In Covalence, players work together to accurately reconstruct a number of secret organic compounds. One player takes on the role of the “Knower” who has knowledge of the secret compounds, while all other players, “Builders”, must deduce what these secret compounds are, based upon clues given to them by the Knower. All Builders must cooperatively utilize a limited number of clues available in order construct their compounds before the clues run out!
ION: A Compound Building Game is a card drafting game where players select from a number of available Ion Cards and Noble Gas cards with the goal of creating sets of compounds and inert noble gases.
Here’s how the game is played: Each player is dealt eight cards, must select one of those cards and then passes the remaining. Players must choose to either bond (pair) their selected card with another Element Card or set it alone (possibly to form an ionic bond at a later time). Throughout the game, players gain additional points for building specific compounds which are listed on the Compound Goal Cards and have available a set of Action Tiles which award them additional moves throughout the game. Players score points based upon the quantity and type of neutrally balanced compounds they construct and noble gas sets they collect. After three rounds, players add their total scores from each round, subtract points from Action Tiles used, and the player with the most points wins!
In the words of its designer, Consentacle is:
a cooperative card game for two players;
that represents consensual sexual encounter between a curious human and a tentacled alien;
where the players have to figure out how to build trust and do sexual things with each other, even if they can’t communicate easily.
User summary:
Partners try to build card combinations via simultaneous plays. "Trust" and "Satisfaction" are the currency and victory points of Consentacle, which are earned and/or lost based on card combinations.
Description from the publisher:
The shadow of Bhaal has come over Baldur's Gate, summoning monsters and other horrors from the darkness!
As you build and explore the iconic city's dark alleys and deadly catacombs, you must work with your fellow adventurers to survive the terrors ahead. That is, until some horrific evil turns one — or possibly more — of you against each other. Was it a mind flayer's psionic blast or the whisperings of a deranged ghost that caused your allies to turn traitor? You have no choice but to keep your enemies close!
Based on the award-winning Betrayal at House on the Hill board game, in Betrayal at Baldur's Gate you'll return to Baldur's Gate again and again thanks to the fifty included scenarios only to discover it's never the same game twice.
Can you and your party survive the madness, or will you succumb to the mayhem and split (or slaughter!) the party?
In the cooperative, press-your-luck game Hotshots, crews of 1 to 4 players take on the roles of wildfire fighters — crew boss, spotter, swamper, and sawyer — with special abilities, then roll dice on burning terrain tiles to match the combinations shown on those tiles. The more faces they roll, the better they fight the fire. Players can choose to cut firebreaks, which protect tiles from embers blown by wind gusts, or push their luck to reduce flames and possibly even generate reward tokens. If players bust and fail to match at least three of the six symbols on the tile, the fire grows. Another option is to maneuver vehicles — air tanker, helicopter, and brush rig — to save the forest.
Flame tokens are added at the end of each player's turn by the draw of a fire card, which can bring about light or strong wind gusts, increase the strength of the flames on certain tiles, and start fires. Too many flame tokens will cause a tile to scorch and be lost. Losing a terrain tile could also affect the game play. Some tiles are tied to crewmembers' special abilities, while others help the firefighters, and still others cause the fire to spread in unique ways. If eight tiles scorch or the fire camp scorches, the game is over and the forest is lost — but if the intrepid crew can extinguish the fire, the team wins together.
The press-your-luck mechanism with ratcheting rewards creates tension, and the variety of ways to fight the fire makes for interesting choices. The modular tile layout and fire cards bring high replayability to the game, and the acrylic flame tokens provide an enticing table presence.