Tile Placement

Botanicus

How about creating your own botanical garden? As an aristocrat in the late 19th century, you have bought land, hired a gardener and set out to find the best plants there are.
As you know, the visitors are very picky about the plants they want to see, so your job is not only to acquire the plants, but also to sort them according to the visitors' preferences.
In Botanicus, you compete for the best action-spots in a unique selection mechanism, and then make the most of the options available to you. You have to collect new plants, take care of them, water them and keep an eye on the gardener. Last but not least, you have to collect some money along the way to pay for all this.
In the end, what counts is how many visitors you satisfy and how beautiful your garden is. Will you be able to outdo the gardens of your competitors?

—description from the publisher (translated)

Wie wäre es eigentlich, einen eigenen botanischen Garten anzulegen? Als Artistokrat:in des späten
19. Jahrhunderts hast du Land gekauft, heuerst einen Gärtner an und machst dich auf, die schönsten Pflanzen überhaupt zu finden. Allerdings haben die Besucher ganz spezielle Vorstellungen, welche Pflanzen sie in deinem Garten bewundern wollen. Es reicht also nicht, sie irgendwie einzupflanzen – nein, du musst die Pflanzen dummerweise auch noch so aufstellen, dass die passenden Besucher das sehen, was sie wollen.
In Botancius konkurrierst du über einen neuen Aktions-Mechanismus mit deinen Mitspieler:innen um den besten Ertrag für deinen Garten. Du willst also die richtigen Pflanzen ergattern und diese zum richtigen Zeitpunkt gießen, dich um deinen Gärtner kümmern, und natürlich darfst du auch deine Finanzen nicht vernachlässigen!
Am Ende kommt es darauf an, wie viele der Schaulustigen zufrieden mit ihrem Besuch sind und wie schön euer Garten ist. Schaffst du es, die Gärten deiner Konkurrent*innen zu überschatten?

—description from the publisher

Foundations of Metropolis

In Foundations of Metropolis, players will compete over three rounds to be the greatest architect in the city by purchasing deeds to empty lots and constructing new buildings on them.

More complex buildings require more lots, but will bring you even greater prestige. The player with the most prestige will be appointed Grand Architect!

Gameplay is the same in this standalone game as in Foundations of Rome, but with polyomino pieces and a brand new theme.

—description from the publisher

Maki Master

As a master sushi chef, you've studied your craft for years. It took diligent training to perfect specialty maki like your All-Day Breakfast, Octopus's Garden, and Squid Salad Sandwich, but now you face your toughest challenge yet: Friday night dinner rush!

In Maki Master, you compete with your fellow chefs to complete the most valuable orders. You can concentrate on short and simple orders to get bonuses quickly or take your time to make complicated masterpieces for big rewards!

Each turn, add a new ingredient to the shrinking kitchen space and try to arrange them for the orders you're working on. Complete a scrumptious recipe for points or take an action card like Chop!, Stack!, or Switch! to help with future turns. Don't forget to collect spicy wasabi to complete orders with style! At the end of the night, the chef who has earned the most points by completing their recipes wins!

Maki Master adds new mechanisms, streamlined rules, and fresh art by Claire Lin to the Wasabi! design from 2008.

Looot

In Looot, you need to gather resources and capture buildings to develop your fjord. Fill your longships and complete your construction sites in order to rack up your victory points. Store up the most riches, and you’ll be crowned Jarl of the Vikings!

Looot is a clever management game, using a double placement mechanism.

On the Common board Players are Viking conquering a new territoy, which allows you to recover resource/building/objective tiles.

On your Personal board: You build your village with the tiles previously recovered fromthe Common board to unlock victory points.

It will call upon your optimization logic, favoring the best combinations for this race for victory points.

—description from the publisher

Doggerland

Doggerland was a landmass that connected Great Britain to mainland Europe that disappeared under the North Sea after the last ice age. Humans lived on these fertile lands where multiple resources and animals were found.

In Doggerland, you play a clan at around 15,000 BCE. Your goal is to expand your clan in order to leave a trace of its existence for centuries to come. Players increase their population, make crafts, paint murals in caves, raise megaliths for the gods, and (most of all) survive the rigors of the seasons. To do this, they explore the surrounding territory and adapt to the resources at their disposal. The territory differs in each game, thanks to modular tiles.

Each round, players program their actions, then carry them out. These actions vary, based on available resources, abundance or scarcity around their villages, and also based on the actions of other players. As time passes, resources run out, and clans must migrate to find what they need for their development and survival.

In each clan, there is a leader who brings bonuses, and a shaman who allows powerful and unique actions thanks to knowledge and magic. After 6-8 seasons, the clan with the most points wins.