Dice

From the back of the box

Do you like Treasure Hunts?

Grab your magnifying glass and detective's hat - it's time to travel the world tracking down a Mammoth! Transform yourself into a super sleuth, then armed with dice, a track, clues and a map, pit yourself against your fellow explorers as you search for mammoth footprints and discarded blueberries (our Mammoth's favourite snack)!

Each time you land on a square, try to guess where it is on the map. If you're willing to pay for the information, you can buy extra clues with special Mammoth Money. If you get the answer right, your collection of Mammoth treasure grows and your knowledge of the worlds geography increases.

Experienced explorers can play a second, even more challenging game. Using a set of quiz cards, you can launch a fast-paced battle requiring quick thinking and even quicker answers! Even if you don't manage to beat the competition, you keep the knowledge you have learned, so everyone's is a winner!

Using strategy and cunning, each player moves his group of companions from volcano to volcano collecting treasure. His/her goal is to collect sets of dragon eggs and gemstones. The player scores for each egg and gemstone collected but also receives extra points for each complete set. The game ends when the last dragon egg is collected.

Bruges in the 15th century – culture and commerce flourish and make the Belgian Hanseatic city into one of the wealthiest cities in Europe.

In Bruges (a.k.a. Brugge or Brügge depending on the country in which you live), players assume the role of merchants who must maintain their relationships with those in power in the city while competing against one another for influence, power and status. Dramatic events cast their shadows over the city, with players needing to worry about threats to their prosperity from more than just their opponents...

The game includes 165 character cards, with each card having one of five colors. On a turn, a player chooses one of his cards and performs an action, with six different actions being available: Take workers, take money, mitigate a threat, build a canal, build a house or hire the character depicted on the card. In principle, every card can be used for every action – but the color of the card determines in which areas the actions can be used or the strength of the chosen action, e.g., blue cards provide blue workers and red cards help mitigate red threats. All of the action is geared toward the gathering of prestige, with the most prestigious merchant winning in the end.

Yam Master combines the dice-combination game play of Yahtzee and other such designs with a competition for prime spots on the game board in order to create rows of tokens.

On a turn, a player rolls the five dice, setting aside any he wishes, then rolls up to two more times with dice set aside in the first round being available for reroll on the third throw. After his final throw, the player can place one of his tokens on the game board on any space for which his dice-combination qualifies. The possible combinations are:

Three of a kind ("Square" 1-6): at least three dice with the same number (Square 2 = at least three dice with a "2")
Full House ("Full"): three dice of a kind and two dice of a kind (not necessarily different)
Four of a kind ("Carré"): at least four dice with same number
Five of a kind ("Yam"): five dice with the same number
Straight ("Suite"): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
≤8: when the sum of all dice does not exceed 8
One shot ("Sec"): one of the above figures, except 3 of a kind, in the first throw
Challenge ("Défi"): before the second throw, the player places a bet and successfully attains on of the figures above, except 3 of a kind, within the second or third throw. He must not bet on a specified figure.

Note that a "Yam" is also a "Square", a "Full", and a "Carré"; the player may choose which combination space he wants to cover with his token. Covering a space with a token is optional.

Instead of placing a token after a Yam, the player may remove one of the opponent's tokens from the game board.

The game ends either when one player creates a row of five tokens on the game board – winning the game instantly – or when a player places his twelfth token on the board; in the latter case, players score two points for each four-in-a-row created with their tokens and one point for each three-in-a-row, with the winner being decided on points.

Game description from the publisher:

Gunship: First Strike! is Escape Pod Games' core release in a planned series of tactical space combat games. Players fight to win battles in a futuristic civil war with a variety of ship types. From the agile and speedy Fighters, to lethal Gunships and intimidating Capital Ships, every battle is a well-balanced slugfest that comes right down to the wire. Our new Trinity Mechanic uses boards, cards and dice together in an extremely innovative and easy-to-learn system that lets new players jump right in.

What makes the Gunship series unique are the numerous combinations of ships that the players "build" at the start of each battle. By choosing from an ever-growing selection (through expansions) of available Weapons and Upgrades, players are able to create a custom Gunship that is suited to their particular style of play or battle situation. Some guys are "defensive" minded; they'll choose Heavy Armor, +1 Shield Generators and 4 Blaster Cannons to fend off the enemy Gunship. But another player might prefer to build a "Carrier Killer" complete with wings full of Bombs and an Autoblaster Cannon to shred his way through the enemy Fighter Squadron. While most of the Upgrade cards are geared toward the Gunships (the true star of the show) you can also do some great things to your Fighters and Capital Ships. New kinds of ships will come with every expansion to further add to the possibilities. No two battles are ever the same!

In Gunship: First Strike!, the civil war has just started. Your orders are simple: Command a task force of one Assault Carrier and its Gunship and Fighters on a mission to destroy the enemy's Carrier. Guess what? He has the very same orders! Dogfights will ensue, Torpedoes will strike home and Thruster Bombs are going to pound the Capital Ships mercilessly. If your Gunship takes too much damage for comfort, or if the battle situation changes and you want a different weapon load, land inside your Carrier for a quick "pit stop". Make sure that you defend it with all your might because once your Carrier is gone, the only option left to you is to flee the battlespace and hope to take revenge another day.

As the Gunship universe grows, players will be able to fight bigger and bigger battles. Soon the objectives will include breaking through the enemy picket line to drop troops on the planet below. The Gunships will be called upon to not only assault other ships, but also to go dirtside and give air support to the land battle raging below A free Campaign System is planned where players can keep track of a fleet of ships and territories. Lose your Carrier in today's battle and you might lose a critical Outpost next week. Don't let the enemy find the Shipyard where your damaged Destroyers limped home last time – if he does, they're toast!