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The Mandala: the symbol of an ancient and sacred ritual. Colored sand is laid to create a symbolic map of the world before the pattern is ceremonially destroyed and the sand cast into the river.

In the two-player game Mandala, you are trying to score more than your opponent by collecting valuable cards — but you won't know which cards are valuable until well into the game! Over the course of the game, players play their colored cards into the two mandalas, building the central shared mountains and laying cards into their own fields. As soon as a mandala has all six colors, the players take turns choosing the colors in the mountain and adding those cards to their "river" and "cup". At the end of the game, the cards in your cup are worth points based on the position of their colors in that player's river. The player whose cup is worth more points wins.

The linen playmat shows two circular mandalas, with each being divided by a horizontal space (the mountain) to create one "field" for each player. The playmat has seven spaces in front of each player to hold their river of single face-up cards and their cup: the stack of face-down cards which they score at the end of the game.

To begin, each player receives a hand of six cards. Each player receives two random cards face down in their cup, then two random cards are dealt face up into the central mountain strip of each mandala.

On your turn, you may play either a single card into one of mountains, or one or more matching cards into one of your fields. All cards played into a mandala must follow the "Rule of Color": Once a color has been played into one of the three areas of a mandala, then later cards of the same color can be played only into that same area. Thus, once your opponent has played red cards into their field, then you can't play red cards in your field, and neither you nor your opponent can play red cards into the central mountain. If you played a card into a mountain, draw three new cards from the deck at the end of your turn; if you played cards into one of your fields, do not draw new cards.

A mandala is completed once it contains all six colors of cards. When this happens, the players "destroy" the mandala, taking turns to choose a color present in the mountain and claim all cards of that color. Whoever played more cards in their field chooses first; if tied, the player who did not complete the mandala chooses first. The first time you claim cards of a specific color, lay one of these cards in the lowest-valued empty space in your river, then place the rest into your cup. The spaces in your river are valued 1-6 in order, so cards of the first color you claim will be worth 1 point each, cards of the second color you claim worth 2 points each, and so on.

Once a mandala has been destroyed and all the colors in the mountain claimed, cards played in the fields are discarded, two new cards are dealt face up into the mountain, and the game continues.

The end of the game is triggered either when the deck is exhausted or when one player adds a sixth color to their river. Both players then tally the value of all the cards in their cup, based on the position of the colors in their river, and whoever has the higher score wins!

Contents:

1 linen playmat
108 mandala cards (18 in each of 6 colours)
2 reference cards

At the center is the Ziggurat, where you must bring 4 sacrifice tokens to win. But to deliver them, you must have sufficient Mana reserved by praying in temples, which players build. You bring your sacrifices from 4 huts that you build, and you can breed at an empty hut to increase your people. To build huts, temples, and Mana, you use rocks and timber that you collect from quarries and forests.

Each turn, you can move 5 places, placing new tiles if you go off the map, seeding stones or timber if they are quarries or forests, and carrying resource to empty plains if you want to build. Building a hut or temple, breeding, or drawing an action card ends your turn, and you bank Mana if you have people on temples. So gradually, you build up your clan and have them do different things. Some stand at temples to pray, some explore and carry resource, others help build or breed. And when you deliver a sacrifice, you kill the messenger too, thus needing to breed more.

Expanded By

Mesopotamia: Expansion

Settlers of Canaan takes place in the territory of Canaan off the coast of the Great Sea. Each Player represents a tribe of Israel as they seek to settle the land of Canaan. The time period of the game spans the time of Joshua's conquests of Canaan (Joshua), the turbulent years ruled by judges (Judges) through the choosing and crowning of King David (I & II Samuel).

The game uses the same basic mechanics as Settlers of Catan but adds some unique elements, similar to the Historical Scenarios. In the case of this game, players build the wall of Jerusalem by contributing bricks. The player who contributes the most bricks earns victory points and the right to use a special "rule-breaking" power of his/her choosing. This is contested in the same manner as "the longest road" from Settlers.

The German version does not use the build Jeruselem and stones mechanisms. Instead there are 13 hero cards that generate God's help. There are events (cards) that take place. Also the German board has 5 hexes not on the English board and one changed hex as well.
Belongs to the Catan Series.

"Arraial" is the name given to traditional Portuguese summer celebrations during which people take to the streets eating, drinking, and having fun in the old neighborhoods that are bedecked with arches, colorful balloons, popular music, and the aroma of sweet basil.

In the game Arraial, players try to make their neighborhood traditional event the most popular by attracting visitors to their celebration. Grab the most beautiful decorations, hire the most inspired performers, serve the most traditional delicacies, take to the streets, and host the party of the year! Arraial is a fast-paced game in which players take turns spending action points to get the best tiles (decorations, artists...) and place them on their player boards to form the perfect match and attract visitors to their party. In the end, whoever attracts the most visitors in their neighborhood wins.

What if the formation of Earth had gone differently?

In Ecos: First Continent, players are forces of nature molding the planet, but with competing visions of its grandeur. You have the chance to create a part of the world, similar but different to the one we know. Which landscapes, habitats, and species thrive will be up to you.

Gameplay in Ecos is simultaneous. Each round, one player reveals element tokens from the element bag, giving all players the opportunity to complete a card from their tableau and shape the continent to their own purpose. Elements that cannot be used can be converted into energy cubes or additional cards in hand or they can be added to your tableau to give you greater options as the game evolves.

Mountain ranges, jungle, rivers, seas, islands and savanna, each with their own fauna, all lie within the scope of the players' options.

—description from the publisher