USA)

Monopoly: The Mega Edition

Monopoly: The Mega Edition is bigger and believe it or not, faster than regular Monopoly. What makes it bigger is a larger board, Train Depots, Skyscrapers, 9 new Properties, and the addition of the $1,000 bill. It is faster because of a new speed die and Bus cards. Monopoly: The Mega Edition can be played in 1½ hours with more fun than ever!

The massive game board has 12 additional spaces, including 9 new properties. You'll be able to buy, for the first time: California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Arctic Avenues, plus the Gas Company. Each joins an existing group.

Buy all the properties of a group, build your houses and hotels, and then keep on going by building Skyscrapers for a chance to earn "mega" rents. Good news: you can build houses and hotels once you own three out of four properties in a group (or two out of three in the smaller groups). You can even build a Depot on a railroad to double its rent.

Start play with $2500, including a $1,000 bill.

Roll three dice on your turn: two regular dice and the special "Speed" Die. The Speed Die gives you a chance for free trip to the next unowned property. (Later in the game the Speed Die could send you to the next property you owe rent on. Ouch!) From time to time you'll earn free "Bus Tickets." Use them to go where you want to go, but beware: they expire! The Speed Die and the Bus Tickets make the action speedy, intense, and sure-fire fun!

Flatiron

The Flatiron Building, originally known as the Fuller Building, is a historic 22-story skyscraper located in Manhattan, New York. It is known for its distinctive triangular shape reminiscent of an old-fashioned clothes iron. Since its construction in 1902, it has become one of the most recognizable icons on the New York City skyline, situated at the intersection of Fifth Avenue with Broadway, East 22nd Street, and East 23rd Street.

In Flatiron, you will be transported to the Big Apple to participate in the construction of this iconic building. Both you and your opponent will need to develop your companies by adding new cards to your personal board, thereby allowing you to perform more and better actions on each of the surrounding streets. The ultimate goal is to earn more points than your opponent, primarily by undertaking construction tasks but also by maintaining an impeccable public image and adhering to the decrees of the New York City Council. When the roof is placed, and everything is ready for the grand opening, the game ends. Victory and recognition will go only to the player who has accumulated the most points.

-description from publisher

San Francisco

For San Francisco, the first half of the 20th century is an era of dynamic growth and new opportunities. It's also a chance for you — junior urban planner — to take part in a contest for the most amazing reconstruction plan of the city. Sit down with your sketchbook and create a project that will make you stand out from the competition. Design a beautiful city in this game by Reiner Knizia, world-famous board game designer.

In the board game San Francisco, you become an urban planner whose goal is to create the greatest redevelopment plan of the famous city in California. Design districts in each of the five types, racing against all the other planners. Choose the right moment to take on new projects — but be careful, if you take on too many projects it'll be harder to gain more. Earn more prestige by cleverly designing a system of cable car connections. Lay foundations and carefully design the nearby landscape, allowing you to build new skyscrapers. Create a new vision of San Francisco that will gain the most rewards, and win through fame and recognition.

Ticket to Ride: San Francisco

Ticket to Ride: San Francisco features the familiar gameplay from the Ticket to Ride game series — collect cards, claim routes, draw tickets — but on a map of 1960s San Francisco that allows you to complete a game in no more than 15 minutes.

Each player starts with a supply of 20 cable cars, two transportation cards in hand, and one or two destination tickets that show locations in San Francisco. On a turn, you either draw two transportation cards from the deck or the display of five face-up cards (or you take one face-up ferry, which counts as all six colors in the game); or you claim a route on the board by discarding cards that match the color of the route being claimed (with any set of cards allowing you to claim a gray route, although some require ferries); or you draw two destination tickets and keep at least one of them.

When you build a line that connects to a souvenir location, such as Lombard Street, the Embarcadero, or the Golden Gate Bridge, you take a souvenir token from that location.

Players take turns until someone has no more than two cable cars in their supply, then each player takes one final turn, including the player who triggered the end of the game. Players then sum their points, scoring points for (1) the routes that they've claimed during the game, (2) the destination tickets that they've completed (by connecting the two locations on a ticket by a continuous line of their cable cars), and (3) the souvenirs that they've collected, with a full set of seven souvenirs being worth 12 points. You lose points for any uncompleted destination tickets, then whoever has the high score wins!

Family Business

Family Business takes mob warfare to a new level of backstabbing, revenge, and general bloodthirstiness, which is what makes it such a blast to play. Every player controls a 'family' and plays various cards to off other players' family members. In a game with this little structure, it's possible for everyone to gang up on one unlucky soul, or for the damage to be fairly evenly spread. Either way, the last family standing is victorious.

Each player starts with a gang of nine characters. To try to get rid of other gangsters, contracts are played on them. If these contracts are not blocked by anyone, the targeted gangster is placed on the hitlist. As soon as six gangsters are on the hitlist a mobwar is started. This means that, at the start of every turn, the first character on this list is eliminated. This goes on until the list is empty.

Mobwars can also be triggered by cards being played. When no more than the last six or fewer characters are in play a constant mobwar is going on, until only one player has characters left.

In general players take turns clockwise, however, the turn goes to any player who plays a response card and then clockwise mode is resumed with the player next to him/her. Lots of interaction as players play cards to put gangsters on the list, save them, have them replaced, start a Mob War, or stop it...