Mechanism: Tableau Building

Res Arcana Duo is both an expansion for Res Arcana (with 35% more cards) and a standalone, two-player game that can be later combined with Res Arcana and its other expansions Lux et Tenebrae and Perlae Imperii.

Gameplay is the same as in the original game: Life, Death, Elan, Calm, and Gold are the essences that fuel the art of magic. Choose your mage, gather essences, craft unique artifacts, and use them to summon dragons, acquire places of power, and achieve victory!

Res Arcana Duo features a new drafting method designed for just two players and a tight set of 16 artifacts. Unlike the base game, it has no attacks, which some couples may prefer.

A game typically lasts 4-6 rounds. In each round, players do these steps:

Collect essences: performs any Collect abilities, and may take essences from components.
Do actions, 1 per turn, clockwise from the First Player, until all players have passed:
place an artifact
claim a monument or Place of Power
discard a card for 1 Gold or any 2 other essences
use a power on a straightened component
pass: exchange magic items and draw 1 card. If you are first to pass, take the First Player token.

Check victory (10+ VPs).

If no one has won: straighten all turned components and begin the next round.

You are a marine researcher seeking to find and observe an array of aquatic life in the colorful Sunlight Zone, ghostly Twilight Zone, and pitch-black Midnight Zone of the world's seas and oceans. In Finspan, the fish you discover over four weeks will generate a series of benefits as you dive deeper into the ocean.

Each dive site specializes in a key aspect of expanding your research:

Grow your collection of fish.
Discover freshly laid eggs.
Hatch eggs into young and consolidate young to form schools.

The winner is the player with the most points gained from fish, eggs, young, schools, and achievements.

—description from the publisher

The Forever Sea is calling...

The rugged coast north of Everdell Valley is a land brimming with adventure and mystery. Stalwart sailors search for bountiful islands and valuable treasures. Dutiful monks inhabit abbeys and scriptoriums, meticulously translating and illuminating. Hard-working folk gather resources and build their cities in unison with the ever-changing waves of the mighty ocean.

Welcome to Everdell Farshore, a standalone game set in the country of Farshore. Through each season, you lead a crew of critter workers to build up a prosperous city and to explore the enchanting ocean beyond. You must plan your actions carefully in order to build and to sail, for only by adapting to the winds of change will you succeed.

The wind is high. The sun is breaking the horizon. It is time to set sail for adventure!

—description from the publisher

You are an amateur dracologist in the world of Wyrmspan, a place where dragons of all shapes, sizes, and colors roam the skies. Excavate a hidden labyrinth you recently unearthed on your land and entice these beautiful creatures to roost in the sanctuary of your caves.

During a game of Wyrmspan, you will build a sanctuary for dragons of all shapes and sizes. Your sanctuary begins with 3 excavated spaces—the leftmost space in your Crimson Cavern, your Golden Grotto, and your Amethyst Abyss. Over the course of the game, you will excavate additional spaces in your sanctuary and entice dragons to live there, chaining together powerful abilities and earning the favor of the Dragon Guild.

Wyrmspan is inspired by the mechanisms of Wingspan, though its unique elements make Wyrmspan a standalone game (not compatible with Wingspan).

—description from the publisher

Daybreak is a co-operative game about climate action. Each player controls a world power, deploying policies and technologies to both dismantle the engine of global heating and to build resilient societies that protect people from life-threatening crises.

If the global temperature gets too high, or if too many people from any world power are in crisis, everyone loses. But if you work together to draw down global emissions to net-zero, you all win!