7 Wonders: A Story of Civilization As Old As Time

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be the leader of an ancient civilization?  Back in ancient times, when the wonders of the world were an astounding sight to see, inspiring awe in the hearts of man?  With the card game 7 Wonders, you get to experience the same sense of awe by building your very own timeless architectural wonder.

In this card game, you’re the leader of one of the 7 great cities of the ancient world.  Your job is to gather resources, develop trading routes, and best your competitors in military strength in order to earn points.  As you build your city, you’ll also seek to construct your very own wonder that will last throughout time.  7 Wonders has rhythm and a fast-paced sense of fun that makes this dynamic card game one you won’t want to miss.

The Three Ages

7 Wonders lasts for three Ages, with each Age offering players the opportunity to build their civilization by drawing cards.  Players will receive seven cards from a deck during each Age, choosing one of those cards and passing the rest to the next player.  Once everyone has drawn a card, each player will reveal their cards at the same time.  

Players are all given their own boards with which to organize their cards, representing their “Wonder”.  In order to play cards, you’ll have to pay the cost, which may require either certain raw materials or manufactured goods.  Some cards have no cost to play, however.  With these cards, players can add markets and routes to facilitate the growth of their civilization as well as scientific discoveries or military power.

Coins and Resources

Players are allowed to discard their cards to acquire coins.  Coins can be used to buy resources from your opponents, allowing you to play more cards.  Trading with the other players is a major part of 7 Wonders, so you’ll have to find a strategy that allows your civilization to thrive without giving the other player what they need to beat you.

Certain cards will have immediate effects, while others will give you bonuses you can use later on.  Some cards will give you discounts on future purchases, while others will give you military strength.  Once each Age comes to an end, players will compare their strength with their neighbors based on their military cards.  Victorious players will earn points, while the defeated players will lose points.  

Once the third Age is finished, players will add up the points from all of their cards, military victories, and coins.  They’ll also add points from any sets of cards collected as well as if they completed certain levels of their Great Wonder.  Whichever player earns the most points is the winner of the game!

7 Wonders Later Editions

7 Wonders has released a sequel card game called 7 Wonders Duel that turns this multi-player card game into a one-on-one competition.  In 7 Wonders Duel, players will draw cards from a display of face-down and face-up cards that are arranged each round.  You can only take a card if none of the others are covering it, giving you the additional element of timing in drawing cards.

Each player is given four wonder cards at the beginning of the game.  If you construct a wonder, you get a special ability.  However, only seven wonders can be built, so one player will end up with only three wonders.  There are several paths to winning 7 Wonders Duel.  Players must either reach the opponent’s capital, acquire six out of seven different scientific symbols, or win the most points at the end of the game.

Explore the 7 Wonders

7 Wonders is playable by 2-7 players, which means you can play the game just as easily with one other person as you can with the whole family.  This card game is suitable for ages 10 and up, so younger players can learn about card development and set collection skills.  Playing time lasts around 30 minutes, so you can fit in a round or two in a night without losing interest.

Buy 7 Wonders and build your own civilization today!

 

Tiny Towns: A Small Den of Paradise

Modern life has become so chaotic. Have you ever wished you could get away to a sleepy little town in the woods, away from the hubbub and the chaos of the city?  In Tiny Towns, your wish becomes reality. This board game makes you the mayor of your own tiny town in the forest. Tiny Towns combines abstract strategy with city building to give you a game that’s both easy to learn and fun to play.

The creatures of the forest have decided to find their own little safe haven hidden away from predators and the woes of civilization. Because the land is so small and resources are few and far between, you’ll need to do the best with what you have to build a town that you can be proud of. Collect resources, construct buildings, and watch as your tiny town becomes its own little civilization.

Creating Buildings Out of Resources

In Tiny Towns, each player is given their own little 4×4 grid that represents their tiny town. Players will collect resource cubes to lay out on the board in order to construct buildings. At the beginning of the game, players get to choose one of two monument cards with which to begin building. Everyone will also be able to share from seven randomly drawn building cards, which are public buildings that any player can build.

The board game is played in turns, with each player beginning their turn by calling out one of five resources for all of the players to collect. If any player has collected the right kind of resources to match a pattern on one of their building cards, then they can choose to construct a building on their grid in the place of one of the resources. However, they must discard all of the used resources from their board.

Earning Victory Points

As the turns roll along and players begin to add new buildings to their grids, tiny towns do indeed begin to form. These buildings are for more than just show, however, as players will earn Victory Points for each building they create. Players will want to try to collect the right kinds of resources in order to construct buildings on their grid without filling it up with needless materials.

Once every player has filled their board with buildings and resources, then the game ends. Players will then tally their scores, adding up their Victory Points and subtracting one Victory Point for every square without a building on it. Whichever player has the most Victory Points wins the game and the title of most prosperous mayor!

Tiny Towns Expansions

Tiny Towns has released a couple of expansion board games that expand the mechanics of the original game and make it even more complex. In Tiny Towns: Fortune, the creatures of the forest who populate your little town have added a new element to the game: money. These shiny bits of metal have the power to radically alter the gameplay, giving you a new way of gaining resources from other players and building your town.

Tiny Towns: Villagers opens the world of Tiny Towns up just a little bit bigger. New and talented creatures have come to your tiny little town in order to earn a place and use their powerful skills. These engineers and merchants can transform buildings, revolutionize the influx of resources, and perform other impressive feats that make the game much more dynamic.

Tiny Towns: One Building at a Time

Tiny Towns is playable by 1-6 players, so it can just as easily fit both small and large groups of friends or family members. You can even enjoy building a tiny town all on your own! This board game is suitable for ages 14 and up, although some kids as young as 10 may be able to pick up the mechanics without difficulty. Playing time lasts around 45 minutes to an hour, so you can easily fit in a game on a weeknight or a Saturday morning.

Tiny Towns is a fun little game that celebrates the simplicity of small-town life without sacrificing any of the fun of big city living. Buy Tiny Towns today and enjoy the simple life!

 

Tiny Epic Dinosaurs: Get Your Jurassic Park On

Anyone who’s seen Jurassic Park knows that dinosaurs and theme parks do not mix well. However, no one seems to have told the rich bigwigs inside Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, because these greedy bidders are looking for their next big attraction! In the world of Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, modern science has advanced enough to allow us to recreate our prehistoric dino friends. This gives independent ranchers a new role in breeding and wrangling these dangerous reptiles. As a player of the board game, you’ll have to combine dinosaur ranching, resource management, and worker placement if you want to build the best dino farm on the market.

6 Rounds, 6 Phases, Countless Dinosaurs

Tiny Epic Dinosaurs assigns each player their own team of ranchers to control. The goal of the game is to obtain dinosaurs in order to breed and sell them to the highest bidders to use for high thrill theme parks. The game is played over the course of six different rounds, each consisting of six unique phases. The first phase requires you to harvest any resources in your farm that the dinosaurs aren’t already eating.

The second phase is where you really put your ranchers to work, assigning them a multitude of tasks aimed at acquiring and breeding more dinosaurs. You’ll capture and buy new dinosaurs, build up barriers to hold them, research technologies and new breeds of dinosaur, boost your farm’s security or supplies, and more. You’ll have to figure out the best strategy for breeding the most dinosaurs if you want to blow the other ranches out of the water.

In the third phase, your ranchers will return to finish their work at the farm, while the fourth phase has you arrange your ranch however you want. Arranging your ranch is important in order to make sure the dinosaurs are properly placed in the correct barriers to ensure they don’t escape.

Once everything is set, it’s time to feed the dinosaurs. Phase five requires you to feed each and every dinosaur because any dinosaur that doesn’t get fed will escape and threaten the safety of your farm. Dinosaurs are dangerous cattle, and breeding them is not without its risks! Finally, the sixth and final phase of each round has you breed matching dinosaurs. Each pair of matching dinosaurs that is properly enclosed gives you one more baby dino to add to your farm.

Winning the Game

To claim victory in Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, you’ll need to earn the highest number of victory points at the end of six rounds. While breeding new dinosaurs is an excellent way to collect points, you can also earn points through research developments as well as any public or private contracts you acquire. Each player gets a private contract at the beginning and middle of the game with specific rules on completing it. You’ll also need to complete these private contracts at the same time as a public contract. This can make it tricky when you’re racing against someone else trying to complete the same public contract.

The Laboratory Mini Expansion

Tiny Epic Dinosaurs comes with a Laboratory mini expansion that provides each player with an additional board. This board gives you a map connected by blue, green, and red lines that lead to spaces that offer you extra bonuses from dinosaurs to research cards. Players will have to collect matching colored tiles in order to move along the lines. This adds a puzzle-like quality to the game that makes the strategy even more intricate.

Don’t Underestimate Those Tiny Epic Dinosaurs!

Tiny Epic Dinosaurs is playable by 1-4 players, which is definitely a bonus for kids who like single-player board games. It’s also suitable for ages 14 and up, so it’s more appropriate for teenagers and adults than it is for younger kids. Playing time lasts around 30 minutes to an hour. Tiny Epic Dinosaurs has plenty of opportunity for strategy, especially when you add the Laboratory mini expansion to it. You’ll love the cute little dinosaur tokens that come with the game, as they’re each carefully crafted to represent different colored dinosaurs. If you take a walk on the wild side and buy Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, you won’t regret it. Buy a copy or two today!

 

It’s Survival of the Thriftiest With Altiplano

Altiplano is a board game named after the South American highlands of the Andes, where the game is set. Resources are limited in Altiplano and the competition is high. This board game pits players against each other to see who will build their bag with the most resources, giving them the most points by the end of the game. Players can produce resources such as alpaca, cacao, corn, fish, and silver, each of which has its own characteristic and place where it can be used. You’ll have to come up with the best strategy for selling, trading, and producing goods if you want to beat out the other players and win the game!

Embrace Your Role

The goal of Altiplano is to have the highest amount of points by the end of the game. Each player starts the game with a player board and one role tile. A role tile gives you your starting goods as well as the power to do one action that no one else can. This will inform your decision making as you plan to build your bag through producing resources, gathering goods, and more.

Starting roles can be anything from a farmer to a fisherman. While roles like the fisherman require you to get the extensions relating to fish, other roles can enable you to ignore your main action and focus on a different path to get points.Thanks to the seven different starting roles and the Traveler expansion, Altiplano is easily replayable without losing any of the intrigue.

Contents of the Game

Altiplano comes with colorful player boards that are labeled with each of the main locations, as well as the goods they contain and the player count. This board game also comes with cute little location tiles, road markers, player pawns, goods tiles, and coins that you use to trade goods, produce more resources, and build your bag. All of these pieces are made from sturdy, thick cardboard that ensures you can play the game for years without it wearing out.

Part of the fun of Altiplano is collecting all of the little trinkets into your bag and placing them delicately on the board. It’s definitely a visual game, as you can physically see your goods stack up in the form of cute little alpaca tiles or fish tiles.

Building Your Bag

Altiplano is a board game that emphasizes strategy. Each turn gives you many options to take, but the unique power you get from your role tile will definitely influence your path by giving you a specific advantage. It’s important to keep in mind the contents of your bag as you play, as this can allow you to plan several turns ahead since you know which goods are coming. Not all goods are created equal, however, as you might get stuck with something useless like glass.

Building houses scores you loads of bonus points at the end of the game. Whether you focus on building houses, producing cloth or silver, or filling your warehouses, you’ll find a strategy that carries you to victory.

Altiplano Traveler Expansion

Altiplano comes with an expansion called Altiplano: The Traveler. This expansion to the board game includes a traveler wandering through the Altiplano who offers new ideas and assets to grow and exchange resources. The expansion makes the strategy for the game even more complex, giving you new ways to grow your wealth while also throwing in more wrenches to your plan.

Altiplano: Resources May Be Limited But The Fun Is Not

Altiplano is playable by anywhere from 2-5 players. This makes it nice and flexible for people looking for a fun family game or some one-on-one competition. Because it’s suitable for ages 12 and up, it’s complex enough for adults to enjoy while also being accessible to teenagers.  Playing time lasts around one to two hours, which should be more than enough time to fight for resources and employ your winning strategy.

Altiplano is not as instantly playable as some other board games, as it can take a few plays before you really start to get the lay of the land. However, once you’re into it, this board game can provide countless hours of fun with its ability to develop complex strategies. Gather your goods and don’t let the alpacas run loose!

Buy your copy today!

 

Catan: Explore a Whole New World

Have you ever wondered what it was like to be Christopher Columbus and discover a new land full of untapped potential?  While there may not be much of the Earth we have yet to discover, that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the experience of the early settlers.  If you’re an explorer at heart, you’ll love the exciting setup of Catan, a board game that pits players against each other in the race to build a lasting society.  

Formerly known as The Settlers of Catan, this board game uses dice, cards, and strategy to provide you with up to two hours of fun.  The game begins with your ship washing ashore a brand new land, brimming with unspoiled possibility.  But not so fast—you’re not the only one to land on Catan’s shores!  Several other seafarers have arrived at the same time with the exact same desire to colonize.  You’ll have to battle the other players in order to gain dominance and win the game.

 

Building Settlements

Catan uses a game board that is set up with hexagonal terrain tiles.  Each player begins their settlement with two small houses on the spaces where three of these terrain hexes meet.  Then, by rolling the dice, players accumulate different resources and barter with each other in order to turn their settlement into a prosperous city.  The more settlements and cities you build, the more victory points you accumulate.  Once you reach 10 victory points, you are officially the winner of Catan.

But how do you go about bartering resources and building settlements?  This is where Catan gets interesting.  Strategy is a huge part of the game as you trade your resources at ports and with other players to give away what you have too much of in order to collect what you need.  But be sure to trade smartly, as you don’t want to give away something that will give the other player the upper hand.  Sometimes theft is necessary, as rolling a 7 on the dice can allow you to steal the resource card you need from other players.

Catan Expansion Packs

Catan has been around for decades, as it was originally released in 1995.  Catan is suitable for ages 10 and up, and gameplay usually lasts between one and two hours.  While the base game serves 3-4 players, the extension allows you to incorporate 5-6 players.  With so many people vying to win, you can fill an entire evening with a game of Catan!

Catan also comes with several expansion packs, which allows you to enjoy a whole new chapter.  The Seafarers expansion adds ships that serve as roads over the water, allowing you to explore the sea and settle on an uninhabited archipelago of islands.  In addition to ships, the Seafarers expansion also includes pirates, which will steal resources from ships and even prevent them from being built in the first place.

Catan: Cities and Knights adds new Knights that can be used to attack other players as well as defend Catan from barbarian invaders.  These barbarian invaders will occasionally attack Catan, forcing the warring settlements to work together to fend them off and continue the game.  This expansion also includes additional resources to be produced and traded, which include paper, cloth, and coin.  Catan: Cities and Knights can be combined with the Seafarers expansion for an even more complex game.

Build A New World With Catan

Catan is arguably one of the most popular board games ever invented, with countless spin-offs, film/television adaptations, and even tournaments.  Its popularity is likely due to the fact that this game appeals to almost everyone.  Whether you’re a family looking for a casual game to add into the mix or you’re a hard-core gamer looking to relive the nostalgia of a classic, Catan has something for everyone.

While the base game is simple enough for children to enjoy, it’s the expansions that really make Catan a versatile game.  You won’t ever get bored of Catan, and no collection of board games will ever be complete without this classic multiplayer board game.  Indulge your imagination and get in touch with your inner settler with Catan!

 

 

How to Play Catan

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