Auction / Bidding

Ra is an auction and set-collection game with an Ancient Egyptian theme. Each turn players are able to purchase lots of tiles with their bidding tiles (suns). Once a player has used up his or her suns, the other players continue until they do likewise, which may set up a situation with a single uncontested player bidding on tiles before the end of the round occurs. Tension builds because the round may end before all players have had a chance to win their three lots for the epoch. The various tiles either give immediate points, prevent negative points for not having certain types at the end of the round (epoch), or give points after the final round. The game lasts for three "epochs" (rounds). The game offers a short learning curve, and experienced players find it both fast-moving and a quick play.

From the Box:
The game spans 1500 years of Egyptian history in less than an hour!
The players seek to expand their power and fame and there are many ways to accomplish this: Influencing Pharaohs, Building monuments, Farming on the Nile, Paying homage to the Gods, Advancing the technology and culture of the people. Ra is an auction and set collecting game where players may choose to take risks for great rewards or... And all this is for the glory of the Sun God Ra!

Extra! Extra! is all about completing the front and back pages of a newspaper, with a mixture of stories of different sizes. The larger the story, the better. Players score bonus points for stories in their speciality, extra material, interviews, and headlines.

In the game, players collect news in six newsworthy subjects: home, world, business, politics, sport, and leisure. To do this, they place their reporters on the news they want to publish, but they can be outbid by other newspaper owners with bigger wallets. Copy and photo cuttings can be obtained from "the morgue"; more reporters can be hired; and news sold to raise capital.

Whoever completes his front and back pages first receives a bonus — but will that player have enough Circulation Points to win?

In a galaxy far far away, there is a planetary system composed of a great big sun and nine minor planets, four of which have been developed as mercantile planets more or less under the control of politicians and guilds. On each of these planets are a merchant guild, a guild of smugglers, a bazaar and the galactic government, and players can take special actions on each of these planets.

In RYŪ, a game of negotiation, bluffing and cube-drafting, players each represent one of the other five planets in this star system, with each planet having a different type of humanoid – such as sharks, amazons and meka goblins – and its own unique influences. These planets are open to prospecting, and with the proper financing players will be able to dig the resources they need to build their own RYŪ, a mother ship composed of "Rare Metal", "Memory Stone", and "Amber Magic". Players will need to cooperate with one another to raise the necessary resources, but they must also work for themselves in order to maintain an advantage over other players. Once assembled, the RYŪ comes to life as a living spaceship, and its owner wins the game.

Probable update from game box on publisher website:

Several centuries ago, a celestial Leviathan cried on Titan, our planet. Its tears flooded our cities and our land. The people of the Dragons did their utmost to save as many of us as they could: Goblins, Shibuke, Reptilians, Sharks, and Amazons. The survivors of this deluge were brought to Dala, the highest mountain range of our celestial body, with its 9 majestic summits. Nine summits that soon became nine islands.

Who can first build his stone statues in Orongo? The players are part of the exciting story of the mysterious Easter Island, far away from civilization in the midst of the harsh Pacific Ocean. During the game, they pay homage to the gods in the Orongo ceremonial grounds and with their help create the giant stone heads that everyone in the modern world recognizes, the still unique to the world moais.

Whoever bids more shells than his opponents will grab the best building sites and the most profitable resources for the construction of the stone colossi. Orongo is an original bidding and building game with simple rules.

Santiago is about cultivating and watering fields. To accomplish this, a number of tiles denoting various plantation types come into the game each round. The tiles are auctioned off such that each player gets one, and the tiles are then placed onto the game board along with an ownership marker that also indicates how plentiful the tile's yield will be. Whoever bid the lowest in each round gets to be the canal overseer and decides where a canal will be built that round. The other players may make suggestions to help the canal overseer decide, and back up their suggestions with money. The final decision is always wholly up to the overseer, though.

At the end of each round, players determine what the water supply situation looks like. Should a plantation not be sufficiently watered, its production drops dramatically; should it happen more than once, then that plantation may revert to fallow ground. At game's end, naturally only the cultivated land counts. Each plantation is counted according to type – the bigger the better. But since the ownership markers play a role as well, the same plantation can give drastically different points for different players.