pattern building

Tawantinsuyu: The Inca Empire

The great Sapa Inca Pachacuti turned to his offspring and ordered them to worship Inti, the Sun God, and to expand the Inca Empire as far as the llamas roam. With Chinchaysuyu, Antisuyu, Qullasuyu, and Kuntisuyu — the four regions of the new empire — now ripe for conquest, the time has come for Pachacuti's true successor to arise.

Gather your people from the villages below and use their unique abilities to strategically place them where they can perform the greatest tasks for you. Climb the steps of the Sun Temple, reaping the rewards of your piety. Build structures that both nourish your people and provide you with benefits no other has at their disposal. Muster an army and conquer villages in the four realms of Tawantinsuyu. Prove yourself a worthy successor to Pachacuti and lead the Inca to glory!

During Tawantinsuyu: The Inca Empire, players place workers onto various locations on the game board, performing actions, collecting resources (potatoes, corn, stone, and gold), constructing buildings and stairs, sculpt statues, expanding their military strength, and collecting weavings.

The game board features a hill located within the old Inca capital of Cusco, the sides of which are terraced and divided into five sections. Atop the hill sits the Coricancha, The Golden Temple, the most important temple of the Inca Empire. Within the Coricancha, each player has a High Priest. On the terraced sections below exist a variety of worker placement locations, interconnected by paths and individually marked by symbols. On your turn, you must either place a worker onto a location outside the Coricancha OR choose two of the following:

Recruit one worker.
Take two god cards.
Draw two army cards and keep one of them.
Move your High Priest one or two steps clockwise within the Coricancha.

When placing a worker, you must first discard a god card with a matching symbol or pay one gold. Once placed, the worker remains on the game board for the rest of the game! Each worker placement location is connected to exactly three action spaces. You must always perform at least one of these actions. However, for each adjacent worker (i.e., connected to your worker's location via direct path through one of the action spaces) that matches the type of worker just placed, you receive one additional action!

While some locations will result in you being able to perform multiple actions, other actions and placements may be more desirable, especially since each of the five types of workers has a unique ability:

Warrior: Remove one of the adjacent workers, placing it in your player area.
Craftsman: Gain +1 action if placed onto a craftsman space.
Architect: Gain +1 action if placed onto an architect space.
Courier: Decreased placement cost; +1 action if it's the first worker placed within a given area.
Priest: Take one god card; you may pay one potato to gain +1 action.

All god cards feature one of the different symbols found on the worker placement locations. Before placing a worker, you must either discard a god card with a matching symbol or pay valuable gold resources. God cards also depict special abilities that can be activated only if you have previously built a matching statue!

Army cards allow you to send one or more units to conquer villages in nearby regions. You must compete against the other players for control of each region as well as for valuable rewards that can be gained as a result of military conquest.

The position of your High Priest within the Coricancha has a significant impact on your overall strategy, affecting your access to powerful actions and determining any potential resource costs when placing your workers. More specifically, when placing a worker, you must pay additional resources the farther your worker is from your High Priest, from nothing all the way up to eight potatoes or corn!

Additionally, when moving your High Priest, you can activate powerful actions available only within the Coricancha:

Produce: Gain all rewards from your production buildings.
Worship: Sacrifice previously sculpted statues to gain permanent temple advancements.
Offering: Pay resources to gain temple advancements.
Conquer: Engage in military conquest of nearby villages.
Rejuvenate: Refresh previously activated buildings and military units.

Throughout the game, you score victory points whenever you construct stairs or sculpt statues. Gain bonus victory points whenever another player makes use of the stairs you have constructed. Score victory points from temple advancements and control of the four regions.

The game ends when the worker pool has become exhausted, symbolizing the full incorporation of nearby regions and villages into the newly risen Inca Empire. You then score bonus victory points from reaching the top of the temple, from your woven tapestries, and from various buildings and resources you have accumulated.

—description from publisher

Honey Buzz

The bees have discovered economics. The queens believe that if they sell honey to the bears, badgers, and woodland creatures, they will find peace and prosperity. Spring has arrived and it's time to build the hive, find nectar, make honey, and, for the first time ever, set up shop.

Honey Buzz is a worker bee placement game where players expand a personal beehive by drafting various honeycomb tiles that grant actions that are triggered throughout the game. Each tile represents a different action. Whenever a tile is laid so that it completes a certain pattern, a ring of actions is triggered in whatever order the player chooses. A tile drafted on turn one could be triggered up to three times at any point during the game. It all depends on how the player places their beeples (bee+meeple) and builds their hive. After all, in the honey business, efficiency is queen.

As you continually expand your hive, you'll forage for nectar and pollen, make honey, sell different varieties at the bear market, host honey tastings, and attend to the queen and her court. There's only so much nectar to go around, and finding it won't be easy. Players will have to scout out the nectar field and pay attention to other players searches to try to deduce the location of the nectar they need for themselves.

Holi: Festival of Colors

In HOLI: Festival of Colors, players gather to celebrate the end of winter as they spread colorful powder on each other, dancing and celebrating new beginnings.

Mechanisms & Features
Area Control - Colored powder tokens spread across the board and onto other players, covering the board in the pattern selected
3-Tier Board - Players ascend to have their powder fall from above, giving up victory points for better control
Puzzle-like Action Selection - Color cards determine the pattern colored powder will fly in, giving players room to select the pattern that works best for them.
Variable Scoring Condition - Each game can have slightly different scoring conditions, adding depth and replayability

Dragomino

The big moment has arrived. You have been named "dragon trainer", and you have the chance to meet them on a mysterious island. But you are not the only trainer sent to these lands. Who among you will discover the most baby dragons?

The Kingdomino family is expanding with Dragomino, a version for children who are going to go in search of dragon eggs.

—description from the publisher

Cóatl

The election of the Aztec High Priest is imminent. In order to prove their value and merit, the contenders engage in a race for prestige to win the favor of the gods. Will you be able to make the most beautiful sculptures of feathered snakes (called Cóatl) to stand out and gain access to the coveted title of High Priest?

In Cóatl, players work to build the most beautiful and valuable serpents. The serpents, or Cóatl, are constructed with a head, a tail, and a number of body tiles, each made from chunky, colorful plastic. On a turn, players will either take tiles from the central board to their personal board, or work to construct one of their Cóatls with the different tiles they've collected.

The game end is triggered when one player finishes their third Cóatl. Players receive points for fulfilling objectives, and the one with the most is named the new High Priest!

•••

L’élection au titre de grand prêtre aztèque est imminente. Afin de prouver leur valeur et leur mérite, les prétendants s’engagent dans une course au prestige pour conquérir la faveur des dieux. Saurez-vous réaliser les plus belles sculptures de serpents à plumes (appelés Cóatl) pour vous démarquer et ainsi accéder au titre tant convoité de grand prêtre aztèque?

Dans Cóatl, les joueurs construisent les plus beaux et précieux serpents à plumes qui soient. Ces reptiles, appelés Cóatl par les Aztèques, sont construits d'une tête, une queue et un certain nombre de pièces de corps en plastique épais et coloré. À tour de rôle, les joueurs prennent les pièces du plateau central et les transposent sur leur plateau personnel afin d'assembler stratégiquement des Cóatls en fonction des couleurs édictées par leurs cartes d'objectifs.

La partie se termine lorsqu'un joueur complète son troisième Cóatl. Les joueurs reçoivent des points pour la réalisation d'objectifs et celui qui en a cumulé le plus est déclaré grand prêtre aztèque!

•••

In der aztekischen Mythologie ist der Schöpfergott Quetzalcoatl als Gott des Windes, des Himmels und der Erde allgegenwärtig. Gefiederten Schlangen, Cóatl genannt, schmücken antike Tempelanlagen in ganz Mexiko.

Erschafft die aufwändigsten und elegantesten Skulpturen geflügelter Schlangen, auch Cóatl genannt, damit einer von euch zum neuen Hohepriester der Azteken ernannt wird.Während des Spiels erschafft ihr Cóatl, indem ihr Kopf-, Körper- und Schwanzsegmente verbindet, die den Voraussetzungen eurer Prophezeiungskarten entsprechen. Je mehr der Voraussetzungen erfüllt werden, desto mehr Prestigepunkte bringt das fertige Cóatl.