Hand Management

Zhanguo: The First Empire

In 221 B.C., all the so-called Warring States are brought together. This is the birth of the vast Chinese empire, ruled by Qin Shi Huangdi. A skilled and determined strategist, but also a shrewd governor, he undertakes actions aimed at standardizing all the elements at the basis of Chinese society and culture; he imposes a single script and a single currency, then he establishes a new system of laws equal for all. He also builds palaces, installs local governors, and above all, starts the works for the construction of the greatest building in the history of mankind: the Great Wall.

A single life cannot suffice for such a vast empire. He sends ships to distant lands in search of the legendary elixir of life, and he builds a huge mausoleum containing the scale reconstruction of his empire. In defense of it for eternity, he deploys an impressive terracotta army...

In Zhanguo: The First Empire, you go along with the Emperor's plans to offer your family a place in the terracotta army. To help you in this challenging task, six cards will be at your disposal every round. They will give you permanent support during the rest of the game or will obtain the Emperor's approval for your actions.

At the end of the game, the player who made the greatest contribution to the Emperor's cause by scoring the most points wins!

—description from the publisher

Infiltraitors

Your organization has been infiltrated by moles, nefarious informants from the enemy. As faithful agents, you must work together to uncover and eliminate all the traitors.

Infiltraitors is a challenging deduction card game with twenty missions. Suspect cards are set aside at the start; these are the traitors who must be identified by suit and numbers. Players must manage their hands to give clues on the suspect cards. Clues may match with a traitor by having the same suit or where the number is either a multiple or a factor of the traitor's.

As the clues accumulate, players may deduce the identity of a traitor card, but can you catch them all before the time runs out?

Cafe Baras

Everyone in town is looking for a cozy little café where they can relax with a good book, something to nibble on, and, of course, some delicious caffeinated beverages. As a capybara with a love for coffee, it’s always been a dream of yours to open your own shop. Now is the perfect time! But you’re not the only one opening your doors in hopes of enticing customers. Rival coffee shops are popping up all over town and it’s up to you to ensure that you have the right food, drinks, and decor to turn your drop-ins into regulars. Put together a delicious menu and decorate your shop to capture the perfect aesthetic. You just might have the busiest little café in town!

Each turn, you play a card from your hand, either buying it as a food, drink, or decor item for your café or serving the customer on the card and earning money. If you meet a customer’s needs completely, they become a Regular and earn you extra end game points!

Café Baras is a card drafting, tableau-building game brought to you by the creative team behind the critter classics Creature Comforts and Maple Valley.

—description from the publisher

Codex Naturalis

In CODEX Naturalis, you must continue the work of the illuminating monk Tybor Kwelein, assembling the pages of a manuscript that lists the living species in primary forests. Can you put the pages together in the best order possible? And are you prepared to sacrifice a species to develop your manuscript?

In the game, each player starts with a single card on the table, a card that shows some combination of the four possible resources in the middle of the card, in the corners of the card, or both. Players also have two resource cards and one gold card in hand, while two of each type of card are visible on the table.

On a turn, you place a card from your hand overlapping the corners of one or more cards you already have in play. Your starting card has four overlappable corners, while resource and gold cards have only three.

Resource cards have no cost to be played, and they often depict resource symbols in their corners.
Gold cards deliver points when played, but they often have a resource requirement, e.g., three fungi or two plant/one animal/one insect, and you must have those resources visible in your manuscript at the time you play the gold card. You score points from this card immediately, with some cards having a fixed value and others a variable one depending on how many of a certain symbol are showing or how many corners you covered this turn.

If you wish, you can play a card from your hand face down; such a card has four corners and one resource, but provides no points. After you play, draw a face-up card or the top card of either deck to refill your hand.

When a player reaches 20 points, you complete the round, and each player takes one additional turn. Players then score points based on how well they matched two public objective cards and one secret objective card, after which the player with the most points wins.

The Mandalorian: Adventures

When offered a lucrative job, a lone bounty hunter begins a journey that will put his skills to the test and redefine his world.

The Mandalorian: Adventures allows players to experience a new part of the Star Wars universe on their tabletops. Navigating unique maps and missions, players must co-operate to accomplish their goals and avoid defeat. Play as one of eight unique characters, each with their own deck of cards and strategies that will help you fight enemies and solve dilemmas to complete mission objectives. All of the action takes place in an illustrated map book as players recreate iconic moments from season 1 of the hit Disney+ series. With an intuitive system that's easy to teach, the game grows with new rules, components, and mission types added over time – some even featuring a hidden traitor mechanism...