THE GAMES JOURNALOUR REVIEW uDIE ALCHEMISTEN 2 ISSUE 483 / SEPTEMBER 2015 Color codes, target...

INTERNATIONAL EDITION: IN THIS ISSUE WE PRESENT 64 GAMES

THE GAMES JOURNALwww.gamesjournal.at

ISSUE 483 - SEPTEMBER 2015ISSN 0257-361X

Volume 39

OUR REVIEW uDIE ALCHEMISTEN

2 ISSUE 483 / SEPTEMBER 2015 www.gamesjournal.atColor codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS areexplained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 40 and 41

Medieval alchemist artisans brewing with modern 21st century technology – as al-chemists players vie for groundbreaking findings and as many victory points as pos-sible. The most victory points can be won by publishing theories, and, even better, with correct theories.The knowledge necessary for publication is won by mixing ingredients for potions and checking the result with a scanner app and then making deductions on brewing potions. Those potions you can then sell to adventurers and use the money to buy powerful but expensive artifacts.Players decide id the want to play with the App or without, and accordingly, you download the free App to a Smartphone or Tablet – one device is sufficient for all – or determine a game master, who cannot play and must operate the game master triangle which he hides in the box lid. He also does all other App jobs.The next decision players takes concerns the level of difficulty; you can play as ap-prentices or masters with the respective set-

up for the game including the correct side of the game board as regards to number of players.As is only to be expected from such a highly scientific game, we now need some basic information to be able to play. Each ingredi-ent –represented by cards – contains one el-ement – called Alchemical -, which is always made up from three aspects, which can be big or small, green, red or blue and carry a positive or negative charge.When two ingredients are combined – by scanning the two cards – a certain kind of potion results, always by connecting an identical small and big particle; small and big red-plus gives a Healing Potion, red-minus a Poison Potion, green-plus a Speed Potion, green-minus a Paralysis Potion, blue-plus a Wisdom Potion and blue-minus an Insanity Potion.If, for instance, you did scan Mushroom and Toad and the result was a Healing Potion, then you can place a marker for red-plus at the intersection of Mushroom and Toad into your notebook in your laboratory screen.

The App randomly assigns an Alchemical to each ingredient at the start of the game.When you have mastered all prerequisites, you play six rounds. At the start of the round the order of play is determined; if you play earlier you have ad-vantages for the actions, if you play later you draw more cards, and for the starting posi-tion of the round you pay one gold. Then each player draws the number of ingredient cards and Favor cards as stated at your cho-sen position.Then you determine in reverse order of play,

which actions you want to do, you choose all of them by placing action cubes on the action cases of your selected actions, where each player has his own row of cases. Then the action cases are resolved in clock-wise direction around the board. In Round One these are Action Options for Foraging for Ingredient, Transmuting Ingredient, Buying Artifact and Experiments in two ways, Test on Students and Drink Potion. From Round Two on you also have the options of Sell Po-tion, Publish Theory and Debunk Theory.A quick glance at the action options:Forage for Ingredients – you take an ingre-dient card from the open display or draw a card from the stack, during a round the dis-play is not replenished.Transmute Ingredient – you discard one in-gredient and take one gold from the bank.Buy Artifact – You pay with gold for an arti-fact card from the display and set it down openly; effects are once-only or permanent, most artifacts also give you victory points at the end of the game.Experiments - Test on Student: You select two ingredients and mix the potion, play-ers only see the potion, not the ingredients, and you place result markers on the results triangle and also on the results area on your board. If you test students, the first test of each round is free of charge; if it was nega-tive, each subsequent test costs one gold. If you drink a potion yourself, only negative potions have consequences: An Insanity Potion loses you one Reputation point, The Paralysis Potions forces you to choose last place in player order and for the Poison Po-tion you lose an action cube to the hospital. Drinking a neutral or positive potion your-self has no consequences.Sell Potion – in each round an adventurer comes into town and you can sell him a potion that he is interested in; you have to spend four action cubes for this and the ac-tion can only be chosen once per round. You

MUSHROOMS ARE RED+, GREEN+, BLUE+

DIE ALCHEMISTENTHATS WHAT MY EXPERIMENT TELLS ME!

A visual eye-catcher, a well-working hybrid of modern technology and medieval theme, an attractive mix of mechanisms and lots of fun, change and deduction – what more could you want?

Dagmar de Cassan

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook!For all information on that check our website.www.gamesjournal.at 3ISSUE 483 / SEPTEMBER 2015

OUR REVIEWtDIE ALCHEMISTEN / 40 LINES FOR MEEPLES

40 Lines for Meeples Dagmar de Cassan, Editor -in-Chief

What is so marvelous about old films? Yes, its hair-dos and costumes of the actors, they mirror the atmosphere of the period.The same goes for our games, you can ins-tantly recognize a game box from the Sixties – by the quality of the cardboard, the color of the printing and the graphic design. Games mirror the atmosphere of the period, too!Then, there were also the games from 3M, making a first step towards the future with their cassette boxed.And today each game is a complete work of art! Not only the quality of components has changed, but especially design, graphics of the box and also of the content.Are there suddenly so many more graphic designers? Has the market changed and a game does not sell otherwise or can every-body now express his graphic talent due to computer support?I am sure it’s a bit of everything and we can be happy and pleased how wonderfult the games, each game is a special experience.In our data base LUDORIUM you can find all games that you are missing in your collection, http://www.ludorium.atIf you like our WIN? Until we have caught up with our delay, we do not accept new subscri-bers! The reading is free for all our visitors,http://www.gamesjournal.at. Our Games Companion GAME BY GAME 2015 is available, http://www.gamescompanion.at þ

choose a potion and offer a level of quality; if you then brew a worse potion you receive no payment for it. The App only name the level of quality for this option and you place corresponding markers, receive payment for the quality level and lose a Reputation point if you brewed a neutral or wrong po-tion.Publish Theory: If you believe that you have figured the Alchemical of an ingredient you can publish your theory; you mark a book on the Theory board with an Alchemical marker, add your face-down seal, pay one gold and score one Reputation point. You can publish for ingredients for which there currently is no theory. You can also endorse a theory and add your seal to another play-er’s seal in a book and can also publish as regards to so-called Grants which are spe-cial tiles on the Theory board, you must re-search their ingredients and publish about them.Debunking a theory – this is done differ-ently at the Apprentice and Master level of the game and much more complicated in the Master level. At the end of the round you score a reputa-tion point for best alchemist and get Favor cards for unused cubes; cubes in Hospital go then to the area for unused cubes for the next round; a new adventurer appears and in the Alchemists‘ Conference you receive Reputation points for sufficient amounts of publications and Endorsements and lose Reputation points otherwise. Finally, new artifacts are displayed for the next round.In the final round the Exhibition tile is placed on the board to replace the action option Experiments and you can choose an action option for Presenting a Potion.After this final round Reputation points be-come victory points and you score artifacts, grants, gold and gold from Favor cards. Then the Theory board is evaluated, you score points for correct theories and lose points for wrong ones.As you can see from this short resume of the rules, the Alchemists and their experiments are themselves a rewarding target for ex-ploration, which is made easy by the fan-tastic components and the excellent rules with their very cute and witty flavor texts. The rules even give you instructions who you can check the current result on the App to set up the game master triangle in case there is a problem with the smart device.The game itself is then not that easy – and I absolutely recommend to play the game using the App – it facilitates game play, arriving at results and does not make mis-takes in resolving the brewing of potions. If chance or deduction have the main role in the game will be seed differently by many. I believe that chance has exactly the right role in the game, it dominates card draw-

ing and revealing adventurers, but the em-phasis is on deducing the Alchemicals. And that is the core of the game and you need to take care not to make mistakes and also do not spend too much time on deduction; if necessary you can debunk your own theory and then publish a new one, because in the end its victory points that count!If you like lots of direct interaction, you will miss that a bit in the game; you are alone with the thrill of seeing the result of brew-ing; the most reaction are to be had from the action option of Experimenting – who will not be happy when an opposing Alche-mist is paralyzed? – but in long stretches of the game you act on your own. Indirect actions comes from shared information on potions and the publishing and debunking of theories, where even a bit of bluff can come into play.It might be because I am a chemist myself that Alchemists for me is an absolutely fe-licitous and very well-made game. The App does not dominate the game, topic and mechanisms go well together, the rules are cute and good, randomness and decisions are well balanced and familiar elements like selection of order of play or worker place-ment together yield a very innovative game with lots of challenge and fun in playing! þ

Dagmar de Cassan

INFORMATIONDesigner: Matúš KotryArtist: David Cochard, CGE TeamPrice: ca. 30 EuroPublisher: Heidelberger 2014www.heidelbaer.de

Deduction, AppUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: cz de en es fr it jp kr nl pt roIn-game text: yesComments: Fantastic components * Well-made, good rules * Innovative mix of mechanisms * App exceedingly well integrated and not dominant

Compares to:First game of this kind

Other editions:Czech Republic (cz and en), Italy, Japan, Korea, Portu-gal, Romania, Spain, The Netherlands

EVALUATION

My

rati

ng:

PLAYERS:2-4AGE:

13+TIME:90+

OUR REVIEW uHÖYÜK


As a Neolithic clan you settle in a valley, together with four other clans, and slowly clans develop specific abilities, settlements grow, new building are erected on the ruins of ones and you come up with the replica of a Neolithic settlement, complete with ov-ens, shrines and cattle pens.The five clans are very different – The Ders are aggressive against everything you and do not share their lands gladly with out-ers. The Sneerg have affiliated themselves to the land and grow their natural wealth. The Oleyli are envious of all that is owned by others and therefore attack other clans and steal from them. The Ruples are religious and their daily routine follows a mysterious

ceremony from dawn to dusk. The Lebu are Healers, the are looking for remedies and therapies and follow their Shaman. Those characteristics result in a special ability for each clan that is, as we will see later, not easy to activate.You choose a clan and take its 25 houses and put the score marker on the track. The game features a total of 24 catastrophes and at the start you decide on the game mode that you want to play and thus on the catas-trophes. In the Basic game 12 catastrophes are taken into play, and the remaining com-ponents like Aspect cards and Construction Cardboards, are made ready. Then you play in rounds, which comprise

four phases:- Construction, 2x- Catastrophes, first in Round 2- Aspect cards- End of RoundIn the Construction phase each player is dealt a Construction Cardboard that is dis-played openly; such a Cardboard indicates

three elements for you that you build – houses - or two elements and a Wild Card, which gives you the choice of building one more house or an oven or a pen or a shrine. When all the building is done, you are dealt another Construction Cardboard and again build what is depicted on it. Of course, there are rules for this building – houses can

CLANS IN ANATOLIA

HÖYÜKNEOLITHIC SETTLEMENTS

Lots of tactic despite some chance and some astonishingly simple rules make for an interesting game with a range, depending on the chosen level of difficulty, ranges from families with a bit of gaming experience to experiences frequent players.

Dagmar de Cassan


OUR REVIEWtHÖYÜK / GABIS

GAMES BUYER INFORMATION SYSTEM - GABIS

STRUCTUREEach game review also features an evaluation which can help you to find the game that best suits your tastes. The color accompanying each game title represents the USER Group. The headline also contains icons for age and number of players. The BAR in the evaluation box displays color codes for up to 10 features of a game.

USER GROUPWe have defined 4 target groups (color accompanying the head line)

Kinder: Games for children an educational games. Adults can play in a guiding function.Familien: Children and parents play together, all have the same chance to win and have fun.Freunde: Young people and adults play together as equalsExperten: Games with special demands on rules and playing time. Especially for game geeks

Please note for the user groups Children, Family and Friends: Children who love to play can be ahead of their peers! Please note that our target group “families” does not imply the classical concept of „family games“! Furthermore, our user groups can overlap. The choice of suitable games always depends on your playing partners and your fun with games!Games that are especially eligible for Solo play or for 2 play-ers or Large groups of players are marked with an icon.

FEATURESEach game targets preferences for different features in a player, therefore each game is not suitable for each player. We have listed 10 features players note when deciding on a game. Only if a player finds his preferred features in a game he will enjoy the game. The color code marks the dominant features. Educational games train the highlighted preference.

Empty boxes: This feature is neclectable or not present One colored box: This feature is present, but not essentialTwo colored boxes: This feature is present and important in the gameThree colored boxes: This feature is dominant and essential

Chance:The game is influenced by dice, cards or any other form of random generator

Tactics: Take decision, short-term planning, planning based on one move

Strategy: Think ahead, long-term planning, planning for several moves

Creativity: The player has to provide words, phrases, images and other creative efforts

Knowledge:Cultural and educational knowledge, long-term memory

Memory: Remember, learn by heart, short-time memory

Communication: Talk to each other, negotiate, inform

Interaction: Influencing each other, bluffing, auction

DexterityMotor skills

Action:Body movement, balance and reaction

ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONVersion: The edition of the game on which the review is basedRules: This lists the languages in which rules are available or are included in the game, often even more translations can be found on the web.In-game text: A YES marks a game with language-dependent components that cannot be played without translation or knowledge of the language

stand alone or in groups, houses in groups must be adjacent along an edge of the tile. Pens are built next to houses, the open side points at the corresponding house, and a pen can never be completely enclosed, you can only place buildings at three sides of it. Ovens and shrines are placed on top of houses. Houses that have been ruined are turned over, top levels and pens go off the board, ovens and shrines are deemed to be ruined, too. In this Basic game mode there are also rules for Families and Blocks and Ruins; Families are adjacent buildings of the same color; Blocks are adjacent houses, pens and ru-ined houses. This is supplemented in the Basic game by building stories, you can build a second level on a house.In the Catastrophe phase the top card from the stack is drawn; the starting player ap-plies the effect first and can decide on which of his properties he will let the ef-fect happen. In turn, all other players also resolve the effect on their properties; those effects always hit one or several blocks and cause loss of houses or loss of Aspect cards.In the Aspect Card phase all blocks are be-ing scored – you determine and score for majorities in ovens, shrines and pens. If you have the majority you receive an Aspect card from the corresponding stack. In case of a tie in a majority the level of buildings decides. Aspect cards can be used to build additional elements or to acquire victory points, you can play them at the start of any phase.In the End-of-the-Round phase the stacks of Aspect cards are replenished, which means that all Aspect cards that were played go underneath their stacks.If someone builds his 25th house, the game ends at the end of the current round; if you built your last house you can build other elements till the end. Then all players score one victory point for each Aspect cards and the village is scored one last time: If you have the biggest family in a block you score one point for each of your own houses.As I have already mentioned, you can play the game in several different levels of dif-ficulty; there is the basic game including families and two-storied houses. Then there is the Medium game in which Aspect cards for houses and height of houses are intro-duced. In the Advanced game mode the game is extended with cattle for the pens and villagers for the houses as well as a Sha-man and the special abilities of the individ-ual clans. To use those special abilities does, as I have already mentioned, require special efforts: You must first collect five Aspect cards featuring an identic symbol, must then discard those cards in order to score 12 points and, when you have acquired those points, you are allowed to use the special

ability of your clan – The Ders destroy a house of another player and build a house of their own there; the Sneerg take a pen and a cattle piece and place them on the board; the Lebu take and place a pen and a villager; the Oleyli steal two elements – not houses – from any player of their choice, and the Ruples build a house and place the Shaman on it.Well, well, I seem to have a mixed opinion on this somewhat mixed game – graphics and component put the topic across very nicely, the mechanism itself is rather abstract. The openly displayed Construction Cardboards introduce tactic, you see what other play-ers can do; yet the catastrophes in turn in-troduce an intense element of chance. You labor tactically for majorities and must live with randomly assigned Aspect cards as a reward for those labors. Something that needs to be especially mentioned is the clever and unusual mechanism for the start-ing player, who is determined by the start-ing player of the last round. All in all and all the same an attractive game, the mix of tactic and chance can be nicely managed and in the Advanced Game at the latest the dominance goes to strategy and tactics. þ

Dagmar de Cassan

INFORMATIONDesigner: Pierre CanuelArtist: Anthony CournoyerPrice: ca. 35 EuroPublisher: Mage Company 2014www.magecompanygames.com

Development, tile placementUsers: With friendsVersion: multiRules: de en frIn-game text: no

Comments: Good components, suiting the topic * Simple basic rules * Unusual mix of chance, strategy and tactic * Basic mechanics rather abstract

Compares to:First game with this mix of mechanisms

Other editions:Currently none

EVALUATION

My

rati

ng:

PLAYERS:2-5AGE:

10+TIME:60+

OUR REVIEW uMURANO


This game was published during Spiel 2014. It is not a pure worker placement game, but rather a worker movement game, that is, to express it most simplified, actions are influ-enced by the movements of ships at the edge of the game board.

What is the theme in the game of MURANO?Players acquire and build glass factories, shops, palaces, streets and special build-ings on seven islands in order too acquire gold coins, cards, glass beads or victory points. Each island offers a certain amount of building sites, on which you can build the property. Each of the five properties has an-other purpose: Glass factories produce red, blue and green glass beads, shops give you income in relation of the kind of customer they serve. Each card gives you an advan-tage which the owner can use during all the game. Properties must, as I have already mentioned, be acquired first and then you can build up to three properties with the “building” action option. The building ac-

tion casts money as as money is only avail-able in restricted quantities, it sometimes pays to choose the “production” action op-tion instead.

How can I build something and how can I produce glass?First of all, I must, as mentioned before, have acquired the tile in order to build. Using the “building” action which is the only one that is available three times at the edge of the game board, I can build three properties. It does not matter at all if I build three prop-erties of the same kind, streets, shops, glass factories, palaces or special buildings, or if I build a mixture of all. Shops, palaces, glass factories and special buildings can only be build on streets. When you build a shop it is important to check the type of customer that is already available on the island. There are red, blue and gray customers and the customers are printed onto the street tiles. Each customer gives one gold to the owner of a shop in the same color. Shops and glass

factories are marked with a token in the color of the player who owns it, for easy identification.A glass factory produces one glassed bead. For the “production” action you may draw one glass bead from the bag for each glass factory that you have built; production, however, causes heat and smoke on the island, therefore production has a price of two victory points for each glass factory that you use for production. For the sale of a glass bead you receive five gold, for two beads of the same color you receive 12 gold

and for three beads of the same color you earn 20 gold.Palaces yield the number of victory points printed on the tile and if you build a special building you may take special building card. The advantage of this card you can then use from your next turn to the end of the game.

What about the character cards?Character cards can be acquired with the action option of „hire characters“ and will score points for you at the end of the game. This action of “hire characters” is available

GLASS FACTORIES AND SHIPS

MURANOWORKER „MOVEMENT“ VERSUS WORKER PLACEMENT!

A thrilling, challenging and entertaining game of choosing the right option at the right time in an excellent interpreta-tion of the topic!

Erwin Kocsan


OUR REVIEWtMURANO

twice on the board. For a character to be able to score victory points, the condition stated for him must be met on the island and each card also demands a gondolier who can take him to the island that you intend to score. Conditions, fir instance, can be: “You score 2 victory points for each palace on this island” or “You score victory points equal to the total number of cus-tomers on this island”. Some cards even demand two gondoliers on the island. In case a player has, for instance, placed five character cards and four gondoliers, he will not be able to score one of the cards. The placement of a gondolier is also a separate action option.

Setting up the game:In case of two and three players you use the side of the game board where the island of „Sacca Serenella“ is marked for placing cards, the island does not come into play for that number of players. The direction of movement for the ships is marked by the bow wave, they move in counter-clockwise direction. The tiles are separated by type, shops, palaces and streets are shuffled and placed as face-down stacks on the corre-sponding areas on the board. Five charac-ter cards are removed from the game ran-domly.

What is new in this „movement games?At the edge of the game board you find a total of 18 action cases, which are assigned to 11 different areas. Eight of those 18 cases are occupied by ships, there are seven black ones and one red ship. In order to imple-ment an action you must move one of the ships to the corresponding case. You may implement the action that is indicated by the ship that was the last one moved. The target case may not be occupied by an-other ship. If the targeted case is occupied, you can move the ship already there away from the case and you can move the ship behind it into the case that you want to use for your action. However, only moving one ship is free of charge. For moving the second ship you pay one gold, each addi-tional movement costs one gold more than the previously moved ship. An absolutely interesting mechanism which you need to take into account to decide if it is better to save money or to be prepared sometimes to invest a bit more to be able to do the ac-tion after all. Only the player who owns the “Lighthouse” is allowed to move the red ship to a case that is taken already and to use it all the same.

The combination of actions is what makes the game a challenge!As regards to the mechanics of the game, the building action has a central role to play,

but, however, makes only sense in combina-tion with other action options. What I mean is, once you have built a facility it is useful to take a look at the use of the building in com-bination with the character cards. Those cards yield victory points, when a player meets the conditions stated on the card and has placed a gondolier on the respec-tive island. Yet another aspect that must be taken into consideration is the fact that each island only offers a limited number of build-ing sites. Using the action option of “hire character” you draw three cards and and can keep one of them. Sometimes, however, he might all the same not be able to meet the condition listed on the character card, because all building sites have already been taken. The same goes for the gondolier loca-tions: When all spots for them are taken you cannot score a character card on this island anymore. Thus, players must always keep an eye on the course of the game as the conditions, especially as regards to the character cards, usually change during the game!

I believe that players are always confronted in MURANO with this one challenge: What do I do in this given situation that makes the most sense? Which of the islands offer the best opportunity for me to make use of my building properties or even make use of my gondolier? How can I best use my spe-cial building card? I am not able to relocate buildings or tear down buildings. Therefore I need to keep an eye on what my opponents are up to and compare my options to theirs. Money, too, places a central and deciding role, as nearly all actions can only be chosen when you have the necessary cash available for them. If you acquire a shop or palace, you have to pay 2 gold, and it costs you four gold to acquire two shops or palaces.

End of the game and scoring:The game ends when the stock of two dif-ferent types of tiles is depleted. Then all of the other players have one more turn. If you acquire a building in this last round, you may place it on the board according to the valid building rules and score victory points for it. This also goes for the player who trig-gers the end of the game. Afterwards, you score all the character cards one by one.

My opinion:I was impressed by the visual impression this games makes, being rich in compo-nents and very structured. The compo-nents have been designed very nicely in accordance to the topic and to the idea of the game. The tiles are easily distinguished, the design corresponds to the property. The board remains well-arranged all the time. You are always drawn to watching the

board to estimate what current action op-tions are available.

I also believe the combination of character cards with the gondolier to be a very in-teresting one. A game of MURANO is con-tinually challenging and I think that the selection of options for actions is absolutely successful. Those actions are absolutely suf-ficient to implement the topic of the game well. The only feature for which no suitable use was found are the bridge cases, they of-fer no opportunity to be used as connection between the islands.

I must confess that after a first game of MU-RANO one is not convinced to have already found the correct strategy. It takes more than one play of the game to find out which tactics are the most promising together with which strategy. It is exactly the interest-ing course of the game and the many tacti-cal options that make it worth your while to play MURANO several times. With the game MURANO the designers have managed to get across the theme of “Who will I become a famous merchant in Murano?” in a very entertaining, thrilling and challenging way. þ

Erwin Kocsan

INFORMATIONDesigner: Inka and Markus BrandArtist: Klemens FranzPrice: ca. 38 EuroPublisher: Lookout Spiele 2014www.lookout-spiele.de

Development, worker placementUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: de enIn-game text: yes

Comments: Very nice design * Good components * Very well-structured board * Challenging options for combinations of actions

Compares to:Worker placement games with a building topic

Other editions:Mayfair Games

EVALUATIONM

y ra

ting

:

PLAYERS:2-4AGE:

10+TIME:90+

OUR REVIEW u PAITITI


In Paititi you assume the roles of archeolo-gists who are questing for the legendary treasures of the long lost Incan city of Paititi. Paititi is probably to be found in the Eastern Part of Peru and was founded in the 16th century by the last Indian resistance fight-ers, after Francisco Pizzaro did conquer the Incan Empire and the last Incan Leader Túpac Amaru was killed. When the last re-maining Incan Fortress, Vilcamba, had been conquered, the last residents fled into the rainforest with their treasures and founded Paititi there.

According to other legends the city could also be situated in a Peruvian mountain range of impressive volcanos, the Cordillera Volcánia. The city is supposed to have been destroyed and buried in the eruption of one of those volcanos. Your task is to find the treasures and present them in a profitable way in exhibitions.

Paititi is a pure card game using three differ-ent types of cards. There are 64 Excavation cards which you can use in two ways to ex-cavate a site. If you put them on the table,

you use their blue side showing the pickax-es. If you play them from your hand, you use their orange side featuring shovels. Then there are 40 Artifact cards showing various kinds of artifacts – vases, statues, llamas, tiles, discs and discs – of different values as well as cards that show shards. Finally, there

are three different exhibition cards for Exhi-bition Opening, Travelling Exhibitions and Permanent Exhibitions.

At the start of the game you choose a player who shuffles the excavation cards and deals six cards to each player, who takes them up in hand. The remaining excavation cards are

ARCHEOLOGISTS AT WORK

PAITITIEXHIBITIONS, ADVENTURERS AND ARTIFACTS

Aa nice family game or a filler for more experienced players, with a very well interpreted topic and fantastic graphic design.

Kati Knoll


OUR REVIEWtPAITITI

placed as a face-down stack in the middle. Now you shuffle the Artifact cards and dis-play three of them, face down, on the table, the remaining artifact cards are set aside as a face-down draw pile.

Then you display the five cards for Exhibi-tion Openings face-up. The Exhibition cards for Phase C including the Stop card are shuffled and stacked face down, then you place the cards for Phase B, again shuffled and face down, on top of those for Phase C. You also will need paper and pencil to note the victory points which are collected in ex-hibitions in the course of the game.

When the starting player is chosen, the game can begin. He has now the choice of four action options:

Draw two excavation cardsPlace one excavation card as a pickaxe on the tableExcavate an artifactArrange an exhibition

You play in clockwise direction and each player has always the choice of one of those action options.

When you choose the action „Draw two excavation cards“ you draw two cards from the stack to your hand and after this your turn ends instantly. You need to adhere to the limit of maximum eight excavation cards in your hand. Should you hold more than eight excavation cards, you need to re-duce the number to eight cards.

Another action option is the action of „Put down one excavation card for a pickaxe. If this action is chosen, you put exactly one card, blue side up, down on the table. This card indicates how many pickaxes you can use with this card, there are values one to three. If this action is chosen a second time, the card is put on top of the first one, so that you can always only use the top card.

The third action option is „Excavate an arti-fact“. When his action is chosen, the player selects one of the artifacts on display or the top card from the draw pile and pays the indicated costs. The back sides of the cards indicate the costs, you must always pay with pickaxes and shovels. The neces-sary pickaxes are taken from the row on the table, you must start with top card and can use as many as you need, but cannot pick cards from within the staggered row to avoid overpaying. Shovels are taken from your hand cards. You can always overpay both the number of pickaxes or shovels, if necessary.When the costs are paid, you turn over the

artifact cards for all players to see. If you found shards, you put them on the discard pile and immediately draw two excavation cards. All other artifact cards can be set aside face-down immediately.

The last of the four action options to be cho-sen is „Arrange an exhibition“. To be able to choose this action you must have at least two artifact cards.For choosing this action you score one vic-tory points in any case. After you have cho-sen one of the available exhibitions, all other players also choose artifacts from their hand which they want to use for participation in this exhibition. But take card! Each exhibi-tion only specializes in two types of artifacts. As soon as all players have chosen their arifacts, they simultaneously reveal those cards and note their victory points.

Depending on which exhibition was cho-sen, there are certain procedures and points distributions that need to be adhered to. Each exhibition card always shows two ex-hibitions for which each player can provide artifacts.There are cards featuring two Opening Ex-hibitions; for those exhibitions each player only lends his artifacts to the exhibition and gets them back afterwards. You score one victory point per artifact.

Besides the Exhibition openings there are exhibition cards featuring one permanent exhibition or one travelling exhibition. In case of a travelling exhibition it pays to own many artifacts of one kind, because the more artifacts you have the more victory points you score. As the exhibition is a trav-elling one, you immediately discard all cards that you chose to contribute to the exhibi-tion after scoring. For a permanent exhibition you score three points for each artifact that you exhibit. When the exhibition is scored you get your cards back, but there are some losses due to breakings. Each player who participated in the exhibition must discard one card that was part of the exhibition, he chooses the card. Furthermore, the player who scored most points in the exhibition, must discard an additional card. All other artifact cards can be used again in later exhibitions.When both exhibitions on the card have been dealt with, the card is discarded and a new exhibition card is revealed.

The game continues in this way until the Stop card „Temporarily closed“ is revealed. This card is placed next to the exhibition cards and from now on no new exhibition cards are drawn after an exhibition cards. The game continues in the usual way until two of the remaining exhibitions have been

dealt with. After this, the game ends imme-diately.All players add their victory points and all artifacts that players currently hold are add-ed to the score with one point per artifact. Whoever has most victory points, wins the game. In case of a tie in points the winner is the player who has most artifact cards left; if this still results in a tie, all players in the tie win the game together.

Paititi by Walter Schranz is a pure card game the graphics of which very painstakingly and very harmoniously done by Klemens Franz, dedicated to the Games Charity „Spielend helfen”. The graphic design and the mechanism of the game immediately immerse players in the topic of the game, the atmosphere and topic of digging for treasures, excavating and archeologists has been implemented very well. In my opin-ion, the game is very will suited for families, where fun in playing and topic take prece-dence. Experienced players and frequent players will probably not take huge plea-sure in the game, because the card avail-ability is too much chance-dependent, in my opinion. But if you are looking for a filler after a long evening of games, you cannot go wrong with Paititi. þ

Kati Knoll

INFORMATIONDesigner: Walter SchranzArtist: Klemens FranzPrice: 7 EuroPublisher: Österr. Spiele Museum 14www.spielemuseum.at

Cards, collecting, discardingUsers: For familiesVersion: deRules: de enIn-game text: no

Comments: Topic well interpreted * Nice and functional design * Limited charity edition

Compares to:Set collecting games, games on excavations


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PLAYERS:2-4AGE:7+

TIME:60+

OUR REVIEW uQUEEN‘S ARCHITECT


As an architect you want to recommend yourself and your craftsmen to the queen to be allowed to build her new palace – the necessary appreciation for this is earned by constructing new buildings, doing repairs and working in the fields.Already preparing the game wets your ap-petite – as a player you receive a Tavern

board with a Moneychanger track and an Action Star; one of your markers is placed as the architect on the top building case of the star; there is a carriage for each player in the capitol and the board shows the ap-preciation track with nine randomly chosen appriciation tiles and the palace. At the start of this appreciation track and the start of the

Moneychanger track we place our remain-ing two markers. The capital on the board is surrounded by villages, cities and monaster-ies, each with a spot reserved for a demand tile of corresponding size and building lots. Finally, we turn up six tiles from the starting craftsmen tiles stack and put them on the Black Board section of the game board, the

tiles must all be placed with correct orienta-

AMBULANT ARCHITECTS

QUEEN’S ARCHITECTCOLLECT PRESTIGE TO BUILD THE PALACE

Targeting families, the game, however, has some demands as regards to experience – partly in the handling of crafts-men at the Action Star, partly due to their chance-driven availability.

Dagmar de Cassan


OUR REVIEWtQUEEN‘S ARCHITECT

tion.There are six different craftsmen – Lum-berjack, blacksmith, glazier, stonemason, bricklayer and tailor – and in each craft three different craftsmen of different values and looks. A craftsmen tile has six values for performance, a drop-out arrow, the symbol of the craft and an appreciation value for repairs and arrows for the direction of rota-tion. If you hire a craftsmen, you place him at the Action Star, his current performance determines how much money or apprecia-tion you get. When a job is done, the tile is rotated by one position in direction of the arrow, When then the drop-out arrow is next to the hammer symbol on the Action Star, the craftsman works one last time and is then taken out of play.Already at the start of the game we need to take a few decisions: The starting player chooses one of the starting craftsmen and places him with the highest position at one slot of the Action Star – highest posi-tion means number above the head of the portrait on the tile. Then he can rotate the craftsman in direction of the arrow and take one coin for each rotation by one position. When all players have chosen a craftsman and rotated him, a second such round is done in the opposite direction. After that, each player has two craftsmen at his Action Star and a few coins and we can begin to play.The active player moves his architect on the Action Star by one, two or three positions in clockwise direction and then implements the corresponding action. Movement of the architect is mandatory, you can pass on implementing the action.Action options on the star are:Day laborer – Craftsmen used as day labor-ers earn coins, one coin for two craftsmen used, rounded up. Craftsmen with a Day La-borer symbol can then be rotated and give you two extra coins.Hire – You can take a craftsman from the display on the Black Board on the board, pay the cost in coins and place tile with the corner, that was next to the hammer on the black board, into a slot of the Action Star. You can employ several craftsman of the same craft, but they must be different char-acters. Then the marker on the price track is lowered by one, the top craftsman is now cheaper by 1 or goes out of play, if the price was already at the lowest possible mark. Then all remaining craftsmen are moved up to close the gap and empty positions at the bottom are filled from the stack of crafts-men tiles.Travel – You move your carriage and pay the price for the number of steps you move, you can enter or cross occupied positions.Tavern – Craftsmen tokens at the entrance can be sent into the tavern by paying coins,

before that you move, if applicable, crafts-men tokens in the dormitory into the en-trance and craftsmen tokens in the saloon to the dormitory. When you send a crafts-man from the entrance to the saloon you rotate all craftsmen of that craft by one posi-tion, but counter-clockwise!Gain confidence / Redeem bonds – You can either gain confidence with the Mon-eychanger and move your marker one po-sition up on his track or can, if you want to redeem bonds, redeem a number of bonds equal to the position of your current marker, each redeemed bond gives you two coins.Build– You can construct a building or do repairs.To construct a building you must have your carriage at the intended location, without a marker of your own and you must employ a craftsman from each of the crafts indicated by the demand tiles at the location. When those conditions are met, all craftsmen at your Action Star participate in the construc-tion. You add all current performance val-ues and deduct the cost for the best empty building lot at the location, where you then place your building marker. The resulting to-tal is the amount of acquired appreciation, which can only be maximum 10 in a village, maximum 15 in a monastery and maximum 20 in a town, regardless of what the calcu-lated total might be. Buildings in town give you a bonus. With the acquired appreciation you can advance on the appreciation track as many steps as you can pay for; apprecia-tion insufficient for the next step gives you one bond per appreciation unit, you are also allowed to not pay for a step and get additional bonds. At the end of the build-ing action each craftsman is rotated by one position.Repairs can be done at any time, but only using a maximum of three craftsmen from different crafts and you score the apprecia-tion stated by the number in the parchment symbol on the craftsman tile. You can again use the appreciation for advancing on the track or take bonds, but do not get eventual bonuses and craftsmen are rotated by one position.With a mix as clever and remunerative as possible you work up your way on the the appreciation track to the palace slot, get your carriage to the capital and get the ar-chitect to a building position and make sure that the craftsmen provide a total perfor-mance of minimum 15 – when all this is ac-complished you build at the palace. Crafts-men are not turned and all remaining play-ers have another turn till the round ends. When, at the end of the round, you were the only one to build at the palace, you win the game; if several players did build you win if you earn more appreciation at building there.

Craft is the key word here, you get the im-pression of carefully crafted, interlocking mechanisms that all work very well, excel-lent craftsmanship by the game designer. The Action Star, the craftsmen, the clever and well-working Tavern mechanisms – which allows you, for little money, to get a high-performance craftsman back into ac-tion quicker than by rotating him through six positions – all this fits very well together and demands quite a lot of planning and calculation; take the question of bonds or confidence, construction or repairs. Unfor-tunately, this is somewhat spoiled by the random appearance of craftsmen; if the one that you badly need does not appear or is snatched away by another player one can be far behind in the race to the palace rather quickly, if you do not switch to the mix of re-pairs and hiring craftsmen. Queen’s Architect is a good and beautiful game, also as regards to design and com-ponents, the rules are excellently done, and despite a few reservations about some mechanism details I can recommend the game to families with gaming experience and also to experienced players who can live with the chance element. þ

Dagmar de Cassan

INFORMATIONDesigner: Volker SchächteleArtist: Dennis LohausenPrice: ca. 38 EuroPublisher: Queen Games 2015www.queen-games.de

Worker placement, raceUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: de enIn-game text: no

Comments: Very good components and design * Excel-lent rules * Mechanisms interact nicely * Chance-driven craftsmen availability can disturb the game flow

Compares to:Concordia and others for Rondel, Worker Placement

Other editions:Bilingual edition German/English, Queen Games

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10+TIME:60+

OUR REVIEW u ELYSIUM


To be a Demigod and try to get yourself a seat on Mount Olympus! If this is your desire you should absolutely try the board game with this topic, Elysium by Brett J. Gilbert and Matthew Dunstan, published by Space Cowboys.How do you achieve your goal to be ac-cepted into Olympus? By surrounding yourself with heroes and by forming strong card combinations with the help artifacts. However, those card combinations are only useable for a short time, therefore it makes sense to get them into Elysium when condi-tions are at their optimum.

When we open the box we find quite a lot of components: 168 cards, they represent eight families of 21 cards each; 1 Temple in two parts, one Steps board showing posi-tions to mark the rounds; 1 Oracle board, 16 columns, four each in yellow, blue, green and red, 4 Player boards, 6 Quest tiles, 4 Or-der of play discs, 1 Epoch marker, 12 Trigger rings, 4 Player aids, 19 Bonus tiles, 45 Victory point tokens (25x 1 victory point and 30x 5 victory points), 25 Prestige point tokens (15x 1 prestige point, 10x 5 prestige points),

1 Guide to the cards booklet and 1 rules booklet.

For a game of Elysium you only select five families out of the eight families provided, which results in a great variety and spec-trum, as the different mixtures of families provide many different situations.You now shuffle the 105 cards for the se-lected five families. To determine the num-ber of cards that are laid out you multiply the number of players by 3 and add 1 to this number. For four players you therefore reveal 13 cards.This display of cards is called Agora.Each of the families is dedicated to a god or a goddess. Those deities introduce their own abilities to the game. The various cards of a family allow a player to use the most varied combinations of actions.The Temple is placed in the middle of the table, and directly below the temple you display the various Quest tiles, their number depends on the number of players. Underneath those q quest tiles you place the Steps board. The area beneath the Steps board is re-

served for the Agora, where you now place the number of cards determined as already described.The chosen starting player now takes the Order of play disc #1, the other players in clock-wise direction take the other discs in ascending order. Then each player takes as many victory point tokens as are equal to the number on his order of play disc.Each player takes four columns of his cho-sen color, a Player board and four gold coins.The remaining cold coins, victory point to-kens, bonus tiles, prestige point tokens and trigger rings are laid out as general stock.

During the game you put all your gold coins, the victory point tokens you receive, also the bonus tokens and prestige point tokens on your Player board. The columns you did not yet place also sit on your Player board.

The game lasts five epochs (game rounds) and each epoch has four phases.Phase 1 is the displaying of cards in the Ag-ora. Beginning with the second round, cards still in the Agora at that point are removed and new cards are displayed. In Round 1 you only display cards.

Phase 2 is the Action phase. Each player holds four columns which enable him to take three cards and one quest tile.The are above a Player’s board is called his Domain. When a player takes a card, he puts

DEMIGODS TRY FOR A POSITION ON OLYMPUS

ELYSIUMHEROES AND ARTIFACTS


OUR REVIEWtELYSIUM

this card into his Domain. For the cards to yield victory points at the end of the game, as many of the cards in the Domain as possi-ble must be transferred into the area below his board. The area his called Elysium.Each card shows one or two color symbols in the top right-hand corner. To acquire a card you must have the columns of those colors still standing on your player board, unused.To acquire the card you must then relin-quish a column which need not be the column that you had to have to be entitled to acquire the card, you can discard any of your columns.Some of the cards have abilities that you must resolve instantly; you might, for in-stance, receive gold coins, victory points or additional actions. Other effects of cards are permanent effects and provide you with permanent income, victory points or other effects. Some effects can only be used once

during an epoch and you need to rotate the card by 90 degrees to indicate that the card has been already used in the current epoch.With nearly all of the cards those effects are active only while the cards are situated in the Domain; as soon as they are in the Ely-sium, they lose their abilities.

In case of three and four players four quest tiles are on display, in a game for two play-ers there are only two Quest tiles.To acquire a Quest tile in a game with three and four players you must still have an un-used column available, in the color that is visible above the Quest tile in the symbol in the temple.In a game of two players the acquisition of a Quest tile is easier, as a player only needs to have von column in one of two possible symbols.With the acquisition of a Quest tile you re-ceive additional actions and also income. In relation to the Quest tile you now have the possibility to transfer cards to Elysium and receives income and maybe victory points. The Quest tile also determines which order of play disc you receive and thus deter-mines when it is your turn in Phase 3, the Writing of Legends, and at the start of the next round.When you have miscalculated in your plans and no suitable quest card is available, that is, you have only a column left that does not allow you to take a Quest tile you must pass and wait until all other players have finished their turn. Then you take the last remaining Quest tile and must turn this over to show

an Unfinished Quest, you are now last in or-der of play and discard your last remaining column.

When all players have used all their columns, Phase 2 ends. A player who has acquired an Unfinished Quest is automatically given the turn of play disc with the highest number.

In Phase 3 the turn of play discs are re-dis-tributed according to the numbers on the Quest tiles and players now, in this new turn order, implement the options provided by their acquired Quest tiles, if possible.Two examples for Quest tiles: Quest tile #1 gives you two gold, two victory points and the option to transfer two cards into Ely-sium, and you will be the starting player in Phase 3. Quest tile #3 gives you five gold and you can transfer two cards into Elysium. The disadvantage of this card in a standard game is that you in Phase 3 and especially in the next round, only the third player in turn of play order.If a player had to content himself with an Unfinished Quest, he has now the chance to transfer one card to Elysium and receives in-come of one Gold and is, as mentioned, the last one in turn order.

The family cards show their Level in the top left-hand corner, the Level indicates the amount of gold that must be paid if you want to transfer this family card from your Domain to your Elysium.When placed in the Elysium, individual cards there do not score victory points, they only score in the guise of Legends, that are several cards that form a group.

There are two kinds of legends: Level Leg-ends or Family Legends.A Family Legend comprises cards that are dedicated to the same deity. Such a Family Legend is made up of minimum two cards and maximum three cards, in a complete Family Legend there must be one card of Level 1, one card of Level 2 and one card of Level 3.A Level Legend comprises cards from dif-ferent families. All cards in the Legend must be of the same level, for instance, all need to have a cost of 3 gold. A Level Legend must comprise a minimum of two cards, whereas a complete Level Legend comprises five cards. But take care! Each family can only be represented once in a Level Legend.

For a complete Family Legend comprising three cards you score six victory points, for an incomplete Family Legend of two cards you score three victory points.For two cards in a Level Legend you score two victory points, and a complete Level Legend comprises five cards will earn you

twelve victory points; the score for a Level Legend of three cards is four victory points and 8 victory points for four cards.You can start several Level Legends and Family Legends, but cards that have been assigned to a specific legend cannot be as-signed to another Legend.

In Phase 4 all players take back all their col-umns. Family cards in your Domain that you might have used and rotated are rotated back and the next round begins.

ELYSIUM is a very good, but rather complex game. The flow of the game itself is rather simple, but for good, logical moves you sometimes have to consider very carefully what to do.The general mechanics of phases and play-er turns is mastered quickly, but an effective combination for optimum use of acquired card is not achieved by all players in their first game.Some players also have had problems with the mechanisms that for the acquisition of a family card or Quest tile you only have to have a column of the corresponding color available. Many players in our test games again and again wanted to discard the col-umn of the respective color.However, this mechanism of choosing cards by using those color columns is ingenious and absolutely new. The compulsion to ac-quire a Quest tile with those color columns at all costs to avoid massive disadvantages is absolutely ingenious, too.The challenge to estimate when you have to acquire a Quest tile, even if that means that you relinquish the chance to acquire an important family cards, is what, due to strategic and tactical considerations, makes Elysium a game that can be absolutely rec-ommended to all experienced players. In theory, beginners also can master the game, but it will them take quite a lot of plays to be able to effectively use the combination op-tions of the cards.

It is important to create as complete Leg-ends as possible and to be first to complete Legends of a certain Level or a Legend of a Family as this will give you victory points bonuses.ELYSIUM is actually a development game with cards, which, however, does not only feature the developing of action options, but in which you must carefully consider when you need to renounce certain possi-bilities in favor of victory points.

Where there is light, there has also to bee shadow, and this is of course the case in this game, too, as sometimes there are long waiting periods while players consider their moves. But in my opinion the enjoyment of

The game is ingenious and immediately got a place in my games collection and will be on the table again and again!

Maria Schranz

OUR REVIEW u ELYSIUM / SMALL WORLD UNDERGROUND


FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

SMALL WORLD UNDERGROUNDIN A NEW UNDERGROUND WORLD

this game counterbalances possible down-times.Despite the rules being not really compli-cated, I have to choose „For Experts“ as the target group for the game, as surely only experienced frequent players will be able to use the complex interactive mechanisms for effective moves and strategies. Less ex-perienced players will surely be able to mas-ter the rules and play the game according to those rules, but they will barely be able to use the combinatory options of the cards. Therefore they will only rarely be able to win the game against experienced players. This confirms my opinion that the game is best suited to experienced players.

With its mechanism of making cards only available for acquisition if you have color columns of certain colors still available without having to use them to acquire the card, provides very unusual game flows in Elysium. This mechanism of color columns use is absolutely ingenious and new and provides huge fun in playing.

My conclusion: This game is absolutely in-genious and will provide new situations in the game again and again and thus re-newed and huge fun. þ

Maria Schranz

INFORMATIONDesigner: B. J. Gilbert, M. DunstonArtist: TeamPrice: ca. 40 EuroPublisher: Space Cowboys 2015www.spacecowboys.fr

Set collecting, cards, developmentUsers: For expertsVersion: deRules: de en fr it plIn-game text: yes

Comments: Simple basic rules * Complex game flow due to combinations * Ingenious new mecha-nism for card acquisition

Compares to:7 Wonders

Other editions:English, French, Italian and Polish editions at Space Cowboys, Asterion and Rebel.pl

EVALUATION

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PLAYERS:2-4AGE:

14+TIME:60+

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook!For all information on that check our website. 15

OUR REVIEWtSMALL WORLD UNDERGROUND

www.gamesjournal.at 15ISSUE 483 / SEPTEMBER 2015

Another good box from Days of Wonder, full of colorful components, fantastic graph-ics and a couple of double sided maps that allows 2-3-4-5 players to fight for a new “underground” world but my first question, opening the box was … as I already own SMALL WORLD do I really need to go UN-DERGROUND?

The answer is a clear NO, unless you wish to add those 15 news races to your collection, even if some of those races cannot be used

on the surface, as well as some of the origi-nal ones cannot go underground!!!

This is of course my personal answer, but … why then I bought this game? Well the rea-son is simple: if you owns both games AND the expansion SMALL WORLD TUNNELS you may play a “big” game using both maps and the 12 expansion counters (the “tun-nels”) to connect them and pass from the underground to the surface and vice-versa. The rules booklet of the expansion also gives you a certain number of set-up maps, with the exact position of the tunnels and of some monsters are ready to … receive you.

All that said let’s go back to the game and let’s try to see the differences between IN-DERGROUND and his elder brother! The components are very similar: 2 double sid-ed maps, 165 counters and 15 banners for the new races, 21 special powers, 14 mon-sters, 1 volcano, 24 counters for mountains, relicts, etc., a handful of special tokens, the usual victory coins (VC) and the special die. The box also includes 5 large players sum-mary aids and a game summary sheet.

The game is played exactly like Small World with the following differences:- Instead of the “lost peoples” you initially place some monsters on the map

- You also place some “bonus” counters (Popular Places and Relicts) on the map at the set-up: they will give you bonus tokens or special powers when you win a fight against the monsters. Both kind of counters must always remain in the region where they were initially placed and cannot be moved.

- There is a river in the middle of the map and you may cross it using one of your units: when redeploying you must take that unit and place it in another area as the river must be empty at the turn’s end (unless you have

a special race with the possibility of stay …wet).

Of course you cannot use tokens, bonus counters, etc. in Small World if they make nonsense (example: Flames are used to place the Volcano on the map where a special symbol is printed and this cannot be done on Small World maps). Otherwise you may consider the terrains as equivalent: the “black mountains” are equivalent to the Mountains of Small world, “mushroom for-est” correspond to the forests, etc.

Excluding the above notes the two games are played exactly in the same way: you se-lect a race (paying VC if you want to jump over some races) and you take the number of units listed on the banner and the special power badges. Then you invade the map starting from a bordering area (on the edge of the map) and you conquers an area using two units plus additional units if monsters, mountains, enemy units, etc. are already there. (Difference: if you get control of a re-gion after defeating the original defending monsters you discover a special token (Pop-ular Place or Relict) and you may use it to get some bonus: the “Froggy’s ring” gives you 1 VC per race adjacent to his area, the “Shiny Orb” let you get an extra unit of your people at the place of one of your opponent, the “Diamond Fields” gives you 1 VC for the re-gion where it is and all the regions of the same type that you control, etc.).

When you fight an enemy race and you win the battle your opponent permanently dis-card one unit and places the others (if any) on any other area currently occupied by that race. (Difference - if you conquer a re-gion where Popular Places or Relicts already exist you take control of them and it is your turn to profit of their bonus).

You may also try to conquer a region if you have less units than necessary using the special die and hoping to get the necessary number of “pips” (three sides are empty and the others have 1-2-3 pips respectively).

Once you stop your advance you may re-deploy your units as you like and then you should calculate the VC that you were able to get: 1 VC per occupied area and extra VC depending on the special powers of the race (or Popular Places and Relicts).

When you see that your race cannot con-quer any more areas you will decide to put it in DECLINE and you leave just one unit in each area, overturned, to show its new sta-tus: these areas will still give you VC each turn until they are conquered by another race.

When the game arrives to the end and the players have played the final turn, all discov-er their VC and the player with the higher score wins.

The game is easy to teach and to learn, but I do not agree (as it is written on the box) that 8 years old children may play it without some adult help, at least at the beginning. In my opinion they should change this infor-mation to 10 years and up.

We played only twice the version with two maps and the “tunnels” so I cannot give you any special hints, but of course you have to add 40-50 minutes to the length of the game, mainly because you have to better program your invasion on one world or the other (always keeping an eye to the areas where the tunnels are), you have to decide if and when you want to use the tunnels to pass underground or vice versa, and you must pay high attention at the possible attacks from one of the two worlds to the other.

But, of course, we are all “old hand gamers” and we bought SMALL WORLD UNDER-GROUND mainly for this opportunity!!! þ

Pietro Cremona

If you liked Small World this game may give you extra races and opportunities

Pietro Cremona

INFORMATIONDesigner: Philippe KeyaertsArtist: Miguel CoimbraPrice: ca. 40 EuroPublisher: Days of Wonder 2011www.daysofwonder.com

Placement, areas, developmentUsers: For expertsVersion: deRules: de en es fr it plIn-game text: yes

Comments: Good components * Very similar to Small Worlds * Good variant when combining both games and the Tunnel expansion

Compares to:Vinci, other editions of Small World

Other editions:English and French at Days of Wonder; Edge Enter-tainment, Spain; Rebel.pl, Poland; Giochi Uniti, Italy;

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10+TIME:90+

PLAYED FOR YOU u 1, 2, 3, PAPAGEI! / ALADIN’S FLIEGENDER TEPPICH


Birthday party for Camel Casimir and all guests are meant to have a good time; Monkey Albert has prepared a fun game with figures of the animal guests: Twelve animal figures – Camel, Giraffe, Bear, Leopard, Rhinoc-eros, Zebra, Buffalo, Elephant, Monkey, Hippopotamus, Lion and Tiger – are set out in a circle. 47 round animal cards show one each of different types of

animals, in different numbers, and numbers also differ by one on front and back side. The cards are stacked any side up and covered with the Cache card. The starting player takes away the Cache card and puts it underneath the top card to cover up the next card in the stack. Now all take a close look at the animal card and memo-rize the animals there. Then the

tile is turned over and all players – on a Signal of 1, 2, 3, Papagei! – try to grab the animal that is now missing on the card or that has been added. If you are first to take the correct animal, you receive the card. If nobody has grabbed the correct animal, the card is set aside. Then all animals are again set up in a circle and a new round begins. Whoever is first to collect six animal cards, wins.If you like, you can of course go on playing until all cards have been taken and the winner is whoever collected most cards.First of all there is praise due to the enchanting animal figures, they are – suitable for the tar-geted age – colorful, but not too far away from reality and small enough for small hands and yet good to grab. The game mechanics are easy and well-working, and you can further customize the game for players by taking out the more difficult cards with 7 and 8 animals and a red border. þ

1, 2, 3, PAPAGEI!THE ZEBRA IS MISSING!

INFORMATION

Designer: Reiner KniziaArtist: not namedPrice: ca. 15 EuroPublisher: Asmodee 2015www.asmodee.de

PLAYERS:2-6

AGE:4+

TIME:15+

EVALUATIONMemory, reactionUsers: For childrenVersion: deRules: de dk en fr il ro ruIn-game text: no

Comments: Beautiful, handy figurines * Simple rules * Good training for reaction and memory * Fun to play!

Compares to:Reaction games for grab-bing things

Other editions:As “More or Less” in several languages

Zephir is a fast, but unfortu-nately vey clumsy Flying Carpet, and yet all players try to load up as many treasure items as pos-sible for transport on the carpet without Zephyr dropping every-thing and falling himself.Assisted by adults, players as-semble Zephyr the Flying Car-pet. With the Scorpion button in the foot of the carpet holder you can adjust the level of dif-

ficulty: By turning the button to the left or the right you adjust the length of the string and this either brings the carpet nearer to the magnet and the game gets easier or the carpet is fur-ther away from the magnet and the game gets more difficult. All treasure pieces are put into the Magic Bag.The active player draws a trea-sure from the Magic Bag, blindly

and without searching in the bag, and puts as cautiously as possible onto the carpet. When treasures fall off, you must col-lect all of them and put them back on the carpet and then you need to do a penalty turn, draw another treasure from the bag and put it on the carpet. If you cause Zephyr to fall and drop all treasures, you have lost the game.Wasn’t there something once – oh, yes, we packed equipment onto a Bronco’s saddle and then there was also ..., oh, well, it doesn’t matter, the stacking is fun in any case and here there is at least no random mechanism in play, the problem is only dex-terity and balancing of treasures on the carpet, and as there are 32 pieces you have your work cut out. Shout the Flying Car-pet fall you can console yourself with having made him really fly! Nicely made entertainment for children and at the same time fine training for motor skills and balance. þ

ALADIN’S FLIEGENDER TEPPICHWILL ZEPHIR DROP THE TREASURES?

INFORMATION

Designer: not namedArtist: not namedPrice: ca. 30 EuroPublisher: Goliath Toys 2015www.goliathgames.com

PLAYERS:2+

AGE:4+

TIME:15+

EVALUATIONDexterityUsers: For childrenVersion: deRules: deIn-game text: no

Comments: Very nice implementation of the mechanism * Me-chanics work well * Good training for motor skill and balance * Adult assistance for assembly

Compares to:Balance and dexterity games with tumbling



PLAYED FOR YOUtALFA BETA / ALLE VÖGEL SIND SCHON DA!

The hooks in the game may eas-ily have you hooked, because it works well. How? You are meant to catch most points and that is achieved with the longest pos-sible words. The game features double-sided hooks, each hook carries a letter, 74 orange hooks show the normal, easy letters of value 1, 14 green hooks carry the somewhat more difficult let-ters of value 2 – B, F, G, H and K

– and the red hooks provide the problematic letters of value 3 – C, J, P, Q, V, X, W and Z. The hooks showing an underscore are jok-ers for all other letters.In turn, you think of a word, if possible with accessible letters only, take the first letter from the heap, hold the hook verti-cally and fish the next letter out of the heap with the lower part of the hook, and go on like

this until you have formed a valid word. The letters must be hooked in the right order and also in the right orientation; if a letter is upside down, your turn ends and you do not score. Your turn also ends without score if a letter drops off. Letters you still hold are always put back. If you managed a valid word, you keep it for scoring in the end. Re-member, you cannot shuffle the heap, you must make do with accessible letters. When all letters have been tak-en or when no valid word can be formed with the remaining letters, you win with the highest score from the words you col-lected. A creative variant of the make-words-out-of-letters games. Of course it gets more and more difficult, because letters go out of play, but you can maybe form shorter and more valuable words, because difficult letters are unlocked. Creativity, vocab-ulary and a steady hand are in demand and provide fun! þ

ALFA BETATHE GAME THAT HAS YOU HOOKED

INFORMATION

Designer: Dugald KeithArtist: not namedPrice: ca. 23 EuroPublisher: Piatnik 2015www.piatnik.com

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:8+

TIME:25+

EVALUATIONWord formation, dexterityUsers: For familiesVersion: multiRules: cz de fr hu it nl pl skIn-game text: no

Comments: Marvelous game idea * Hooks are good to handle * Trains vocabulary and motor skills

Compares to:Word forming games in general, first game of its kind


Bird Party in the forest! Most bird guests have already arrived, but Hummingbird, Parrot, Guinea Fowl and Flamingo want to joint the festivities, too, but have to bring a gift to gain entry to the party house. However, the host of the bird party in the party house does not accept any old gift and in order for all players to win together one gift must be left over at the end.

16 bird cards show one of the four guests-to-be on the back of the card and and a colored gift on the front side. 16 Peep-hole cards show one of the four birds, a gift and a color, those peephole cards are shuffled and stacked face down. All bird cards are spread out around the party birdhouse card, bird side up. The top peephole card is turned up and the active player must now

turn up one of the bird cards that show the bird on the peep-hole card. If at the front of the bird card corresponds either in type of gift or color to the gift and/or color depicted on the peep-hole card, the bird card is put back again face-down into its previous position; if gift or color do not correspond, the card goes out of play and any bird card is turned over, until a match is found and the bird card is replaced.Now the next in turn reveals the next peephole card, turns over a corresponding bird, and so on. If you have to discard the last bird card, all have lost the game to-gether. When all peephole cards have been dealt with and there is one bird card with a gift left on the table, all players have won together. A cute cooperative memo ver-sion with very nice illustrations; players can task each other with remembering a special gift or color to have a better chance to win. þ

ALLE VÖGEL SIND SCHON DA!PARROT AND FLAMINGO, ARE THEY HERE?

INFORMATION

Designer: Reinhard StaupeArtist: O. and S. FreudenreichPrice: ca. 8 EuroPublisher: Amigo Spiele 2015www.amigo-spiele.de

PLAYERS:1-4

AGE:4+

TIME:10+

EVALUATIONCooperation, memoryUsers: For childrenVersion: deRules: deIn-game text: no

Comments: Enchanting drawings * Simple rules * Memo tasks possible

Compares to:Cooperative memo games


PLAYED FOR YOU uARCADIA QUEST / ARISTO-MAZE


As the leader of a guild of three heroes you play a campaign of six out of eleven scenarios to defeat Count Tooth and to free Arcadia. In a scenario a guild confronts Monsters and op-posing guilds. You can choose your guild members randomly or draft them; selected heroes stay the complete campaign, you cannot swap them during the campaign. To be victorious

in a scenario a guild must com-plete quests, kill opponents and retrieve treasures, all by using standard dungeon crawl mech-anisms.A turn comprises activation of a hero or a recuperation period for the guild; activation enables a hero to do movement and at-tack. Monsters in Arcadia never actively hunt heroes, but they defend themselves against he-

roes, that is, monsters are only activated as a reaction to a hero action. Monsters have Guard-ian reactions for squares in their near sphere of influence and retaliation reaction against a direct attack or monster attacks following a monster movement. Quests for a hero can demand player versus player – that is, hero against hero of another guild – or player versus environ-ment – that is, against special monsters or meeting special tasks. In this way you develop your hero so that he can acquire powerful items and weapons to resolve a scenario. For a success-ful campaign you must success-fully master three of six scenari-os of the Outer Circle, two out of four of the Inner Circle and the final confrontation at the center.Miniature adventure game are a specialty of Cool Mini or Not, and Arcadia Quest is a fantas-tic, well-made example for this, a game that is fun for an expe-rienced player as well as for a newbie to the genre. þ

ARCADIA QUESTGUILDS OF HEROES AGAINST GRAF ZAHN

INFORMATION

Designer: Thiago Aranga + TeamArtist: A. Cofrancesco + TeamPrice: ca. 65 EuroPublisher: Cool Mini or not/Asmodee 14www.asmodee.de

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:14+

TIME:60+

EVALUATIONFantasy, adventure, min-iaturesUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: de en es fr it ptIn-game text: yes

Comments: Well-structured rules * Lots of components * Does not need a game master, all can play * Enough variety in the scenarios

Compares to:Zombicide and other miniature fantasy games

Other editions:Asterion Press (it), Cool Mini or Not (en), Edge Entertainment (fr, es), Galápagos Jogos (pt)

As an aristocrat you have the chance to loot the Emperor’s catacombs, you hire adventur-ers to do the job.16 different characters carry hit-, mental and spirit values, a normal ability and a crest abil-ity that must be activated with a crest marker. 20 dungeon cards show creatures, menaces, undead and legacies, the carry damage value corresponding

to the values on the character cards and show all cards of their type on the backside. Each play-er has his own board with sec-tions for the phases of the game and uses a screen.Providing phase – players re-ceive coins and markers, 12 characters and a dungeon of eight random cards – 3 open, 5 face-down – are laid out. In the Inquiring phase players

bid in auctions for the cards in the dungeon that they want to check. In the Organizing phase to recruit characters you bid on those characters that you want to hire. In the exploration phase players determine – again se-cretly – how far they want to delve into the dungeon and which level of the dungeon they want to skip entirely. When all have chosen this the dungeon cards are all revealed and their effects are resolved for each player individually; if you do not reach your intended level, you have gained nothing; you re-ceive victory points, if you mas-ter your level and return.The renewed dungeon for each of the round round and the self-determined variable explora-tion depth are highly interesting and clever concepts, the mass of information on the cards is a challenge. Unfortunately, the auctions are a bit long-winded and are a somewhat disturbing factor, as they can keep a player completely out of the action in a given round. þ

ARISTO-MAZEARISTOCRATS AND ADVENTURERS

INFORMATION

Designer: BakaFireArtist: BakaFire, hounoriPrice: ca. 32 EuroPublisher: BakaFireParty/JaponBrand 14www.bakafire.main.jp

PLAYERS:3-4

AGE:12+

TIME:90+

EVALUATIONAdventure, auctionUsers: With friendsVersion: multiRules: en jpIn-game text: no

Comments: Clever, interesting concept * Realization marred by the auction mechanism * Nearly too much informa-tion on the cards

Compares to:Adventure games that include auctions



PLAYED FOR YOUtASCENSION / ASSAULT ON DOOMROCK

Ascension Aufstieg von Vigil is a deckbuilding game in which you fight monsters that appear in your deck for victory points or other advantages. You keep playing until all available vic-tory points have been won or until the joint card deck has been used up. In rise of Vigil a new type of cards was intro-duced, treasure cards called En-ergy Shards. Those shards, when

drawn, are displayed and then you keep drawing cards until a hero, monster or construct cov-ers the card. If you acquire or de-feat that covering card you also receive the treasure. If you play a Shard you can draw a card im-mediately and use the shard to activate and use effects of he-roes, constructs or monsters. Ascension Entfesselte Dun-kelheit is an expansion that is

intended especially for Ascen-sion Rise of Vigil, but can also be played as a stand-alone game for two or be combined with other editions of Ascension. Entfesselte Dunkelheit works with Dark Energy Shards– those cards work just like the Energy Shards that were introduced in Rise of Vigil and let you draw a new card when you play such a Shard. Dark Energy Shards have an additional effect called Fate which allows players to ban a card to his discard pile, when a Dark Energy Shard is placed in the middle row. There is also a new effect Transformation; cards with this effect embody heroes, constructs and mon-sters that can transform either into new beings or more power-ful versions of themselves.Ascension Entfesselte Dunkel-heit is again a very riveting and entertaining expansions and in-troduces a very arresting aspect to the game with the Transform-ing mechanism. þ

ASCENSIONENTFESSELTE DUNKELHEIT

INFORMATION

Designer: Justin GaryArtist: Eric SabeePrice: ca. 40 EuroPublisher: Marabunta 2014www.ascensiongame.com

PLAYERS:2-6

AGE:14+

TIME:30+

EVALUATIONDeck building, fantasyUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: de en frIn-game text: yes

Comments: Very well-made, interesting expansion * Intended especially to expand Rise of Vigil * Fits very well into the overall concept of Ascen-sion * Versatile as regards to number of players

Compares to:All other editions of Ascension

Other editions:Stone Blade Entertainment (en), Marabunta (fr)

Cooperative adventures in a co-median fantasy world. The ad-venture already starts with the selection of your hero, you com-bine them randomly from cards, so you might end um with a Frustrated Mage or a Stinky Hero. And because that is a lot of fun, our hero then must cope with a randomly drawn setting.And then the heroes begin their search for gold and ridiculous

items and acquire crazy abilities. In the course of this quest you must survive three encounters, aiming to survive the third epic boss encounter. The so-called Adventure Map is made up of a row of three cards and a draw pile. The heroes travel across this map as a group and actions cost time; you can travel, visit a location, explore an area or venture forth to another

part of the map, drawn from the pile, the left-most part of the map is discarded. Heroes can pay money to level up, that is, acquire new abilities to go level with their mates in the group. Acquired items are placed into a common pool and heroes can trade them, equip them or de-equip. After each adventure section you must survive a battle on the basis of rather copious rules, you roll dice, activate minions, activate the enemy Boss, your heroes use abilities and finally the battle field is cleared up. You win if you survive the last con-frontation and you lose when the combat points drop to zero or Doomrock is not found be-fore you run out of time.Underneath all the humor on cards and in illustrations a well-made nice dungeon crawl is hiding, with a very interesting combat mechanism – you roll dice and assign those dice to ability cards of your hero. Fun for experienced players! þ

ASSAULT ON DOOMROCKAMUSING ADVENTURES WITH RANDOM HEROES

INFORMATION

Designer: Tomasz StasiakArtist: Tomasz Stasiak and TeamPrice: ca. 50 EuroPublisher: Beautiful Disaster Games 14www.bdgames.pl

PLAYERS:1-4

AGE:10+

TIME:150+

EVALUATIONFantasy adventureUsers: For expertsVersion: enRules: enIn-game text: yes

Comments: Witty, cute texts and drawings * Lots of detailed rules * Interesting combat system * Gaming experi-ence necessary

Compares to:Dungeon crawls


PLAYED FOR YOU uATHLAS / BATTLESTAR GALACTICA DAS BRETTSPIEL


As a young Athilian -one of god-like beings that are also known as travelers – you are tasked with exploring the secrets of creation on the Seven Outer Worlds. You manipulate time and space and must finally open the portal to Athlas. The game comprises two phas-es: Creation and Command. In the Creation Phase each player uses cards to create and to

equip his own Alpha creatures. Those cards define abilities, strength, mobility and other characteristics of the creatures; the more cards you use for an Alpha the more expensive he becomes when you summon him in Phase Two. In this Phase Two both players summon units of their Alpha Creatures to the board und try to acquire – by us-ing orders and their own Divine

Intervention options – two out of three ancient relics and there-by to open the portal.In this command phase the turn of a player comprises Upkeep, Activation of Units and Sum-moning. In the Upkeep phase you remove markers for powers whose effects end in this phase and both players remove a du-ration cube from each active ef-fect of Divine Intervention. Then Activation of a unit gives the unit one move and one action, both can be used to activate an Alpha Power or a basic Power. In each round you can use one Di-vine Intervention. Terrain, Com-bat and types of Movement are additional factors for the units.This is a feast for strategists – if you like and want to use individ-ual customized strategies, here you find wonderful opportuni-ties in enormous variety, and in an environment of design and components in harmony with the topic, and, furthermore, not really complication in the imple-mentation. A new play, a new strategy! þ

ATHLASDUEL FOR DIVINITY

INFORMATION

Designer: Tzvika HarpazArtist: A. Papantoniou, G. VorgiaPrice: ca. 50 EuroPublisher: Golden Egg Games 14www.goldenegggames.com

PLAYERS:2

AGE:12+

TIME:60+

EVALUATIONMiniatures, card effectsUsers: For expertsVersion: enRules: de en itIn-game text: yes

Comments: Enormous variety in strategies * Similar to deck-construction in trading card games * Relatively simple rules for unit use * Topic attractively implemented

Compares to:Mage Wars

Other editions:Golden Egg (de, it)

Battlestar Galactica, the board game based on the TV series of the same name, is played in teams, but adds the complica-tion that your allegiance is se-cret and the teams have differ-ent goals. Teams are Humans and Cylons, both with a specific aim in the game: Humans are searching for the way back to Earth and Cylons simply want to destroy mankind. A round com-

prises one move per player, and a move comprises the draw-ing of ability cards, movement, action, crises, activating Cylon ship and preparing for jump-ing, if necessary. Humans win, if they travel a minimum of 8 units and do a final jump. Cylons win if they hinder the humans to achieve their goal.In the Daybreak / Götterdäm-merung expansion problems

arise on Galactica and all have to put their last hopes on Demetri-us, the ship guided by unknown forces; you need to cope with desperate missions and mutiny is threatening. New are alternate versions of some characters – there can only be one version in a game - and there are so-called miracle abilities or once-only use in a game. The abilities of mutiny cards can be used as an action. For the Mutineer – a new type of loyalty cards – new rules are introduced. The is also an al-ternate game “Die Suche nach der Erde / The Search for Earth”, using a Demetrius and Rebel Ba-sis Star Board.Yet another thrilling challenge for each of the factions, as usual resulting from the mix of coop-eration and achieving your own goals, with the added complica-tion of mutiny and the thrilling search for the Mission of “Suche nach der Erde”! An absolute must if you own the core game, the expansion can of course be combined with all other expan-sions! þ

BATTLESTAR GALACTICADAS BRETTSPIEL GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG ERWEITERUNG

INFORMATION

Designer: Corey Konieczka + TeamArtist: Taylor Ingvarsson + TeamPrice: ca. 37 EuroPublisher: Heidelberger 2014www.heidelbaer.de

PLAYERS:3-7

AGE:14+

TIME:180+

EVALUATIONCooperative SciFi adventureUsers: For expertsVersion: deRules: de en es fr it plIn-game text: yes

Comments: Can be combined with the Pegasus and Exodus expan-sions * New game option “Search for Earth” * New loyalty card “Mutineer”

Compares to:Battlestar Galactica, Schatten über Camelot and other games featuring cooperative elements and traitors

Other editions:Fantasy Flight Games (en), Edge Entertainment (es, fr), Giochi Uniti (it), Galakta (pl)


PLAYED FOR YOUtBLACK STORIES / CARNAC

This time the aim of the game is not to solve macabre riddles but to discard macabre cards as fast as possible. You are dealt seven cards, the rest is draw pile; one card is revealed to start the discard pile. In turn, each player discards a card to the pile – cor-responding in either weapon or number to the top card of the discard pile – or plays an action card – With Choice of Weapon

you dictate to the other player the type of weapon he must play, you cannot play this on another Choice or Weapon Card and cannot end the game with this card. Double Murder is played on Double Murder or a corresponding weapon, the next in turn must draw two cards and cannot play a card. Quadruple Attack with Choice of Weapon can only be played

if neither weapon or number in your hand fit the top card and you then can determine the next murder weapon and the next player must draw four cards and cannot play one. You cannot play this card to end the game. Change of Escape Direc-tion reverses the turn order, you can play this on a suitable weap-on or another Change of Escape Direction. For Jail the next play-er must mass his turn, you play Jail on a suitable weapon or Jail. Snitching can be played at any time on any card and if you play it, you swap your hand with that of a player of your choice; this player is next to play and must meet the card played before Snitching.Mistakes cause drawing of pen-alty cards. If you cannot play any card, you draw a card. Your last card is announced with “Last man Falling”. Mau Mau combined with Black Stories, nothing new, but wittily made and nice, as is to be ex-pected. þ

BLACK STORIESLAST MAN FALLING

INFORMATION

Designer: Jens SchumacherArtist: Bernhard SkopnikPrice: ca. 8 EuroPublisher: moses. Verlag 2015www.moses-verlag.de

PLAYERS:2

AGE:12+

TIME:15+

EVALUATIONCard sheddingUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: deIn-game text: no

Comments: Mau Mau wittily adapted * Standard mechanisms fit the topic * Sparse but effec-tive graphics

Compares to:Mau Mau


You need to re-enact the con-structions of megaliths and dol-mens of Carnac in Brittany.The game features 28 black blocks for megaliths, with a length of two squares on the board and a width of one square, carrying symbols in two colors. You choose a color, all megaliths can be used by both players. The double-sided board offers three different maps in three sizes. The

starting player is determined. As player A he places one megalith upright anywhere on the board, any color on top. Player B then can either tilt this megalith – is now lying down, showing two symbols – and then place a new megalith upright, or pass his turn. When B tilts and places, A then decides in turn if he tilts and places or passes. When B passes, A is active and places a

megalith. Should B not be able to tilt a megalith placed by A, it is his turn all the same and he can place a megalith. You can only tilt, when there is enough empty space available, the origi-nal location must be empty af-ter tilting and the megalith can-not extrude the board after be-ing tilted. Tilted megaliths can no longer be moved or be re-moved. A minimum of symbols of the same color on adjacent megaliths form a dolmen for the owner of the color. Megaliths are adjacent when they touch each other along at least one side, touching corners is not enough. When all megaliths are used or all squares are filled, you win with most dolmens.This is a very beautiful game with high class components and also a very good game. When you have mastered the placement/tilting rules rivalry for dolmens begins, but remem-ber, the number is important, not the size; size only decides ties. þ

CARNACMEGALITHS IN BRITTANY

INFORMATION

Designer: Emiliano VenturiniArtist: Andreas ReschPrice: ca. 24 EuroPublisher: HUCH! & friends 2014www.hutter-trade.com

PLAYERS:2

AGE:8+

TIME:20+

EVALUATIONAbstract placementUsers: With friendsVersion: multiRules: de en fr nlIn-game text: no

Comments: Very attractive, solid com-ponents * Three different boards * Mechanisms need getting used to

Compares to:Abstract placement games


PLAYED FOR YOU u CHRONOS CONQUEST / CLICK & CRACK


A game with time – all play si-multaneously! The archipelago of stacks holding different types of cards and six God cards as well as two city tiles are set out. Attention! You should introduce the different types of archipela-go cards in stages, as there is no time for explanations during the game! You start with run-down timers and can only move your own,

run-down timers. When a timer has run down, you can turn it over and put it on a stack of archipelago cards or a city tile or take it off the board without turning it over. If you remove a timer from a stack you can take its top card for your kingdom. Island or Monster are put down, Wind cards are displayed sepa-rately for each time, identical ones are stacked. Catastrophes

are resolved immediately. Some cards let you transfer timers of other players – regardless of their filling status – into Hell, where special rules apply. A sand timer on a city tile allows you use of the city effect, regard-less of the current filling status of the timer. Several timers on the same stack block each other and you can negotiate of how to resolve the situation. If you dis-card cards from your kingdom you can take a God card and use the effect.If someone take the Volcano Eruption card, the game ends immediately and you win with most victory points (Kingdom card x number of wind direc-tions). Alternately you win with 200 points or Minotaur + Hydra in your kingdom or meeting the conditions of a God or a city.A hectic game of fast deci-sion, hesitating or considering does not work, and in case of a blockade giving in and going elsewhere might be better than have a timer blocked indefinite-ly. þ

CHRONOS CONQUESTKINGDOM CONQUEST WITH SANDTIMERS

INFORMATION

Designer: Guillaume AubrunArtist: BibounPrice: ca. 45 EuroPublisher: Witty Editions/Heidelberger 14www.heidelbaer.de

PLAYERS:2-6

AGE:10+

TIME:5+

EVALUATIONReal timeUsers: With friendsVersion: multiRules: de en frIn-game text: no

Comments: Kickstarter re-edition of Witty Conquest * Extremely short playing time * Several rounds are recommended * Hectic, cute, nice

Compares to:Time ‘n’ Space for the use of timers

Other editions:Witty Chronos

Penguins choose their Penguin of the Year; two Penguins in a player’s team try to break up the big ice flow and collect most pieces. The floe tiles are spread out as indicated and each player in turn places first one and then in a second round a second pen-guin on a corner junction of the floe tiles. When all penguins are placed, players secretly choose two ac-

tions with their tiles – the arrows on the tiles thereby need to be aligned to the border lines be-tween tiles, horizontally or ver-tically – and then reveal them simultaneously. Possible actions are: One step in direction of the arrow on the tile, if a penguin sits at the target crossing it is pushed along. Or Break – you place a break chip on a border between flow tiles; when there-

by part of a floe is separated you take the tiles of the smaller part for one point each. The pen-guin of the player who caused the break stays on the larger floe part. If you separate three or more floe tiles, you penguin floats out of play with the tiles, but you still score for them. Op-posing penguins also go out of play, do not score and cost the active player one point each.In turn each player first does one action, then again in turn the other one; you can do both actions with the same penguin or use a different penguin for each action.You win with seven points or most points when there are only six floe tiles left or maximum two penguins.A game with a completely ab-stract mechanisms and yet a cute thematic game with lots of cool flair, you seem to hear the ice crack. Nicely made, with simple rules and pretty compo-nents in a very small and handy box. þ

CLICK & CRACKICEBREAKER PENGUINS

INFORMATION

Designer: Jun’ichi SatoArtist: Osamu InouePrice: ca. 14 EuroPublisher: Junias/MinimalGames 14http://junias.net

PLAYERS:3-4

AGE:6+

TIME:20+

EVALUATIONPlacementUsers: For familiesVersion: multiRules: en jp deIn-game text: no

Comments: Miniature box * Pretty, simple components * Easy rules for an abstract, very nice game

Compares to:Pingvinas

Other editions:Junias (jp)


PLAYED FOR YOUtCRAZY TIME / DARK TALES

You play time cards and adhere to the time rules. The stack of card is prepared as regards to chosen version and number of players and you are dealt cards in relation to number of play-ers which you stack face-down without looking at them. ? and ! cards are stacked face-down.In your turn you name the time according to the valid rules and then reveal your top card. In

round 1 there are two rules – Time Machine and Synchronize. The Time Machine as card that is turned up reverses the flow of time, the next player must, after 3 o’clock, now say 2 o’clock instead of 4 o’clock. Synchroniz-ing happens when named and revealed time correlate: If you are last to hit the stop card, you take all cards from all discard piles, shuffle them, place the

top 5 under your stack and set the rest aside.If you believe that someone made a mistake you announce Temporal Flaw and the cards are controlled; whoever is wrong, takes cards. If someone is out of cards, the round ends; in the Beginner version you note the number of remaining cards for negative points.At the start of each round a new rule is added with one card from the ? and ! stacks. ? names the time that activates the rule, ! names the rule.After the agreed number of rounds you win with fewest points or as the winner of the fi-nal round. In the Advanced ver-sion all cards are used and one player is ignorant of the time rule, but must adhere to it; in case of a Temporal Flaw he may give a guess and, if correct, dis-card cards.One time rule is okay, in round 4 it gets hellishly difficult, what with times on discard piles, etc., but it is hellish fun, too! Nice and good thinking fun! þ

CRAZY TIMEA GAME FOR LATERAL THINKERS

INFORMATION

Designer: Alex PutfinArtist: Miguel CoimbraPrice: ca. 13 EuroPublisher: Kosmos 2015www.kosmos.de

PLAYERS:4-7

AGE:12+

TIME:30+

EVALUATIONReaction, memoUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: de en fr kr plIn-game text: yes

Comments: Unusual number of players * Nice mix of fun and concentration * Good rules with lots of examples

Compares to:All reaction games with changing rules

Other editions:In Ludo Veritas (en/fr)

Stories in the Land of Dark Tales do not always have a Happy End! With randomly selected Setting Cards A and B you choose the Story. In the Land of the Dark Tales you use 54 cards - playing cards and Setting cards A and B - and 20 Items - Gold Coins, Swords, Armor and Magic Wands. In your turn you draw a card, play - optional - an item and resolve the effects ac-

cording to the valid card A and then you play a card. You score the icons of the card for victory points, placement location and effects. Items that you receive are laid out. The interactions between cards and items are the key to the game, the effects of the items change with the background stories, the Setting cards. If someone cannot draw a card anymore, play continues

until someone is out of cards and thus ends the game. Now you resolve card B and win with most victory points.With this expansion you transfer the fairy tale story of Snow White into the Land of the Dark Tales. The Snow White card is added to Settings Cards A and B, it de-termines the use of the special items and their effects. Card B1 of this expansion is used to re-place B1 of the core game when playing with the expansion; the remaining cards of the expan-sion are shuffled with those of the core game, resulting a lon-ger playing time. Otherwise, the rules of the core game apply; Evil Queen and Prince allow you to play an item in “Phase 3 play a card”, even one that you have this moment acquired due to the card just played.Fantasy adventure – in a sort story and based on a familiar topic. Hopefully you can look forward to future expansion, as the topics and interactions be-tween cards and items are great fun. þ

DARK TALESSNOW WHITE

INFORMATION

Designer: Pierlucca ZizziArtist: Dany OrizioPrice: ca. 30 EuroPublisher: dV Giochi 2014www.abacusspiele.de

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:14+

TIME:30+

EVALUATIONFantasy, card interactionUsers: With friendsVersion: multiRules: en itIn-game text: yes

Comments: Expansion for Dark Tales * Fairy tales as fantasy adventures * Short playing time * Playing experience is helpful

Compares to:Basically fantasy adventures, all card games using card interaction


PLAYED FOR YOU uDUNGEON FIGHTER / FLASH POINT FIRE RESCUE


Dungeon Fighter – yet another dungeon crawl in we aa heroes fight monsters, but here our abilities define those of our he-roes. We need to manage spe-cial dice shots and snip discs so that they arrive at the Target Board as to requirements. To re-mind us of that, the Target Board looks like a target. Those special throws and the disc snipping are the engine of the game.

Rock ‘n’ Roll is the fourth and last expansion, dedicated to Earth, the fourth element, and offer-ing access to Earth magic. Of course there is a new double-sided adventure board with new rooms, Earth Temple and Training Room, and a new hero sheet, Hägar Felsspalter / Tucker Blackfoot. You can again col-lect experience points for trea-sure which can be spent by the

group, and there are new power cards. New templates to snip are Philosopher’s Stone, armor and Weak Point; some monsters are slowed down with Slow tokens. This all is supplemented with an Earth Element die and a second final boss opponent, the shop-keeper familiar from the laby-rinth, to defeat him you need magic from all expansions – he commands the new Elemental Mastery and Explosive, Slimy, Flying and Defensive from the four expansions. New shots are Gate Shot – you need to throw the die through the gate piece - and Smash Shot – you set up the Wall and must throw the die between the two wall segments and topple them.This expansion, too, is cute, witty and well-made, it goes well with all other expansions. The new shots are challenging as usual and the second final boss op-ponents is a surprising element. If you fought your way to all the other dungeons, you will want to experience this one, too. þ

DUNGEON FIGHTERROCK ‚N‘ ROLL

INFORMATION

Designer: Lorenzo SilvaArtist: Giulia GhiginiPrice: ca. 15 EuroPublisher: Heidelberger 2015www.heidelbaer.de

PLAYERS:1-6

AGE:10+

TIME:60+

EVALUATIONFantasy, satire, dungeon CrawlUsers: For familiesVersion: deRules: de en fr it ptIn-game text: yes

Comments: Fourth Expansion * Varies and supplements mechanisms from other expansions * New final boss opponents needs all four expansions

Compares to:Dungeon Fighter and all expansions, other dungeon crawls

Other editions:Horrible Games, Iello, Galápagos Jogos

Fire alarm – all players cooper-ate to save victims from build-ings on fire. The building is set up; each player must spend four action points in his turn to move, fight the fire, demol-ish walls, roll for the fire prog-ress – when smoke is placed on smoke, it turns to fire – and replenish information markers. When fire reaches a spot on fire, there is an explosion. When the

building crashes and you have managed to save seven victims, all players win together. The core game offers two versions for a family game and a game for experienced players, featur-ing random set up, vehicles and vehicle actions.The expansion Honor & Duty for Flash Point Fire Rescue in-troduces a new double-sided board with an airplane on one

side and a subway station on the other side, plus new mark-ers for Foam, Fire and Deck Gun Targets. For both locations there are special rules for the boards, for set-up and actions. The sub-way is deemed to be extremely dangerous and difficult ter-rain, therefore there are double movement costs when crossing green lines. A Firefighter on a space with sprinkler symbol can take the Sprinkler Release ac-tion. On the airport you cannot use the Structural Engineer and spaces within the fuselage can only be cooled by the Deck Gun. The Kickstarter edition features the Fire Prevention specialist and a 2nd board with an alter-nate attic and basement. To play those boards you need the core game and the expansions Ex-treme Danger or 2nd Story.It is hair-raisingly thrilling if you manage to get a grip on the danger to airport or subway; the expansions introduces nothing really new, but well-made and well-working variation to the core game. þ

FLASH POINT FIRE RESCUEHONOR & DUTY

INFORMATION

Designer: Lutz PietschkerArtist: Luis Francisco und TeamPrice: ca. 28 EuroPublisher: Indie Boards & Cards 14www.indieboardsandcards.com

PLAYERS:1-6

AGE:10+

TIME:45+

EVALUATIONCooperation, placement, diceUsers: With friendsVersion: enRules: de enIn-game text: no

Comments: Nothing elementary new compared to the core game * Solid extensions for challenging fun * Very difficult locations * Needs core game to play

Compares to:Feurio, all other editions and expan-sions of Flash Point

Other editions:Flashpoint: Ehre und Pflicht, Heidel-berger Spieleverlag


PLAYED FOR YOUtFRÖSCHLEIN SPRING! / GALAXY OF TRIAN

Eight frogs sit in the middle of the pond on a big water lily leaf and players want to lure as many as possible to their cor-ner of the board. 24 disc tokens in six colors are shuffled face-down for dice and stacked face-down, each player receives two frog tiles of value 1 and two of value 2.The active player reveals the top dice token and moves a

frog of his choice – all frogs on the board can be moved by all players – along one of the white connecting lines to the next free water lily spot of the revealed color; the dice tile is put back under the stack. If no suitable free spot is available for any frog, you can do the “hop it“ trick – you move a frog to an occupied case of the revealed color and push the frog on this

spot along the white line to the next spot; when this spot is tak-en, too, you move the frog there by one spot, too. In those “hop it” action the color of the spots on which frogs are pushed does not matter. If there is no suitable spot of the revealed color avail-able for any frog in a distance of one step, you can either pass your turn or use one of your frog tiles of value 1 or 2 and place any from on a spot of any color in a distance of one or two steps, according to the tile value. You win, if you are first to assemble two frogs in your corner of the board.Fröschlein spring! is a very pretty and already rather chal-lenging game for the targeted age group; with each frog that is collected by a player the move-ment options for the remaining frogs are reduced and you need to plan; luck of the draw, clever use of frog tiles and using the „hop it“ move at the right mo-ment can help. þ

FRÖSCHLEIN SPRING!FROM WATER LILY TO WATER LILY

INFORMATION

Designer: M. & H. RüttingerArtist: M. & H. RüttingerPrice: ca. 7 EuroPublisher: Noris Spiele 2015www.noris-spiele.de

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:4+

TIME:20+

EVALUATIONRoll, move and collectUsers: For childrenVersion: multiRules: de en fr itIn-game text: no

Comments: Attractive components * Nice topic * Demands a bit of tactic

Compares to:Movement games with chain moves


As one of four opposing races you fight for the territories and technologies the Trians left behind. Each of the races has special abilities – Quuylto de-ceive in combat with cloaking devices and holographs; the K’Haarquuar use their numeric domination and self-regener-ating biological ships. Xemh ships are heavily armed war ma-chines, negotiations are consid-

ered a weakness by Xemh. Borf-Naree collect resources and do do not attack, but buy whatever they want to have.72 triangular tiles are all differ-ent and show nebula, planetary systems and gaseous clouds.In your turn you receive mineral resources, draw and place a tile and can do one action chosen from the options of placing an ambassador, activate a research

station, upgrade a research sta-tion to a space station, use a trade post, teleport or research. After your action you check for closed-of territories and score victory points.Nebula yield resources, am-bassadors fight each other for control of nebula and planetary systems to win stations and to upgrade them. You score for closed-off nebula and planetary systems you control and also for closing off empty regions in space as well as for resources that you collected.The game comes with an expan-sion, Beginning of Conquest, which introduces new double-sided tiles and new types of star ships resulting in new mecha-nisms and strategies.This is an attractive game in the tradition of Carcassonne, but with lots more options, tactic and interaction, you must be flexible and use opportunities that arise during the game; Gal-axy of Trian remains challenging to the end and it is not obvious in course of the game who will win in the end. þ

GALAXY OF TRIANFOUR RACES FIGHT FOR THE LEGACY OF TRIAN

INFORMATION

Designer: Grzegorz Kalarus + TeamArtist: Andrzej SykutPrice: ca. 28 EuroPublisher: CreativeMaker 2014www.galaxyoftrian.com

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:14+

TIME:60+

EVALUATIONTerritory, SciFiUsers: With friendsVersion: multiRules: de en fr plIn-game text: no

Comments: Forever new layouts due to unique tiles * Lots of interaction and change of tactics * Many options for actions * Various winning strategies are possible

Compares to:Tile placement for area creation, Carcassonne


PLAYED FOR YOU uGODZ / JÄGER + SPÄHER


You embody one of the main gods of planet Baffarus and guide your believers, inspire them with your semi-divine ava-tar, astonish them with miracles, assist them to build temples, all of this to be the most popular and most worshipped god.You take all components for your god including a Divin-ity board and a starting regions which is placed next to the cen-

tral region. In your turn you have an action phase in which you do actions or collect glory, miracle phase in which you do miracles with Faith points according to your divinity board, and a resources phase in which you confirm and register resources on your divin-ity board. In the action phase you can make your believers act by spending Faith Points –

you can call them to your pal-ace, move them and do war or siege on the respective special hexagons. For Food points you can let your Avatar act – he can move, eliminate an enemy be-liever, do siege or – once in the game – create a prophet. Or you build a temple using Building points. In the resources phase you sum your resources from productive tiles, cities and tem-ples. If someone has more than six points from war and glory the game ends instantly and you calculate your victory points from war, glory and balance as well as from temples and from extra points granted by regions and special tiles.First and foremost you notice the cute illustrations and lov-ing details connected to the universe of Super Fantasy; the mechanisms then provide solid resource management where you, as usual, want to to more than you can and must cleverly select the right one at the right time for the best results. þ

GODZGOD OF MUD OR GOD OF FRIED FISH?

INFORMATION

Designer: D. Cerreti, M. ValtrianiArtist: Guido FavaroPrice: ca. 40 EuroPublisher: Red Glove 2014www.redglove.eu

PLAYERS:3-5

AGE:12+

TIME:90+

EVALUATIONDevelopment, resourcesUsers: With friendsVersion: enRules: enIn-game text: yes

Comments: Topic nicely integrated into the game * Many options, clever selection necessary * Cute texts and illustra-tion in the Super Fantasy Universe

Compares to:Development games with terrain and resources

Other editions:Red Glove (it)

As the leader of a Neolithic tribe you use character cards for tribe members who scout the hunt-ing grounds for meat and furs and bring recourses from the wilderness for useful items. For your turn you have the choice from three options for actions and implement one of them:Play a character card – you im-plement the instruction from

the card and then place the card into the row in the display with fewest cards. Instructions on the card relate to placement of trib-al members, at Sacred Locations you can drive off your opponent by placing more tribesmen and use the location advantage.Recall tribal members – each recalled man brings a resource from the card of his location. Those resources are marked by

being covered and are instantly spent: For each covered meat symbol you can discard one hunger token; for two furs you can put a new tribal member into the cave and later enter him into the game with the “Off-spring” card; for other resources you display the respective item card.The third option is an interim scoring at sundown: For each tribal member on the tribe card and location cards you score one point and have to deduct one point for each hunter token. If someone achieves a score of 24 points, you win at the end of the round with most points. There are rules for an introduc-tory game, a standard game and the version Fight for Survival.Pure tactics, the small chance factor of drawing cards is neg-ligible; the game offers several strategies to score points and lets you play for yourself or also actively influence the options of your opponent. A very well-made extension for the genre of Games for Two. þ

JÄGER + SPÄHERMEAT FOR THE TRIBE

INFORMATION

Designer: Gerhard HechtArtist: Franz VohwinkelPrice: ca. 16 EuroPublisher: Kosmos 2014www.kosmos.de

PLAYERS:2

AGE:12+

TIME:30+

EVALUATIONCards, collecting, worker placementUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: deIn-game text: yes

Comments: Very good, concise rules * Nice game for two * Several strategies for victory points

Compares to:Card games with worker placement



PLAYED FOR YOUtKALEIDOS JUNIOR / LA COSA NOSTRA

Kaleidos junior is the junior version of Kaleidos, a picture-spotting variant of Scattergories and related games, intended for children not yet able to read, in which you match images to categories. In Kaleidos junior you can play Level 1 without any knowledge of reading or letters, categories are repre-sented by pictograms. Players or teams – in case of more than

four players – take 10, 15 or 20 tokens, in relation to their age, and you use the spinner to de-termine a category. Categories are: something – square or rectangular, - which makes a noise,- that moves, - made of wood, - made of paper, - fragile, - soft, - pointed, - round, - which smells, - liquid, - edible or - hard. Each player or each team now searches on his picture #1- all

players or teams have an identi-cal picture - for items that fit the indicated category and mark them with a token. If there are several images of the same item on your picture, you can only mark one. When the timer has run out, each player names the items that he has found; tokens for correct items go out of play, tokens on wrong images are re-turned to players. Then you go on with the next picture boards until one player is out of tokens and wins. In Levels 2 and 3 for el-der children you can search for items with the spinner-chosen starting letter or write down the items beginning with that let-ter. In this level each word you wrote down alone scores three points, each words you have in common with others scores one point.In this edition, too, this is a fun and entertaining game with cute images, a good training for observation, vocabulary and as-signment. þ

KALEIDOS JUNIORSOMETHING MADE OF WOOD

INFORMATION

Designer: Spartaco AlbertarelliArtist: E. Prette, V. MendicinoPrice: ca. 20 EuroPublisher: Cocktail Games 2014www.asmodee.de

PLAYERS:2-12

AGE:4+

TIME:30+

EVALUATIONImage spotting, vocabularyUsers: For childrenVersion: multiRules: de en es fr gr is it kr nlIn-game text: no

Comments: New edition, first edition EG-Spiele 1998 * Fantastic training for vocabulary * For me the best version of Scattergories / Town-Country-River * Excellent for non-readers

Compares to:Kaleidos, Disney Riesen Bilder Rallye

Other editions:With Oliphante, Asmodee, Happy Baobab, Playhouse, Spilavinir

You control a gang of gangsters and a few companies. In the course of the game you recruit new gangsters and invest in new businesses or monopolies. Bribing is part of the game, as is drug dealing and prostitution and cooperation with other ma-fia families, albeit with some res-ervations. You use cards either for earning money or to attack other players.

In a round you first draw order cards and influence cards. In the planning phase all players in turn always give an order to one of their gangsters, until all are busy – they can either take business card from the market for a buying order or begin an order and put an order card from the hand face-down on the gangster. This is followed by the action phase – in turn you

activate any gangster of your choice and his action – a buy-ing order is paid for and put into your personal display, an order is revealed and met or set down again face-down.On payday all receive their in-come from business card and monopolies, can buy a gangster and discard cards in excess.At the end of round four double income is paid out; the player with most active gangsters re-ceives 15.000 bonus, laundered money is doubled and you are paid violence bonuses for elimi-nated gangsters, depending on their numbers. Then the player with most money wins.Sounds a bit dry, but is a „juicy“, nasty, evil game with en enor-mous amount of interaction and thematically suitable ac-tions, cooperation is replaced by conflict and be on your guard, in Mafia circles plans can always go wrong, so planning is good, but flexible tactics and quick adaptation is better! The game has to be seen to be believed, it is that good! þ

LA COSA NOSTRAEARN MONEY, INVEST, MAKE DEALS ...

INFORMATION

Designer: Johannes SichArtist: Johannes Sich, Daniel GollPrice: ca. 35 EuroPublisher: Hard Boiled Games 14www.lacosanostra-kartenspiel.de

PLAYERS:3-5

AGE:16+

TIME:90+

EVALUATIONCards, MafiaUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: de nl plIn-game text: yes

Comments: Fantastic game, nasty, evil, interactive * Age limit ap-propriate * Lots of fun and high replay value

Compares to:Card games with Mafia topic

Other editions:Quined (en), Baldar (pl)

PLAYED FOR YOU u LAP DANCE / MADAME CHING


The manager has just been fired and the assistants apply for the job; if you earn most money you will be appointed.The game features Customer cards with a Main Rule and a Fun Rule option – players de-cide at the start of the game if they want to use them – and also Staff Cards with abilities and slots for using them in rela-tion to the number of players.

With action cards you meet Cus-tomer Orders – dancers, drinks, luxury items and luxury events – on Desire Cards.In five rounds you play four phases each: In the Preparation Phase you read the Main Rule on the left-most Customer Card in the display, reveal the Desire Card on top of it and turn over the sand timer. Now you have one minute to stack cards that

you want to play, those cards must have one symbol in com-mon with customer card and desire card. In the Event Phase you activate an Event card in your stack, if present. In the Ac-tion Phase you try to fill as many customer orders as possible; to do so you use dice you roll and cards showing dice results, you must achieve the icons on the Desire card. Stars on dice earn you compensation according to the Aid card. In the Refill Phase Customer card and Desire card are discarded and cards dealt and added to the display.The scantily clad dancers in comic style drawings cause the – absolutely unnecessary - age limit, the game itself consists of choosing cards as well and as fast as you can, and then rolling dice as well as possible – and this takes quite a long time, as players do this sequentially – a very strange contrast. Interest-ing ideas with little interaction, not enough for an evening, but too long for a filler. þ

LAP DANCEEARN MONEY IN YOUR NIGHT CLUB

INFORMATION

Designer: Anastasios Grigoriadis + TeamArtist: P. Lyris, G. VorgiaPrice: ca. 27 EuroPublisher: Artipia Games 2014www.artipiagames.com

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:18+

TIME:45+

EVALUATIONCards, diceUsers: With friendsVersion: enRules: enIn-game text: yes

Comments: Rare topic * Age limit unnecessary * Topic seems forced, mechanisms rather abstract

Compares to:Games on assembling symbol combinations using dice and cards


You are a young pirate in the ser-vice of Madame Ching and com-plete missions for her, sink ships of the Emperor, support fishing villages and try to achieve com-mand of the China Pearl.You hold four Navigation cards, Ability cards are set out and En-counter cards are stacked. For a round in the game one naviga-tion card per player is laid out on the board, the first card face-

down, the others open. Then all players secretly choose a navigation card from hand and then all reveal their card simul-taneously and resolve the cards in descending order of their numbers:Depending of the number on your card in relation to the top card in your display you begin a new expedition or continue an expedition by laying out the

card and then moving your ship straight ahead when the card color is already in your expedi-tion, or diagonally if not. When you cross one of the lines on the board you receive encoun-ter cards; if you are first to reach cases 49 or 56, you receive the “Hafen von Hongkong” card. When you end an expedition you can complete missions or acquire abilities - if you have all four abilities, you take com-mand of the China Pearl – and can then play an encounter card and must then take up one of the navigation cards on display.When all missions are com-pleted or if someone takes com-mand of the China Pearl, you score – at the end of the round - gold, jewels and bonuses for ability cards, Hafen von Hong Kong and China Pearl cards as well as encounter cards.Colorful, thrilling, a family game with a nicely balanced mix of tactic and luck, that you want to play again to try out the differ-ent possibilities. þ

MADAME CHING1808 IN THE CHINA SEAS

INFORMATION

Designer: Cathala, MaublancArtist: Vincent DutraitPrice: ca. 30 EuroPublisher: Hurrican Games 2014www.asmodee.de

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:8+

TIME:45+

EVALUATIONSet collectingUsers: For familiesVersion: multiRules: de es fr it en nlIn-game text: no

Comments: Very nice topic * Attractive design * Excellent family game * Good mix of tactic and luck

Compares to:All games using cards for movement, with collecting mechanism

Other editions:US edition (de en fr nl)


PLAYED FOR YOUtMCJOHNY’S / MONOPOLY

McJohny’s is a new fast food chain, where they serve yummy crab specialties, so why not ap-ply for a job there?In this party game compris-ing simultaneous mini games a round equals a shift and lasts one minute exactly, more or less. In each shift another player is manager and decides who gets which job, hands out the respective boards and decides

who has to work without pay this shift as a Volunteer. In each shift there is a “crab specialty of the day” and there are four customers which must be served. The Burger Master draws and combines ingredient cards; the Delivery Boy places tiles to connect customers; the Grill Cook throws steak discs onto the board and the Packer rolls dice and places the cor-

responding piece into the bag, that is, on the board, in analogy to Tetris. The Saucier rolls six dice and places them.If somebody notices that the timer has run out he can shout “end” and all players must start working instantly. Now all score according to results achieved in relation to a customer satisfac-tion table. A customer is satis-fied when the total result in his color minus the Volunteer of this color is larger or equal to the value on the specialty of the day. It can also happen that the Volunteer snitches if there are too many complaints, because that gives him all the money of a shift as a reward. If you are first to earn 10 crab coins, you win!A cute, fun and hectic mix of in-dividual games, in which some-how you get ambitious and want to to as well as you can while the manager tries to inter-fere, because he earns money when only three customers are satisfied. Amusing and a lovely filler! þ

MCJOHNY’SALL WORK SIMULTANEOUSLY

INFORMATION

Designer: Jan VaněčekArtist: Petra VořechovskáPrice: ca. 26 EuroPublisher: Czech Board Games 14www.czechboardgames.com

PLAYERS:3-6

AGE:10+

TIME:20+

EVALUATIONParty, simultaneous mini gamesUsers: For familiesVersion: multiRules: cz de enIn-game text: no

Comments: Pub series * Witty concept * Good selection of mini games * Hectic * Nice filler

Compares to:First game of this kind


Of course, there must be a Mo-nopoly variant featuring this latest topic rave and, of course this edition presents itself some-what different. The bottom of the box is changed into a kind of arena by placing on oval ring with the real estate slots on the edge of the box with two brack-ets. Houses and hotels have been replaced with cup cakes and ice cream cups and there

are only two slots in a color group. The playing pieces are miniatures of Minion charac-ters, Minion Mjam Mjam Tom is placed on the spinning top; the spinning top replaces the die; it spins in the arena and when it topples, the banana in Mjam Mjam Toms hand touches one of the numbers at the floor of the arena and thus determines the number of steps for your

minion.You move your minion by the indicated number of slots; if you reach a slot that is not yet owned by a player you must buy it and receive the owner-ship card and a free cupcake for your slot. If you end your move on another player’s slot you pay rent as usual to the owner.When you own both slots of color you indicate this with an ice cream cup. All minions of the edition are only available with this edition, and on the event slots you will find surprises like a spinner duel or the task to steal the moon. When a minion goes bankrupt, the minion with most money wins and becomes Grus favorite minion. As regards to the topic and the age notation on the box the game is intended for preschool children, but the event cards contain written text and there-fore you need at least one player who is able to read. Otherwise, the game offers the familiar fun in playing, also for older players. þ

MONOPOLYICH … EINFACH UNVERBESSERLICH!

INFORMATION

Designer: not namedArtist: not namedPrice: ca. 35 EuroPublisher: Hasbro 2015www.hasbro.at

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:5+

TIME:30+

EVALUATIONRoll, move, buyUsers: For childrenVersion: deRules: de enIn-game text: yes

Comments: Minimum one player must be able to read * Compo-nents nicely adapted to the topic * Simplified rules

Compares to:All license topic editions of Monopoly

Other editions:Hasbro USA

PLAYED FOR YOU uORCS ORCS ORCS / PINOCCHIO


In a mixture of deck building and territory defending you de-fend a tower against Orcs in the annual Orc Squash Tournament. The magicians tower stands in the middle of a circle divided into six segments which, so to say, form six lanes for the Orcs to attack. The three sections of each segment – Outer, Middle and Inner Segment – are occu-pied by Orc hordes.

Each player has a magician and his marker and starting spell cards as well as a trophy board. You play in rounds; at the start of a round you reveal a Fate card; this card determines the category of creatures who ad-vance by one segment towards the tower and also determines if there are special rules in play for the round. Then each player has a turn of

three phases: Reveal creature markers on each path without creatures and then reveal a creature marker a path of your choice. Then you have two ac-tions and can for each action choose from three options: Tele-port or cast spell for damage, support or transmission of new spells or pass. As the third phase of your turn you discard all cards to the discard pile and draw four new ones from the draw pile. If you defeat an Orc you acquire his special abilities. When four lanes are empty you score de-feated Orcs, acquired spells and lose points for poison cards in your deck.Well, Orc bashing or Squashing, as in this tournament, is a favor-ite pastime in Fantasyland and here it is done very well, using simple rules and a well-made mix of tactic from the spell cards and luck in drawing cards and advancing of creatures, topic and mechanisms go very well together. By the way, the Orcs are rather attractive and well-designed. þ

ORCS ORCS ORCSMAGICIANS SQUASH ORCS

INFORMATION

Designer: Frank ThybenArtist: Marko Fiedler und TeamPrice: ca. 35 EuroPublisher: Queen Games 2014www.queen-games.de

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:10+

TIME:60+

EVALUATIONDeck building, fantasyUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: de enIn-game text: no

Comments: Plays quickly * Tactic from cards, chance from creature revealing and drawing of cards * Good mix of mecha-nisms * Simple rules

Compares to:Deck building games

Other editions:Queen Games (en)

One fine day an angel promises Pinocchio that he can become a „real“ boy, if he can master an adventure without lying and can detect the lies of others.The Pinocchio doll is set out ready in easy reach for all play-ers, the Pinocchio face is set down in the middle and the nose pieces are made ready. Each player is given a card “Truth” and a card “Lie”.

You tell a story based on a card – one card is drawn and the active player chooses one of the four topics on the card and decides if he will tell a true or a false story and puts down the card Truth or the card Lie accordingly, face down on the table. Then he tells the story – there are no param-eters on duration. If, at the end of the story, you are first to grab the Pinocchio doll, you can ask a

question which the story teller must answer truthfully or at his choice, depending on the card he put down. Then players secretly vote on true or false with their cards; if you made a wrong guess you must elongate Pinocchio’s nose – all that must do so draw a subject card and then put – in order of the number on the card – the necessary number of nose pieces on Pinocchio’s face – two pieces when 4-6 are playing, one piece for 7-10 player. The pieces must be well centered. When more than half of the players guessed correctly, the story teller must elongate the nose accordingly. When a piece tumbles off, the player who caused this takes an Angel chip. When you get the third chip the game ends and you win with fewest chips.A nice mix of guessing and dexterity, based on a nice topic that fits the game well – family entertainment if you love to tell stories. þ

PINOCCHIOTRUE OR FALSE

INFORMATION

Designer: Edward ChanArtist: Tommy Ng, Lam Ho TakPrice: ca. 24 EuroPublisher: Capstone 2014www.capstone.hk

PLAYERS:4-10

AGE:8+

TIME:30+

EVALUATIONGuessing, stackingUsers: For familiesVersion: multiRules: cn enIn-game text: yes

Comments: Pretty components * Nice mix of creativity, guessing and dexterity * Rules in the box and rules on the web name different winners

Compares to:Guessing games, stacking games



PLAYED FOR YOUtPLAYMOBIL RITTERBURG / QUINT-X

The Falcon Knight has lost his way among the castle towers on his search for the jewelry trea-sure and must be found. If you find him, you are rewarded with gems. For each game, another one of the three castle towers is equipped with a bell; the tow-ers are distributed any way you like around the box, the knight figure is also given a bell and the

jewel tower is placed into the game box bottom.The active player hides the knight in one of the three castle towers while the other players turn their back or close their eyes. You should pay close at-tention if and from what direc-tion you can hear a bell. When the knight has been hidden, all players can give a guess on one of the towers by naming the

color and draw jewels from the bag accordingly – two if they guess on the bell tower and one jewel if they guess one of the others. Then the active player lifts the tower hiding the knight. All players who guessed cor-rectly keep the jewels for their treasure chest. All others throw them into the jewel tower – take care! The tower must not be moved or jiggled. All jewels that fall out of the tower are given to the active player of the round. If you accidently move the jewel tower and jewels fall out, you must pass for the next round. Should someone have more than four jewels of a color, he puts the surplus back into the bag. Whoever collects four white diamonds and four green emeralds first, wins. Challenging and especially at-tractive due to the Playmobil figurine; as the knight can also jingle when moved you must listen very closely to find out from where an eventual jingling comes and how much it moves. þ

PLAYMOBIL RITTERBURGHUNT FOR THE JEWEL TREASURE

INFORMATION

Designer: M. Gil-WünschmannArtist: not namedPrice: ca. 32 EuroPublisher: Schmidt Spiele 2014www.schmidtspiele.de

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:4+

TIME:15+

EVALUATIONListening, guessingUsers: For childrenVersion: multiRules: de en es fr it nlIn-game text: no

Comments: Nice components including Playmobil piece * Very at-tractive, simple mechanism * Listening is a well-work-ing challenge

Compares to:Games where listening provides information


You need to claim five positions within a square, but this square is – with one of its cases – part of another square: 21 position are arranged in five squares, where-by the fifth square uses one position from each of the other squares and only has the middle position for itself. The result is an arrangement of five squares of five positions each, in which squares and positions within

a square are arranged like the pips in a Five on a regular D6 die, four positions or squares in the corners and one in the middle.Each player has 12 pieces of a color and alternates with his opponent to place one piece into one of the positions on the board. Each piece placed by one player determines the square, where the other player has to put his next piece. For instance,

if Player A puts his piece into the top right-hand corner in a square, Player B must then place his piece into the top right-hand square and can choose any of the free positions there; if he chooses the middle position, Player A must then place a piece into the middle square, and so on. If you have to place a piece into a square where all positions are taken you remove an oppos-ing piece there, but not one just placed, and only when really all positions are taken. You win, when you occupy all positions within a square or if you cannot place a piece anymore because all your pieces are placed or if you hold the majority in three squares when all positions on the board are filled.A typical Gerhards game, ele-gant and very beautifully made from wood and glass, with a simple basic rule and an ele-gant, sophisticated mechanism, a model template for an ab-stract game for two players. þ

QUINT-XFIVE SQUARES, FIVE POSITIONS

INFORMATION

Designer: Hartmut KommerellArtist: not namedPrice: ca. 30 EuroPublisher: Gerhards Spiel u.D. 14www.spiel-und-design.eu

PLAYERS:2

AGE:10+

TIME:15+

EVALUATIONAbstract, placementUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: deIn-game text: no

Comments: Elegant, classy design * Simple, sophisticated, challenging mechanism * Formidable entertainment for two

Compares to:Abstract placement games in general


PLAYED FOR YOU uQUIZDUELL / QUIZZOMAT JUNIOR


Category cards and question cards, sorted by categories, are prepared. Each player takes his individually styled avatar as well as his quiz board, a tip cube and a scoring pin of his preferred color.Then all agree on a level of dif-ficulty – easy, medium or hard – and then play six rounds, each comprising the phases of choose category, questions and

scoring. The quiz master of the round reveals three category cards and chooses one of them. Then he draws a question card from the respective category and reads the question corre-sponding to the chosen level and the four answers. Then the timer is turned and all player – including the current quiz mas-ter – give a tip on the correct an-swer, within the runtime of the

timer, by placing their marker on their quiz board, of course as secretly as possible. Then all reveal their guess and the quiz master decodes the correct answer by placing the decoder on the answer area on the card, the letter for the correct answer becomes visible. If your marker is placed correctly, you advance your pin accordingly on the box edge. After three questions in the same category a new quiz master and a new category are selected. After six such category rounds with three questions each you win with most points.In team play you form two teams, members can confer about the answer.In tournament mode two play-ers play against each other, the loser is out of the game.Basically, nothing really new, a standard quiz game, enlivened by the relation to the App and the avatars which you can per-sonalize, but of course always good for a challenging and in-formative evening of questions and possible answers. þ

QUIZDUELLBOARD GAME BASED ON AN APP

INFORMATION

Designer: not namedArtist: KreativbunkerPrice: ca. 38 EuroPublisher: Ravensburger 2014www.ravensburger.de

PLAYERS:2-6

AGE:12+

TIME:30+

EVALUATIONQuizUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: deIn-game text: yes

Comments: Standard mechanisms * Nice selection of questions * Avatars are a cute detail

Compares to:Quiz games in general


A new concept for a quiz game, Ferdi Fuchs checks your knowl-edge! Each player holds eight chips of his color, the quizzomat is set up and the fox chips are set out. The top card is revealed and the turntable in the quizzomat is turned until the same symbol is visible as that on the top left cor-ner of the card. The game mas-ter reads the question and four

answers and all players place a chip in the answer slot of the color that they think belongs to the correct answer; there can be several chips in one slot. Should then slots be empty, they are filled with a fox chip. Then you turn the turntable twice, until first the one and then the other of the two symbols on the right-hand edge of the card appears; you need to turn the turntable

in the direction depicted by the arrows next to the symbols. Due to those turnings the chips in wrong slots fall into the box, those for correct answer re-main. Now all remaining chips are put into the winning slot for players or – should a fox chip be the one to remain –for the fox. When eight questions have been played, the quizzomat is opened. Chips in the big middle compartment are worthless. Chips in the small right com-partment are those for correct answers, all players take theirs and count them, and you also count those of the fox. If you have most chips and also more chips than Fox Ferdi, you win. There is also a version with point values on the chips and for a solo game.Pure fun and a fascinating me-chanic for children, the finding of solutions by having chips dis-appear is innovative and works well, my praise go to the authors for working out the practical side of the mechanism. þ

QUIZZOMAT JUNIORCLEVERER THAN FERDI FUCHS?

INFORMATION

Designer: Haferkamp, NikischArtist: Nikolai RengerPrice: ca. 14 EuroPublisher: Haba 2014www.haba.de

PLAYERS:1-4

AGE:4-8

TIME:20+

EVALUATIONQuizUsers: For childrenVersion: deRules: deIn-game text: yes

Comments: New concept * Imitating answers does not help to win * Game master capable of reading is necessary

Compares to:First game of its kind



PLAYED FOR YOUtREALM OF WONDER / ROAR!

In the Realm of Wonder the continents rotate, the king has called for help and players ei-ther want to be first to master the task posed by the king or replace the king and become king themselves. Players travel as fantasy characters to achieve their scenario goal and to return to court.You hold magic point discs, movement cards and spell

cards. A task is randomly cho-sen and read out from the story book.Then you play in rounds; each of those rounds has four phas-es: Receive magic points, play movement cards, cast spells and movement. When all players have received their allotment of magic points, all receive a new movement card and then all play a movement card simulta-

neously; this is a bid, using the small number on the card, for the turn order for both casting spells and movement. If you play the smallest number, you cast spells first; if you played the biggest number, you move first. Casting spells comes first: you use all cards that you want, their use is free of charge and they are discarded once they have been used.With those spells you dam-age opponents, improve your own character, fight, defeat monsters, find treasures and use sources of resources. If you master the task set by the king, you receive a victory disc – if you take this disc back to court or, as an alternative, three magic orbs or three monsters, you win. Fantasy as we know it, but very beautifully designed, with many details, the topic has been nicely implemented. There is aston-ishingly little interaction unless actively sought. The rotating continental discs are a clever de-tail that provides variation and enlivens events, as do the differ-ent tasks. þ

REALM OF WONDERHELP THE KING OR BECOME KING!

INFORMATION

Designer: Max Wikström + TeamArtist: Sami SaramäkiPrice: ca. 40 EuroPublisher: Mindwarrior Games 14www.mindwarriorgames.com

PLAYERS:2-6

AGE:10+

TIME:45+

EVALUATIONFantasy, adventureUsers: For familiesVersion: multiRules: de dk en fi fr nl no pl seIn-game text: no

Comments: Standard fantasy topic * Well interpreted * Rotating continents are a clever detail * Scenarios provide variation

Compares to:All fantasy adventure Games


Players embody scientists and need to catch one of three young runaway monsters; the only hint to a monster location are sounds typical for neighbor-ing locations on the board.As a first step you download the free App onto your mobile device, tablet or smartphone; one player embodies the mon-ster and guides it with the help of device and App, the other

players embody the scientists or guide them all together coop-eratively.The monster player selects one of the monsters and chooses a mission for it; some missions are only unlocked by successfully playing other missions. The mis-sion for a monster is to visit loca-tions determined by the mission and within a certain number of moves.

The monster moves only on the screen via App; players move their markers on the board. one or two steps per Turn; the board is then scanned with the mobile device and the app processes the information. The monster moves up to three steps and after completion of the move-ment the app provides sounds according to locations in the neighborhood of the monster location. Both scientists and monsters command one special ability each as regards to move-ment; for instance, one of the monster can move along the sewers or one of the scientists can jump from ambulance to ambulance.When one of the scientists moves onto the monster loca-tion, the monster is captured and the scientists win. They also win, when the monster does not complete its mission within the limit of moves. A very nice and family-friendly hybrid game, the idea of sounds for location clues is unusual and works well, and the monster topic goes nicely with it. þ

ROAR!CATCH THE MONSTER!

INFORMATION

Designer: Hubert SpalaArtist: Larek, Mrowkowna, SpalaPrice: ca. 21 EuroPublisher: Trefl 2015http://roarthegame.com

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:7+

TIME:15+

EVALUATIONMove, listen, appUsers: For familiesVersion: deRules: de en plIn-game text: no

Comments: Two winning conditions for scientists, one for monsters * Sounds are the only clues * Two levels of difficulty for the board

Compares to:Hybrid games in general

Other editions:English and Polish, Trefl

PLAYED FOR YOU u ROBOT X / SAMURAI SPIRIT


Housework is tedious and so you want to construct a robot to do it! You start with seven cards and reveal one card from each type on bonus cards. In your turn you must first draw a card and can then place a card into your bank for auction, up to a maximum of eight cards, cards in the bank have always a value of 100.Or you can offer a card from

your hand for auction with a starting price of 100; all bid in turn in steps of 100 until all but one have passed. If this is the auctioneer, he pays 100 less than his bid. Any other player pays half his bid to the auction-eer, up to the auctioneer’s bank maximum and with the correct number of cards, 300 is 3x100 and not 1x 300, an eventual rest is discarded. If nobody makes

a bid, you get the card for free. A card won in auction must be placed into the robot immedi-ately.The third option is to buy a bo-nus card – for points for certain robot parts, stars and colors of stars on robot cards. The fourth option is to play an event card for chances in cards in hand or in bonus cards, you own or that of other playersWhen a player has assembled a complete robot, he scores 10 points for the completed ro-bot – comprising two legs, two hands, one belly and one head, ears are not necessary, they only earn bonuses – and all score for stars on their robot cards, star colors on robot cards and com-pleted bonus cards. Bonus cards that you could not complete score penalty points.Robot X is a nice, standard card game that is fun to play, offering exactly the right mix of chance in drawing cards, decisions in auctions and usually nega-tive interaction from the event cards. þ

ROBOT XHOUSEHOLD HELP UNDER CONSTRUCTION

INFORMATION

Designer: Michel BaudoinArtist: Sylwia SmerdelPrice: ca. 11 EuroPublisher: ST Games / G3 2015www.g3poland.com

PLAYERS:2-5

AGE:8+

TIME:45+

EVALUATIONSet collecting, auctionUsers: For familiesVersion: multiRules: de en plIn-game text: no

Comments: Standard topic * Good mix of familiar mechanisms * Lots of interaction from auction and events

Compares to:Set collecting games with auction


Players are samurai and stand in a cooperative game between the village and blood lusty raid-ers .You can play at Easy, Normal, Hard or Heroic level, for a first game Normal is recommended and the game is set up accord-ingly.In three rounds players draw bandit cards and then choose if they want to fight the bandits,

defend the village or let their particular villains escape in or-der to assist other samurai. In your turn you must - if neces-sary - apply penalty for Raider cards and then implement an action - Fight, Support or Pass. Fight means either confronta-tion with value comparison or defending against a bandit with hat, doll or farm symbol. To support another player you

hand on your marker and move a Raider to the Intruder stack. There are detailed rules for us-ing the special ability and spe-cial talent of a samurai. Wounds from combat or received as penalty due to not protecting farmers against bandits with hat are marked, with three wounds a samurai turns beast and dies with four wounds. At the end of the round there are penalties for not defending against hat, farm or doll symbols on raiders in the form of wounds, destroyed farms and destroyed families. Then you score bonuses for saved families. Finally, intruders are dealt with, you must destroy one barricade for each flame symbol on an intruder card.This game is easy card compari-son based on complex details; basically you do not try to win confrontations, but minimize damage by optimum use of your own abilities and talents to win at the end with all players, having one farm and one fam-ily left undestroyed in your joint village. þ

SAMURAI SPIRITRAIDERS VERSUS SAMURAI

INFORMATION

Designer: Antoine BauzaArtist: Victor Pérez CorbellaPrice: ca. 21 EuroPublisher: Funforge 2014www.funforge.fr

PLAYERS:1-7

AGE:9+

TIME:45+

EVALUATIONCards, cooperation, combatUsers: With friendsVersion: enRules: de en fr hu pl ruIn-game text: no

Comments: Easy basic rules, lots of details * Cooperation is essential * Variable powers need optimum use * Dam-age must be minimized

Compares to:Cooperative games using special abilities

Other editions:Fun Forge (de, fr), Gem Klub (hu), Hobby World (ru), Rebel.pl (pl),


PLAYED FOR YOUtSHINOBI ARTS / STAY AWAY!

As a Ninja you try to steal valu-ables, use Shinobi Arts - the art of the Ninjas - and cooperate with partners and with your Clan. Items have different values and change their value in the presence of other items. Each round is prepared with partner cards, Shinobi Art cards, Allegiance cards and a line-up of item cards. In your turn you have seven options for actions;

three of those actions are the so called Main actions, and you must choose and implement one of them: Steal an item card or Attack another player – for both you use Shinobi Arts cards; an attack is easily staved off by simply playing a defense sym-bol – or Investigation, you look at one of the remaining item cards in the display. A shinobi can only carry one item!

Then you can use one of the free actions – Use a Shinobi Arts card effect or reveal your part-ner and use his ability or leave the clan – The partner you leave is still considered to be a team member and would receive two honor points should he win. You can also pass and leave the premises, even without an item. When, depending on the num-ber of players, two or three play-ers have left the premises, each other player has one more turn and then all reveal their items, use their special abilities and win the round with the most valuable item. You score two points when you win alone or one point per team member. The winner is starting player of the next round. You win the game instantly with three honor points.A card collecting game exclu-sively for specialists in Japanese Games and fans of Seiji Kanai and his games; there is currently only an Japanese edition and a list of card texts on BGG. þ

SHINOBI ARTSNINJAS LOOT THE FORTRESS

INFORMATION

Designer: Seiji KanaiArtist: Namako, Ebi, Naoki, YuyaPrice: ca. 13 EuroPublisher: QBIST/MinimalGames 15http://japonbrand.myshopify.com/

PLAYERS:3-5

AGE:10+

TIME:20+

EVALUATIONCard collectingUsers: With friendsVersion: jpRules: de en fr jpIn-game text: yes

Comments: Japanese edition only * Card texts and rules in Eng-lish, French and German on BGG * For specialists only

Compares to:Collecting games with cards of changing values


A rescue expeditions runs into trouble – „The Thing“ has es-caped and wants to infect all hu-mans or kill them, the humans in turn must identify and eliminate „The Thing“. A card stack of „Pan-ic“ and „Stay Away“ cards – cards for infection, action, defense or obstacle - plus always one „The Thing“ card is prepared in rela-tion to the number of players. A turn of a player is always the

same: You draw a card, deal with it according to its type and then exchange a card with the next player in turn, when there is no obstacle between you. This player must take the card with-out knowing it and gives back any of his cards. When the card that you did draw at the start of your turn was a „Stay away!” card, you can play a „Stay away!” card from

your hand, implement it and discard it or as an alternative discard a card from your hand, face-down. At the start and the end of your turn you always have four cards in hand and can usually only play cards onto your left or right neighbor. Only “The Thing” player can infect others by playing “Infected” at them and therefore knows all roles. During the game you can talk, bluff, but never show your cards; the instructions on a card always take precedence over the general rules of the game.When the humans play cor-rectly and pay attention, they can cope with The Thing, on the other hand The Thing alone knows who is who at any mo-ment and therefore can also win. Challenging entertain-ment full of action, based on the werewolf game principle, and a bit dependent on the luck of the draw, as “Panic” cards must be played immediately. þ

STAY AWAY!HUMANS VERSUS THE THING

INFORMATION

Designer: A. Ferrara, S. FiorilloArtist: S. Fiorillo, A. V. CoppolaPrice: ca. 20 EuroPublisher: Truant Spiele 2014www.truant.de

PLAYERS:4-12

AGE:13+

TIME:60+

EVALUATIONCards, horrorUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: de it pl ruIn-game text: yes

Comments: Standard topic * Well-varied with lots of action in the cards * Somewhat chance-driven * Good for large groups, minimum four players

Compares to:All Werewolf games

Other editions:Pendragon Game Studio (it), Galakta (pl), Hobby World (ru)

PLAYED FOR YOU u TEMPORUM / TERRA MYSTICA: FEUER & EIS


As a time traveler you know of possible timelines, from Early Industrial Revolution to plutoc-racy in Renaissance times, and you want to control the time in which time travel is invented as you want to create a perfect world under your own benevo-lent rule.Each row on the board corre-sponds to one of four periods in history; ten zone cards are

on display in the rows, in num-bers equal to the number of the zone, and show the current timeline, marked by arrows, and also other possible timelines. Then there is a bar with slots for each player for crown place-ment in periods, crowns indi-cate the power status of a player in that period.A player turn comprises four phases: Change history – you re-

locate the arrow marker under the zone card with your pawn to another path. If this removes a player from a real zone you re-locate him to the real zone of his period. Movement – you move your pawn to a real zone. Visit a Zone – you follow the instruc-tions for the zone in given order. Victory check – if you now have 10 crowns in period IV, you win.If you need to play cards in a zone, you display permanent ones and discard temporary ones after use. If you have to score you use a card in hand, pay the demanded price and move the indicated number of crowns. You control a period if you hold the majority of crowns there.As is only to be expected from the designer of Dominion, he has with Temporum given us yet another highly interest-ing game as regards to theme and game mechanics, in which again card combination are at the center of the game. You try to place and relocate crowns to Period IV quickly by achieving optimum card combinations. þ

TEMPORUMTRAVEL TROUGH TIME AND CHANGE IT

INFORMATION

Designer: Donald X. VaccarinoArtist: Alayna LemmerPrice: ca. 65 EuroPublisher: Rio Grande Games 14www.riogames.com

PLAYERS:2-5

AGE:14+

TIME:35+

EVALUATIONPlacement, developmentUsers: With friendsVersion: enRules: enIn-game text: yes

Comments: Topic very nicely imple-mented * Cards of a Zone have similar effects * Some card effects are cumulative and very powerful

Compares to:Games for optimizing card interac-tions


The people of Terra Mystica are bound to a certain type of ter-rain; they can set up buildings only in their specific kind of landscape. Should other people build or expand buildings in the neighborhood, your power increases. Six rounds comprise Income, Actins and Bonus for Cults with preparations for the next round. You score buildings, terraforming, types of buildings,

bonuses, improvements in ship-ping and for city founding and people traits as well as majori-ties at the end of the game.With the expansion the chal-lenge gets even bigger, be-cause we are confronted with volcanoes or frost across whole regions and six new factions: Yetis are Masters of Power, Ice Maidens adore temples, Aco-lytes focus on their cults and

Dragonlords create volcanoes. The factions of Shapeshifters and Riverwalkers do not ad-here to the rule of one faction, one landscape and choose any available starting landscape or home landscape at the start of the game. The terrains that have been transformed into Ice or Volcanoes by Ice Maidens, Yetis, Acolytes or Dragonlords cannot be transformed again, the trans-formation is permanent. There is a new board which can be used instead of the board from the core game. For scoring there are four new final scoring tiles, you draw one of them for a game and use in in addition to the ter-ritory scorings.There are other new options, too, Turn order by passing and Faction Auction, in which you draw factions at the start of the game and put them up for auc-tion.Full marks and full praise for a fantastic gaming experience from an excellent expansion, a must for everyone who knows, owns and loves the core game. þ

TERRA MYSTICA: FEUER & EISYETIS, ICE MAIDENS AND SHAPESHIFTERS

INFORMATION

Designer: Drögemüller, OstertagArtist: Dennis LohausenPrice: ca. 35 EuroPublisher: Feuerland Spiele 2014www.feuerland-spiele.de

PLAYERS:2-5

AGE:12+

TIME:150+

EVALUATIONDevelopmentUsers: For expertsVersion: deRules: cz de en es fr it nl plIn-game text: no

Comments: Six new factions * New rules options * New op-tional board * High quality components

Compares to:Terra Mystica

Other editions:Bard Centrum Gier (pl), Cranio Creations (it), Filosofia/Z-Man (en fr), Mindok (cz), White Goblin (nl)


PLAYED FOR YOUtTHE PEIDES CURSE: EARTH / THINK STR8!

As one of four characters you use your special ability in a race to save the fright-immobilized earth; you must find all nine se-cret codes on various airports around the world to unlock the Heavenly Gate on Mount Chim-borazu and defrost the planet. En route you find energy on the platform and from decod-ing codes, you can look for the codes cooperatively as a group

or competitively on your own and win together or alone. In the race a player turn com-prises three phases – planning phase, racing itself and action & strategy phase. In the plan-ning phase you must plan your travel routes and compare mis-sion cards with the platform on open-faced Quorton cards on display; in the racing phase you have one action and then an ad-

ditional action, with the kind of action depending on your selec-tion of character: Deju can first play a Vourton card or attempt a mission or re-attempt a mission and can then exchange Vourton cards; Mohju can do the same actions as Deju; Dohju can first play a Vourton card or exchange a Vourton card or attempt a mis-sion and then re-attempt a mis-sion; Johju can act like Dohju. The Action & Strategy phase begins when you attempt a mis-sion during the racing phase. You go to the code hide-out for the mission and take a Code card; then the power die deter-mines the energy points for the attempt and you have three attempts to decipher the code with decoding dice. Decoding at first try earns you battle cards, flags and energy.A game for specialists – the rules are full of background story in-formation, but very short on real rules; the concept is interesting, but you need gaming experi-ence to struggle through. þ

THE PEIDES CURSE: EARTHRACE TO DEFROST THE WORLD

INFORMATION

Designer: Vence ChongArtist: not namedPrice: ca. 43 EuroPublisher: Game Design House 14www.gamedesignhouse.com

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:13+

TIME:60+

EVALUATIONRace, deductionUsers: For expertsVersion: enRules: enIn-game text: yes

Comments: Cute topic * Lots of background information * Game rules rather short and not concise * For specialists only

Compares to:First game with this mix of mecha-nisms


Thinking, guessing one’s num-bers and winning with most points!The game features six colored card sets with cards 0-7, they are shuffled separately and then you remove one card, unseen, per color. You take a card holder and the game board is set out. Now each player takes one cad per color and puts it, backside facing him, into his holder, so

you see only the numbers of other players.First of all, you erase all numbers on your sheet that you see with other players. Then one player rolls three dice for all and can change the color on one die. Now you mark those colors of the round on your sheet and then you choose a guessing tile for a possible range of value for the total of all your numbers

in the colors that were rolled. When all have tipped, players tell you if your guess was cor-rect, too low or too high. If you guessed the range correctly, you score points equal to the value of your chosen tile; if not, you must discard a card from your holder and replace it with a new one from the stack of this color; the discarded card is dis-played openly for all. After 8-10 such rounds you give a guess on your numbers; you can guess up to three times for each color and score five points for one single correct guess; 2 points when one out of two guesses is cor-rect and one point for one cor-rect guess out of three; wrong guesses on their own cost you 2 points.Needs some getting used to, but is an interesting game; if you like deduction games, you will love this one! But take card, the components are – unusual for Hutter, rather flimsy and you must be careful not to mark the cards unwittingly. þ

THINK STR8!DEDUCTION ON NUMBER RANGES

INFORMATION

Designer: Leo ColoviniArtist: Sabine KondirolliPrice: ca. 26 EuroPublisher: HUCH! & friends 2015www.hutter-trade.com

PLAYERS:2-4

AGE:10+

TIME:60+

EVALUATIONNumbers, deductionUsers: With friendsVersion: multiRules: de en fr nl pl seIn-game text: no

Comments: Interesting concept * Maybe needs a limit on thinking time * Unusual flimsy components * Take care to give correct infor-mation to others

Compares to:Deduction games in general


PLAYED FOR YOU u TRAMBAHN / TRAMPELTIERE


The new Tramway in Munich is successful and expansion is in the works, not only with new routes and new stations, but also with technical improve-ment, from the horse-powered engines to steam-powered and, finally, electrically powered ones.The game features 112 Sta-tion cards in four colors for four routes, eight Conductors as jok-

ers and 16 Tramway cards as well as for Terminal Station cards. The Station cards can be used in three ways; you play them as station on a route or as pas-sengers on a route, both open-faced, or face-down as money to pay for new tramways.The active player must play one or two cards from hand for passengers, next to the corre-sponding Terminal Station. Four

passengers at a route trigger a scoring of all routes of that color, points on the card times value of the Tramway card.As your second action you can place any number of cards from your hand for a route into your own display, one color in a route and ascending values, there can be gaps. Conductors can be placed anytime, do not score but can trigger Extra Tours. The 8th card in a route triggers an Ex-tra Tour, the route is scored.As a 3rd action you can place cards as money on your money stack, face-down, and finally, as your 4th action, buy one or more tramways, pay with money from your stack and immediately as-sign them to one of your routes. If you then have routes without a tramway, the cards in it go to your money stack. After the 10th scoring you win with most points!A rock-solid game and exactly as a game for two should be! His-torical background, good rules, easily accessible mechanisms, lots of tactic and interaction and yet good for a casual gamer! þ

TRAMBAHNRAIL BUILDING IN MUNICH

INFORMATION

Designer: Helmut OhleyArtist: Klemens FranzPrice: ca. 18 EuroPublisher: Lookout Spiele 2015www.lookout-spiele.de

PLAYERS:2

AGE:8+

TIME:30+

EVALUATIONRailway, set collectionUsers: For familiesVersion: deRules: de enIn-game text: no

Comments: Lots of tactic based on simple mechanisms * Good rules allow for easy access * An entirely good game for two

Compares to:Bohnanza and others for multiple use of cards, track building

Other editions:Mayfair Games (en)

Animals walk in very different ways – players are asked to imi-tate the walk of animals, anoth-er player must guess the animal.A board is assembled, 24 guess-ing cards are shuffled and 24 path cards are sorted by their background pattern and placed at the corresponding side of the board, there are six cards in two rows at each side.The active player is the current

Clomping Creature, draws the first guessing card and secretly looks at it, the card shows one of the animals depicted on the path cards. You take the snake and place it at the side of the board where the animal is depicted on a card. So play-ers know the six possible ani-mals, one of them needs to be guessed. Now you imitate the walk of the animal by moving

your arms, hands and fingers on the back of your left neigh-bor. You can try to indicate the weight of the animal, the way the animal moves and the speed of movement or charac-teristics like clicking or pinching claws of a crayfish or the picking peak of a hen. Your left neigh-bor must guess the animal. If he manages to guess correctly, he receives the path card, the suc-cessful imitator takes the guess-ing card. When your left neigh-bor cannot guess the animal, you try your luck with the next player. If nobody can guess the animal, both guessing card and path card are discarded. When only one card is left at a side of the board, you relocate the card to the side with new few-est cards. After the last guessing card you win with most cards.Again in ingenious game idea by Emely Brand, a designer still in school and already successful! – the idea is marvelous, marvel-ously simple and not that easy to implement. þ

TRAMPELTIERECRAWFISH ON MY BACK

INFORMATION

Designer: Emely BrandArtist: Thies SchwarzPrice: ca. 8 EuroPublisher: Haba 2015www.haba.de

PLAYERS:3-5

AGE:6+

TIME:15+

EVALUATIONTactile, creative, guessingUsers: For childrenVersion: multiRules: de en es fr it nlIn-game text: no

Comments: Designer still a school kid * Marvelous idea * Simple rules * Includes a coopera-tive version

Compares to:Other tactile games

Other editions:Animal Mystére, Haba France


PLAYED FOR YOUtVIVAJAVA / WITCHES

In 2012 the US publisher Dice Hate Me Games released a board game on the topic of creating coffee blends and re-search on blends, Viva Java Un-sere Beste Bohne is the dice ver-sion of this game.At the start players decide on the easier or more difficult ver-sion and place the research mat for use accordingly, Sanft or Würzig side up. Coffee dice

show different colors for beans and also indicate degrees of roasting.In your turn you first score cof-fee blends Beste Bohne or Bunte Mischung, if you hold one of the coasters for such a mix; if you have Beste Bohne you then must downgrade Beste Bohne and then decide if you keep it or relinquish it. Then you roll your own aroma dice

plus either five coffee dice from stock or remaining dice from a relinquished Beste Bohne mix; other players can donate aroma dice. The result can be used to create a blend or for research; with a blend you need to sur-pass existing mixes and then take the respective coaster. If you want to research you sort coffee and aroma dice by color, decide on a color and mark the research advance in that color on your laboratory sheet. If you reach markings 1x/2x, you can use the ability of this bean color from now on accordingly; some abilities also give you a marker for use. Abilities relate to dice results, give you dice or research advances or victory points.With all those details the simple rolling of dice for combinations has been enormously upgrad-ed; despite being chance-driven all the same, you have quite a few options for decision taking and the the game offers good play for players of all levels of ex-perience, provided that you like dice games. þ

VIVAJAVAUNSERE BESTE BOHNE

INFORMATION

Designer: T.C. Petty IIIArtist: C. Kirkmann, J. NoconPrice: ca. 20 EuroPublisher: Pegasus Spiele 2015www.pegasus.de

PLAYERS:1-4

AGE:10+

TIME:40+

EVALUATIONUse dice combinationsUsers: With friendsVersion: deRules: de enIn-game text: no

Comments: Very classy components * Interesting topic * Rules could be a bit clearer formulated

Compares to:Games about dice combi-nations, VivaJava for topic

Other editions:Dice Hate Me Games (en)

The game simulates the power struggle between witches, en-acted with cards and for the Fire Points on some of the cards. You take tricks and want to avoid Fire Points if possible; but if you manage to collect all Fire Points of a round, you can assign them to other players. If someone col-lects 70 or more Fire Points you win with fewest of them.The game features character

cards with four symbols for four people, colors and landscapes, each suit with values 1 to 14, some of the cards are Fire cards and are worth 1 Fire Point each; there are also four mages of value 0 and no color. All witches of value 11 and the Queen of Pygmies, value 12, have special abilities.All cards are dealt evenly to players and you hand cards

to another player, in different numbers and to different play-ers, depending on the number of players. Then you play a card in turn, you must follow suit and there are special rules for mages. When all cards of a round are played, you score Fire Points in your tricks. Witches give or take away Fire Points. If you cast a Fire Spell, that is, have all Fire Cards plus the Water Witch and/or The Pygmy Queen in your tricks, you transfer those points to all other players. In the last round of the game you can deduct them from your score in order to win. When someone collects 70 fire points, the game ends and you win with fewest Fire Points.Witches is a standard trick-taking game similar to many others, but interesting due to the special abilities of witches and mages and the necessity to well assess your cards as regards to the chance to collect all fire cards and the Water Witch or Queen of Pygmies. þ

WITCHESWITCHES AGAINST WITCHES AGAINST MAGES

INFORMATION

Designer: Fisher, AndrewsArtist: Franz VohwinkelPrice: ca. 8 EuroPublisher: Amigo Spiele 2014www.amigo-spiele.de

PLAYERS:3-5

AGE:10+

TIME:45+

EVALUATIONCards, trick takingUsers: For familiesVersion: deRules: deIn-game text: no

Comments: Standard mechanisms * Thematically based on Wizard * Good assessment of card hand is essential * As is good knowledge of the special cards

Compares to:All trick-taking games with additional goals


NEW ARRIVALS u A QUICK GLIMPSE ON NEWCOMERS

40Color codes for target groups (Headline Color)

For children + learnFor families

With friendsFor experts

Color codes for features (Bar in Evalution box)ChanceTactic

StrategyCreativity

KnowledgeMemory

CommunicationInteraction

DexterityAction

Data pack cycle for Android Netrunner for 2 players, ages 14+

Runner versus Corporation. Both have their own deck of cards and goals. The Corporation can spend three Clicks per turn for actions; to install server protection or to trace the runner. The Runner can spend four Clicks; for instance for a Run – a hacker attack on Corporation with different targets; when he manages to get into a server he might find something valuable or just destroy the Corporation project. If you collect seven points, you win. Luna is the third cycle of data packs comprising packs Upstalk, Zwischenräume, Erstkontakt, Mehr als genug, Alles was bleibt and Die Quelle, events are transferred to the moon.Version: de * Rules: de en es fr * In-game text: yes

ANDROID NETRUNNER LUNA ZYKLUS

Designers: Richard Garfield, Lukas LitzsingerPublisher: Heidelberger Spieleverlag

Tile placement game for 1-6 players, ages 5+

Make up long sequences of colors, formed with colored squares and score for each extension! 42 tiles are composed from 16 squares, in the colors red, green, yellow and blue: 4 L-Formations show two colors, the corner squares are colored randomly. You take the top tile and and add it anywhere to a tile already placed, it must not overlap. New and tile already placed must touch each other by at least one square. You score for all squares in those colors that were extended by the new tile. When all tiles are placed you win with most points.Version: muti * Rules: de en fr it * In-game text: no

CONTINUO

Designer: Maureen HironPublisher: Game Factory

Educational game for 1-2 players, ages 2½+

Who assembles the most beautiful animal chain by threading animals together? The mouse is going for a trip, which other animal friends are accompanying her? Puzzle parts with various animals are laid out. The same animals are available in cut-out shapes with holes. You are given a string with the mouse at the end, and the puzzle part showing the mouse is the starting part. Now you add a puzzle part and look for the same animal in the same color. When it is found, it is threaded next to the mouse. Series: spielend Erstes lernenVersion: de * Rules: de * In-game text: no

FÄDEL-MAUS

Designer: Anja Wrede. Christoph Cantzler

Publisher: Ravensburger

Word spotting game for 2-4 players, ages 7+

A task card is chosen and placed onto the board. Then the transparent part of the board is turned till the first word appears in the ring slot. This word must now be found in the grid. It can appear horizontally, vertically, diagonally and even backwards. If you find it you grab the totem and mark the word with your pieces. If your new word crosses the word marked for another player his markers are removed. Then you turn the board for the next word. If you make a mistake, you quit the game. When all words are found or a player is out of markers, the winner is the player with most markers on the board. New edition.Version: de * Rules: de en nl * In-game text: yes

GITTERRÄTSEL

Publisher: Goliath

Dexterity game for 2-7 players, ages 6+

A mine tower for gems is assembled from stone and gem pieces. The active player gets the pick-axe and twice hits a spot of his choice in the tower. The discs should shift so that at least one gem falls off, but no stone disc should fall! When stone discs fall off, you get all gems on it, but pay penalty at the end for the disc. When all gems or all stone discs have been hammered out, the game ends and you score 3 points for red, 2 points for pink and 1 point for white gems. For each stone disc you ust deduct 10 points. Variants are included. Variant of Toc Toc Woodman.Version: de * Rules: de en kr * In-game text: no

KLING, KLANG KLUNKER

Designer: Justin OhPublisher: Pegasus Spiele

Card game for 2 or more players, ages 6+

With 32 cards each for horses and dinosaurs you can either ply a standard Happy Family version - cards are marked in the top left-hand corner with letters and numbers accordingly - or you play a trump game in analogy to Top Trumps, comparing number values. If you have the highest value in the currently named category on your card you get all cards of this round. At Happy Families you win with most quartets, in the trump game you either win with most cards when one player is out of cards or one player has to win all cards. App is available. Edition Tiere.Version: de * Rules: de * In-game text: yes

SHUFFLE TRUMPF TIEREPublisher: Spielkartenfabrik Altenburge

Dice game for 1-4 players, ages 8+

On all four sides surrounding a square dice arena you find 10 wooden bluocks, numbered from 1 to 10, that can be turned up or down. At the start of the game you turn them up. Then you roll two dice and can turn down either two blocks with the individual dice results or one block with the sum of the results or one block equal to the difference of both dice. If you can turn down a block, you can roll again. If not, your turn ends and you note the sum of the upright blocks. After an agreed number of rounds you win with fewest points. Version: multi * Rules: de en fr it * In-game text: no

SHUT THE BOX DELUXE SETPublisher: Noris

Expansion for Steam for 2-8 players, ages 13+

Map Expansion #4 for Steam again offers a double-sided board, for Poland on the one side and Southern Africa on the other. Poland is meant for 3-4 players; there are rule changes for the base and the standard game and rules for two players. Orange is a neutral color for wide gauge tracks; changing track gauge costs 3$. The Southern Africa map is designed for 3-6 players and introduces rule changes for base and standard game, too; roles have been changed - City Growth is replaced by the Prospector. With one of your building actions you can explore a mine and make goods available for delivery.Version: en * Rules: en * In-game text: yes

STEAM MAP EXPANSION #4

Designers: Morgan Dontanville, Martin WallacePublisher: Mayfair Games

Expansion for Story Cubes for 1 or more players, ages 6+

This expansion for Story Cubes features three dice with six different images on each die, but all in correlation with the topic. You roll all dice - in combination with the core game or other expansions - and choose any die to start with. You continue the story and must use all dice images, but in the sequence of your choice. Version: multi * Rules: de en es fr it nl * In-game text: no

STORY CUBES ANIMALIA

Designer: Rory O‘ConnorPublisher: The Creativity

OUR REVIEWtELYSIUM / LEGAL DISCLOSURE

41

IMPRESSUMOffenlegung nach dem Mediengesetz: Medieninhaber, Eigentümer, Verleger und Hersteller: Verein „Österreichisches Spiele Museum“, vertreten durch Obfrau Dipl. Ing. Dagmar de Cassan, Raasdorferstrasse 28, 2285 Leopoldsdorf im Marchfelde, Österreich, Telefon 02216-7000, mail-to: [email protected], Internet: www.spielejournal.at - www.gamesjournal.at - Chefredakteur: Dipl.Ing. Dagmar de CassanBlattlinie: Die Blattlinie ist die Meinung aller Redakteure, freien Mitarbeitern und Gastautoren. Die Spiele zur Erstellung der Rezensionen stellt das Österr. Spiele Museum für die Dauer der Arbeit kostenlos zur Verfügung. Niemand erhält Sach-,Service-, Geldleistungen von den Verlagen.(Alle nicht namentlich gekennzeichneten Rezensionen zu den Spielen sind von Dagmar de Cassan) English Edition Version 1.0Copyright (c) 2015 by Spielen in Österreich - Die Spiele Collection, Spiele Kreis Wien, Österreichisches Spielefest, Spielefest, Wiener Spiele Akademie, Spiel der Spiele und zwei Spiele-Symbole sind eingetragene Warenzeichen.Ihre Email-Adresse: Wir versenden oft an unsere Mitglieder, Abonnenten und Interessenten eine Erinnerung für Termine und sonstige Infos. Wenn Sie noch nie eine Email von uns erhalten haben, fehlt uns Ihre Email!

Icon explanation

Solo Play Two Players Large Groups Recommended Minimum Age

GABIS explanation on page 5

THE GAMES JOURNALOUR REVIEW uDIE ALCHEMISTEN 2 ISSUE 483 / SEPTEMBER 2015 Color codes, target...

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