7 Wonders Tells A Story Of The Ages

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to live in ancient times, wonder no further. The card game 7 Wondersallows you to experience all of the fun and awe of ancient civilizations through the lens of a fearless leader. This game explores all of the fun of the time when the wonders of the world were the stuff of legends, architectural marvels that people would travel thousands of miles to behold. Now it’s up to you to lead one of the seven great cities of the ancient world to triumph!

Throughout 7 Wonders you’ll gather resources, develop trading routes, and use your military strength to earn enough points to best the competition. You’ll also try to create your own Wonder to cement your place in history. The card game 7 Wonders has a fast pace and fun and historical story that makes it a must-have for all card-game lovers out there.

The Three Ages

7 Wonders is split into three different Ages, during each of which the players will draw cards to build their own civilization. Players receive seven cards from a deck during each age, selecting one for themselves and passing the rest on to the next player. Once everyone has chosen, all the cards get revealed.

Players use their own boards to organize their cards and build their Wonder. Playing cards usually require a cost in raw materials or manufactured goods, although some cards are free. You’ll use the cards to add markets and routes to help your civilization grow, make scientific discoveries, and increase your military power.

Coins, Resources, And Bonuses

In order to earn coins, you need to discard some of your cards. Coins allow you to buy resources from your opponents, which can then be used to play more cards. You’ll need to trade with other players throughout 7 Wonders, planning your strategy to get what you need without giving the other players something that gives them an advantage.

Some cards have immediate effects and some have bonuses to be used later in the game. You can even get discounts on future purchases or additional military strength from certain cards. Then, at the end of each Age, you’ll compare your military strength with other players. The players with greater strength win points while the weaker players lose points. At the end of the third Age, players add up points from cards, military victories, coins, collected sets of cards, and their Great Wonder. The player with the most points wins the game.

7 Wonders Sequel Card Game

7 Wonders came out with a sequel card game called 7 Wonders Duel that turns the multi-player card game into a one-on-one duel. 7 Wonders Duel is set up with players drawing cards from a display of hidden and revealed cards that are arranged each round. Players can only take cards that aren’t covered by surrounding cards, so timing is of the utmost importance in drawing cards.

Players are given four Wonder cards with which to begin the game. Constructing each of your Wonders gets you a special ability. Players can only build seven Wonders total, so you’ll want to be the first to build all four of them. In order to win 7 Wonder Duel, you’ll need to satisfy one of three criteria: reach your opponent’s capital, collect six out of seven scientific symbols, or win the most points by the end of the game.

See The 7 Wonders

7 Wonders is a card game that can be played by between 2-7 players, which gives it a lot of flexibility depending on the size of the group. You can just as easily play with a friend as you can with the whole family. Playing time lasts around 30 minutes, so it’s a relatively quick game unless you choose to play multiple rounds. The game is suitable for ages 10 and up, which makes it a great game for kids and adults alike.

You’ll be sure to have a blast with the fun story elements of the game as well as the complex strategy. Buy 7 Wonderstoday and get started on building the greatest civilization of all time!

 

It’s Merchant Vs. Merchant With Jaipur

While you may be used to playing card games without a story like Rummy or Go Fish, the card game Jaipur tells a much more interesting tale. This game casts you as one of the most powerful traders in the city of Jaipur, capital of the land of Rajasthan. You’re competing against a fellow trader to decide who will become the best merchant in the city and earn an elusive invitation to the court of the Maharaja.

Beating out your fellow trader will require you to use all of your wits to buy, trade, and sell enough goods to earn two Seals of Excellence and nab the invitation. But can you make the right choices to trade your way to the top?

Take Vs. Sell

Jaipur is played with a pretty simple turn-based structure. Each turn you have one of two options: either take cards or sell goods. If you choose to take cards, you can take just one card or multiple. Taking one card is free, but taking multiple cards costs an equivalent number of cards to replenish the market. Face up Camel Cards can be taken from the marketplace for free during your turn, although you can only have up to seven cards in your hand at a time.

Selling goods requires you to discard between one and five cards, although they must all be the same type. These card can be items such as Silver, Gold, or Diamonds that will earn you the same number of Goods Tokens as cards you’ve sold. However, Goods Tokens decline in value over the course of the game, so you’ll want to sell as quickly as possible. You must balance selling more cards at once for greater rewards with the need to sell sooner rather than later.

Goods, Camels, And Seals Of Excellence

Each game of Jaipur is played in up to three rounds. The round ends when three of the six sets of Goods Tokens have been depleted. Whoever ends the round with the highest number of points wins the Seal of Excellence Token. Whichever player is the first to win two tokens is declared the winner, so the game ends in either two or three rounds.

If you sell three to five cards of the same type, you can earn a Bonus Tile. You can also earn a five-point Camel Bonus Token at the end of the round if you have the biggest herd of camels, so make sure you’re keeping an eye on Camel Cards as well. There are only 11 Camel Cards in the deck, so try and remember how many Camel Cards your opponent has drawn to see whether or not it’s worth it to try and grow the biggest herd.

You’ll need to factor in which strategy best serves your hand, as Camel Cards must be replaced with cards from the draw pile. This means that picking up a Camel Card can result in a new card being added that allows your opponent to make a major sale. It’s perfectly legitimate to ignore the Camel Cards completely and focus on selling goods if you’re doing well in selling large quantities at a time.

Jaipur: Trade Your Way To Victory

Jaipur is a two-person card game, so it’s perfect for friends or couples looking for a fun and easy game to play. Playing time lasts around 30 minutes, but you can play as many times as you like without the gameplay feeling stale. The game is suitable for ages 12 and up, which makes it a great card game for older kids or young adults.

One of the most fun aspects of Jaipur is its fast pace and its unique blend of strategy and luck. Whether you’re a frequent gamer or you’re looking for something fun to do in your downtime, you’ll enjoy the straightforward gameplay and high risk. Younger players can get a lot out of playing the game by learning about set collection and remaining aware of their opponent’s strategy as well as their own. With quick rounds and fast-paced action, you won’t grow bored of Jaipur anytime soon.

Buy Jaipur today and enjoy the fast-paced fun of merchant life!

 

Jenga: When The Blocks Come Crashing Down

It’s the classic Jenga block-stacking and stack-crashing game! How will you stack up against the law of gravity? You may last a few more stacks than your opponent, but eventually, at some point, it will come tumbling down. Let’s just hope it won’t happen on your pull. 

What is Jenga?

Without trying to be pedantic, Jenga is a woodblock stacking game for two or more players. This is a family game night favorite, and a Fantastic Games favorite. At first glance, Jenga seems like a simple enough game but there’s more to it than meets the eye (or the hand).

How to play Jenga?

Each player takes one turn at removing a single block from the tower and then placing it on top of the stack. Players are not allowed to move blocks around or knock over the tower during their turn. Jenga is different from other games because there can be a lot of winners. The point of the game is to not be the loser. 

There are find several rules variations online. Some are stricter with the “no moving” rule than others, while some allow nudging the tower ever so slightly by straightening crooked blocks before pulling them out or putting them back on. Whatever set of rules a person plays with, though, the winner is the one who doesn’t knock the tower over. 

Jega is a simple game with hours of fun in store. Don’t let this classic game come crashing down. Buy Jenga today.

 

Strawberry Sunset: The Sweetest of All

Some card games are made to be fast-paced games of skill, logic, and competition. Others incorporate beautiful artwork and graphic design that make the cards feel like a collector’s item. Strawberry Sunset has the best of both worlds in a card game that’s as beautiful as it is strategic. In this dynamic card game, you’re a gardener tasked with building the most beautiful and luscious strawberry garden around. It’s time to put your green thumb to the test!

Building Your Garden

The goal of Strawberry Sunset is to earn the most points by growing strawberry plants, creating a long garden path, and adding unique features to your garden like koi ponds or gnomes. You also want to keep the number of gravel patches within your garden to a minimum. Whoever manages to earn the most points throughout the game succeeds in creating the most beautiful garden out of all their neighbors and wins the game!

One thing that makes Strawberry Sunset a particularly difficult card game is that you can only play cards vertically, with each card having to cover at least one-quarter of an existing card. Similar to the way a flower grows from the bottom up, your garden will have to be built from the bottom up. The difficulty of this, of course, is that it makes planning ahead of time more of a challenge.

Players will take turns drawing cards from either the main deck or from the discard pile, also known as the “compost” pile. Players can either draw two face-down cards from the main deck or one face-up card from the compost pile. They are allowed to play only one card at a time to their garden, discarding any other cards into the compost pile.

Sunrise, Noon, and Sunset

The cards of Strawberry Sunset are divided into three times of day: sunrise, noon, and sunset. Each of these decks of cards is shuffled and then placed in a stack, with the sunrise cards on top, the sunset cards on the bottom, and noon cards in between. Each card has an intricate design on the back, although the three types of cards each contain different things.

Sunrise cards will usually consist of root parts of the strawberry plant as well as a few garden features. They’ll also contain cards representing gravel and path sections that run at different angles, allowing you to build a winding garden path and earn points. Noon cards will contain additional sections of the strawberry plant, while sunset cards will contain the strawberry fruits.

Players will take turns drawing and discarding cards as they build their garden. When they discard cards into the compost, they’re allowed to make separate stacks for sunrise, noon, and sunset cards. Once all of the cards in the main deck have been drawn, the game ends, and players have to tally up the points.

Scoring the Game

Players earn different amounts of points for each feature of their garden. For every completed strawberry plant, you’ll earn five points, while water features will earn you three points each. Every quadrant of your longest connected path will earn you one point, while you’ll lose two points for every gravel bed. You can also play Strawberry Sunset with an advanced scoring version, making the game slightly more complex and competitive.

Strawberry Sunset: A Sweet But Competitive Card Game

Strawberry Sunset is playable by 2-4 players, making it better suited for small groups or one-on-one games than for a big family game night. It’s suitable for ages 7 and up, which makes it a great game for parents to play with their kids or for the kids to play together. Playing time lasts around 10-20 minutes, as the game tends to move pretty quickly.

Strawberry Sunset stands out from other card games with its stunning artwork and impeccable card quality. Each of these linen-finished cards will feel like another intricate piece in your beautiful garden as you lay the cards down and watch it grow. The card game also comes with a few cards that detail the rules of the game in a way that’s easy to follow.

Buy Strawberry Sunset today and enjoy the sweet taste of victory!

 

Unlock! Is Where Card Games And Escape Rooms Meet

Escape rooms have blown up in popularity over the last few years, giving groups of people the opportunity to use nothing but their wits to puzzle their way out of danger. To capitalize on the fun of riddle-solving and clue-gathering, publishers have released the card game Unlock! Escape Adventures. This dynamic card game gives you three thrilling scenarios to choose from that will force you to put your heads together if you want to make it out alive.

How to Escape

Unlock! is a cooperative card game that works similarly to an actual escape room. Instead of traveling to some in-person escape room at your local mall, you can experience all of the fun of puzzle-solving and teamwork from the comfort of your very own home. Unlock! allows you to search scenes, combine objects, and solve riddles to escape from the room and win the game.

Unlock! is played with cards that each have a number on one side and a detailed illustration on the other. Whenever players enter a new area, they turn over a card to represent the room they’re in. Players will create a map of the room based on the numbers of the other cards they have, giving you a unique experience each time.

You play the game with several different cards. Object cards can be used with other cards to perform tasks, while you may need to study closely the illustrations on the room cards to find hidden clues. Unlock! even comes with a companion mobile app that you can use to perform small challenges and advance throughout the room. This app can also give you hints in case you get stuck.

Choose Your Adventure

Unlock! Escape Adventures comes with three different escape rooms to choose from. The first is The Formula, in which you’re government operatives locked in a secret laboratory and tasks with recovering a mysterious serum. You’ll have to solve the riddles if you want to find the serum in the scientist’s subterranean laboratory and complete your mission.

The Squeek & Sausage escape room casts the players as heroes working against the evil super-villain Professor Noside. This game uses fun object puzzles and a unique visual style to give players a cartoonishly fun time. The last adventure is The Island of Doctor Goorse, where players are stranded on the island of an eccentric antique collector billionaire. Players have to work together to overcome his hidden traps and escape the island with their lives!

Unlock! comes with a ten-card tutorial that helps you to learn how to play without needing to read the rules of the game. The mobile app also includes a tutorial and a demonstration scenario that make it easy for you to pick up the rules of the game. While you do need to download the app in order to play the game, you don’t need an internet connection to use it while you’re playing.

Unlock! Sequels

In addition to the original Unlock! Escape Adventures card game, they’ve released quite a few sequel card games that feature new adventures to escape from. Unlock! Mystery Adventures features three escape rooms, including the sinister haunted house in The House on the Hill and the vicious sea monster that tracks you into the submarine in The Nautilus’ Traps.

Unlock! Mystery Adventures also features The Tonipal’s Treasue, a treasure-hunting theme that forces you to race against another treasure hunter to be the first to find Captain Smith’s hidden booty. If you’ve played through the original three escape rooms of Unlock! Escape Adventures and you’re looking for new challenges, you can choose from any one of the sequels to keep the good times rolling.

Find Your Way Out with Unlock!

Unlock! is playable by 2-6 players, although the game really shines as a 2-player game. It’s suitable for ages 10 and up, as younger players can help the adults unravel the clues and play the short challenge games on the app. Playing time lasts around 45-75 minutes, so you should get a nice, long game out of it.

Buy Unlock! today and enjoy the thrill of a classic escape room from the comfort of your living room!

 

Carcassonne: A Blast From the Medieval Past

You may have heard about Carcassonne, the medieval fortified town in southern France famous for its impressive outer walls.  Every year countless people flock to this historical city to learn about its rich history and explore its many towers.  But you don’t have to fly all the way to France for a blast to the medieval past!  The city of Carcassonne inspired a tile-based board game of the same name that lets you experience the world of knighthood through building landscapes and fortifying your city.

Build Your City with Carcassonne

Carcassonne uses a game board with a medieval landscape that the players will build piece by piece throughout the games.  Turn by turn, each player will draw a new terrain tile as the outer city begins to materialize.  Skill and cunning are required if you’re going to complete your cities, cloisters, and roads that earn you those valuable points.

Tiles can only connect to other like tiles—grass to grass, city to city, road to road.  Certain tiles are a combination of multiple types of areas, which means that no two completed games are going to look identical.  This variety makes Carcassonne feel fresh and new every time you break out the box for a new game.

Score Points From Your Followers

Just because you built a new road or city doesn’t mean it’s yours to keep!  You’ll have to claim your land by placing your little followers on a tile once it’s been placed.  These little followers are also called “meeples”, and add a cute visual element to the game with little bright red or yellow wooden figures.  

Your meeple will differ based on where you place it: knights defend cities, robbers defend the roads, and farmers defend the grass.  Once you’ve placed your meeple on a completed area, they’ll score you points and get you one step closer to winning the game.

Scoring points isn’t always so straightforward, however.  Just as you have to be quick to place followers before someone else steals your land out from under you, you also have an opportunity to steal from your fellow players.  A major part of the fun of Carcassonne is claiming your opponent’s land before they have a chance to.

Carcassonne Expansions and Spinoffs

While Carcassonne was inspired by the medieval French city, the game itself has also inspired a series of expansions and spinoffs.  The first expansion adds inns and cathedrals to the mix, making the game more complex for people who are looking for something a little more challenging.  With The Princess & The Dragon expansion, Carcassonne transforms into a mythical and mystical game that pits benevolent fairies against fire-breathing dragons in a fight to rescue the princess.

If medieval times don’t go back far enough for you, Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers is a spinoff that will take you back to the time when cavemen painted on walls and wooly mammoths roamed the earth.  Or, if you’re looking for something a little out of this world, the Carcassonne: Star Wars spinoff takes you to a land far far away where the evil Empire fights the virtuous Rebel Alliance.  If you’ve grown up playing the basic game of Carcassonne, you’ll love the combined sense of nostalgia and fun that comes from one of these countless spinoffs.

Go Back In Time with Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a board game that’s simple enough for ages 7 and up, so it’s definitely something that the entire family can enjoy.  Gameplay also usually lasts between 30 to 45 minutes, so it isn’t something that’s going to take up the entire night, either.  While the basic game isn’t incredibly complex, the spinoffs offer additional elements that will make the game advanced enough for adults to enjoy playing without the kids.

If you’ve ever felt drawn to the era of knights and chivalry, then Carcassonne is the game for you.  The randomness of the tile drawing provides endless possibilities that can take the game in any number of directions.  You’ll love the fast paced turns and heartless double crosses of this high stakes tile-based board game.  Step into the past and build your medieval French city with Carcassonne!

 

Red Dragon Inn: Party Like a Hero

Sure, everybody knows the story of the heroic adventurers who save the day, slay the evil monsters, and collect their share of the treasure.  But what happens to them after they’ve finished their righteous conquest?  A night of drinking, gambling, and roughhousing of course.  Red Dragon Inn is a comical game with rapscallion characters engaged in a debauched good time.  

Choose Your Adventurer

In Red Dragon Inn, players get to choose between four different heroic adventurers who’ve just come back from a fresh conquest.  Each character comes with their own special deck of cards that provides them with unique abilities during the game.  The first is Deirdre the Priestess, an elf under the protection of a goddess that can get her out of scrapes and help her heal.  

Fiona the Volatile, on the other hand, is a tough female warrior who can cheer on her fellow players to drink more heavily while turning her own drinks into greater strength.  Gerki the Sneak comes with plenty of cheat cards that make him an excellent gambler (as well as a few poisons hidden up his sleeves).  The last is Zot the Wizard, whose half-demonic pet rabbit Pookey aids him in his quest to drain the other players of their gold.

Gambling, Drinking, and Roughhousing

Every player gets their own board where they can store their decks, discards, and drink cards.  Players start out with ten gold coins and seven cards that they can use to gamble, drink, and gain the upper hand against the other players.  Each turn gives you several options: you can discard however many cards you like and redraw, you can play an action card, or you can buy a drink for someone else.

Buying a drink for someone else will add another drink card to their stack, but it also forces you to take a drink yourself by drawing a card from your own stack.  While this may end up raising your alcohol content and getting you one step closer to passing out, you may end up gaining fortitude from the drink.  You can only play one action card per term, and these cards will usually force the other players to either take damage or drink more.  

Hold Onto Your Coins—and Your Sobriety

Some action cards will trigger a round of gambling, which invites each of the players to bet their gold and play their gambling cards.  Some characters are better at gambling than others, so your character’s profile will play heavily into your strategy of whether or not to favor gambling or drinking.

If a player’s alcohol content gets too high, they’ll pass out and lose the game.  However, running out of gold coins from gambling too much will also kick you out of the game.  The winner is whoever manages to be the last person to hold onto their coins and stay conscious.

Red Dragon Inn Sequels

Red Dragon Inn has spawned a handful of standalone sequel games that can also be integrated with the original game.  Red Dragon Inn 2 adds characters such as Dimli the Dwarf, a gold-hoarder who can handle his liquor like nobody’s business.  It also adds Fleck the Bard, a music loving half-elf who steals the hearts of all the girls.

Red Dragon Inn 6: Villains puts a unique twist on the premise of the game by taking on the villain’s perspective.  With this dark and twisted sequel, you can engage in Boss Battle mode that pits all the players against one evil villain.  No matter which Red Dragon Inn sequel you choose, you’ll be able to enjoy fun new characters that can make the original game even more expansive.

Enjoy the Spoils of the Hunt with Red Dragon Inn

Red Dragon Inn is suitable for ages 13 and up, mostly due to its slightly adult themes.  It can serve 2-4 players, but adding expansion can allow for larger groups and parties of up to 8.  Playing time lasts around 45 minutes, which should make for a decent round of debauched fun.  With Red Dragon Inn, you’ll be sure to enjoy its lighthearted nature and clever spin on the classic “hero.”

 

 

How to Play The Red Dragon Inn

Bears vs. Babies: Who Knew Babies Could Be So Vicious?

Ah, babies. Small, cute, and cuddly, what’s not to love?  Bears, on the other hand, are terrifying creatures that could tear you apart in a second. While this may be true in the real world, it’s anything but true in the world of Bears Vs. Babies. Bears vs. Babies flips the script by championing fierce and terrifying bears as the heroes of the tale while the evil babies are the villains. 

One of the highlights of Bears Vs. Babies is the quirky and attractive art, drawn by Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal. With a silly setup and quick and easy rules, Bears vs. Babies is a game that’ll have you wincing every time you hear the cry of an infant.

Build a Bear

Can we even use that term? We are going for it. Build a bear and love it! 

Bears vs. Babies comes with 107 cards that you’ll shuffle and draw each round to build your patchwork bear and fend off the oncoming army of evil babies. The cards involve a mix of monster heads and body parts that you collect to build your magnificent bear. You can also collect hats, masks, and tools for your bear to wear or use in fighting the babies.

The deck includes several cards that can trigger the babies to attack, as well as the babies themselves. Players will go around picking cards to try and build their bear from various body parts, with each one giving you special abilities. You’ll have to make sure the stitches between the cards match, however, or else it won’t fit on your Frankenstein-like bear body.

Attack of the Babies

If you pull a baby card on your turn, then you’ll put the baby in the middle of the field. Baby cards will have a point value from zero to three on them, as will your monster cards. These numbers correspond to the strength of your bear warriors and evil baby villains during the upcoming war. When the babies attack, they attack all the players, and it’s every man for himself.

If your bear is stronger than the baby, then you’ll win the fight! And if your bear has a higher number of points than your competitors, then you also get to keep the baby cards. However, if the baby army is stronger than you, then your bear gets sent straight to the discard pile. Because you can provoke the baby army to attack during your turn, this may be a good way to earn points while eliminating one of your competitors with a surprise attack.

You are also given the opportunity to search the discard pile for cards on your round, which can be helpful in nabbing the right component to complete your freakish creation. The game will then end once all of the cards have been drawn, with each of the players tallying the points from the baby cards they defeated.

Bears vs.Babies Expansion Pack

Bears Vs. Babies has an NSFW expansion pack available that can be integrated with the original game. While the original game is suitable for ages 7 and up, the expansion back is most definitely not family-friendly. This includes 30 NSFW cards to add some raunchy humor to the game as well as a condom to help protect against those evil babies.

It’s All Out War with Bears vs. Babies

Bears Vs. Babies is playable by 2-5 players, so it’s a good game for couples, friends, and small families to play together. It’s also suitable for ages 7 and up, so little kids can join in on the fun without getting confused. Bears vs. Babies has a playing time of between 15-20 minutes, which allows you to play multiple rounds or just stick with one as an icebreaker.

Bears Vs. Babies is a great game for non-gamers or younger players who aren’t really capable of grasping the complicated mechanics of more advanced card games. In fact, the manual specifically asks players not to read it, but to watch a quick online tutorial and only use it for reference. Bears vs. Babies is an easy and fun way to fill 15 minutes before dinner or to get to know people at a party. 

Buy Bears vs. Babies today and let your silly side win out!

 

Root: The Fate of The Forest Lies In Your Hands

War board games often take place over sprawling maps of the Earth, forcing you to deploy troops and battleships in the reenactment of historic wars. Root combines your classic war board game with elements of fantasy, replacing the battlefield with a beautiful woodland forest beset by warring factions. Players will draw cards, maneuver their furry little woodland creature tokens, and fight for the right to call the forest theirs. Will you help decide the fate of the forest in your favor?

The Four Factions

Root takes place in a great and beautiful woodland, over which four separate factions are warring for control. The evil Marquise de Cat has seized the woodland in order to scour it for riches to line her pocketbook. Her efforts have thus created an Alliance of woodland creatures to secretly fight back and subvert her evil rule.

Meanwhile, the Eyrie at the edge of the region has just elected a new commander to lead their faction to victory, restoring their rule over the forest as is their birthright. Lastly, the mysterious raccoon Vagabond is playing all sides of the conflict for his own personal gain. While he can navigate the more dangerous woodland paths, his own mysterious quest is unknown to all except himself.

Exploring the Forest

This board game comes with many different rules regarding each faction, so you’ll need to understand what your opponents are up to if you want any chance of beating them. While the Cats are focused on building workshops, lumber mills, and barracks, the Alliance works in the shadows. Their goal is to recruit more forces to their cause and muster their resources for one final battle at the end of the game.

The Eyrie is trying to take back to Woods with their hawks, so they’ll try to capture as much territory as possible and populate it with their roosts. Lastly, the Vagabond will work with the other players in an effort to collect enough items to power their own actions. Players can also engage in combat with each other, using each battle to further their overarching strategy.

Players will interact with a common deck of cards in order to accomplish their tasks. Each card has its own action text and suit, such as the “Mouse-in-a-sack” which allows you to draw a card and then discard a card. One of the best parts of Root comes from exploring the vast game board, learning all of the different rules for each faction, and playing around with the cute little woodland creature tokens.

Root Expansions

Root comes with several expansions that add new factions and cooperative scenarios.The Riverfolk expansion adds two new factions: the Riverfolk Company and the Lizard Cult. This allows Root to be played with up to six players instead of four. The Underworld expansion adds the Great Underground Duchy faction and the Corvid Conspiracy faction as well as two new maps for players to fight on.

The Clockwork expansion of Root allows you to add automated factions to the game, which can help supplement games when you don’t have enough players. This makes Root playable by only one player, giving you the ability to turn this group game into a solo game.

Stake Your Claim of the Forest with Root

Root is playable by 2-4 players, but you can make it anywhere from 1-6 by adding one of the expansions. It’s suitable for ages 10 and up, although younger players may have a harder time keeping all of the rules straight in their heads. Playing time lasts between 60-90 minutes, so it’s perfect for a game night with family or friends.

Root is very fun to play, although it does take a while to learn all of the rules by heart. Luckily it comes with a comprehensive guidebook that you can reference to make sure that the evil Marquise de Cat isn’t about to break up your hidden little Alliance with her dastardly ways. Once you’ve played the game a few times through, Root will be sure to become one of your favorite board games.

Buy Root today and enjoy the strategic depth of this fantasy board game!

 

Wingspan: The Ultimate Engine Builder for Bird Lovers

Every once in a while you come across a board game that’s so beautifully illustrated you can’t help but pause and revel in it. Wingspan is a board game that not only appeals to bird lovers everywhere but can actually bring in new enthusiasts with its artwork and accurate portrayal of bird habitats. You’ll be sure to enjoy the complexity of the gameplay as you learn more about these beautiful birds and what a bird habitat actually looks like.

Getting To Know the Bird Cards

One of the things that makes Wingspan really special is its beautifully illustrated collection of bird cards. Each bird card includes an intricate piece of artwork illustrating the bird as well as both the common name of the bird and its scientific name. The card will also include certain information about the bird in terms of how it functions in the game, including which habitat it can be played in and the bird’s wingspan.

The cards will also have important information such as the food cost to play the bird, how many points it’s worth, what type of nest it uses, and how many eggs it can store. These are all elements that will influence how you grow your bird habitat and bring other beautiful birds into your haven. Lastly, each bird card contains a color strip that indicates what special power the bird has when it’s activated.

Playing Birds

Wingspan gives each player their own game board to use to represent their special bird habitat. The game board is split up into three habitats: forests, grasslands, and wetlands. You can play up to five birds in each area by placing an action cube above the column where you want to play a bird. You can’t just play birds willy nilly, however, as you’ll have to spend a certain number of eggs and food in order to play each bird.

Certain birds have special effects that make them either more or less difficult to play. For example, you may have a Peregrin that specifically requires fruit in order to be played. Or, you may have a bird with a wild-food symbol that will accept any type of food.

Gain Food, Lay Eggs, Draw Birds

In addition to playing a bird, you have three other actions you can choose to take each turn: gain food, lay eggs, or draw birds. These last three actions are all taken by playing a cube in the leftmost empty space in the row. The more birds you play, the more you can earn by taking these actions.

You’ll have to balance playing birds against performing one of these three actions if you want to collect the most birds and activate certain bird powers. Each player has a certain number of action cubes to play per round until the end of the fourth round. Once you’ve successfully completed all four rounds, it’s time to tally up the points and see what kind of habitat you’ve built for your avian friends!

Wingspan Expansions

Wingspan has released two expansions that add more cards and complexities to the original board game. The Wingspan European expansion adds 81 new bird cards as well as new end of round goals and bonus cards. The Wingspan Oceania expansion includes even more unique bird cards as well as beautiful new player mats. Just as there are countless types of bird species in the world, so there are endless options for the beautifully illustrated birds of Wingspan.

Grow Your Habitat with Wingspan

Wingspan is playable by 1-5 players, which makes it a great board game to play on your own and learn more about the joy of bird habitats. It’s suitable for ages 10 and up, so if you’re looking for a bird game to get kids excited about animals, look no further. Wingspan has a playing time of around 40-70 minutes, which is a decent chunk of time to get to know its world.

Wingspan is one of the more interactive board games that leaves you pondering the beauty of the natural world. However, it definitely doesn’t skimp when it comes to the fun and complexity of playing the game. Buy Wingspan today and enjoy the fascinating life of birds!

 

Azul: Channel Your Interior Decorator

If you’re a fan of art or interior design, then Azul is the game for you. Set in the lavish palace of King Manuel I of Portugal, Azul puts your interior decorating skills to the test to see who can build the best pattern for the palace walls. You’ll have a blast with the delicate, intricate little tile pieces as you pick and choose which ones will help you make the best design. An expert combination of aesthetic appeal and complex strategy, Azul is a masterpiece of a game.

The Beauty of Azul

Perhaps the best part of the game of Azul comes from its origin story. Azul is based on azulejos, which were white and blue ceramic tiles introduced to Spain by the Moors. When the Portuguese King Manuel I was on a visit to the Alhambra palace in Southern Spain, he couldn’t help but be captivated by the beauty of these dazzling tiles.

In fact, he was so overcome by the beauty of these azulejos that he instantly ordered for his own palace back home in Portugal to be decorated in the same way. This is where our game begins, as you the player become the tile-laying artist charged with embellishing the king’s royal walls.

Collecting the Tiles

Azul is incredibly simple to learn, setup, and play, so you’ll be able to dive right in. Players start with their own individual boards and scoring markers. A ring of discs sits in the center of the table, each holding four randomly drawn tiles and one white tile for players to choose from. Players will take turns pulling tiles from one of the discs and adding them to their boards.

When you select the tiles, you must choose all of the tiles of that color from the disc to add to your board. You’ll fill in each row of your board with one color at a time. If the row is full by the end of the round, then you can move it onto the patterned scoring wall on your board.

Building Your Pattern

This is where the game gets interesting. You get to choose how you place the tiles to decorate the palace, with certain patterns and sets scoring you extra points. This part of the game allows your inner artist to come out as you try and earn as many points as possible while still building something of beauty.

Beware of taking tiles you cannot use, however, as this will harm your score. If there are no free rows in which to place your tile or you’ve already completed a row with that color title, then you’ll earn negative points. 

The key to the game is to make sure you’re able to fill the rows on your player board while planning out your long term strategy for decorating the palace. The game ends when the first player completes an entire row in their patterned scoring wall.

Azul Spinoffs

Azul has two spinoffs that have similar gameplay but employ different yet equally beautiful components. Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra turns you into a window-builder as you craft an elegant stained glass window of your own design. This game comes with beautiful double-sided window panels that offer an infinite number of potential combinations.

Azul: Summer Pavilion tasks you with decorating the king’s summer pavilion, a task which was never actually completed in real life. This spinoff offers a bit more complexity to the game that can make it a worthy upgrade for fans of the original Azul.

Azul: Embellish To Your Heart’s Content

Azul is playable by 2-4 players, so it’s definitely best for small groups or for one-on-one games. It’s suitable for ages 8 and up, mostly because of how simple the game is to play. However, it’s definitely got enough complexity that adults won’t tire of it.

Playing time for Azul lasts 30-45 minutes, which allows you to get a hang of the game in case you’re interested in playing multiple rounds. All in all, Azul is the kind of game you’ll want to play multiple times in order to nail down your winning strategy. Buy Azul today and let your artist be free!

 

Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition (Yep, for the Little Ones)

If you’ve ever played a round or two of Cards Against Humanity at a party, then you’re well aware of how hilarious it can be to play around with absurd wordplay. The adult humor of the game combined with its competitive nature has made Cards Against Humanity a hit all around the world. But while this game is certainly one of the funniest party games on the market, it’s definitely not fit for younger players.

Luckily the creators of the original game have decided to create a brand new game for kids and adults alike. Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition is a family-friendly party game that keeps all of the same wackiness and humor of the first game without losing any of the fun. If you’re looking for a party game the whole family can enjoy, look no further than Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition.

Fill-In-The-Blank

Just like the original Cards Against Humanity, Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition is a fill-in-the-blank party game. Each player will collect seven white cards for their hand, which are all populated with silly phrases like “Squirty cheese” or “A big wet kiss from Great Aunt Sharon”. Then, the game goes in turns where each person gets a chance to be the judge of who’s the funniest.

Each turn, one person will pull a black card, which will have on it a fill-in-the-blank sentence. These include phrases such as “Foolish child! Did you think you could escape from _____?” The fun of the game comes from filling in the blanks with one of the goofy white card responses. Each of the players (with the exception of the one who pulled the black card) will play one of their white cards to try and get their card picked as the funniest.

This is where it pays to read the room. While you may think that “The dentist” is the funniest response to that question, the judge might be inclined to go with something silly like “Filling my butt with spaghetti.”  You’ll have to know the sense of humor of whoever that round’s judge is if you want to collect the most black cards and win the game.

One of the best parts of Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition is that, for the most part, it doesn’t really matter who wins. You’ll be sure to spend the game cracking up over the wacky combinations that your friends and family manage to come up with. Even if your card doesn’t get picked as the winner, you can still rest happy knowing you made everyone laugh.

Consulting The Experts

Cards Against Humanity is known for being a party game with some seriously adult humor. When crafting Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition, the creators of the game didn’t just go through the original and remove all of the adult references. They wrote the game from scratch, consulting child development experts to make sure the humor was age-appropriate but no less funny than the original.

The creators of Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition also playtested the game with thousands of families to ensure that it was a hit. The game has been a major success, allowing kids and adults to engage in absurd wordplay and share a laugh at cards like “Climbing into a cow’s butt.”

Cards Against Humanity Family Expansions

Cards Against Humanity has been known to release many expansions that can be added to the original set to expand the humor and keep the jokes rolling. While Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition does not currently have any expansions, the creators have announced plans to release one soon.

Get The Kids Cracking Up With Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition

Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition is playable by anywhere from 4-30 players, so it can accommodate parties or family gatherings of all sizes. It’s suitable for ages 8 and up, which means that kids of all ages can take part in the fun. The playing time lasts around 30 minutes, although you can always extend it with a few more rounds. Buy Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition and get ready to laugh until you cry!

 

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