Adventure

Trailblazers are the gutsy folks who pave and brave the trails of the great outdoors.  Whether by hiking boots, cycling wheels, or river paddle, these tenacious travelers seek to feed their insatiable appetite for adventure.  With a scenic wilderness ever ahead and a freshly charted path upon the heels, one mustn’t forget to eventually find their way back to camp.  For there are always new environments to explore, further expeditions to undertake, and more trails to blaze.

In Trailblazers, players compete to earn the most points by building biking, hiking, and kayaking loops from their campsites of the matching trail type. Each round, players are dealt eight trail cards where they’ll draft two cards, arrange those cards in their personal area, and pass their hand to the next player three times. Cards must either be placed adjacent to or overlapping other cards. While players can push their luck by aiming to construct long and elaborate trails, only closed loops that start and end at a matching campsite will score points. Players also compete to fulfill “First To” and “End Game” goal cards. After four rounds, the game ends and the player with the most points from closed loops and goal cards wins.

The standard edition of Trailblazers features a second deck of trail & player cards so you can play with up to 8 players. The box also contains two expansions (the Animals expansion and Adventurers expansion) that add another challenging layer of strategy and objectives to the experience. Finally, there are three unique solo modes that utilize the goal cards, Animals expansion, or Adventurers expansion.

First Ascent is a rock climbing-themed strategic board game. The goal in this medium weight, competitive game is to gain the most points by climbing the best route up the mountain and becoming the most skilled climber! Each player assumes the role of a unique asymmetric character, and throughout the game they will be building their route up the mountain, managing resources, achieving objectives, and increasing their efficiency by accumulating skills and gear! This game is for 2-5 players and takes 45-90 minutes to play.

Gameplay overview:
In First Ascent, the goal is to gain the most points by creating the best route! Points are gained in four ways:
1) Climbing pitches — use your climbing skills, gear, water, and psych to pay the requirements to move on to a tile "climb the pitch". Draw a climbing card and resolve the events that may involve resource management, board manipulation, or selfish vs altruistic decisions. Each tile is worth 1-5 points with higher point value tiles requiring more resources.

2) Objectives — achieve shared and personal objectives that relate to the path of your route. Plan carefully and manage resources to execute the path that will contribute towards achieving your objectives.

3) Technique bonuses — the climbing skills and gear cards contain symbols representing climbing techniques of precision, power, balance, and pain tolerance. Match three technique symbols on the cards you play to climb a tile and earn +2 bonus points. These can add up significantly, so choose your resources wisely.

4) Summit — reaching the top of the mountain is great, but climbing is about the journey. Gain +1 summit bonus point for reaching a peak.

If you don't have the required resources to climb, you can "risk it" by rolling the risk dice to climb a tile for one less resource. You may get away with a check mark and succeed without consequence, roll minus two cards and give them to another player, or roll minus one card and one psych which you give to another player. As long as you have the assets to lose, you will climb the tile, but at a price.

When you begin to ascend the mountain start in any tile on the first row. Next climb to any adjacent tile and leave your rope behind to mark the route you've climbed. Two climbers can not occupy the same tile, except for a summit, so you may compete with other climbers on the mountain for the prime locations.

As you climb the mountain you will practice your skills and become a more efficient climber. The engine building component of this game grants you an "earned asset" after you play four cards of a specific skill type or gear. These tokens stay on your climber asset board and count towards fulfilling the required assets of future tiles.

This isn't a race to the top, its about creating a strategic route that will reward your cunning and planning. The game ends when a player has used all seven rope lengths and climbed their eighth tile.

Do you have what it takes to create the greatest First Ascent?

Dungeons & Feelings is the strategy / social board game hybrid where the only way to conquer your dungeon is to open up, dig deep, and share your opinions, stories, and feelings. Dungeons & Feelings is inspired by classic adventure video games and distills their mechanics into easily accessible board game form.

In Dungeons & Feelings, you will proceed through a dungeon of your own design. Along the way, you will fight monsters, avoid traps, and discover treasure as you gain experience, level up, and acquire loot. When you are ready, you will fight the Dragon and emerge victorious!

You will have many items at your disposal to conquer your dungeon, but to craft them, you will need to ask your fellow players to answer an interesting, thought-provoking question about themselves. Laugh, cry, and start a deeper conversation with your friends in Dungeons & Feelings.

Dungeons & Feelings is a 3-4 player, non aggressive board game designed to be played in one sitting. It fuses elements of tile placing, crafting, role playing, with get-to-know-you ice breaker question mechanics quite unlike any game you've played before.

—description from the designer

CloudAge is a strategy game from Alexander Pfister and Arno Steinwender. The award-winning authors have created a dark and dystopian world for 1 to 4 players.

Fifteen years ago, the mysterious secret society "Cloud" set fire to countless oil production sites and burned down large forests to destabilize the world. The resulting environmental catastrophe had disastrous effects on the entire planet. Now, years later, you travel above the dried-out landscape in your airships, searching for a better life. You visit cities, send out drones to collect resources, and battle Cloud militia.

An innovative sleeving mechanism makes a new, more immersive, form of resource gathering possible. Players try to predict which cloud-covered terrain will contain the desired amount of resources or where additional actions are possible. Resources allow players to develop useful upgrades for their airships or attract new crew members.

CloudAge is a mix of engine-building, deck-building, and resource management. The campaign system makes it easy to start playing quickly, with new elements being introduced into the game as players progress through the chapters. While you play, you also experience and help guide the story. If you prefer, you can also play standalone story spin-offs as single scenarios.

—description from the publisher

The catacombs of the skeletal dragon Umbrok Vessna are mysterious and dangerous. Portals transport you all around the dungeon depths. Wayshrines offer vast riches to intrepid explorers. Prisoners are counting on you to free them. Ghosts, once disturbed, may haunt you to death. Despite all that, it's time to leave the board behind with Clank! Catacombs, a standalone deck-building adventure.

Each trip into the catacombs is unique since you lay tiles to create the dungeon. You can play using only the all-new dungeon deck, or you can include cards from previous Clank! expansions.

Find your fortune (and escape the dragon!) in Clank! Catacombs.

—description from the publisher