Memory

Dream On!

Description from the publisher:

Dreams can be vivid, as if they're actually happening — but when they end, they can be hard to remember. With a little luck, and some careful communication with friends, a dream can be something that's cherished forever.

Dream On! is a collective storytelling game in which players create a dream together. Using the dream cards, they have two minutes to create a dream story. When the timer runs out, they then have to remember what happened in the dream and in what order. They score points for getting the details correct. At the end of the game, they tally up their score to see how much of their collective dream they've remembered.

Sleuth

In Sleuth, a classic deduction game from master designer Sid Sackson originally released as part of the 3M Gamette Series, players are searching for a hidden gem, one of 36 gem cards hidden before the start of the game. The remainder of this gem deck – with each card showing 1-3 diamonds, pearls or opals in one of four colors – is distributed evenly among the players, with any remaining cards laid face up. Thus, you and everyone else starts with some information about what's not missing.

A second deck contains 54 search cards, each showing one or two elements, such as diamonds, pairs, blue opals, red pearls, or an element of your choice. Each player receives four face-up search cards; on a turn, you choose one of those cards and ask an opponent how many gem cards they have of the type shown. If you ask for, say, pairs, the player must tell you how many pairs they hold but not which specific pairs; if you ask for something more specific, say, red diamonds, the player reveals to everyone how many such cards she holds while you get to look at them in secret.

Players track information on a score pad. You can guess the hidden gem at any time, or on your turn you can ask any one question regardless of which search cards you have, then immediately make a guess by marking your sheet and checking the hidden gem card. If you're wrong, you keep playing but can only answer questions; if you're correct, you win.

The simplicity of the rules and the cards belies the complexity of the game. In some cases you see cards, while in others you hear only the number of cards that an opponent holds, making it tough to deduce. Any notation system you devise must be both flexible and reliable, recording negative information as well as positive in order to tick off the possibilities one by one...

Reimplements:

The Case of the Elusive Assassin, with the core mechanisms of that game being used in Sleuth, minus the game board, movement and player proximity.

Orchard: Memo Card Game

Publisher website: "Watch out! The cheeky raven wants to snatch lots of tidbits. Try to save all the fruit by turning over fruit tiles that match the color on the die. The aim of the game is to collect the fruit before the raven snatches everything. A co-operative memory game for 2-4 players ages 3 to 99. Includes a competitive variation."

A co-operative memory game in which players collect fruit
before the raven can take it. Fruit tiles lie face-down on a path. Each turn you roll a die and try to find the two tokens that match the color on the die. If you roll the raven symbol, it hops one space down the path, eating whatever it lands on. Save more fruit than the raven eats, and you win.

Mysterious Forest

The Mysterious Forest is a cooperative memory game inspired by Daniel Lieske's graphic novel, The Wormworld Saga.

After going through a magical painting, young Jonas enters a fantasy world. Players help him cross the Mysterious Forest and face the frightening Queen of the Draconias. The game is played in three phases: During the scouting phase, the players look at each of the eight forest cards in play and try to memorize all the equipment they need to cross the forest. Then they prepare Jonas' backpack by rolling the dice and trying to get the right pieces of equipment. Once ready, the players start the expedition by turning the first forest card face up and discarding the required equipment from the backpack.

If they can reach the final card and choose the right equipment before they reveal it, they win the game!

Patchistory

Patchistory is a strategy board game with cards that symbolize historical heroes and wonders, with the whole game being divided into three eras. During the game, you acquire these cards through auctions and expand your territory by placing cards so that they overlap one another in a 5×5 space in the first era, a 6×6 space in the second era, and a 7×7 space in the third era. When your land—that is, the layout of your cards—is well built, the card functions are activated. You can earn victory points with diplomatic actions, domestic politics, war movement, the actions of production, etc., and at the end of the game, the person with the highest score after the third era wins.

Because you can make combos with lots of features on historical cards and you can score in various ways, Patchistory will give you another new exciting play every time it hits the table.