Hand Management

The Zapotec were a pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence reveal their culture going back at least 2,500 years. Remnants of the ancient city of Monte Albán in the form of buildings, ball courts, magnificent tombs, and finely worked gold jewelry testify of this once great civilization. Monte Albán was one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica and the center of the Zapotec state that dominated much of the territory that today belongs to the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

In a game of Zapotec, you build temples, cornfields and villages in the three valleys surrounding the capital to generate resources needed for building pyramids, making sacrifices to the gods, and performing rituals.

Each round, players simultaneously pick a card from their hand to determine their turn order and the resources they collect. Players then perform individual turns and spend resources to build new houses, gain access to special abilities, make sacrifices to the gods and build pyramids. The played action card determines three important aspects of each player's turn:

The resource printed at the top of the card determines the row or column to activate on the resource grid to collect income.

The icon in the middle of the card matches one of the nine properties of the building spaces on the map (one of three building types, one of three regions, or one of three terrain types). On their turn, players may build only on spaces that match that icon.

The number at the bottom of the card dictates the turn order for the round when the card is played.

At the end of the round, players draft new cards from the central offer, with the final undrafted card becoming the scoring bonus card for the following round.

After five rounds, players score points for pyramids, for their position on the sacrifice track, and for their ritual cards. The player with the most victory points wins.

—description from publisher

In Bitoku, the players take on the roles of Bitoku spirits of the forest in their path towards transcendence, with the goal of elevating themselves and becoming the next great spirit of the forest. To do so, they will have the help of the yōkai, the kodamas and the different pilgrims that accompany them on their path. This is a hand-management, engine-building game with multiple paths to victory.

Players will have yōkai represented by the cards that make up their hand, which must be placed in the right places at the right times in order to obtain the maximum benefit from the abilities they offer. Furthermore, during the game players can earn more yōkai cards for their deck, thereby increasing their playing options and achieving a higher score. Each player also has three yōkai guardians (in the form of dice) that they can send to the large regions of the forest on the main board in order to obtain all kinds of new options that they can play during the game. These options can be structures they build in certain areas of the forest, soul crystals that generate resources when certain actions are carried out, and many others as well. The players also have the chance to help the mitamas, lost souls in search of redemption by using the chinkon fireflies.

There is truly a wide range of actions to carry out, and this is without taking into account the personal domain where the players can lay out another layer of additional strategy while managing the pilgrims. Pilgrims are followers of the player who embark upon journeys of contemplation and reflection who then share the experiences and learning they can along the spirit path with the Bitoku.

—description from the publisher

Travel Blokus is the smaller, 2-player verson of Blokus. It is an abstract strategy game with transparent, tetris-shaped, colored pieces that players are trying to play onto the board. The only caveat to placing a piece is that it may not lie adjacent to your other pieces, but instead must be placed touching at least one corner of your pieces already on the board.

The tiles in the Blokus To Go version are made with square holes cut into them that allow them to be snapped onto square-shaped "nubs" on the playing field. There are also two storage trays that hold the tiles for travel. These trays cover the board when the game is not being played and fold open in order for players to access the tiles.

Hidden by the soft cloudy whiteness is a world where floating islands are home to great schools for young magical creatures from five realms. Cute little red dragons, clumsy pink fairies, spiteful yellow gnomes, small blue unicorns, and green frogs who dream of becoming princes show up at the gates of schools, with the hope of being admitted to the great hall and being able to admire the famous professors of their realm.

In Eriantys, a game full of strategy, tactics, and twists and turns, you run one of these four great schools and compete with other wizards to increase your fame! Carefully plan your moves and try to control your opponents' moves. On your turn, play a card, place three students, and advance mother nature a certain number of steps across the islands. The island on which mother nature lands is evaluated, and whoever controls it can erect one of their own towers, possibly taking control from an opponent. Additionally, adjacent islands controlled by the same player can merge with that one.

The game ends if only three islands remain, if the students run out, or if a player builds all of their towers. At this point, the player who built the most towers wins.

With three different game modes, including team play, Eriantys always offers different and interesting games. In addition, if you play with the expert version, you can use the fantastic skills of the special characters; each adds many possibilities, enriching the fun and beauty of the challenge.

—description from the publisher

As its name implies, this is a version of Apples to Apples designed for kids, although the basic game still works well with adults, too. The version has card optimized for middle-school aged children (9+). Also good for advanced grade-school aged children.

Compared to the original game, this edition features simplified words that even young children can understand and has no "suggestive" words that adults would be uncomfortable explaining to the kids.

Out of the Box changed the name of this game in 2007 from Apples to Apples Junior 9+ to Apples to Apples Junior. The Junior 9+ edition was originally sold in a small (288-card) box. It was changed to a bigger (576-card) box when the name was changed to Junior.

Note: Apples to Apples Kids was formerly called Apples to Apples Junior!, but was changed to Apples to Apples Kids when Apples to Apples Junior 9+ was changed to Apples to Apples Junior.

Part of the Apples to Apples Series.