pattern building

Wild Duo is a game collection that includes 5 games for 2 players. You can play these games with two players or in larger groups (4/6/8/10), in which case the games are rotated between the groups of two. There is definitely enough variety, as each of the games is a unique gaming experience.

The games are perfectly playable for both children and adult players, as the gaming experience depends entirely on your, respectively, your fellow player's skills. That's why some games can be decided after only 5 minutes, while others last 30 minutes.

Each of the games deals with a different animal species or a specific behavior of this animal species and thus takes the players on a journey into one of 5 worlds. Each of the five rule explanations therefore always includes an exciting, thematic text on the corresponding animal species.

—description from the publisher

In CODEX Naturalis, you must continue the work of the illuminating monk Tybor Kwelein, assembling the pages of a manuscript that lists the living species in primary forests. Can you put the pages together in the best order possible? And are you prepared to sacrifice a species to develop your manuscript?

In the game, each player starts with a single card on the table, a card that shows some combination of the four possible resources in the middle of the card, in the corners of the card, or both. Players also have two resource cards and one gold card in hand, while two of each type of card are visible on the table.

On a turn, you place a card from your hand overlapping the corners of one or more cards you already have in play. Your starting card has four overlappable corners, while resource and gold cards have only three.

Resource cards have no cost to be played, and they often depict resource symbols in their corners.
Gold cards deliver points when played, but they often have a resource requirement, e.g., three fungi or two plant/one animal/one insect, and you must have those resources visible in your manuscript at the time you play the gold card. You score points from this card immediately, with some cards having a fixed value and others a variable one depending on how many of a certain symbol are showing or how many corners you covered this turn.

If you wish, you can play a card from your hand face down; such a card has four corners and one resource, but provides no points. After you play, draw a face-up card or the top card of either deck to refill your hand.

When a player reaches 20 points, you complete the round, and each player takes one additional turn. Players then score points based on how well they matched two public objective cards and one secret objective card, after which the player with the most points wins.

Fish 'n' Flips is a game about maritime animals caught in fishing nets as bycatch. Players can compete or cooperate in freeing as many as possible of them. The animals are laid out in rows and columns. On a turn, a player can play one of their two action cards. These cards can exchange positions or flip a card so the animal looks the opposite way. When several of the same animals are looking in the same direction, they will escape from the net, while any animals on top of them will slide down (tetris-style), which may lead to other groups of animals being able to escape. After each turn, another animal is added at the top of each column. When a column is seven cards high, all players lose. When all animal cards have been played, players can compare how many animals were left in the net (cooperative mode) or how many they freed (competitive mode).

The game has a campaign in which difficulty rises in each level. For one, each animal has a special ability. These make the game easier but also more complex. On the other hand, more animals are added, which makes it harder to form groups. Also, garbage cards come into play. These can disrupt groups or stop animals from using their special abilities.

You are summoned by the Roman emperor to hear about his great plans for expansion. He wants you to found the next great Roman city and bring glory to the Roman Empire!

Carefully plan your city and efficiently connect neighborhoods to gain valuable resources! Spend coins and employ population to build magnificent monuments! Use legions to conquer distant lands for the Emperor! Produce valuable luxuries to use for scoring points! Gain the Will of the Gods and use it to empower your city! Glory is within your grasp!

Build the greatest Roman cities and bring glory to Rome in this tile-placement, city builder board game for 1-4 players!

In Magna Roma, the objective is to make the most points at the end of the game by building your city efficiently! To do so, players take turns to place city tiles in their city. A newly placed tile must be connected to at least one of the previously placed tiles. When a player places a tile, the connection with the adjacent tiles will result in producing one or more resources for the player. For example, connecting two half-circles found on the tiles produces a coin, a rectangle and triangle produce population, a rectangle and half-circle produce a legion etc. What's more, if the connected shapes are of the same color, the game rewards the player with double the resources.

With these resources, players will be able to play the other actions in the game, such as: build different monuments in your city, gain a Luxury Good, gain the Gods' Favor tiles, conquer new provinces for the Emperor all serving the same goal - to gain the most points at the end of the game and build the greatest Roman city that ever existed!

—description from the publisher

Twenty years after his expedition around the world, Charles Darwin is writing On the Origin of Species. He wants to gather new information about animal life, particularly about continents he hardly explored. Who other than young naturalists, eager for discovery, could help the renowned scholar finish writing his most famous work?

In In the Footsteps of Darwin, players are junior naturalists who have just arrived aboard the Beagle to help Charles Darwin finish his book On the Origin of Species. During this journey, you will study animals, carry out cartographic surveys, publish your findings, and develop theories. Starting with the naturalist controlling the Darwin token, naturalists take turns in clockwise order, performing these two steps in order:

Study an animal or take inspiration from a character: Choose one of the three tiles facing the Beagle and place it onto your naturalist's notebook. It may be either an animal to study or a character from the Beagle's previous journey who will inspire you. Gain the bonuses depicted or any additional scoring bonuses triggered by the tile's placement.

Voyage of the Beagle: After placing a tile on your notebook, move the Beagle as many spaces forward as the distance between the Beagle and the tile you just selected (1-3 spaces), then draw a new tile to replace the empty space on the journey board.

Your goal is to score more points than your opponents to determine who contributed the most to On the Origin of Species.

—description from publisher