are vying for the loyalty of wizards across the land so that they can wield ultimate power.

Lizard Wizard is a game from the team that brought you Raccoon Tycoon. Aspects of gameplay will be familiar to fans of RT, and will add a bit of extra depth and strategy.

In Lizard Wizard, players compete to recruit wizards from seven unique schools of magic, build mystical towers, research powerful spells, summon helpful familiars, and search dark dungeons for gold and items of power. Only one Arch-Mage will rise above the rest and control the land. Will it be you?

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Economic
  • Hand Management
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.12

Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest

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Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest

Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest

In the world of Galecrest, sky pirates set sail on the winds in search of adventure, treasure, and glory. As an admiral, you command a vast and varied crew…but so do your rivals sailing other ships in the pirate fleet. Each day the fleet lands on a different island where you’ll send a crew member to collect your share of the loot, hoping they’ll return to boost your growing group of characters.

Libertalia was originally released in 2012. Ten years later, Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest celebrates the foundations of the original design with a revised and expanded edition that includes all-new art, 40 characters per player, a reputation system to resolve ties, deluxe loot tokens, a robust solo mode, and much more.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.13

Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game

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Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game

Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game

Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game is a survival horror board game that pits small-town heroes head-to-head against a horde of zombies. A team of four heroes is chosen by one set of players, and the zombies are controlled by one or two players. Each hero has its own special abilities. The board is modular, which changes the layout of the town and start positions of each hero. The game comes with several scenarios, which include simple survival, rescue, or escape. Differing combinations of heroes, scenarios, and board configurations offer a lot of replayability.

A hero deck and a zombie deck deliver tactical bonuses to each side. Combat is resolved using six-sided dice, modified by the weapon cards with which heroes may be equipped. Many of the cards include zombie movie tropes to achieve a feel of playing out a horror movie. All the game art is photographic, enhancing the cinematic feel. The game also comes with a CD soundtrack of original thematic music.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.29

Kanagawa

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Kanagawa

Kanagawa

1840: In Kanagawa, the great bay of Tokyo, the Master Hokusai decided to open a painting school to share his art with his disciples. You are one of these disciples, and more than anything, you want to prove yourself worthy of the “crazy, old artist”. Follow his teachings to expand your studio and paint your preferred subjects (Trees, Animals, Characters, Buildings), all while paying attention to the changing of the seasons in order to make the most harmonious print… the one that will become the work of your lifetime!

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Pattern Building
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.02

Jamaica: The Crew

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Jamaica The Crew

Jamaica The Crew

Jamaica: The Crew is a set of twenty characters, each with a special power, that add flavor to the game without any big changes in the rules. The characters may be hired when you’re able to pay for the fee of a harbor, and they are “loaded” like any other resource, following the same rules.

You might find it enticing to add several characters to your boat — especially since most of them earn you additional gold at the end of the game — but with fewer holds dedicated to the regular resources, navigation becomes more dicey. All in all, more challenge, more silly fun, more Jamaica.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Racing

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 75 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.89

Iwari

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Iwari

Iwari

Evermore have they walked the world of Iwari. Evermore have they embodied its spirit and shaped its lands. They are stewards of the earth. Five Titans that make the cosmos breath. On Iwari, there are no teeming masses, no continent-wide civilizations. Humanity is in its infancy, living in scattered tribes in forest, tundra, and desert.

Now we have left our ancestral homelands to explore the vast uncharted regions, encountering other fellow tribes and exchanging knowledge, culture and wisdom. In our journey, we all live in harmony with the Titans, and though distant to us, they decide our fate. And yet only we don’t know if they created us, or we created them.

Iwari is an abstract-like Eurogame in which players represent different tribes looking for their identity by traveling around far lands and expanding their settlements into five different regions on the board. In the game, players use cards for two different actions:

1) Place tents and expand their settlements into five different regions on the board in a majority game that scores on each territory.
2) Construct nature totems to bond with the Titans by placing them on regions and score points based on the totem majorities in adjacent territories.

During the game, players can complete missions that grant small perks and score points by having the majority of tents in each territory after the end of the first card cycle. At game end, the majority of tents will be scored again, along with the majorities of nature totems in two adjacent regions and settlements that players have created (i.e., four or more tents in an uninterrupted sequence along one of the roads on the board).

Iwari reimagines the award-winning game Web of Power by Michael Schacht by adding new layers of strategy, tribe player boards, different maps with their own set of rules, modules that can be added to the game, and unique co-operative and solo modes.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Area Control
  • Cooperative
  • Hand Management
  • Network Building
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.15