Strategy

In the middle of the 14th Century the Chinese people succeeded in freeing themselves from the rule of the Mongols. With the accession to the throne of emperor Tai-Tsu they developed a rising country: China.
Each player takes the role of an imperial prince and tries to gain influence with his family members during the growth of the Chinese people during the Ming dynasty. Place your fellow supporters securely into the 6 Chinese provinces, which are each divided into 3 prefectures. In order where your own family members get majorities into the administration you will be recompensed during the election rounds with gifts from the emperor.
Only the player with the most balanced collection of influence chips will be able to continue as next emperor of the Ming dynasty.

Kamisado is a game of pure skill and strategy with no dice, cards or other chance element — it's just you against your opponent!

The aim in each round is to be the first to get an octagonal "dragon tower" to the opposite side of the board; towers move in straight lines, either forwards or diagonally forwards. The twist is that you must move the tower of the color matching the space on which the opponent moved on her previous turn. As the game progresses, you'll find that the routes you want to use are blocked by enemy towers — and sometimes your own! If you can't move, your opponent moves again immediately, moving the tower matching the color of the space occupied by the stymied tower.

As the game unfolds, your towers will be promoted to "Sumos" and have the ability to push your opponent's pieces backwards, earning you extra turns. The situations continue to become more complex and challenging, until one player accumulates the required winning total and can be declared a "Kamisado Grand Master" — until the next game!

In Puerto Rico assume the roles of colonial governors on the island of Puerto Rico. The aim of the game is to amass victory points by shipping goods to the Europe or by constructing buildings.

Each player uses a separate small board with spaces for city buildings, plantations, and resources. Shared between the players are three ships, a trading house, and a supply of resources and doubloons.

The resource cycle of the game is that players grow crops which they exchange for points or doubloons. Doubloons can then be used to buy buildings, which allow players to produce more crops or give them other abilities. Buildings and plantations do not work unless they are manned by colonists.

During each round, players take turns selecting a role card from those on the table (such as "Trader" or "Builder"). When a role is chosen, every player gets to take the action appropriate to that role. The player that selected the role also receives a small privilege for doing so - for example, choosing the "Builder" role allows all players to construct a building, but the player who chose the role may do so at a discount on that turn. Unused roles gain a doubloon bonus at the end of each turn, so the next player who chooses that role gets to keep any doubloon bonus associated with it. This encourages players to make use of all the roles throughout a typical course of a game.

Puerto Rico uses a variable phase order mechanic, where a "governor" token is passed clockwise to the next player at the conclusion of a turn. The player with the token begins the round by choosing a role and taking the first action.

Players earn victory points for owning buildings, for shipping goods, and for manned "large buildings." Each player's accumulated shipping chips are kept face down and come in denominations of one or five. This prevents other players from being able to determine the exact score of another player. Goods and doubloons are placed in clear view of other players and the totals of each can always be requested by a player. As the game enters its later stages, the unknown quantity of shipping tokens and its denominations require players to consider their options before choosing a role that can end the game.

Together, the players use cards to try to build the eight wonders of the ancient world. The number they build varies, but can't be more than seven. (Hence the subtitle of the game, "...or why the eighth wonder was never built.") While building together, each tries to provide the majority of the components for each wonder and collect scoring disks (in four suits). When it's someone else turn, you offer cards to the active player, and by good offers, can earn points (or sometimes even the disk). So a feature of "Tower of Babel" is that players always perform actions and can earn points during another's turn. Card trade offers, collecting disk sets, and building wonders are the three ways to earn victory points. The game ends when a player takes the last disk of any one of the four suits, so players have some influence on the game's end moment. And, the victory points determine the winner at game end. Typical game length is less than an hour.

Reiner Knizia Variant--some recommend against using the action cards because the publisher rather than Reiner Knizia added them and because they damage the game balance. To play with this variant, simply leave the action cards in the box. There is no bonus to the person who completes the final stage of a wonder.

Shogun is based on the Wallenstein (first edition) game system. The game is set in the Sengoku period (approx 1467-1573) which ends with the inception of the well-known Tokugawa Shogunate.

The game is an international edition with language-independent components and five language-dependent rule booklets.

Japan during the Sengoku or “Warring States” Period: each player assumes the role of a great Daimyo with all his troops. Each Daimyo has the same 10 possible actions to develop his kingdom and secure points. To do so he must deploy his armies with great skill. Each round, the players decide which of the actions are to be played out and in which of their provinces. If battle ensues between opposing armies, the unique Cubetower plays the leading role. The troops from both sides are thrown in together and the cubes that fall out at the bottom show who has won immediately. Owning provinces, temples, theaters, and castles means points when scores are tallied. Whichever Daimyo has the highest number of points after the second tally becomes – SHOGUN!

Re-implements:

Wallenstein (first edition)