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.

Qwirkle

| T3d-1978
Qwirkle

Qwirkle

The abstract game of Qwirkle consists of 108 wooden blocks with six different shapes in six different colors. There is no board, players simply use an available flat surface.

Players begin the game with six blocks. The start player places blocks of a single matching attribute (color or shape but not both) on the table. Thereafter, a player adds blocks adjacent to at least one previously played block. The blocks must all be played in a line and match, without duplicates, either the color or shape of the previous block.

Players score one point for each block played plus all blocks adjacent. It is possible for a block to score in more than one direction. If a player completes a line containing all six shapes or colors, an additional six points are scored. The player then refills their hand to six blocks.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Hand Management
  • Pattern Building
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.62

Planted

| T3d-1978
Planted

Planted

In this game of nature & nurture, make your house beautiful by caring for your very own collection of houseplants! In this easy-to-learn board game, collect your favorite plants and they try to feed them every round with the right combination of light, water, and plant food.

Planted features 42 varieties of popular and exotic houseplants, each with their own requirements to grow. Discover various planting tools and decorations to help you raise beautiful, thriving plants, and score bonus points. The player, or plant parent, that ends up scoring the most points from growing their plants is declared the game’s biggest green thumb – and winner!

Some features:

  • Easy to learn mechanics for all ages strategy
  • Collect resource tokens to care for your nursery (water drop, sun chip, plant food, etc.)
  • Features 42 popular and various plant varieties for all levels of plant parents including the fiddle leaf fig, philodendron, ZZ plant, monstera, croton, and more!
  • Created by famed game designer Phil Walker-Harding

Game Mechanics:

  • Closed Drafting
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.61

Paranormal Detectives

| T3d-1978
Paranormal Detectives

Paranormal Detectives

You open your eyes to discover the most horrible truth of a lifetime… It has just come to an end and you are a ghost, floating in the air! Terrified, you look at your own body. A group of strange individuals have gathered around your mortal remains, watching it closely with sparks of fascination in their eyes. They want to communicate with you to discover how your life ended. You need to talk to them and reveal the truth so the culprit can be judged!

Paranormal Detectives is a deduction party game. One player takes the role of a Ghost. All other players work as Paranormal Detectives and need to discover how the victim died. Using paranormal abilities they will communicate with the Ghost, asking open questions about the details of the crime. The Ghost answers in a variety of ghostly ways – by arranging a hangman’s knot, playing chosen tarot cards, creating a word puzzle on a talking board, drawing by holding the hand of a detective and many more!

Game Mechanics:

  • Acting
  • Deduction
  • Hand Management
  • Line Drawing
  • Party Game
  • Pattern Recognition

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 50 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.69

One Card Wonder

| T3d-1978
One Card Wonder

One Card Wonder

In One Card Wonder, each player receives a card that shows a wonder of the ancient world and a set of support buildings. The multiple stages of the wonder must be built from the ground up, while the buildings may be built in any order. Players have four worker meeples and a personal supply of resources, and a general supply of resources also exists. The resource supply bag moves from player to player to indicate who is the active player.

On a turn, you take one of four actions. You may draw three cubes from the cloth supply bag, then add two to your personal supply, placing the other one in the general supply. You may take all resources of one type from the general supply. (You may hold only eight resources at a time in your supply, so if after drawing or taking you have more than eight resources, you must return some to the general supply.) You may build a level of the wonder or a building by paying its resource cost from your supply; your workers mark individual buildings as you build them, unlocking abilities. Finally, you may sell pairs of matching goods to the supply in exchange for coins. Coins can be used as a wild resource, but they also appear in the cost of some wonders. Resources sold or used to build are returned to the supply bag.

In games of four or more players, players may also trade. Trading occurs off-turn, that is, it can involve anyone except the active player. You may negotiate and trade freely with other players, but you must stop negotiating once you receive the supply bag and become the active player. The longer you spend on your turn, the more opportunity your opponents have to make deals.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 10 – 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.33

Nut Hunt

| T3d-1978
Nut Hunt

Nut Hunt

Nut Hunt is a fast-paced squirrel placement game where 1-5 players battle for control of the forest.

But watch out!

The wily fox roams the board scattering squirrels.

Clever players will use the fox to their advantage, positioning their critters to scatter onto favorable territories, or strategically hassling the fox to foil their opponents’ plans.

Turns in Nut Hunt are fast paced and intuitive with one mandatory action: Move the Fox (causing squirrel scattering, and nut foraging), followed by your choice of one optional action: Recruit a Squirrel, Hassle the Fox, or Scout an Objective.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Network Building
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.80

Munchkin

| T3d-1978
Munchkin

Munchkin

Go down in the dungeon. Kill everything you meet. Backstab your friends and steal their stuff. Grab the treasure and run.

Admit it. You love it.

This award-winning card game, designed by Steve Jackson, captures the essence of the dungeon experience… with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items! Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm… or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon…

And it’s illustrated by John Kovalic! Fast-playing and silly, Munchkin can reduce any roleplaying group to hysteria. And, while they’re laughing, you can steal their stuff.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.80

Monster Crunch!

| T3d-1978
Monster Crunch!

Monster Crunch!

It’s ok to play with your food! Pick your favorite Monster Cereal character and battle to see who can “eat” the most cereal.

In this fast-paced game of luck and strategy, players collect as many Cereal Cards in their Bowls as they can. Each Monster has special powers to give you an advantage and help you gobble up the most cereal. Use Milk Tokens to combine Cereal Cards and take bigger bites. The Monster Cereal character that munches the most wins the game!

Monster Crunch! The Breakfast Battle Game features Boo Berry, Count Chocula, Fruit Brute, Fruity Yummy Mummy, and Franken Berry.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.21

Marvel United: Deadpool

| T3d-1978
Marvel United: Deadpool

Marvel United: Deadpool

The Deadpool expansion brings you a whopping three flavors of the Merc with a Mouth, as well as his not so trusty sidekick Bob, Agent of Hydra. These most unusual characters can all be played as either Heroes or Villains, always with tongue stuck firmly in cheek. Not content with being just a 4th wall-breaking Hero and unbeatable Villain, Deadpool can also crash into any game, riding his plush unicorn, in the form of a Challenge that sows chaos wherever he goes!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • ~40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50

Lost Ones

| T3d-1978
Lost Ones

Lost Ones

Lost Ones is a “Choose Your Own Path” story utilizing map tile exploration. Each player takes on the role of a Lost One, a kidnapped youth taken to the Otherworld, home of the Fae. Thankfully, a conflict between warring Fae factions has created enough distraction for the Lost Ones to escape. Now you must explore this magical realm of dreams and nightmares and hopefully discover a way home while the remaining Fae hunt you down.
Each player takes between 1 and 3 actions in a round. Once a player completes their action, any player who hasn’t taken their turn can take their actions. Repeat taking rounds until the game ends.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Hand Management
  • Narrative Choice
  • Storytelling
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50

Lanterns: The Harvest Festival

| T3d-1978
Lanterns: The Harvest Festival

Lanterns: The Harvest Festival

The harvest is in, and the artisans are hard at work preparing for the upcoming festival. Decorate the palace lake with floating lanterns and compete to become the most honored artisan when the festival begins.

In Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, players have a hand of tiles depicting various color arrangements of floating lanterns, as well as an inventory of individual lantern cards of specific colors. When you place a tile, all players (you and your opponents) receive a lantern card corresponding to the color on the side of the tile facing them. Place carefully to earn cards and other bonuses for yourself, while also looking to deny your opponents. Players gain honor by dedicating sets of lantern cards — three pairs, for example, or all seven colors — and the player with the most honor at the end of the game wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Pattern Building
  • Set Collection
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.56