Auction/Bidding

In this latest collaboration between Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc, players must buy the favor of the gods in their race to be the first player to build two cities in the Ancient Greek island group known as the Cyclades.

Victory requires respect for all the gods - players cannot afford to sacrifice to only one god, but must pay homage to each of five gods in turn. Each turn, the players bid for the favors of the gods, as only one player can have the favor of each god per turn - and each player is also limited to the favor of a single god per turn.

Ares allows the movement of player armies and the building of Fortresses.
Poseidon allows players to move their navies and build Ports.
Zeus allows his followers to hire priests and build temples.
Athena provides her worshipers with philosophers and universities.
Apollo increases the income of his worshipers.

In Archipelago, players are Renaissance European powers competing in the exploration of a Pacific or Caribbean archipelago. They will explore territories, harvest resources, use those resources in markets both internal (for their use and that of the natives) and foreign (to sell it in Europe), build markets, harbors, cities and temples, and negotiate among themselves (and maybe betray each other) – all this to complete their secret objectives. They will also need to guess the secret objective of the other players to be able to benefit from them.

But players also need to be careful of the natives; if they make them too unhappy or if too many of them are unoccupied, they could revolt and declare independence. Then everyone will lose!

According to the author, what he's tried to create is a "German" economic worker-placement game, but without the two things he dislikes in them: the superficial theme and the lack of interaction. Indeed this game includes a very present theme and a lot of negotiation and potential backstabbing.

The game includes three sets of objectives, enabling players to choose between a short, medium and a long game. Solo play is also possible with an expansion.

Venice, five centuries ago – In order to celebrate the glory of Venice, the Doge, the maximum authority of the Republic, ordered the construction of a new state ship.

In The Doge Ship, the players play the role of the most skilled shipbuilders of Venice who are called by the Doge to cooperate on the construction of the new ship. Each player has to build parts of the Ship in order to earn victory points, but also Gondolas to get money, and Barriers for the protection of the shipyard and the city. The task is not easy: At the beginning of each round, the cost of the actions might change, as well as the demands of the Doge. When the construction of the ship is finished, only one will be the winner and will gain the favour of the Doge.

In this game players have to manage their five actions per round competing with other players on these available. Players can work on a part of the Doge Ship to gain VP, on Gondolas to make money, or on Barriers to protect Venice from High Water effects and save their shipyard. Manage money is fundamental as all materials costs something. The game ends when the Doge Ship is complete.

Cyclades: Titans, the second expansion for Cyclades, includes a new game board with large islands on which ground attacks can be carried out as well as the Titans of Greek legend, who can conduct attacks without the help of Ares.

Double Some 'R' Set is a trick-taking game that uses a unique deck of 50 cards. The card suits are fractions (ex. 1/2, 10/12, 5/6, 3/8, etc.) with the mid-cards (6/12, 5/10) also being worth extra points.

Double Some'R'Set is best played with partners (like in Spades).

The object is to bid on how many points you and your partner will take. There are 24 available points, 12 from the available tricks and 12 from available points.

Bidding goes around the table once where the players bid for the two card blind. High bid takes the blind and decides which suit (fraction set) will be trump.

Like in many trick taking games, and if you make your hand, you get the points. If you do not, you are set, hence the name (as they say in the rules) Some "r" set.

See also:
Some'R'Set - 28 card version