Tag: Set Collection

Games with Set Collection mechanics require players to collect resources in sets to achieve various rewards.

Sea of Clouds

| T3d-1978
Sea of Clouds

Sea of Clouds

​In Sea of Clouds, as captain of a flying pirate ship, recruit a cutthroat crew, collect relics and unearth the best rum by gathering shares of Loot. Then send your pirates aboard enemy ships to plunder their treasure!

In each round of the game, players take turns divvying up shares of Loot to gain Rum, Relics, Objects, and Pirates. In some rounds, when ships are flying close together, they will also clash in a Boarding action, using the effects of any Pirates they picked up to gain Doubloons and plunder Loot.

On your turn, take the first of the three shares of Loot on the table, and look at it secretly. You must decide to either take all the cards in the Share then add the top card from the deck face-down to this Loot space, or to leave the Share and look at the next one. If you choose to do the latter, add the top card from the deck to the Share you declined (or a Doubloon, if there’s already three cards), thus increasing its value for the next player. If no shares interest you, blindly take the top card of the deck.

The card backs give you a hint about what’s in the next Shares: Pirates to board other ships, legendary Relics to collect, Rum to be scored at the end of the game, and Items with permanent, immediate, or secret effects.

Every 4 or 5 rounds (depending on the number of players), Boarding action will occur! Add the strength of your Captain and your Pirates, apply any bonuses or penalties, and face your two neighbors! For each victory, your Pirates will gain Doubloons or steal some Loot! After the fight, all Pirates are discarded.

The game ends after 12 (or 15) rounds. Players then add the value of their Doubloons and their Loot cards to determine who’s the winner.

Game Mechanics:

  • Open Drafting
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.74

Savannah Park

| T3d-1978
Savannah Park

Savannah Park

In Savannah Park, you each run your own wildlife park, and your goal is to group animals with their own kind — but everyone takes turns deciding what to move, so you might not be able to shuffle animals into the right spaces.

Each player starts the game with the same set of 33 unique animal tiles, with those tiles laid out at random in your personal wildlife park. Three bush-fire spaces and one rock space will remain unoccupied in your park for the entire game, and six tree spaces and four grass spaces are unoccupied at the start of play.

On a turn, you name a specific face-up tile that all players must pick up, flip face down, then move to a different empty space within their own park. Tiles that have been flipped cannot move again, and once all tiles have moved, the game ends with a scoring round. First, tiles adjacent to bush fires are removed if they depict as many animals as the number of fires (1, 2, or 3) on the bush-fire space. Score for each grass and tree uncovered on your board. Finally, score for each of the six animal species; the bigger the main herd of each of species and the more water holes it contains, the more points you score, e.g. a herd of five rhinos and three watering holes is worth (5×3) 15 points. The player with the most points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Pattern Building
  • Puzzle
  • Set Collection
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.70

Potion Explosion

| T3d-1978
Potion Explosion

Potion Explosion

Dear students, it’s time for the final exams of the Potions class! The rules are always the same: Take an ingredient marble from the dispenser and watch the others fall. If you connect marbles of the same color, they explode and you can take them, too! Complete your potions using the marbles you collect, and drink them to unleash their magical power. Remember, though, that to win the Student of the Year award, being quick won’t be enough: you’ll also need to brew the most valuable potions in Potion Explosion!

Game Mechanics:

  • Pattern Recognition
  • Puzzle
  • Set Collection
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.76

Port Royal: Big Box

| T3d-1978
Port Royal: Big Box

Port Royal: Big Box

The merchant players in Port Royal, which won the Austrian Game Designers Competition under the title Händler der Karibik, are trying to earn as much as they can out of the Caribbean Sea, but if they set their goals too high, they might take home nothing for the day.

The 120-card deck depicts a coin on the back of each card — with players earning and paying coins throughout the game — and different items on the card fronts. On a turn, a player can first draw as many cards as he likes, one at a time from the deck, placing them in the harbor (an area near the deck). Each card shows one of the following:

  • Person, who stays in a face-up row next to deck.
  • Ship, which the player can attack immediately if he has enough swords on his people cards, after which the ship is discarded; otherwise, the ship stays in the harbor.
  • Expedition, which remains above the harbor until a player fulfills it by discarding people who have the items required for the expedition.
  • Tax Increase, which forces everyone with twelve or more coins to discard half their money, after which the card is discarded.

If the player draws a ship with the same name as a ship already in the harbor, he’s spent too much time dilly-dallying and his turn ends (after using the ship to attack, if possible), with all the cards in the harbor being discarded. Otherwise, the player can stop whenever he likes, then use/acquire one card if three or fewer ships are in the harbor, two cards if four ships are present, and three cards if five ships are present. Players rob ships, collecting the number of coins shown on them, then discarding the card, while they hire people, paying the number of coins depicted. After the active player takes his 1-3 cards, each other player may pay the active player one coin in order to take one card in the same way.

When one player has at least twelve influence points — which are on both people and expedition cards — the game is played to the end of the round, giving everyone the same number of turns, then the player with the most influence points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Economic
  • Move Through Deck
  • Open Drafting
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 50 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.67

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

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

Monopoly: David Bowie Edition

| T3d-1978
Monopoly: David Bowie Edition

Monopoly: David Bowie Edition

Relive the fame and take things over in a special edition of the fast dealing, property trading game that pays homage to the Thin White Duke! MONOPOLY: David Bowie gathers the ultimate collection of the rock superstar’s greatest records for fans to buy, sell, and trade albums such as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars. Build Arenas and Stadiums atop Bowie’s discography with six custom sculpted tokens representing memorable studio albums: Major Tom, Black Star, Black Tie White Noise, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, and Ashes to Ashes. Sound and Vision cards will take you on the musical journey to be the furthest above the moon with any money to win!

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Economic
  • Negotiation
  • Player Elimination
  • Set Collection
  • Stock Holding
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.80

Monopoly

| T3d-1978
Monopoly

Monopoly

Players take the part of land owners, attempting to buy and then develop their land. Income is gained by other players visiting their properties and money is spent when they visit properties belonging to other players. When times get tough, players may have to mortgage their properties to raise cash for fines, taxes and other misfortunes

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Economic
  • Negotiation
  • Player Elimination
  • Set Collection
  • Stock Holding
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • 60 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.63

Merry Madness

| T3d-1978
Merry Madness

Merry Madness

Filled to his grin with more spirit than ever, Jack had a plan to spread spooky cheer by delivering handmade toys to Christmas Town! But hijinks topped the list for his fellow Halloween Town helpers, and before too long, Jack, Sally, Zero, the Mayor, and Lock, Shock & Barrel’s spirited assembling gets out of hand, turning their gift-making into Merry Madness!

Act fast to help make Christmas out of the mayhem and gather all the flying Zombie Ducks, Vampire Teddys, and more into Sandy Claws’ Christmas Bag. Roll the dice, fling the toys, and be the first with three Ghoulish Gift Scoring Tokens to win a ride in Sandy’s sleigh to Christmas Town!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Racing
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 15 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00