Card Drafting

Designer Eric Lang, known for his "dudes on a map" games, describes The Godfather: Corleone's Empire — a standalone big box board game with high-quality miniatures — as "thugs on a map".

In short, the game is a streamlined, confrontational worker placement game filled with murder and intrigue. You play as competing mafia families who are vying for economic control of the organized crime networks of New York City, deploying your thugs, your don, your wife, and your heir on the board to shake down businesses and engage in area-control turf wars.

Money, rackets, contracts, and special advantages (such as the union boss) are represented by cards in your hand, and your hand size is limited, with you choosing which extra cards to pay tribute to the don at the end of each of the five rounds. At the end of the game, though, cash is all that matters, and whoever has the most money wins.

The game also features drive-by shootings in which enemy tokens are removed from the board and placed face-down in the river.

The crown is up for grabs to whoever can build the richest domain and seize it from their rivals. It’ll take a whole kingdom’s worth of people to accomplish this monumental task. Rally your citizens, grow your power, and reign supreme in Majesty: For the Realm, a game of strategically selecting who you want to work your lands set during the Middle Ages. Each game, you recruit characters to perform jobs that generate gold for your kingdom. Some characters work better with others, opening many paths to victory. Whether you choose to be a silver-tongued monarch who rules with mercy, or an iron-fisted tyrant who crushes their rivals, the fate of the land rests with you.

In Sleuth, a classic deduction game from master designer Sid Sackson originally released as part of the 3M Gamette Series, players are searching for a hidden gem, one of 36 gem cards hidden before the start of the game. The remainder of this gem deck – with each card showing 1-3 diamonds, pearls or opals in one of four colors – is distributed evenly among the players, with any remaining cards laid face up. Thus, you and everyone else starts with some information about what's not missing.

A second deck contains 54 search cards, each showing one or two elements, such as diamonds, pairs, blue opals, red pearls, or an element of your choice. Each player receives four face-up search cards; on a turn, you choose one of those cards and ask an opponent how many gem cards they have of the type shown. If you ask for, say, pairs, the player must tell you how many pairs they hold but not which specific pairs; if you ask for something more specific, say, red diamonds, the player reveals to everyone how many such cards she holds while you get to look at them in secret.

Players track information on a score pad. You can guess the hidden gem at any time, or on your turn you can ask any one question regardless of which search cards you have, then immediately make a guess by marking your sheet and checking the hidden gem card. If you're wrong, you keep playing but can only answer questions; if you're correct, you win.

The simplicity of the rules and the cards belies the complexity of the game. In some cases you see cards, while in others you hear only the number of cards that an opponent holds, making it tough to deduce. Any notation system you devise must be both flexible and reliable, recording negative information as well as positive in order to tick off the possibilities one by one...

Reimplements:

The Case of the Elusive Assassin, with the core mechanisms of that game being used in Sleuth, minus the game board, movement and player proximity.

In Ex Libris, you are a collector of rare and valuable books in a thriving gnomish village. Recently, the Mayor and Village Council have announced an opening for a Grand Librarian: a prestigious (and lucrative) position they intend to award to the most qualified villager! Unfortunately, several of your book collector colleagues (more like acquaintances, really) are also candidates.

To outshine your competition, you need to expand your personal library by sending your trusty assistants out into the village to find the most impressive tomes. Sources for the finest books are scarce, so you need to beat your opponents to them when they pop up.

You have only a week before the Mayor's Official Inspector comes to judge your library, so be sure your assistants have all your books shelved! The Inspector is a tough cookie and will use her Official Checklist to grade your library on several criteria including shelf stability, alphabetical order, and variety — and don't think she'll turn a blind eye to books the Council has banned! You need shrewd planning and cunning tactics (and perhaps a little magic) to surpass your opponents and become Grand Librarian!

In the future, war has left the world in complete destruction and split the people into factions. The factions have decided to stop the endless war and settle their dispute in the arena. A new virtual bloodsport was created. The Adrenaline tournament. Every faction has a champion, every champion has a chance to fight and the chance to win. Will you take the chance of becoming the next champion of the Adrenaline tournament?

Play a first-person shooter on your gaming table. Grab some ammo, grab a gun, and start shooting. Build up an arsenal for a killer turn. Combat resolution is quick and diceless. And if you get shot, you get faster!