Set collection

Mermaid Rain

Mermaid Rain is a Japanese game from the makers of Train Raider.

Over five rounds, players try to collect five different types of goods by moving around the sea. The game uses two phases: first is the "surf predicting" phase where players play melds of cards in a Taj Mahal-type mechanic. The melds determine player order, selection of "wave tile", and give other benefits. In the second phase, "surf riding", players place their wave tiles on the board and then use cards to move through the sea on the waves to collect goods.

The game is playable with English rules as the components are either language-independent or easily decipherable.

Game Summary
Setup: specific locations for subset of tiles, some face down; rest are to side, also face down. Deal out 7 cards (3 suits).

Each round, players simultaneously select a card to play (max 5 cards total) -- choose the pass card to pass for rest of round. The resulting poker-style combinations give bonuses (VP, or special powers); the ranking gives you player order for the round.

In order, select a face up sea tile (4 shapes, 2-3 hexes each, with one of 3 suits or wild). Then, in order, place the tile on the board and use some/all cards left in hand to move your mermaid around the board (playing card allows you to move mermaid to matching tile/space). Whenever on an island with token(s), look at face down tokens then add one of the tokens to your collection.

At end of round, sea tiles with the darker color are removed from the board. Any mermaids on them are displaced to one of the unoccupied starting locations (player's choice). Then, deal 7 cards per player (max hand size 9) and repeat.

Game ends after 5 rounds. Each player must discard 5 tokens (1 per symbol), or lose 5 VP per missing symbol. Then rank players' collections of sets of each type, awarding VP accordingly (rarer tiles, larger sets earn more VP). Most VP wins.

Ra: Uberplay Edition

Ra is an auction and set-collection game with an Ancient Egyptian theme. Each turn players are able to purchase lots of tiles with their bidding tiles (suns). Once a player has used up his or her suns, the other players continue until they do likewise, which may set up a situation with a single uncontested player bidding on tiles before the end of the round occurs. Tension builds because the round may end before all players have had a chance to win their three lots for the epoch. The various tiles either give immediate points, prevent negative points for not having certain types at the end of the round (epoch), or give points after the final round. The game lasts for three "epochs" (rounds). The game offers a short learning curve, and experienced players find it both fast-moving and a quick play.

From the Box:
The game spans 1500 years of Egyptian history in less than an hour!
The players seek to expand their power and fame and there are many ways to accomplish this: Influencing Pharaohs, Building monuments, Farming on the Nile, Paying homage to the Gods, Advancing the technology and culture of the people. Ra is an auction and set collecting game where players may choose to take risks for great rewards or... And all this is for the glory of the Sun God Ra!

This version of the game is rare and requires a membership to play. See Game Associate for details.

Five Tribes: The Artisans of Naqala

Five Tribes: The Artisans of Naqala, the first expansion for Five Tribes, introduces a new tribe to the game, and players will want to use these artisans to help them in their quest to claim the Sultanate.

The artisans, represented in the game by purple meeples, allow players to craft precious goods or magic items, with some of these items being worth victory points (VPs) and others unlocking special powers for their owner.

To make use of these artisans, you'll need to visit the new tiles included in this expansion: workshops (where the artisans craft their items) and specialized markets (where players can purchase specific merchandise that they need). An additional tile in the game features an impassable chasm, and this tile — as well as the included mountain markers — forces players to adapt to new landscapes when moving meeples on the board.

Five Tribes: The Artisans of Naqala also includes two new Djinns.

Deluxe Hanabi

Hanabi—named for the Japanese word for "fireworks"—is a cooperative game in which players try to create the perfect fireworks show by placing the cards on the table in the right order. (In Japanese, hanabi is written as 花火; these are the ideograms flower and fire, respectively.)

The card deck consists of five different colors of cards, numbered 1–5 in each color. For each color, the players try to place a row in the correct order from 1–5. Sounds easy, right? Well, not quite, as in this game you hold your cards so that they're visible only to other players. To assist other players in playing a card, you must give them hints regarding the numbers or the colors of their cards. Players must act as a team to avoid errors and to finish the fireworks display before they run out of cards.

An extra suit of cards, rainbow colored, is also provided for advanced or variant play.

Hanabi was originally published as part of Hanabi & Ikebana.