Strategy

Treasures of all types — yet the hard part is not capturing the ship's bounty, but dividing it fairly among the pirates! Players take turns splitting each round's booty into shares for the other players. Different types of treasures have different values, and of course there's the hidden items to keep people guessing. Will you be the quartermaster to give everyone their fair share – but giving yourself the best share?

Each round in Booty, cards representing treasures are revealed. Some are worth points immediately, some items cancel others, some give you a chance (but not a guarantee) for a big payday. The quartermaster, a job that travels from player to player, divides the treasures into shares and also includes the order of picking treasures in the next round. Balancing what you need, what others might want, and trying to get a little extra into your treasure pile is the key to success!

The building cards provide many special benefits that allow for a broad range of strategies every time you play.

Theseus: The Dark Orbit puts players in the heart of a conflict between five factions trapped on a space station in deep space. Only one can survive...

Command the marine forces! Use deadly weaponry, setting traps and mines in corridors to defend the human race.

Command the alien race! Use secret passages and ventilation ducts to launch surprise attacks and grow small aliens to take control of the station.

Command the scientists! Use computers and technological devices to gather data and record information about other inhabitants of the station.

Command the Greys race! Use their mind powers to control the enemy and use them for your own purposes.

The fifth faction? It's a mystery. It's precisely why you made the trek to Theseus, and it's precisely why you will die...

In Theseus: The Dark Orbit, players move their pawns around the space station and activate the abilities of different rooms. Every move you take changes the movement possibilities of your opponent. On your turn, you need to think about which room you want to reach and (in addition) how to mess your opponent's movement, which leads to great choices and meaningful decisions.

Rooms abilities change during the game as players install trait cards that give rooms new abilities and skills. Players create Theseus during gameplay by placing traps, smart guns, secret passages and many other features. In every game Theseus looks different; in every game it's deadly for you in a new way...

Rules for team play allow players to engage in incredibly emotional 2-vs-2 battles. With perfectly balanced factions, players will be able to fight engaging and deadly battles as a teams. Each faction has a unique deck of cards, and before the game starts, you discard ten cards from the deck. In basic mode you discard at random, while in tournament (master) mode you choose cards and build your deck. With five factions and 110 cards, the game can provide years of unique experiences.

The year is 1822. After years of decay, it is time to rebuild the medina, located at the foot of the Atlas mountains. The architects and engineers of the city work to erect large and beautiful palaces and to renovate the damaged city wall. As the reconstruction of the old city progresses, the city's inhabitants flock through the alleys, and the contours of the new city gradually reappear!

Each turn, players must place two pieces on the board (except when allowed to skip this with a tea tile), either augmenting an existing building (or starting a new building if the current building of that color is finished), or expanding one of the other features of the city, like the market or the walls. Each player will claim one building of each of the four colors by the end of the game, giving one point per wooden piece attached to the building.

Also, if you own the largest building of a particular color you get a bonus for that color. Finally, there are bonuses for palaces around the well, as well as for the player who most recently connected one of their buildings to the walls, which grow from the four corners of the city.

Medina is a tense game by the great designer Stefan Dorra. This latest edition of the game features a double-sided game board (enabling a two-player game), almost 200 detailed wooden pieces, and updated gameplay, as well as rules and components never before published for this game!

See Medina for the original edition of this game.

Norse law dictates that every man shall posses a weapon at all times. The need to swiftly wield an axe in the name of battle, honor, or revenge was ever-present. Valhalla will not be filled with the weak.

In Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga, originally released as Viking Fury, you vie for glory across three epic Viking sagas, each one a different journey to raid, trade, and settle territories. Will you choose the path of diplomacy and trade for victory? Or will your longship cast a bloody wake?

Start your journey by gathering crew and goods to outfit your boat. Will your ships be filled with warrior or goods? Settlers or sackers? After your launch from bustling ports into the open sea, you must choose your path to power — but don't get lost in the wind; the sea will gladly devour souls who take her lightly...

The life of a Viking is one of power and glory, or untold sorrow. Which shall be your destiny?

Part of the Knizia tile-laying trilogy, Samurai is set in medieval Japan. Players compete to gain the favor of three factions: samurai, peasants, and priests, which are represented by helmet, rice paddy, and Buddha tokens scattered about the board, which features the islands of Japan. The competition is waged through the use of hexagonal tiles, each of which help curry favor of one of the three factions — or all three at once! Players can make lightning-quick strikes with horseback ronin and ships or approach their conquests more methodically. As each token (helmets, rice paddies, and Buddhas) is surrounded, it is awarded to the player who has gained the most favor with the corresponding group.

Gameplay continues until all the symbols of one type have been removed from the board or four tokens have been removed from play due to a tie for influence.

At the end of the game, players compare captured symbols of each type, competing for majorities in each of the three types. Ties are not uncommon and are broken based on the number of other, "non-majority" symbols each player has collected.