Animals

Who does not know the colloquial expression "Buying the cat in the sack" ("Buying a pig in a poke")? In this game you can experience the meaning of this expression yourself. A group of cats wants new owners, but these lucky people do not know if they get some sweet pussycats or one or more mean old cats. Sometimes only a dog is helpful, who chases the unwanted cats away. But then too many dogs are worse, too, because they only think about chasing themselves away. A clever auction game with many interesting decisions.

Idea of the game: With their mice, the players attempt to grab the famous cat in the sack. In the sack, there are both good and bad cats. Each player can also put a dog or rabbit into the sack instead of a cat, allowing players to bluff one another. At game end, all positive cats and mice count plus points, but negative cats count minus points.

Description from the publisher:

Up to two thousand pounds in weight and over ten feet tall, the bear is considered the biggest and heaviest terrestrial carnivore in the world. Of course, there is not just "one bear"; on the contrary, there are plenty of subspecies that differ from each other in various aspects. For instance, only the Kodiak bear (ursus arctos middendorffi) weighs about 2,000 lbs. The polar bear (ursus maritimus) weighs "only" 1,100 lbs., but gets much bigger than the Kodiak bear, being as much as 11 ft. tall!

Bärenpark takes you into the world of bears, challenging you to build your own bear park. Would you like another polar bear enclosure or rather a koala* house? The park visitors are sure to get hungry on their tour through the park, so build them places to eat! Whatever your choices are, make sure you get the next building permit and use your land wisely! (* No, koalas aren't bears but they're so cute, we couldn't leave them out of this game!)

In more detail, each player in Bärenpark builds their own bear park, attempting to make it as beautiful as they can, while also using every square meter possible. The park is created by combining polyomino tiles onto a grid, with players scoring for animal houses, outdoor areas, completed construction, and more. The sooner you build it, the better! Cover icons to get new tiles and park sections. The game ends as soon as one player has finished expanding their park, then players tally their points to see who has won.

Players race to construct a plastic bug, rolling a die to see which piece they get to add.

The Hennepin History Museum states that the first Cootie game was designed by William H. Schaper in 1949. However, Schaper's game was not the first based upon the insect known as the "cootie". The creature was the subject of several tabletop games, mostly pencil and paper games, in the decades of the twentieth century following World War I.

In 1927, the J. H. Warder Company of Chicago released Tu-Tee, and the Charles Bowlby Company released Cootie; though based on a "build a bug" concept similar to Schaper's, both were paper and pencil games.
Schaper's game was the first to employ a fully three dimensional, free-standing plastic cootie.

Known in Australia as Creepy Critters and in the UK as Beetle Drive.

Description from the publisher:

In Veggie Garden, 2-4 players are trying to grow the best vegetables in a short amount of time — but it won't be easy as other players will be fighting for space in the garden, and the pesky groundhog and mischievous bunny will be popping up at every turn!

Fish Frenzy is a colorful and fun set collection game!

The Captains of Rainbow Bay have hauled in their catches of colorful fish as the Seagulls of Rainbow Bay, with their bottomless bellies, hover above. The race for the fish is on!

In Fish Frenzy players are competing for majorities of each of the seven fish colors. If a player has the most of a fish color they will score 3 points, if they have the second most they will score 2 points. In the event of a tie for first both players will score two points and the player in second will not score any points. Each Crab Card a player has at the end of the game is worth -1 point.

Players also have the opportunity to add to their scores by using the "Goal and Event" which are an advanced variant once players have a game or two of Fish Frenzy under their belt. Goal Cards give points to the single player that achieves the listed goal at the end of the game. Event Cards present a condition that all players can potentially achieve to score points.

After all points have been calculated the player with the most points wins!