Negotiation

In Pax Pamir, players assume the role of nineteenth century Afghan leaders attempting to forge a new state after the collapse of the Durrani Empire. Western histories often call this period "The Great Game" because of the role played by the Europeans who attempted to use central Asia as a theater for their own rivalries. In this game, those empires are viewed strictly from the perspective of the Afghans who sought to manipulate the interloping ferengi (foreigners) for their own purposes.

In terms of game play, Pax Pamir is a pretty straightforward tableau builder. Players spend most of their turns purchasing cards from a central market, then playing those cards in front of them in a single row called a court. Playing cards adds units to the game's map and grants access to additional actions that can be taken to disrupt other players and influence the course of the game. That last point is worth emphasizing. Though everyone is building their own row of cards, the game offers many ways for players to interfere with each other directly and indirectly.

To survive, players will organize into coalitions. Throughout the game, the dominance of the different coalitions will be evaluated by the players when a special card, called a "Dominance Check", is resolved. If a single coalition has a commanding lead during one of these checks, those players loyal to that coalition will receive victory points based on their influence in their coalition. However, if Afghanistan remains fragmented during one of these checks, players instead will receive victory points based on their personal power base.

After each Dominance Check, victory is checked and the game will be partially reset, offering players a fresh attempt to realize their ambitions. The game ends when a single player is able to achieve a lead of four or more victory points or after the fourth and final Dominance Check is resolved.

This is a party game where players vote on 32 contenders in a NCAA tournament like bracket. A contender advances to the next round when they receive a majority of the votes of the players. The players vote based on a question asked. For example, the contenders in the first round might be "Dolly Parton" vs. "street mime". The question might be, "Who would you rather be for a day?" All the players debate the match-up and then all openly vote on it. Play continues like this for each match-up.

Each player makes their picks, and gets their points based on what contender they believe will win the entire tourney(4), who will make it to the championship round(2 for each pick), who will make it to the final four (1 for each pick), and a bonus pick(4). The bonus pick is where each player tries to guess what one of the other players will choose as the winner of the tournament. The points for each pick is in parentheses.

The contenders are drawn randomly from 500 tiles and placed on the bracket in four categories (including an example of one contender from each.)
Arenas - aka "Places" - Jamaica
Contenders - aka "People" - Mark Twain
Moves - aka "Actions" - Showering
Gear - aka "Things"- Cocktails

After all the tiles are placed, a player draws a random "Knockout"card. This "Knockout" card is the question for the final, championship round. Once every player sees that question, they make their picks and place them in an envelope until the end of the game.

The object is make accurate picks as well as secretly convince the other players to pick your choices.

Pass the Pigs, in which players roll pig-shaped dice to score points, included one pair of pig dice. Deluxe Pass the Pigs doubled the swine count, with two pairs of pigs for head-to-head competition. Now Pass the Pigs: Pig Party Edition has brought home the bacon, doubling the pig count yet again with four pairs of pigs (pink, black, brown, tan) included in the box.

Game play is reminiscent of Pass The Pigs, but with more pigs and more scoring opportunities. Players try to win cards that display a specific goal (pigs in a particular orientation) and a point value. The game includes bonus cards, including a chance to roll all eight pigs at once. Sooooooo-eeeee!

Pass the Pigs: Pig Party Edition comes with a black, zip-up case to hold the game components.

The monolithic city-state of Dûhr is at once a crucible of emerging and forgotten cultures, a cynosure of commerce, and a titan of military might. Its Great and Lesser Houses rise and fall with the whims of its Family Royal, the Sovereign House Kythidûhr. Amidst the festivals of summer, House Kythidûhr announced its intent to elevate one of Dûhr’s Lesser Houses to Great House status. By autumn’s frosts, the Lesser Houses were deeply embroiled in a fierce battle for the coveted title. Not with soldiers, for that would waste blood and gold, but with the most insidious of political weapons: suspicion and scandal. They attacked each other with aspersions and calumny, well devised and craftily exploited, designed to erode the social standing of their rival Houses and thereby remove them from contention.

Dûhr: The Lesser Houses accommodates 4 to 6 players. Each player is the master of a Lesser House of Dûhr, vying for Great House status. Players take turns using cards in their hand to trigger events, place suspicions and scandals on each other’s House, or activate their own House’s unique ability to affect cards already placed. The accumulation of suspicion and scandal cards on a House card erodes the populace’s favor for that House by raising suggestions of wrongdoing or embroiling it in scandals that incite public outrage.

All Houses begin the game without any suspicions or scandals and favored by the people of Dûhr. When a House accumulates a combined total of 5 suspicion and/or scandal cards, that House falls into disfavor with the populace. If a disfavored House ever has 3 or more revealed scandal cards, the House becomes vilified. The game ends immediately when the number of favored Houses remaining is 1 or none. Whoever has the highest score at that point wins the game. It is possible for a disfavored or vilified House to outscore a favored House and win the game!

Pronunciation note: pronounce "û" in "Dûhr" like the "oo" in "doom."

Twenty years ago, the settlers started into the depths of the galaxy to discover unknown planets, the undiscovered universe lying before them. Maybe they'll find planets with good ore or carbon deposits — or perhaps only barren ice planets. They might encounter alien folks and start lucrative trading, with pirates and wormholes being a constant challenge for them.

Catan: Starfarers is a new version of Starfarers of Catan, originally released in 1999, that contains completely revised graphics and game materials, revised rules, and (most importantly) a variable game board that brings even more variety to the exploration of space.