pattern building

Elimino

Based on the classic card game Garbage (or Trash), Elimino is a fast paced card game that features strategy, luck, and sabotage!

In Elimino, each player races to complete their numbered collection of cards in successive rounds while stealing from and sabotaging each other to try and get ahead. However, the further a player gets ahead in the game, the bigger of a target they place on their back. Designed and developed by 11 and 13-year-old sisters, this all-ages game is quick to learn and challenging to win.

—description from the designer

Planet Unknown

Our planet has run out of resources, and we are forced to move. We have discovered a series of planets and sent our rovers to test their environment with the hope of colonization. Our rovers have confirmed 1-6 viable colonization options.

Planet Unknown is a competitive game for 1-6 players in which players attempt to develop the best planet. Each round, each player places one polyomino-shaped, dual-resource tile on their planet. Each resource represents the infrastructure needed to support life on the planet. Every tile placement is important to cover your planet efficiently and also to build up your planet's engine. After placing the tile, players do two actions associated with the two infrastructure types on the tile. Some tile placements trigger "meteors" that make all planets harder to develop and prevent them from scoring points in the meteor's row and column.

Planet Unknown innovates on the popular polyomino trend by allowing simultaneous, yet strategic turn-based play via the Lazy S.U.S.A.N. space station in the center of the table.

—description from the publisher

Hike!

Hike! is a light and fast card-drafting racing game with huskies. Players take on the role of mushers (dog drivers) who assemble their husky sleds and race through the snowy wilderness.

The players carefully select the huskies for their abilities to move over treacherous terrain and place them in the sled according to their character. They gather the equipment and train their huskies. And then the race is on! The players rely on their huskies’ abilities and the preparations they've taken, a combination of luck and skill that would get them the first across the finish line.

Hike! is a command that mushers (dog drivers) use to start the team.

—description from the publisher

The Gig

In The Gig, players are members of a jazz group improvising their way through a song, vying for the spotlight, and trying to please the audience while working up mind-blowing solos!

The game takes place over six rounds, a.k.a. "songs". Each song, players count down, then roll and place dice in real time to gain symbols and create patterns. When one player has placed all four of their dice, they shout "Take it to the bridge!" and other players must stop re-rolling and place the remainder of their dice. After placing all of their dice, each player can add the shape that their dice formed to their instrument's unique solo board, each of which offers a different challenge and way of scoring. Players can use symbols gained via the song and their solo boards to quickly change their dice, keep them for endgame scoring, or spend them to buy audience cards, each of which represents a newly-gained fan who will give you another way of scoring points at game's end.

After the set list of six songs has been played, the player with the most points gained from their solo, audience cards, harmonies, and symbol sets and majorities wins.

The Gig includes a solo mode by Dávid Turczi.

Winter Queen

In one faraway land, there is always winter. Once a year Winter Queen announces a special competition for her court sorcerers. Using enchanted crystals they create magical ornaments and the Queen pays for them with golden coins. The one to collect the most coins till the end of the competition is to become the next Queen’s advisor.

In the abstract family game Winter Queen, you take on the roles of Winter Queen's sorcerers, creating magical ornaments out of enchanted crystals. Each turn, you either place a new crystal onto the board or use already placed crystals to score victory points depending on the spell books you and your opponents have.