Card Game

Grab your binoculars and your birding journal because it's time to hit the trails and see some birds. Choose a habitat each round to visit along the western coast of North America, and see what rare birds you can find. Don't forget to keep an eye on what your fellow birders are tracking down — they might just lead you to the bird that finishes your watch list and earns you extra points! Who will outsmart their opponents, spot the most birds, and be the best birder?

In Birds of a Feather: Western North America, you and the other players explore different habitats to spot birds. In the first round, each player chooses and reveals a card from hand, then marks off on their score sheet or the app the bird they played as well as all other birds played in the same habitat. The deck contains cards from five habitats, with some birds being more common than others. In the second round, you each play a card again, then you mark all birds in your current habitat as well as all cards played the previous round in that habitat. Apparently word spread about all the great finds! Remove all cards from the first round, then keep playing additional rounds in the same manner.

When each player has only one card left in hand, the game ends. For each ace bird you've seen in a habitat, you score 2 points; for each other non-common bird you've seen, score 1 point; and if you've seen all seven types of birds in a habitat, score 3 bonus points for a total of 10 points in that habitat. Whoever has the most total points wins.

Birds of a Feather: Western North America differs from Birds of Feather thanks to new graphic design and improved rules for two- and three-player games to make them more strategic.

The "shuffle building" game Smash Up begins with a simple premise: Take the 20-card decks of two factions, shuffle them into a deck of forty cards, then compete to crush more bases than your opponents! Each faction involves a different gaming mechanism, and each combination of factions brings a different gaming experience.

In Smash Up: Disney Edition, players choose two decks of fan-favorite Disney factions and combine their powers to take over bases, earn the most points, and win! Choose two from Frozen, Big Hero 6, Wreck-It Ralph, The Lion King, Mulan, Aladdin, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Beauty & the Beast to create the most exciting team-ups imaginable!

During the game, base cards — each with their own difficulties and abilities — are at stake. By playing cards from your hand, you try to have the most powerful set of minions on a base when the base is broken. When this happens, the three most powerful players on that base score points. When a player has 15 or more points at the end of a turn, they win. If two or more players have more than 15 VP, the one with the most points wins.

In SETUP, you create a set or sets, scoring points to move around the board. How many points on each turn depends on how good you are at spotting sequences and by playing a set which will create multiple combinations on the board. Even when it's not your turn, unwitting opponents may gift you points by creating sets using tiles in your bonus spaces, so always keep your eyes peeled to claim those extra points.

SETUP is a game of strategic tile placement, making sets of numbers of matching suits. You can't always plan in advance though as the tiles stack, so a sequence you had in mind may disappear when your opponents take their turn.

The strategy is even more intense when you try team play mode, work with a partner to plan your sets together. You'll work hard to maximize points, help your partner create sets, and gift each other bonus points. Careful how many points you score because the game ends when the first player crosses the finish line, but being in first place doesn't decide the win; it's the team that avoids finishing last when the game ends!

—description from the publisher

In Reiner Knizia's Mille Fiori (millefiori is a glasswork technique for decorative patterns, the name means Thousand Flowers), you take the role of glass manufacturers and traders who want to profit as much as they can from their role in the production of fine glass art.

The game board features different aspects of the glass production cycle: workshops where the glass is created, houses where it's installed, people who support your work, trade shops where it's sold, and the harbor where ships take the glass to faraway locations. You want to be present in all of these areas, preferably at just the right time to maximize your earnings. The gameboard features 109 spaces, with one card in the deck for each of those spaces.

At the start of a round, each player receives a hand of five cards. Each player chooses a card from hand, then passes the remaining cards to the next player, then each player plays their card in turn, beginning with the round's start player and typically placing a diamond-shaped token of their color in the location depicted on that card:

In the Workshops, you score 1 point for each of your tokens in a connected group with the newly placed token, doubling that score if you played on a pigment field.
In the Residences, you score the listed number of points, and if your token is preceded in the line by one or more tokens of your color, you score those previously played tokens again.
In the Townspeople area, you score 1, 3 or 6 points based on the height of your token in the pyramids, but you can only place at higher levels if the lower spaces are filled. Double your points if the card symbol matches the space your filled. Supporting tokens score again as higher tokens are placed.
In the Trade shops, four types of goods are present, and when you place a token, each token on that goods type scores for its owner points equal to the number of goods of that type now covered.
In the Harbor, you move your ship equal to the number on the played card, scoring points based on the space where you land, then place a token in one of the five rows. When that row is filled with three ships, each token in that row scores for its owner 1/3/6/10 points depending on the number of trade goods in that row.

Alternatively, you can play a card for ship movement points and not place a token on the game board.

Each player plays four cards in a round (in a 3 or 4 player game), then adds the last card in hand to those displayed beside the game board, then the start player marker rotates and you begin a new round.

For each of the five areas, you can meet a certain condition that allows you to play a bonus card from those beside the game board, e.g., in the Workshops when you place the third card that surrounds a bonus card symbol, or in the Trade shops when you score a goods type that gives someone else more points than you. When you play a bonus card, you might trigger another bonus card... and then another!

Additionally, there are five different ways to score substantial bonus points for the areas, e.g., in the Residences you need to place tokens on houses of four different values, and in the Townspeople area you need to place tokens on all three types in a pyramid. You can only score each area's bonus once, and importantly each time a bonus is claimed then the value available for later players is reduced.

When someone has placed their final diamond token or when you can't deal a new hand of five cards to each player, then the game ends and the player with the most successful glass dynasty (most points) is declared the winner.

The young monarch has no knack for governing. Take advantage of this by taking on all the most prestigious government duties! Share cards, choose the most high-profile jobs...then experience an auction phase as belligerent as it is clever!

In For the King (and Me), you wish to become the most valuable minister by collecting the right cards while lowering the value of your opponents' objectives. The game plays the same as the designer's earlier game Biblios, while allowing for play with up to five people at once.

The game lasts multiple rounds with players first collecting cards, then bidding for cards. During the collection phase, as the active player you draw cards one at a time, keeping one for yourself, placing one in an auction pile, and placing the others face up for the other players to draft. Once you take a card, you can't take another, so sometimes it's a tough call to decide when you want to take something. Once you've had multiple collection phases, the cards in the auction pile will be auctioned one by one.

Some cards are worth points depending on their color, some are worth gold, and some allowing you to manipulate the value of the various colors. Once all the cards have been auctioned, players reveal their hands and tally their points to see who wins.