Hand Management

Tribes of the Wind

In a post-apocalyptic world, the tribes of the wind are going to rebuild the world on the polluted ruins from the past.

Players will have to plant forests, build new villages and temples, and decontaminate surrounding areas.

They will be able to play cards from their hand. But be careful! The effect or even the possibility of playing the card may vary depending on... the back of your surrounding opponents' cards.

Players may also send their wind riders to explore the area, plant forests, or build villages and temples using all the gathered resources.

As the game progresses, you strive to complete objectives that will allow you to unlock your guide's special abilities, and to improve your tribe's powers.

When someone builds their 5th village, the end of the game is triggered. The player with the most points, depending on pollution, villages, temples, layout of their forests, and other various objectives, wins!

—description from the publisher

Birds of a Feather: Western North America

Grab your binoculars and your birding journal because it's time to hit the trails and see some birds. Choose a habitat each round to visit along the western coast of North America, and see what rare birds you can find. Don't forget to keep an eye on what your fellow birders are tracking down — they might just lead you to the bird that finishes your watch list and earns you extra points! Who will outsmart their opponents, spot the most birds, and be the best birder?

In Birds of a Feather: Western North America, you and the other players explore different habitats to spot birds. In the first round, each player chooses and reveals a card from hand, then marks off on their score sheet or the app the bird they played as well as all other birds played in the same habitat. The deck contains cards from five habitats, with some birds being more common than others. In the second round, you each play a card again, then you mark all birds in your current habitat as well as all cards played the previous round in that habitat. Apparently word spread about all the great finds! Remove all cards from the first round, then keep playing additional rounds in the same manner.

When each player has only one card left in hand, the game ends. For each ace bird you've seen in a habitat, you score 2 points; for each other non-common bird you've seen, score 1 point; and if you've seen all seven types of birds in a habitat, score 3 bonus points for a total of 10 points in that habitat. Whoever has the most total points wins.

Birds of a Feather: Western North America differs from Birds of Feather thanks to new graphic design and improved rules for two- and three-player games to make them more strategic.

Smash Up: Disney Edition

The "shuffle building" game Smash Up begins with a simple premise: Take the 20-card decks of two factions, shuffle them into a deck of forty cards, then compete to crush more bases than your opponents! Each faction involves a different gaming mechanism, and each combination of factions brings a different gaming experience.

In Smash Up: Disney Edition, players choose two decks of fan-favorite Disney factions and combine their powers to take over bases, earn the most points, and win! Choose two from Frozen, Big Hero 6, Wreck-It Ralph, The Lion King, Mulan, Aladdin, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Beauty & the Beast to create the most exciting team-ups imaginable!

During the game, base cards — each with their own difficulties and abilities — are at stake. By playing cards from your hand, you try to have the most powerful set of minions on a base when the base is broken. When this happens, the three most powerful players on that base score points. When a player has 15 or more points at the end of a turn, they win. If two or more players have more than 15 VP, the one with the most points wins.

SETUP

In SETUP, you create a set or sets, scoring points to move around the board. How many points on each turn depends on how good you are at spotting sequences and by playing a set which will create multiple combinations on the board. Even when it's not your turn, unwitting opponents may gift you points by creating sets using tiles in your bonus spaces, so always keep your eyes peeled to claim those extra points.

SETUP is a game of strategic tile placement, making sets of numbers of matching suits. You can't always plan in advance though as the tiles stack, so a sequence you had in mind may disappear when your opponents take their turn.

The strategy is even more intense when you try team play mode, work with a partner to plan your sets together. You'll work hard to maximize points, help your partner create sets, and gift each other bonus points. Careful how many points you score because the game ends when the first player crosses the finish line, but being in first place doesn't decide the win; it's the team that avoids finishing last when the game ends!

—description from the publisher

Renature

Renature is a majority game with dominoes for 2-4 players.

Each player gets a board with large pieces of wood in the form of turf, bushes, pines and oaks. These plants are used for the majorities on the large valley board and are available in a neutral color and in the respective player color. In addition, each player gets a stack of dominoes with two out of ten animal motifs on each of them.

On your turn, place one of the three dominoes in your hand on two brook spaces of the valley board. Of course, the domino must be adjacent to another domino that shows the same animal. If the placed domino borders a free space of a brown area, you can decide whether a tuft of grass or any other of your plants should be placed on that space. Tufts of turf have a value of 1, bushes of 2, pines of 3 and oaks of 4. After placing the plant, you score points for it and every plant piece that is already in this brown area and has the same or a lower value.

Once a brown area is framed with dominoes, the majority is scored and the player with the highest total plant value in the area gets the points that are printed as a large number on that area's flower token. Whoever has the second highest value gets the lower number. Two things make this especially tricky: The neutral pieces count as their own color and not among the majority of the player who has used them. Also, if colors are tied, they a treated as though they are not present at all in the area. After the area has been scored, the player who framed the area receives its flower token, which will give them extra points at game end.

In the course of the game, you may run out of plants, but these can be bought back from the game board with clouds. Clouds can also be used to buy another turn and to appoint a new joker animal. This animal then counts as all animals and makes it easier to put on. At the end of a player's turn, a domino is drawn and it is the next player's turn.

Once all players have run out of dominoes, the game ends with a final scoring.