Bluffing

Stratego: Star Wars

This is what it sounds like: Stratego set in the Star Wars universe. Each player has 40 pieces; teams are divided into the Dark Side and the Force. Characters used come from Star Wars Episodes I, II, IV, V and VI. Some of the characters have special powers, placing this game between original Stratego and Stratego Legends on the complexity scale.

Spicy

Once upon a time, three big cats became exhausted fighting to be top cat. They agreed to quit the fight and spice up their nine lives with a hot spice eating contest. Alas, everyone was soon cheating, so the cats invented a very hot, often tearful, bluffing game.

Spicy is a bluffing card game for 2-6 players. The cards are played face down, so you can cheat when you announce your card. That said, this clever card game isn't just about bluffing for you can almost always play a card that is at least half right if you cleverly play your hand. This means tactically deciding which card to use to get through: Do I play a "Pepper 10" or a color wild on a "Wasabi 9" and declare it a "Wasabi 10"? Or do I better pass because surely someone has noticed me thinking for so long now?

Spicy contains six game-variant cards, but even without these a high replayability is guaranteed.

The cards are illustrated with forty separate pieces of art. In addition, not only the game box sparkles in chic metallic gold, but also the card backs are adorned with a gold-colored finish.

Aztec

Like a modern Indiana Jones, you've managed to break into the accursed temple! But when the time comes to divvy up the treasure, everyone wants as many jewels as they can get, and there's no limit to how low they'll stoop! But don't forget: A real Aztec temple is always stocked with plenty of traps and curses….

Take the jewels in Aztec, and try to avoid the curses so you can collect the most important treasure over the course of five rounds, during which clever bluffing is the key to success.

—description from the publisher

Cosmic Encounter Duel

The Cosmic Citizenship Council has announced it will allow two new alien species to join its ranks, but they forgot to make two copies of the filing form — which means that only one species can join! Now, the two candidates must battle for control of the planets to determine who deserves the right to become a Certified Civilization.

Cosmic Encounter Duel is a competitive standalone two-player game in the Cosmic Encounter universe in which you and your closest frenemy race to be the first to control five planets. Each of twenty-seven alien species comes equipped with its own unique abilities that play with the game mechanisms in some way, offering you an edge in the fight, e.g., the Cheater, who can reserve an additional tactic that they can put toward any fight in the game — as long as their opponent doesn't call out how they're trying to "cheat". How your game of Cosmic Encounter Duel plays out will inevitably be affected by which powers each dueling species has and how they play off of one another.

In addition to your unique species and its ability, you have twenty spaceships to traverse the cosmos and maintain control over the five planets you need to become a Certified Civilization. As long as you have a ship on a planet, you have control of it, even if your opponent also has ships there and you must share control. You can deploy these ships to fight in duels, use them to act as reinforcements, or draw them back for a tactful retreat. Just don't lose them to the Warp or let them be claimed by the black void between the stars and end up lost in space forever!

To play, players draw and resolve Destiny cards, which come in three types: Discovery cards, Event cards, and Refresh cards. Discovery cards have you and your opponent discover a planet and duel for control, while Event cards ask you both to test your mettle against a variety of challenges and cosmic calamities, and Refresh cards offer a respite in which you can recover ships, gather allies, and ultimately prepare for another clash.

At the start of a duel, you and your opponent secretly decide how many ships to send to the planet, and once they have been deployed, you can call upon any befriended envoys. To plan your attack, you secretly choose a card from your hand and a standing tactic from your collection to either guard your ships or blast your opponent's ships, then you fight, sending ships to face-off for control of the planet until the winner claims their prize while the loser retreats. After you and your opponent resolve a Destiny card, you check the icon on the bottom of the card to determine which deck to draw from next, then the race continues.

—description from the publisher

Time Bomb Evolution

TimeBomb Evolution is a game derived from TimeBomb.

In the game, players are secretly assigned a role which is either a terrorist or a SWAT officer. Then cards are dealt to each player. They look at their cards and randomly place the cards face-down in front of them. SWATs win together if they deactivate the time bomb by revealing all of the SUCCESS cards.

Each turn, a player chooses a card in front of another player and reveal it. If it is a SUCCESS card, SWATs get closer to winning. Otherwise it is a threat card, and its threat effect is activated according to its color. Terrorists win together if four threats of the same color are revealed.

Players may discuss whose card should be revealed, but they should be noted that terrorists may be misleading SWATs.