Hand Management

In Masters Gallery, players are art critics and gallery owners at the same time, trying to pump up the value of certain artists before cashing in their works. The works of five artists – Vermeer, Degas, Renoir, Monet and Van Gogh – are in play. Each player starts with a hand of masterpiece cards, and on a turn you play one on the table to show a stake in the fate of that artist; some masterpiece cards include special actions that allow you to play a second card, draw an extra card, increase the value of a certain artist, or have everyone play a masterpiece card at once.

When a certain number of works from one artist are on the table, the round ends, and each work from the most well-represented artists are sold for $1-3. Masters Gallery lasts four rounds, with players receiving additional masterpiece cards prior to new rounds and the value of an artist's work increasing based on past performance. The player with the most money after four rounds wins.

Masters Gallery depicts classic works of art on its cards; Modern Art: The Card Game, which features identical game play, uses "modern art" along the lines used in designer Reiner Knizia's Modern Art board game.

When the gods throw a party: The Roman god of wine, Bacchus, has organized three great Bacchanalias to be held in his honor. He has given his satyrs the enviable task of recruiting young nymphs to come to these wild parties.

These lovely ladies dress very colorfully and love to romp and cavort with the satyrs… and oh boy, do they love to party!

As a player, you are one of Bacchus’ satyrs. Your task is to gather together as many like-dressed nymphs at the bacchanalias as possible, driving up the point value of these stylish nymphs and scoring as much as possible in the process.

So party on, you insatiable hoofed ones, all in the name of Bacchus!

Description from the publisher:

Winter will be coming soon, and the forest creatures must look after their winter food supplies...
Gone are the days where all of them could find enough to eat without having to look very hard ... nowadays, they must fight for it!

In this card game, you'll take the side of hedgehogs, squirrels, rabbits or mice in the fight for the last food to be found in the forest. In the process, you can make use of all sorts of helpful items that people have "forgotten" in the woods. And there are lots of those items: an abandoned chainsaw, Cola cans, worn out, smelly shoes, illegally dumped oil containers and much more. If you're clever, you can also lure your opponents onto the roadway that people regularly travel through the woods.

Igels is a fast-paced, funny card game in which the winner is the player with the most food points at the end of the game.

From the rules overview: "In the Queen’s service, the Musketeers are trying to acquire three valuable gems. However, the Cardinal and his dreaded Guards are out to sabotage the Musketeers’ mission. Many skirmishes between the Musketeers and the Guards ensue. The most successful Musketeers will be awarded gems. Those who fail will be sent to prison and will remain empty handed."

Setup: remove some specific cards depending on the number of players. Shuffle and place all Guard cards in the center, along with the Gem and Prison cards. Shuffle the Musketeer cards and deal 12 each.

Play: players select 3 cards to place face down; these are their potential rewards (Pay cards) this fight. Reveal the top Guard. Players simultaneously select a card, then reveal. If the sum is lower than the Guard strength, the player playing the lowest card places a Prison card on one of his Pay cards. Otherwise, the player with the highest card either places a Gem card on one of his Pay cards, or returns one of his Prison cards to the center. If center area doesn't have a card you need, take it from another player. If all you have 3 Prison cards, your played card doesn't add to the other players' cards.

The round ends after 9 fights. Players earn silver for their Pay cards, doubled if a Gem is on top and reduced to 0 if a Prison is on top. The player with the most coins wins. Alternatively, keep playing rounds till someone gets 100 or more points, and the player with the most points wins.

The Abyss power is once again vacant, so the time has come to get your hands on the throne and its privileges. Use all of your cunning to win or buy votes in the Council. Recruit the most influential Lords and abuse their powers to take control of the most strategic territories. Finally, impose yourself as the only one able to rule the Abyssal people!

Abyss is a game of development, combination and collection in which players try to take control of strategic locations in an underwater city. To achieve this, players must develop on three levels: first by collecting allies, then using them to recruit Lords of the Abyss, who will then grant access to different parts of the city. Players acquire cards through a draft of sorts, and the Lords of the Abyss acquired on those cards grant special powers to the cardholder — but once you use the cards to acquire a location, that power is shut off, so players need to time their land grabs well in order to put themselves in the best position for when the game ends.