Auction / Bidding

WILD ANIMALOPOLY has all the fun of a traditional real estate trading game with some wild animal twists. Instead of buying property, players become Caretakers of animals. Instead of rent, players pay Meal Fees. A player collects 4 Elements - the land, water, food and clean air that all animals need to survive and trades them in for a Habitat where an animal can survive on its own. Flip over the Animal Certificates and you'll find several fun facts about each animal. Did you know a polar bear has coal-black skin? Or that a flamingo is pink because it eats shrimp? How about the fact that a giraffe hoof is the size of a large dinner plate? It's all fun and games until you land on HIDE FROM PREDATOR... then it's time to run to HIDING and you're out for 3 turns! So grab your token and advance to EXPLORE. Who knows? You may become the caretaker of a two ton rhino. Or you might get fleas! Whatever Happens... It's howling good fun! IT'S WILD!

In Assyria, players represent tribes living in Mesopotamia, trying to develop on the desert and a limted fertile area located between two rivers that divide the board. In their quest for power (points), players build Ziggurats (permanent outposts), wells, make sacrifices to gods and try to get along with nobles of Assur - the capital of Assyria. The game is a light-weight eurogame, built around the short-term rapid point gains vs long-term investments dilemma. General flow of play is as follows:

Phase 1: Players get resources for expansion and decide on play order

In this phase, players pick cards with resources that enable expansion on the board. In general he/she who gets most food, plays last. First player expands with least food.

Phase 2: Players expand on the board to earn points or money.

Players begin to form strings and/or clusters of huts and pay for placing them with their food cards. Depending on where huts are placed, they either score points or earn camels (money).

Phase 3: Players spend money/camels on various investments.

A player either goes for one-time bonuses from the nobles of Assur, or makes long-term investments by offerings to gods and building Ziggurats.

The game lasts for three eras, made up of 2-3 of such cycles. After each era comes the flood: the board is partially cleaned up, but players also capitalize on their investments from phase 3. Each round, players also score points for huts (those built on fertile land between the two rivers bring more points) and ziggurat tiles.

In comparison to other games from Ystari's series - Assyria is lighter than Caylus, Olympos, Ys or Sylla (in terms of complexity, available choices - represented by numerous tiles, cards, icons, cards etc. that need to be remembered and can be combined during play), but heavier than Yspahan, Mykerinos or Metropolis.

Another edition of the classic Monopoly game themed with characters and places from the Pokemon animated series. It includes a variant to replace the "doubles roll again" rule with "Pokemon Powers."

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?