Mancala

The gameboard of Finca shows the mediterranean island of Mallorca. Players try to crop and deliver the fruits of Mallorca (such as oranges, lemons, almonds, grapes etc.) by means of moving workers on a traditional windmill. Object of the game is to distribute your crop as effectively as possible in order to deliver faster than your opponents.

From the Box: Mallorca, Island of the Wind. A place of golden beaches and a light-blue sea. The almond harvest is at hand, in addition, juicy oranges, lemons, and figs are ready to be picked and taken to the market. Olive trees bewitch the country with their curled branches and sumptuous vineyards invite passers-by to walk among their warm earth. In the midst of this landscape, your centuries-old natural stone farmhouse provides a home and supports your large windmill: your FINCA.
Listen to the wind, which propels your windmill! Then take in the course of the yearly harvest the sweetest and most valuable fruits from the land. Load them on your old donkey cart and travel around the island, selling them everywhere. If you manage this quickly, you will soon be the richest farmer on the island.

Note: The Pandasaurus Games edition from 2024 plays up to 5 players while earlier editions play up to 4.

Recommendations:

2011 Hungarian Boardgame Prize Winner
2011 Ludoteca Ideale (Italy)
Nominee "Spiel des Jahres 2009"
4th place "Deutscher Spielepreis 2009"
Nominee "Graf Ludo 2009"
Adult Game of the year 2010 (Finland)

Amritsar, India is home to The Golden Temple or Sri Harmandir Sahib. This spectacular building is world-renowned as a sacred place for the Sikh community and one of the most famous pilgrimage destinations on Earth.
After being demolished several times, Maharaja Ranjit Singh rebuilt it using marble, copper and 750 kilos of pure gold, hence its name.
In Amritsar, the players will represent the different personalities of the time who helped the Maharaja of the Sikh Empire with the reconstruction of the Golden Temple.
Using a clever mechanic based on the sowing system of the classic mancala games, players will use the different workers and their very own elephant to carry out the necessary tasks. On your turn, you will be able to perform 1-3 actions depending on how well you have coordinated the workers and your elephant. These actions will consist of collecting resources in the quarry or the market, advancing on the different paths of knowledge, improving your personal board, turning to your mahout (elephant rider) for help and above all making donations to the temple with the aim of obtaining as many prestige points as possible. At the end of the game, the player with the most prestige will be declared the winner of the game.

—description from the publisher

Set in ancient Rome, Trajan is a development game in which players try to increase their influence and power in various areas of Roman life such as political influence, trading, military dominion and other important parts of Roman culture.

The central mechanism of the game uses a system similar to that in Mancala or pit-and-pebbles games. In Trajan, a player has six possible actions: building, trading, taking tiles from the forum, using the military, influencing the Senate, and placing Trajan tiles on his tableau.

At the start of the game, each player has two differently colored pieces in each of the six sections (bowls) of his tableau. On a turn, the player picks up all the pieces in one bowl and distributes them one-by-one in bowls in a clockwise order. Wherever the final piece is placed, the player takes the action associated with that bowl; in addition, if the colored pieces in that bowl match the colors shown on a Trajan tile next to the bowl (with tiles being placed at the start of the game and through later actions), then the player takes the additional action shown on that tile.

What are you trying to do with these actions? Acquire victory points (VPs) in whatever ways are available to you – and since this is a Feld design, you try to avoid being punished, too. At the Forum you try to anticipate the demands of the public so that you can supply them what they want and not suffer a penalty. In the Senate you acquire influence which translates into votes on VP-related laws, ideally snagging a law that fits your long-term plans. With the military, you take control of regions in Europe, earning more points for those regions far from Rome.

All game components are language neutral, and the playing time is 30 minutes per player.

Welcome to your amusement park! It's not much now, but just give it time! Soon the gates will open, and eager guests will rush in to ride the latest rides! It's up to you and your fellow imaginative engineers to build a magically fun place that people will love — competing with them to make a name for yourself as the most famous park designer in the world! From your humble beginnings, you will fill the park with the best attractions, manage your staff, cleverly construct a thrilling roller coaster, and prove that you are the best Imagineer!

Over the course of several rounds in Imagineers, you must skillfully guide your guests around the park, earning money to build new attractions, which leads to happiness, which earns you fame! Careful choices about which rides to build — and when to upgrade your showcase roller coaster — will ultimately decide your success! The Imagineer who amasses the most fame wins!

In the 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt was considered the second Columbus. His first great discovery journey to and across America led him from the Amazon jungle all the way to the White House. The knowledge he gained not only opened up a new way of viewing nature and its relationships, but also made Humboldt the most famous man of his time besides Napoleon.

But the measuring of the world goes on: As venturous young scientists, players in Humboldt's Great Voyage follow Humboldt's legendary expedition route all across the American continent. Using the "mancala" principle, they travel in stages from one location to the next, collect the objects they find, and ship them to selected personalities all over the world in order to make the findings they obtained available as quickly as possible to a public hungry for knowledge. Who will succeed in making a name for themself among the renowned scientists of the 19th century and be admitted as an associate member of the Academy of Sciences?

—description from the publisher