Tile Placement

Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which the players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, etcetera. Having placed a tile, the player can then decide to place one of his meeples on one of the areas on it: on the city as a knight, on the road as a robber, on a cloister as a monk, or on the grass as a farmer. When that area is complete, that meeple scores points for its owner.

During a game of Carcassonne, players are faced with decisions like: "Is it really worth putting my last meeple there?" or "Should I use this tile to expand my city, or should I place it near my opponent instead, giving him a hard time to complete his project and score points?" Since players place only one tile and have the option to place one meeple on it, turns proceed quickly even if it is a game full of options and possibilities.

The galaxy has been a peaceful place for many years. After the ruthless Terran–Hegemony War (30.027–33.364), much effort has been employed by all major spacefaring species to prevent the terrifying events from repeating themselves. The Galactic Council was formed to enforce precious peace, and it has taken many courageous efforts to prevent the escalation of malicious acts. Nevertheless, tension and discord are growing among the seven major species and in the Council itself. Old alliances are shattering, and hasty diplomatic treaties are made in secrecy. A confrontation of the superpowers seems inevitable – only the outcome of the galactic conflict remains to be seen. Which faction will emerge victorious and lead the galaxy under its rule?

A game of Eclipse places you in control of a vast interstellar civilization, competing for success with its rivals. You will explore new star systems, research technologies, and build spaceships to wage war with. There are many potential paths to victory, so you need to plan your strategy according to the strengths and weaknesses of your species, while paying attention to the other civilizations' endeavors.

The shadows of the great civilizations are about to eclipse the galaxy. Lead your people to victory!

A traditional tile game played in many different cultures around the world. This entry is for Western Dominoes; the standard set being the 28 "Double Six" tiles. Chinese Dominoes use a 32 tile set with different distributions.

Dominoes is a family of games using the "Western" style tiles. The standard set of tiles is based on the 21 different combinations made with a roll of two six-sided dice. Seven (7) additional "Blank" combination tiles combine with the 21 to form the standard 28 "Double-Six" set. "Double-Nine" (with 55 tiles) and "Double-Twelve" (with 91 tiles) are also popular ("Double-Fifteen" sets also exist).

There are many different games played with Dominoes. The standard game is known as the Block game. Forms of this game are known in many different areas of the world with similar rules. Puerto Rican Dominoes, Latin Dominoes, and Cuban Dominoes are all forms of the Block game.

Another main variety of Dominoes games are based on the "Fives Family." Five-up, All Fives, Sniff, and Muggins are all part of this family. This variation adds the ends of the dominoes to make a multiple of five for scoring.

Other popular Dominoes games include 42, ChickenFoot, and Mexican Train.

A fairly complete listing of rules for Western Domino Games is available at:
http://www.pagat.com/tile/wdom/

"Gold, Gold, Gold – A Ton of Gold" – this was the Seattle headline heard 'round the world announcing the discovery of great stores of gold in the Klondike. This was the beginning of an exodus of would-be prospectors dreaming of a better life, a chance to escape the toil caused by the financial recessions and bank failures of the 1890s. Gold rush hysteria was pulsing through the veins of the country and tens of thousands were willing to risk it all for the chance to have it all.

Lost Valley is a game about the Klondike stampede that rushed North and about the grueling journey that these would-be prospectors undertook, traversing Steep Mountain passes with heavy loads through severe weather and with ever-dwindling resources.

During the course of the game, players must explore an ever-expanding lost valley in hopes of discovering a gold vein in a mountain, a virgin forest to provide timber, or a fishing spot along the river to provide food. The map will be different each time you play, so you never know what lurks around the corner. As you set out from the outfitters with everything you own strapped to your back, you must balance carefully the resources that you need. Of course you will need tools, dynamite and timber to extract mountain gold, but you'll need to make sure you have room for food, rifles and fishing poles to help you survive in the wilderness.

In addition to expanding the player count to 2-6 (from 3-4) and shortening the playing time, the second edition of Lost Valley rebalances the gold nugget distribution; provides a third path to victory; and (thanks to the included expansion modules) allows players to build canals, learn new abilities, and stake claims on fish traps, gold mines and mills.

Join the Stampede

In Qin players colonize the Chinese hinterland, seize territories, and expand their influence by placing tiles and pagodas.

A move is simple: You choose one out of three tiles from your hand, place it onto the grid of the board, then draw a new tile. Each tile shows two landscapes. If you create a territory that consists of at least two spaces of the same landscape, you seize it. You can also expand your territories, take over territories from other players, and connect your territories to villages on the board. All of this enables you to place pagodas. The player who is first to get rid of all his pagodas wins.