Set collection

In an age when poetry and the arts reigned supreme, the nights of Kyoto were filled with romance. Gentlemen of the Imperial court, ordinary clerks and functionaries by day, went out at night to meet their secret lovers in furtive trysts. Writing by the light of the moon, each tried to craft the finest and most moving poetry in the form of the Tanka, a short verse composed of only five lines. The best poems evoked the scene, the season, and represented the depth of the courtier's knowledge of the fashionable themes at court. By far, the most successful such lover was a fictional one named Hikaru Genji, the Shining Prince. Genji was, for the ladies of the court, the symbol of the perfect lover. For the men of the court, he was the perfect example to emulate.
In GENJI, players take the roles of courtiers out to woo fair princesses. Players score points for writing the finest poetry, or winning the most hearts. But beware: other courtiers will be waiting in the wings to steal those hearts away! Take your brush in hand, and set out on the night streets of Kyoto. The romance of the height of the Heian Period awaits you in GENJI.

Home Page: http://www.zmangames.com/cardgames/genji.htm

From BoardgameNews.com:

"Players in Genji try to learn from the historical figure of Genji and woo the ladies of the Imperial Court with their poetry. Twelve ladies, each bearing a symbol of one of the four seasons as well as one of three fashions – melancholy, nature, romance – are laid out in a circle, with a fashion card chosen at random to show players what type of poetry is in style.

"In each of the four seasons, each player will travel from his “home” – a lady chosen at the start of the game that bears his marker – around the circle in either direction. A player moves 1-3 spaces each turn, then either studies new material (discards poetry cards and draws new ones) or woos the lady he is currently visiting. If he has no rivals who have previously presented her with poems, he can present her with a poem on one or two cards. “Each poem card has the top or the bottom of a classic Tanka poem (5 lines, 5,7,5,7,7 syllables each, respectively),” says Kirk. “A poem can be considered either a top, a bottom, or a match of the two cards.”

"If another player has already presented a poem, then he can either complete the poem (assuming only a single card was played) or challenge it (by playing a poem card that increases the beauty of the poem, thus revealing the other player for the poser he is). In the latter case, you discard your contribution and the matching half, then add the remaining half poem to your hand to be used later.
...
"The round ends once a player returns home and makes a final study or woo action. Players then score points if they have the most poems on the board for that season, have presented the most beautiful poem of the season, or pitched woo at the home of another player. Yes, being a scoundrel can pay off."

Lost Cities is a card game in the Kosmos two-player series. The game consists of a single deck of cards of rank 2–10 in 5 different colors with 3 special "handshakes" ("HS" in scoring examples below) in each suit. There is also a board which functions only to hold and organize discarded cards and is largely superfluous. Games last around 15 minutes. This is generally considered a good "couples" game and is often recommended for people with non-gamer partners.

The object the game is to gain points by mounting profitable archaeological expeditions to the different sites represented by the 5 colors. On a player's turn they must always first play one card, either to an expedition or by discarding it to the appropriate discard pile, and then draw one card. There is a separate discard pile for each color and a player may draw the top card of any discard pile or the top card of the deck. Cards played to expeditions must be in ascending order but they need not be consecutive. Handshakes are considered lower than a 2 and represent investments in an expedition. Thus, if you play a red 4, you may play any other red card higher than a 4 on a future turn but may no longer play a handshake, the 2, or the 3.

The game continues in this fashion with players alternating turns until the final card is taken from the draw pile. The rest of the cards in hand are then discarded and players score their expeditions. Each expedition that has at least one card played into it must be scored. Cards played into an expedition are worth their rank in points, and handshakes count as a multiplier against your final total. Expeditions start at a value of -20 so you must play at least 20 points of cards into an expedition in order to make a profit. If you are left with a negative value and have a handshake, the multiplier still applies. A 20-point bonus is awarded to every expedition with at least 8 cards played into it. The player with the most points wins the game, but it is typical to play 3 matches and add your score from each to see who wins.

Scoring example 1: an expedition has a 2,3,7,8,10 for a total of 30. This expedition is worth 10 total points: 30 minus the initial -20.

Scoring example 2: an expedition has 2 HS, and 4,5,6,7,8,10 for a total of 40. This expedition is worth 80 total points: 40 points for cards, minus the initial 20, ×3 for the 2 multipliers, plus the 20-pt bonus for playing 8+ cards.

Scoring example 3: an expedition has 1 HS, and 4,6,7 for a total of 17. This expedition is worth -6 total points: 17 minus initial 20, ×2 for the multiplier.

From the publisher:

"At the start of each round, six cards are lined up between the players with each card corresponding to the numbers 1-6 on a die. The cards show sailors of different nationalities or special actions with which the players can influence the die results or enlarge their team. The player take turns rolling dice and assigning one of them to a card until a player wants to get out and start shanghaiing, at which point the cards are distributed to whoever has more dice on their side."

At the end of the game, the stronger nationality score victory points equal to the value of the weaker team. Having a monopoly causes you to score the value of your own team.

Expanded by:

Shanghaien: Extrakarte 1
Shanghaien: Extrakarte 2
Shanghaien: Extrakarte 3

Online Play

Yucata (turn-based)

Gentlemen Thieves is a board game with secret identities, bluffing and theft featuring Arsène Lupin and other characters inspired by author Maurice Leblanc. Whoever ends up with the biggest stack of loot at the end of the game wins!

At the start of the game, each player secretly takes one of the five burglar tiles, which come in five different colors; each player also receives 2-4 helping hand tokens. Five locations are set out, each with two randomly chosen equipment tokens next to them; equipment tokens come in five types, with each type appearing in the five colors of the burglars. Special tokens are placed out as well: two loot tokens next to the bank, one lock on the museum, and one tunnel next to the manor; six additional loot tokens, along with a car token and the second tunnel, are placed to the side. Three randomly drawn equipment tokens are placed face up.

At the start of each round, the matchmaker determines the alliances for that round, placing two alliance markers – each showing a burglar in the appropriate color – in one area and the other three in the other area. Thus, the burglars form provisional teams for the round and are trying to work together to rob a location – any location! – but they don't necessarily know who's who. On a turn a player either:

Chooses one of the face-up equipment tokens, places it next to a location (with no more than three tokens of the same type being allowed at a location), then reveals a new equipment token.
Draws the top equipment token from the stack, then places it at a location.
Plays a helping hand token to move a special token or add a new special token to a location.

As soon as all five types of equipment are at a location, a burglary takes place there. Who steals the goods? The alliance that has the larger presence there based on the colors of tokens. These tokens are then flipped face down (becoming loot), added to any loot tokens present there, then split among the burglars in the alliance and placed on the scoreboard. The matchmaker token passes to a new player, who must move at least two alliance tokens, then a new round begins.

The special tokens naturally change the rules: The location with the lock cannot be robbed, although someone can choose to move the lock so that a burglary does take place. The car allows someone to move an equipment token to a new location. When the second tunnel is placed next to a location, the two locations with tunnels are now linked and the types of equipment present are considered to be together when determining whether a burglary takes place – although if the lock is on one of those locations, then nothing can be stolen!

A brigadier token is shuffled into the final six equipment tokens, and when it's drawn, the game ends immediately. Players then reveal their identities, and the player with the most loot wins!

Long ago, the Grand Octopus, one filled with cosmically divine powers, reigned over the entire world — until an unfortunate combination of circumstances imprisoned it at the bottom of the ocean. Idle under miles of water, it fell asleep dreaming of the day when its time would come once again.

In Night of the Grand Octopus, you are one of the Elect and have been recruited by the Illuminati to form a cult to glorify the tentacled one. What's more, your dreams have told you that the time has come, the stars have aligned so that you can perform the "Ritual of Appeal" and bring the Grand Octopus to surface once again. To perform the ritual, however, you need the right magical components, components to be found in a famous English university for young wizards and witches — and you're not the only one seeking them.

In each round, players secretly place their cultist and monster tokens on locations, then reveal those locations at the same time. If only one cultist group occupies a location, that cult gains strength — but if two or more cults want the same spot, they must negotiate or both lose cult strength. If, on the other hand, a rival monster occupies the location, the cultist is eliminated. Gulp!