Abstract Strategy

A traditional tile game played in many different cultures around the world. This entry is for Western Dominoes; the standard set being the 28 "Double Six" tiles. Chinese Dominoes use a 32 tile set with different distributions.

Dominoes is a family of games using the "Western" style tiles. The standard set of tiles is based on the 21 different combinations made with a roll of two six-sided dice. Seven (7) additional "Blank" combination tiles combine with the 21 to form the standard 28 "Double-Six" set. "Double-Nine" (with 55 tiles) and "Double-Twelve" (with 91 tiles) are also popular ("Double-Fifteen" sets also exist).

There are many different games played with Dominoes. The standard game is known as the Block game. Forms of this game are known in many different areas of the world with similar rules. Puerto Rican Dominoes, Latin Dominoes, and Cuban Dominoes are all forms of the Block game.

Another main variety of Dominoes games are based on the "Fives Family." Five-up, All Fives, Sniff, and Muggins are all part of this family. This variation adds the ends of the dominoes to make a multiple of five for scoring.

Other popular Dominoes games include 42, ChickenFoot, and Mexican Train.

A fairly complete listing of rules for Western Domino Games is available at:
http://www.pagat.com/tile/wdom/

Ricochet Robots is less of a game and more of a puzzle, which explains why there's such an odd number of solutions possible. There's a four-piece modular board that forms a large room with walls spread around the board. There are also color-coded targets on boards. Placed on top of the surface are four robots. The idea for each turn/puzzle is to get the like-colored robot to a randomly selected target. The trick is that once a robot starts moving, it will continue to move until a wall or another robot stops it. Therefore, players are seeking a sequence of moves for the robots that will enable them to move the required robot to the target in the fewest moves.

In Qin players colonize the Chinese hinterland, seize territories, and expand their influence by placing tiles and pagodas.

A move is simple: You choose one out of three tiles from your hand, place it onto the grid of the board, then draw a new tile. Each tile shows two landscapes. If you create a territory that consists of at least two spaces of the same landscape, you seize it. You can also expand your territories, take over territories from other players, and connect your territories to villages on the board. All of this enables you to place pagodas. The player who is first to get rid of all his pagodas wins.

In Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension, players command spaceships that have been pulled through a black hole, transporting them into a different dimension. With each ship lacking fuel to get home, each player must collect basic elements from surrounding asteroids, using the gravity of the dimension and what little resources they have in order to reach the warp gate that will take them home. But in this dimension, moving ships will travel towards the nearest object, which is usually another ship, and when those objects are moving either forward or backward, reaching the warp gate isn't always easy. Time is running out to save your crew and your ship! As a grim reminder of the cost of failing to escape, the frozen hulks of dead spacecraft litter the escape route – but with careful cardplay, you can slingshot past these derelict craft and be the first to escape from the Gravwell!

This easy-to-learn game uses 26 alphabetized cards to determine movement order and thrust; most cards move your ship towards the nearest object, but a few move you away from it. Players will draft fuel cards in each round – picking up three pairs of two cards, with only the top card of each pile being visible – giving you some information as to which moves you can expect from the other spaceships. During a round, each player will play all of his fuel cards in the order of his choosing. During each phase of a round, each player will choose one card, then all cards are revealed and resolved in alphabetical order. When your opponents move in ways you didn't expect, you won't always be heading in the direction you thought you would! Each player holds an "Emergency Stop" card that he may tactically play only once per round to avoid such a situation.

Whoever first reaches the warp gate wins, but if no one has escaped after six rounds, then the player who is closest to the gate wins.

La Boca, the most famous neighborhood in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires, was populated by many Italian immigrants when first founded. The area is best known today for its eccentric skyline, with the houses having been built from scrapped fishing boats and the metal being colorfully painted to create a patchwork effect across the neighborhood.

Creating skylines of similar beauty and eccentricity is the goal of the construction teams that play La Boca. In shifting teams of two that sit across from one another, players try to create skylines on challenge cards – but the players can see the completed image only from their point of view, so they must consult with one another constantly to make sure each colored block ends up in the right location while racing against the timer. The faster the players complete their building, the more points they score. Then the next team takes a seat, breaks down the blocks, then begins building anew. Whoever has the most points after a certain number of rounds will stand atop La Boca and glory in the cheers of the Argentinian public!