Family Games

Building blocks for adults? In this fast-paced game, players must uncover and copy building plans of various difficulty, each showing 10 colored blocks in a particular arrangement, before the timer runs out. An advanced variant allows player to pass undesirable plans to their neighbor and take the one they would have drawn.

Ages 8 and up

Re-implemented by:

Make 'n' Break Extreme
Mini Make 'N' Break
Make 'n' Break CHALLENGE
Make 'N' Break Würfelspiel
Make 'n' Break Junior

The citizens of Verona have grown tired of the constant quarrel between the houses of Capulet and Montague. As ruler of the region, Prince Escalus has formed a council to help mediate the conflict and bring lasting peace to Verona.

In Council of Verona, players take on the role of influential citizens of Verona and act to use their influence to either add characters to the council or cast them into exile. Through thoughtful hand management of their cards and clever placement of influence tokens, players gain victory points based upon the agendas of the characters at the end of the game. The player with the most victory points wins!

We've all heard the story of Romeo and Juliet – now is your chance to steer the story and determine who will rule Verona once and for all!

In Pack & Stack the players try to fill their trucks as perfectly as possible.

Players start each round with a random selection of different-sized goods, determine by the roll of several dice. Then each player takes one or two trucks from the supply face-down (numbers depend on the number of players) The trucks are revealed simultaneously and each player tries to make a quick assessment to get the truck that is most useful for his or her supply of goods. Players stack the goods in the space of their selected truck defined by the boundaries on the truck-bed and the height restriction noted on the truck. Players get negative scores if the truck they picked was too large (a lot of unused space at 1 point per unused space) or too small (a lot of goods don't fit at 2 points per space of goods that would not fit). The player who gets the lowest negative score in a round gains 10 points. Players "pay" points for their negative values, and rounds continue until at least one player no longer has any points; the player with the most points wins.

Days of Wonder announces Mystery Express

Whodunit on Rails re-invents the classic deduction-style board game
Los Altos, CA; Paris, France - January 25, 2010. Days of Wonder announces Mystery Express, an imaginative new take on the classic deduction game from Antoine Bauza & Serge Laget. While Days of Wonder's first "whodunit" game, 2003's Mystery of the Abbey, was considerably more quirky and chaotic, Mystery Express explores the more analytical side of the genre, rewarding a logical and more precise approach to solving the crime.

Players board the famous Orient Express in Paris just as a murder occurs. The rest of the trip - through Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and their final destination of Istanbul - is consumed with determining the who, what, when, where and why of the crime. Players use their special powers of deduction; information gleaned from others in various train cars; and investigative actions to determine the exact circumstances of the murder. The one who correctly identifies the most elements of the crime by the time the train reaches Istanbul wins the game.

Mystery Express is a classic Days of Wonder design made up of top-notch components and unique, period-perfect illustrations. Along with the Mystery Express board map detailing its itinerary from Paris to Istanbul the game features: 5 resin character figures and matching character tokens; 5 Ticket wallets that include a description of each character's special power; 100 Deduction sheets that players use to keep track of their deductions; 72 Crime cards; a Mystery Express miniature train to track the Mystery Express's journey on the map; a Conductor figure; 2 small passenger tokens, a miniature travel bag, a train whistle and rules booklet. Mystery Express is for 3-5 players and will be available worldwide in April 2010. Price is $50/€45.

Video Overview from Myriad Games Presentations available here

It is the turn of the nineteenth century, and mad scientists throughout Europe are competing for the infamy of being the first to create life through the power of alchemy. Using only the raw materials provided by some dubious "Suppliers to the Anatomical Trade", harnessed lightning, and the services of a motley crew of unattractive servants, in It's Alive! you race to collect the eight body parts needed to create your monster and bring it to life. Unfortunately, the local peasants are particularly clumsy and tend to die in freak farming accidents, so the dubious gentlemen rarely find a whole cadaver in sufficiently good condition. Instead, they offer the parts they have managed to salvage. Each turn, you may buy the offered part, sell it to an anatomist for a meager profit, or auction it, trying to get a better deal or rip off your opponents. You might be lucky and get a coffin with a weakling clerk's cadaver in it, which can be used in lieu of any strapping villager's body part, or your involvement in the macabre trade might invoke the villagers' wrath.

Reimplements (and reimplemented by)

The Menorah Game