Open Drafting

Naishi

In Naishi, you will seek to improve your Japanese state as efficiently as possible. However, you will not be free to change the positioning of your cards at will. You must replace the cards in your hand and in your tableau with cards from the central river while respecting their positioning. You will also have the possibility to send your emissaries to reorganise states, create new opportunities or force your opponent into a trade

Lost Lumina

A certain something filled the air. While energizing the magic crystal in his wand, Orly suddenly felt a change he couldn’t name. Usually this ritual took only seconds before the crystal power kicked in. Not today … it took him minutes to obtain the desired power required to load his wand for the adventurous travel ahead of him. While waiting for the blessing of the crystal power he noticed something dark. Something was lurking in the mist absorbing the essential and much needed crystal power from the crystal fragments orbiting around their world, Amanaar. In light of the immense threat to their habitat, Orly decided to set off on a journey, visiting some of the remarkable creatures of Amanaar in order to seek out the dark power that threatens their very lives. Never in his humble existence would he have imagined that some of his friends would turn against him in a battle for the Lost Lights of Amanaar.

In Lost Lights, two players battle with their party of diverse animalistic characters for control over the Regions of Amanaar. In the beginning each player drafts 10 out of 27 beautifully and individually illustrated cards. On your turn you play a card from your hand and take a number of actions equal to the action point value on the card.

Actions allow you to reinforce your party with new followers or to move your followers between the Areas on the map. In Areas where both parties meet, you’ll battle each other. To resolve battles both of you secretly choose one character card from your hand as a leader in this battle, using their special ability. After the special abilities are resolved, your combined battle strength is added up. If you lose the battle, remove your party from the contested area. If you win you are now the dominant force in that area.

The game ends immediately if one of you has no party members left on the map or if both of you run out of cards. When the game ends you add up your scores for each Area. Whoever achieved the higher score wins.

—description from the publisher

FlipToons

It’s time to cast the next great animated show! A top talent agent like you knows a star when you see one, and the director needs you to fill six roles for the big production. Search Flip Valley for the perfect toon characters, and make sure they’re ready to work together on the silver screen!

FlipToons is a quick deck-building game. You’ll begin with a deck of hopeful toon actors. Each round, flip six of these toons out from your deck into your screen grid to audition together.

Each toon card in your 3-by-2 grid has different talent effects. Some are resolved as soon as they are flipped. Many will interact with one another and (hopefully) earn Fame for your studio. But they won’t all have that special on-screen chemistry you’re looking for. Some won’t work well together at all!

After each Flip, tally up your current grid of toons’ Fame points, then spend them to hire more stars for your cast. Purchase these new toon cards from the market and add them to your deck. Or, spend some of your Fame to dismiss a card, and get that bad actor off the stage. Sorry kid, you just don’t have what it takes to be a star in this show.

If your Flip is the first to generate 30+ Fame, you’ll earn the Critic’s Choice award (worth extra Fame points) and trigger the end of the game. After that turn’s market phase, it’s time for one Final Flip. The player who earns the most Fame during the Final Flip is declared the winner. Applause!

Skara Brae

Around five thousand years ago, a resilient group of farmers and hunters built a thriving community on the Orkney Islands of Northern Scotland. Rather than discarding their empty shells, broken tools, bones, and other waste, they used them to form large mounds of earth over hundreds of years. Later generations dug into these midden piles to create a series of rooms and tunnels to shelter from the harsh winds and cold winter months.

The aim of Skara Brae is to gather various resources in order to feed, clothe, and shelter the growing number of settlers. Players take turns drafting cards and using their workers to furnish, cook, craft, clean, and trade. At the end of each round, players need to provide for their settlers and will likely create more midden that needs to be cleaned up. After four rounds, the player with the most points wins.

—description from designer

Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor

Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor is a stand-alone game within the Forest Shuffle family and introduces a brand new habitat and features new species with new abilities and bonuses to explore. As in the earlier original Forest Shuffle, in Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor players compete to build the most valuable environment by placing trees and shrubs, then attracting species to these locations to create an ecologically balanced habitat for flora and fauna.

What's new in Dartmoor is the introduction of TERRAIN cards that are played horizontally and serve as a home or feeding ground for different species than trees or shrubs. Due to the nature of the terrain, species can only be placed above and below a terrain card. Deer and other species stay clear from bogs or peat areas in the moorland. They need their drink, but won't feel safe at dwells or next to rivulets. So players have to be watch out, where to place their species.

Like its predecessor, Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor comes with a unique back side: Each of the 180 cards of the deck can be placed face down, creating a bog, if the action allows it. The caves in Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor now will be drafted at the beginning of the game and offer asymmetrical starting conditions. On top, the number of tree symbols has been reduced from eight to six to enable bonuses more easily.

The game mechanism stays untouched: To start, each player has six cards in hand, with cards depicting either a particular type of tree, shrub or terrain or two moor dwellers (animal, plants), with these latter cards being divided in half, whether vertically or horizontally, with one dweller in each card half. On a turn, either draw two cards — whether face down from the deck or face up from the clearing — and add them to your hand, or play a card from your hand by discarding other cards to pay the cost, then putting that first card into play. In the end, the player with the highest score wins.