Income

In Patchwork, two players compete to build the most aesthetic (and high-scoring) patchwork quilt on a personal 9x9 game board. To start play, lay out all of the patches at random in a circle and place a marker directly clockwise of the 2-1 patch. Each player takes five buttons — the currency/points in the game — and someone is chosen as the start player.

On a turn, a player either purchases one of the three patches standing clockwise of the spool or passes. To purchase a patch, you pay the cost in buttons shown on the patch, move the spool to that patch's location in the circle, add the patch to your game board, then advance your time token on the time track a number of spaces equal to the time shown on the patch. You're free to place the patch anywhere on your board that doesn't overlap other patches, but you probably want to fit things together as tightly as possible. If your time token is behind or on top of the other player's time token, then you take another turn; otherwise the opponent now goes. Instead of purchasing a patch, you can choose to pass; to do this, you move your time token to the space immediately in front of the opponent's time token, then take one button from the bank for each space you moved.

In addition to a button cost and time cost, each patch also features 0-3 buttons, and when you move your time token past a button on the time track, you earn "button income": sum the number of buttons depicted on your personal game board, then take this many buttons from the bank.

What's more, the time track depicts five 1x1 patches on it, and during set-up you place five actual 1x1 patches on these spaces. Whoever first passes a patch on the time track claims this patch and immediately places it on his game board.

Additionally, the first player to completely fill in a 7x7 square on his game board earns a bonus tile worth 7 extra points at the end of the game. (Of course, this doesn't happen in every game.)

When a player takes an action that moves his time token to the central square of the time track, he takes one final button income from the bank. Once both players are in the center, the game ends and scoring takes place. Each player scores one point per button in his possession, then loses two points for each empty square on his game board. Scores can be negative. The player with the most points wins.

In Crafting the Cosmos, you are interstellar architects, competing to build the galaxy – one star at a time. Manipulate the laws of the universe to your advantage, shifting gravity or the flow of time to activate useful power cards, and even spawn advanced life that can earn you extra victory points at the end of the game. Use your resources wisely as you craft your cosmic creation.

Each round consists of each player taking a turn, which then is followed by shared end phase. A player's turn consists of two phases: energy and craft. Players takes their turns moving energy on the main board and gaining resources. They then spend their resources to craft their galaxy.

During the energy phase, you move energy tokens around the controls on the main board to gain resources for crafting your cosmos. Then during the collect resources phase, you gain the resources from the one active control space with your energy token, then from all four of the passive control spaces.

Once a player has collected all of their resources, they spend them during the craft phase in any order to craft their galaxy. You may take placement actions, scoring actions, energy card actions, and slider actions in any order. You may place the four standard kinds of stars: hydrogen (H), helium (He), carbon (C), and oxygen (O), place proto life, or even nebulae.

Players can spend energy cards to gain power cards to help them craft their cosmos more effectively, and they compete to complete universal goals.

The Warring States period was a pivotal era in Chinese history, marked by constant warfare, significant bureaucratic and military reforms, and the consolidation of power among rival states. The game is set around 260 BCE, a time when the seven warring kingdoms were locked in fierce conflict, both against each other as well as against nomadic groups like the Xiongnu, who posed a threat from the north. Although sections of the Great Wall of China had been constructed as early as the 8th century BCE, the later years of the Warring States period saw a surge in defensive building projects. Before Qin ultimately unified the kingdoms, extensive fortifications, watchtowers, and new sections of the wall were erected to bolster defenses.

In Tianxia, players take the role of leaders of noble families who want to earn prestige, as well as favors from the powerful rulers that govern the seven Warring Kingdoms.

The game lasts four rounds in which you install Governors in the regions and bolster the power of rival ruling houses, thus gaining their favor. You also sell goods to merchant ships that sail the Chinese shores to gain wealth and other benefits. Nevertheless, you must not forget about the nomadic warriors who pose a constant threat on the northern borders of the seven kingdoms. Thus, you must train soldiers and build walls and towers to weaken the invaders and protect your interests, earning prestige in the process.

Each round, the nomads advance toward the borders of the seven kingdoms and gather even larger numbers. When they reach the border, a battle takes place that affects all players.

At the end of the game, the player who was the best governor, politician, merchant, and protector wins.

In the year 2021, after years of seclusion underground, humanity emerges onto the surface, propelled by the development of groundbreaking new technology. Decades of catastrophic fallout from a nuclear disaster during the Cold War have laid waste to the known world, compelling civilization to seek shelter beneath the earth. The pressing task now is the construction of regenerators, which will generate new habitats to facilitate the resurgence of life and the reclamation of the Earth. A world brimming with hope awaits aboveground.

Phoenix New Horizon is a Euro-style board game in which players assume control of a team of commandos tasked with the mission of recolonizing Earth. Throughout the game's four rounds, players accumulate victory points by constructing regenerators and buildings, bolstering the planet's population, and achieving diverse objectives that vary between playthroughs.

Players must adeptly allocate their commandos to various actions throughout the game while also specializing them to enable more potent abilities at the expenses of versatility. Fulfilling missions assigned by the governing authorities yields additional actions on a player's turn.

Following the arrival of the Portuguese in Japan, daimyos competed for control of foreign trade and technology. Himeji Castle, a symbol of feudal power, became a strategic center for clans seeking to gain influence.

In The White Castle Duel, two clans compete to exert their influence in the White Heron's court, managing resources and building engines. On each turn, you will use their lamp tokens to obtain resources and activate actions. Among the actions available, you can buy and upgrade influence cards, place clan seals on gardens and training grounds, move your courtier between circles of influence, or trade with the Portuguese. These actions will allow you to accumulate a series of icons — flags, katanas, kabutos, and origami figures — that will reward you with points, and whoever ends up with the most points wins.