Puzzle

Patchwork Express features the same basic gameplay as Patchwork, but with a smaller playing area and with larger and less complex pieces.

In the game, each player tries to build the most aesthetic (and high-scoring) patchwork quilt on a personal 7x7 game board. To start play, lay out all of the light-colored patches at random in a circle and place a starting marker in a particular location. Each player takes some buttons — the currency/points in the game — and someone is chosen as the start player.

On a turn, a player either purchases one of the three patches standing clockwise of the starting marker or passes. To purchase a patch, you pay the cost in buttons shown on the patch, move the starting marker to that patch's location in the circle, add the patch to your game board, then advance your time token on the time track a number of spaces equal to the time shown on the patch. You're free to place the patch anywhere on your board that doesn't overlap other patches, but you probably want to fit things together as tightly as possible. If your time token is behind or on top of the other player's time token, then you take another turn; otherwise the opponent now goes. Instead of purchasing a patch, you can choose to pass; to do this, you move your time token to the space immediately in front of the opponent's time token, then take one button from the bank for each space you moved.

In addition to a button cost and time cost, each patch also features 0-3 buttons, and when you move your time token past a button on the time track, you earn "button income": sum the number of buttons depicted on your personal game board, then take this many buttons from the bank.

What's more, the time track depicts six 1x1 patches on it, and during set-up you place six actual 1x1 patches on these spaces. Whoever first passes a patch on the time track claims this patch and immediately places it on their game board.

At some point during the game, dark-colored patches are added to what's available for players to take, and these pieces are smaller than the light-colored ones, making it more likely that they'll fill in holes on a player's board.

Woodlands transports you to the wonderful world of legends and fairy tales, with four different stories of increasing difficulty. Each story consists of several chapters, with each chapter showing a plastic overlay that features various collectibles, obstacles, and that chapter's goal. Each player then builds their own network of pathways on their personal playing board to beat the chapter and score as many points as possible. Once players are satisfied with what they've built, the overlay is placed on top of each player's pathways to check which goals they've met.

Two additional overlays may be used to increase the difficulty of any chapter — and to increase the difficulty further, players may use the back side of their path tiles for a greater challenge.

Mansions of Madness: Second Edition is a fully cooperative, app-driven board game of horror and mystery for one to five players that takes place in the same universe as Eldritch Horror and Elder Sign. Let the immersive app guide you through the veiled streets of Innsmouth and the haunted corridors of Arkham's cursed mansions as you search for answers and respite. Eight brave investigators stand ready to confront four scenarios of fear and mystery, collecting weapons, tools, and information, solving complex puzzles, and fighting monsters, insanity, and death. Open the door and step inside these hair-raising Mansions of Madness: Second Edition. It will take more than just survival to conquer the evils terrorizing this town.

In Covalence, players work together to accurately reconstruct a number of secret organic compounds. One player takes on the role of the “Knower” who has knowledge of the secret compounds, while all other players, “Builders”, must deduce what these secret compounds are, based upon clues given to them by the Knower. All Builders must cooperatively utilize a limited number of clues available in order construct their compounds before the clues run out!

Before winter makes its appearance, a particularly warm fall bathes the forest in a golden shimmer. During the Indian Summer, New England blossoms one last time. Treetops are ablaze with countless colors — a living rainbow, from green to orange to red. Slowly the first leaves are starting to fall. Meanwhile, our steps and the diligent squirrels rustle the colorful foliage.

On our walks through the woods, we discover all kinds of little treasures; we collect berries, nuts, mushrooms and feathers. We pause for a moment to watch the shy inhabitants of the forest before we set off towards home once again. There, a good book and a hot tea are already awaiting.

Indian Summer is the second part of Uwe Rosenberg's puzzle trilogy following 2016's Cottage Garden, and this game is firmly geared towards experienced players. At the heart of the game are puzzle tiles with holes that are placed on individual forest boards to cover up treasures. When players get their hands on these, they gain more options and an edge over their opponents. All that counts in the end is to be the first to cover your forest floor completely with leaves.