Hand Management

CABO Deluxe Edition

Spy, swap, and peek to find Cabo the unicorn in this simple card game.

Your goal in CABO is to minimize the total value of your cards, but you don't know what all your cards are at the beginning of the game. By using certain powers to peek at your own cards, spy on your opponent's cards, or swap a card with an opponent, you can try to minimize the value of your cards. When you think you have the lowest value, you can call "CABO" to end the round, but everyone else gets another turn. In the end, the player with the lowest total wins; can you shed your cards quicker than your opponents?

This second edition of CABO features modified rules, a scorepad, four player reference cards, and all new artwork. Rules modifications include the following:

Plays 2–4 players (instead of 2–5)
Cards taken from the discard pile remain face up for the rest of the game, even when in front of players (instead of always keeping cards face down)
Penalty for non-matching cards: Keep all cards including the one drawn — one more per additional cards that do not match (instead of no penalty)
10 point penalty for missing a CABO call (instead of 5)
All players score the sum of their points; if the CABO caller has (or is tied for) the lowest sum, they get 0 points (instead of the lowest player always receiving 0 points)
The round ends after a CABO call or the deck runs out (instead of just when CABO is called)
Limit of one reset to 50 when your score=100 exactly (instead of unlimited resets)

Topiary

In Topiary, players try to position their visitors on the outer edge of a beautiful topiary garden in order to give them the best view possible. Visitors can see the closest topiary sculpture to them and any behind that, in the same sight line, that are larger. You can score bonus points for visitors who see multiple topiary sculptures of the same type. Players slowly fill in the garden by adding tiles until everyone has placed all their visitors.

Spicy

Once upon a time, three big cats became exhausted fighting to be top cat. They agreed to quit the fight and spice up their nine lives with a hot spice eating contest. Alas, everyone was soon cheating, so the cats invented a very hot, often tearful, bluffing game.

Spicy is a bluffing card game for 2-6 players. The cards are played face down, so you can cheat when you announce your card. That said, this clever card game isn't just about bluffing for you can almost always play a card that is at least half right if you cleverly play your hand. This means tactically deciding which card to use to get through: Do I play a "Pepper 10" or a color wild on a "Wasabi 9" and declare it a "Wasabi 10"? Or do I better pass because surely someone has noticed me thinking for so long now?

Spicy contains six game-variant cards, but even without these a high replayability is guaranteed.

The cards are illustrated with forty separate pieces of art. In addition, not only the game box sparkles in chic metallic gold, but also the card backs are adorned with a gold-colored finish.

Dominion

"You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner.

But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn't be proud, but your grandparents, on your mother's side, would be delighted."

—description from the back of the box

In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can "buy" as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end.

Dominion is not a CCG, but the play of the game is similar to the construction and play of a CCG deck. The game comes with 500 cards. You select 10 of the 25 Kingdom card types to include in any given play—leading to immense variety.

—user summary

Part of the Dominion series.

Milito

Refight battles between the greatest armies of the Ancient World: Republican Roman, Carthaginian, Alexandrian Macedonian, Achaemenid Persian, and more!

Milito is a card-based, diceless wargame by Martin Wallace that puts you at the head of an Ancient army, making the key tactical decisions that will win or lose you the battle. Commanding a combination of troops unique to your own army, you'll play unit cards to take control of the battlefield. Skirmish with light troops to hold the enemy at bay, use your cavalry's maneuverability to your advantage, and advance your units of well-armored infantry to drive the enemy away. Flank attacks and army-specific leaders provide further tactical depth. Choose the right moment to commit your best units into the battle line, and capture three terrain areas to win the game.

Each card in your hand represents one of your army's units, which has the same strengths and weaknesses as its historical counterpart. Units are rated for speed, attack strength, defense strength, and other modifiers based on battlefield performance. Leader cards offer combat bonuses and have their own unique abilities — but be warned that not every leader card is an Alexander or Hannibal!

—description from the publisher