Medium-Light 18 - Shut Up & Sit Down

Valley of the Kings

When you die, you can take it with you!

Take on the role of Egyptian nobles at the time of the pharaohs, preparing for death and burial in the Valley of the Kings. Players want to fill their tombs with food, canopic jars, statues, amulets and other treasures, and to do so they acquire cards that are laid out in the shape of a pyramid; the higher the card on the pyramid, the more expensive it is to buy — but when lower cards are purchased, the pyramid crumbles, lowering prices on the cards that fall. The pyramid resets each round with new offerings.

You score only for cards that you remove from your deck and stash in your tomb, so if you keep using valuable cards for their effects and don’t entomb them before the game ends, you could lose out on big points! Whoever collects the most valuable artifacts in her tomb wins.

You and your opponents represent powerful developers in a burgeoning Nevada city. You will earn money and prestige by building the biggest and most profitable casinos on “The Strip,” the town’s backbone of dust and sin. You start with nothing but parking lots and dreams, but from there you build, sprawl, reorganize and gamble your way to victory. Score the most points investing in the most profitable development companies and putting the best bosses in control of the richest casinos. Put your dollars on the line . . . it’s time to roll!

The game board is broken into 8 different areas, each consisting of a number of empty ‘lots’. Players build lots by paying money and placing a die of the value matching the one shown on the lot’s space onto the lot, along with a casino tile of one of 7 colors. Adjoining lots of the same color are considered a single casino. The casino’s boss is the player whose die value is higher than any other in the casino. On each players turn, players turn over a new card representing a new lot they get. The card also is one of the casino colors. Any built casinos of the matching color will score both money and VP. Money is earned for each lot in the casino, where each lot may be owned by a different player. VP goes only to the casino’s owner. Players can expand their casinos; try to take over casinos owned by other players; make deals to trade lots, casinos and money; or gamble in opponents’ casinos to make more money. Ultimately, though, only victory points matter, and that means making yourself boss of the biggest casinos.

The Tokaido is ready to unveil a few more treasures for the most faithful Travelers: cherry trees in full bloom, luxurious bathhouses, good luck charms, calligraphy, legendary objects, and even clandestine gambling rooms are now part of the journey! Tokaido: Crossroads, an expansion for the game Tokaido, will open up new doors and many new possibilities to make your journey even richer and more strategic.

The players take the role of courtesans of the Nippon emperor and take on the role of caring for his Giant Panda by growing a bamboo plantation.

Their mission: to farm parcels of land, irrigate them, and grow green, yellow or pink bamboo. In turn, they see what the weather brings and perform two actions from among those offered to them: get a new plot of land or irrigation channel, grow bamboo, feed the panda or draw an objective card.

The game ends when a player has completed 7 to 9 objectives (depending on the number of players). The player who gets the best score by adding the total value of their completed objective wins the game.

In ancient times, monarchs built temples to demonstrate their wealth. The highest temple belonged to the wealthiest monarch. In this two-player game by Uwe Rosenberg, you are one of these long-forgotten monarchs. With the help of various nations, your temples will grow more and more beautiful, reaching ever closer to the sky. But beware of your opponent and the nations on his side, for they will want to destroy your temples and convince your own people to change sides…

So, who will be the greatest monarch?

Splendor is a fast-paced and addictive game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops — all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you’re wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige.

On your turn, you may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card — in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don’t get it — you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a round, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem.

All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do.

Submerge yourself into the bustling life on Catan – be the prince or princess of Catan and decide on the fate of its settlers. In addition to settlements, roads, and cities, you also construct the buildings where your subjects work, hire heroes that make your opponents’ lives as gamers difficult, and build ships to boost your trade.

In the year 2097, the entire Earth was enveloped in a cataclysmic shift in climate, plunging the globe into another ice age. Nearly 90% of the world’s population was eliminated, driving the survivors to band together into loose communities and tribes.

In Arctic Scavengers, you are the leader of a small tribe of survivors. Resources, tools, medicine, and mercenaries are all in scarce supply. You and your tribe are pitted against up to four other tribes in a fight for survival. Build up your tribe, skirmish against other players head-to-head, or even bluff your way to victory.

The player with the largest tribe at the end of the game is declared the winner!

Malefic Curses, the first expansion for Wiz-War, adds a fifth player to the battle, bringing a new sector board and new portals with him. New schools of magic enter the playing field as well, inviting players to tap the fearful powers of Hexcraft, Necromancy, and Chaos. Hexcraft allows a player to etch powerful runes in the paths of the maze, trapping those who dare to cross them. Necromancy offers a host of death-dealing tactics, and the powers of Chaos grow increasingly powerful, although they remain unpredictable at best.

In Wiz-War, wizards wage no-spells-barred magical duels deep in an underground labyrinth. This classic board game of magical mayhem for 2-4 players, created by Tom Jolly in 1983, pits players’ wizards against each other in a stupendous struggle for magical mastery. Win by stealing other wizards’ treasures and hauling them back to your base, or just score points by blasting the other wizards. The last wizard standing always wins.

Staying true to the spirit of the game that has entertained players for years, as well inspiring an entire genre of games, this 2011 edition of Wiz-War caters to the imagination and the funny bone. Casting an enriched array of spells, your wizards race through an underground maze, avoiding fireballs, werewolves, and psychic storms. Subtle game enhancements by Kevin Wilson and Tom Jolly promote faster play and clarify card effects.

Valley of the Kings

Lords of Vegas

Tokaido: Crossroads

Takenoko

Babel

Splendor

The Rivals for Catan

Arctic Scavengers

Wiz-War: Malefic Curses

Wiz-War

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