Family Game

It's really difficult to succinctly describe this game -- so take a look at the pictures! Take It Easy is a true multi-player solitaire in which each player individually completes a hexagon-shaped board with spots for 19 hexagon tiles. There's no limit to number of players if you've got enough sets on hand. One person (the caller) draws a tile randomly and tells the others which of the 27 tiles featuring colored/numbered lines crossing in three directions, with numbers from 1 to 9, it is. "The 9-8-7," for example. Each player then chooses which empty spot on his own board he'll play the 9-8-7. This is repeated until the boards are filled.

The idea is to complete same-numbered lines across your board. Scoring is calculated by multiplying the number on the tile with the number of tiles in the completed line. A complete column of three 9s is worth 27, for example... but a lot of players will hope for five 9s to fill the big column down the middle.

Take It Easy is often compared to Bingo because of the familiar pattern of a number being called and then everybody looking at their cards to play it, and then scoring if a line is completed. But that's as far as the comparison goes. Bingo is sheer luck; Take It Easy is a game of skill.

From the back of the box:
Akhenaton, Pharoah of Upper & Lower Egypt, God among men, all powerful sovereign, he trembles before no-one. There is, however, one mistake that even an immortal king cannot afford to make: forgetting his wedding anniversary. Especially when his wife is the exquisite Nefertiti.
Alas, the powerful monarch has almost made such an unforgivable blunder, remembering the event a mere two days before it is to take place. Now, he must find a veritable shower of queenly gifts.
The task of finding beautiful & original gifts falls upon his councilors - YOU!
It's time to play! Send you servants to the four corners of Egypt, from Gizeh to Abou Simbel & gather up the most impressive objects the realm has to offer. If your gifts are noteworthy and please Nefertiti, there is no doubt that the Pharaoh will reward you most generously.

Lascaux is a game about the French caves containing animal paintings; discovered in 1940 by four teenagers.

This auction game is based on the bidding mechanism of Michael Schacht's Mogul also implemented in No Thanks!

The deck consists of 54 cards each representing one of six animals and a combination of two colors. At the beginning of a round, cards are turned face up until all six colors are showing or seven cards are face up. All players secretly decide which color cards they hope to win at the end of the round. On their turn, players bid by placing a stone on the table. If a player passes, he picks up all the stones currently on the table and places his token on top of the token pile. The last player remaining grabs all the cards of the color he had chosen earlier in the round. The second to last player, whose token now sits at the top of the token pile, then picks up all the cards of his chosen color if any cards of that color are left. The same process is repeated for each player when their token is at the top of the token pile. The game ends when all the cards of the deck have been claimed. Players then earn points for each animal for which they have majority.

Components: 54 cards, 50 stones, 30 markers, rules.

Released: Essen 2007.

Players represent corporations competing to assemble city buildings in their orbiting plants and install them onto specially-prepared platforms in the city districts. Each player wants to construct the most living space in the blocks that feature the most desirable improvements (Greenspaces, Spaceports, and Megamalls). Players can also erect Billboards at a loss, to entice customers and to reserve space for future construction. At the end of four rounds of play, the player who has earned the most points is the most successful developer and the winner of the game!

In Artus, the round table of legend is a turntable in the center of the game board with a space marked with a crown for the king, numbers on the edge from +10 to -15 counter-clockwise from the king, and a few spaces worth 0.

Each player has six cards in hand – two knight cards, two royalty cards, and two scoring cards – and plays two cards each turn. By doing this, players are able to place figures of their color or neutral figures around the table, score certain areas or figures under certain circumstances, and place rings on neutral figures or to move them. The neutral figure bearing three rings is the current king, and the table is always oriented to place this figure in the crown location. A new king can come into power though, which will find everyone sitting in a new location.

The player with the most points after eleven rounds wins the game. Artus has two sets of rules: basic rules for families and casual gamers and "professional rules" for more experienced gamers.