Grid Movement

Captain Sonar

At the bottom of the ocean, no one will hear you scream!

In Captain Sonar, you and your teammates control a state-of-the-art submarine and are trying to locate an enemy submarine in order to blow it out of the water before they can do the same to you. Every role is important, and the confrontation is merciless. Be organized and communicate because a captain is nothing without his crew: the Chief Mate, the Radio Operator, and the Engineer.

All the members of a team sit on one side of the table, and they each take a particular role on the submarine, with the division of labor for these roles being dependent on the number of players in the game: One player might be the captain, who is responsible for moving the submarine and announcing some details of this movement; another player is manning the sonar in order to listen to the opposing captain's orders and try to decipher where that sub might be in the water; a third player might be working in the munitions room to prepare torpedoes, mines and other devices that will allow for combat.

Captain Sonar can be played in two modes: turn-by-turn or simultaneous. In the latter set-up, all the members of a team take their actions simultaneously while trying to track what the opponents are doing, too. When a captain is ready to launch an attack, the action pauses for a moment to see whether a hit has been recorded — then play resumes with the target having snuck away while the attacker paused or with bits of metal now scattered across the ocean floor.

Multiple maps are included with varying levels of difficulty.

Apotheca

Players craft potions in a secret marketplace. Hide ingredients to deceive opponents, and use magical powers to mix concoctions. But beware - your opponents are brewing schemes of their own!

Apotheca is played on a 4x4 grid. Players gain points by making matches of three potions of the same color in a row. The first player to make three matches wins. It's easily learned, but the combination of asymmetric powers and secret facedown potions make the game a delicious challenge.

On each turn, players take 2 of 4 possible actions:

Reveal: Reveal a secret potion and gain a gem of that color
Restock: Draw, look at, and place secret potions on the board until there are exactly 3
Power: Use one of your active apothecary powers
Hire: Spend gems to hire new apothecaries

Whenever a player makes a match, they must place it on one of their apothecaries. This removes that apothecary's power for the rest of the game, so it's important for players to keep revealing potions, collecting gems and hiring new apothecaries... all while keeping their opponents at bay!

Deduction is key to Apotheca. Players trap each other with clever spatial moves, bluffing and misdirection. The action economy is very well balanced, so every turn offers an opportunity for strategy and tough decisions.

The feeling of the game differs with every number of players:

2 player is the most cerebral and controlled
3 player is the most chaotic, yet still within your grasp
4 player is played in teams, offering neat collaborative gameplay

Rose King

The battle between farmers and ranchers is fairly abstract. A single pawn travels on a square grid. Each player has a hand of cards face up. These each have a direction and a distance. The player can either draw a card and add it to his hand, or play a card. If he plays a card, then the pawn moves the appropriate distance to an empty square, and the player places one of his markers. Each player also has judge symbols that can each be used only once. The judge lets you move onto a previously placed opposition marker and reverse it. Players score points for each contiguous region equal to the square of the number of markers. If a player is not careful, such a move may be forced, as there is a maximum number of cards that a player may hold.

Contains rules for playing with 4 (in two partnerships of two players).

Later republished 1999 as Rosenkönig by Kosmos, as part of the two-player game series. The republication also included a re-theming of the game. The setting changed from Texas to England, and the factions changed from farmers and ranchers to the factions of the Plantagenet family from the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) - the Lancaster (red rose) and the York (white rose) factions in a similarly abstracted fashion.

World of Yo-Ho

World of Yo-Ho is a fantasy game of adventure and piracy on the high seas, combining the tangible elements of a board game with the interactive mechanics of a video game. The game features a board with a gridded map of the world of Yo-Ho and a downloadable app that turns your smartphone into a ship. Simply place your phone on the map and set sail for adventure!

Become the most famous captain of Yo-Ho, a parallel world teeming with intelligent animals, lost islands, and wild magic! In search of fame and fortune, you will explore the mysteries of Yo-Ho and battle sea monsters and other booty hungry corsairs in tactical naval engagements. Fill your holds with plunder you can use to upgrade your boat and acquire useful items and more powerful weaponry. Stock up on swag and fly your colors high.

You're the master of your own destiny: Will you be a bloodthirsty swashbuckler, brazenly hoisting the Jolly Roger as you plunder all those you cross? Or will you choose to stand as defender of the innocent and a peaceful merchant? Whatever your freebooting predilection may be, the stage is set and you will play a vital role in the saga of Yo-Ho, if you are but bold enough...

Khet: The Laser Game

Khet (a.k.a. Deflexion) is a chess-like board game that has two built in lasers and movable Egyptian-themed game pieces that have embedded mirrors which can be positioned to bounce the laser light around the board and hit opponent pieces.

To play, players alternate moving their pieces around the board. Some pieces have mirrors and some do not. Bounding the board is a raised frame into which are built two low-power lasers, one for each player. The game pieces include a "pharaoh", obelisks, and pyramids with mirrors. After each move, a player must press the button on his/her laser. The beam bounces from mirror to mirror around the playing field. The challenge is to protect one's own pharaoh while maneuvering to "light up" the opposing player's pharaoh.

Reimplemented by

Khet 2.0