Team-Based Game

The year is 878. For the past 75 years, Viking raiding parties from Norway and Denmark have been terrorizing the coasts of England with ‘hit and run’ attacks. The treasures and stories gained from these attacks have allowed the Norsemen to raise huge hosts of eager men seeking glory and riches. These armies now stand poised to thunder across England where they will settle and farm the fertile land they conquer. The divided English kingdoms are unprepared for this impending onslaught. The Vikings are coming!

In 878: Vikings – Invasions of England, players control the invading Vikings or the English nobles who are trying to withstand the invasion. Viking players either play as Norsemen Viking freeman or as the fearless Viking shock troops known as Berserkers. The English play as the Housecarl, the Kings’ household troops, or as the Thegns who were regional noble Leaders. The English players will also be able to call up the peasant levies, called the Fyrd, to defend their cities.

Players for each side strategize together in order to coordinate their strategies. Each side attempts to control Cities on the map to win. The English start the game controlling all of England but a Viking Leader will invade from the sea each Turn. The English players raise reinforcements from cities they control, while the Vikings must wait for a new invasion for reinforcements. The game ends when the Treaty of Wedmore is called and the side controlling the most cities wins the game.

Based on the award-winning Betrayal at House on the Hill board game, Betrayal at Mystery Mansion is the mash-up fans have been clamoring for!

Play as Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, or Fred as you explore the mansion and its grounds, finding clues, encountering strange occurrences, and maybe even catching sight of a monster! When you find enough clues to learn what's really going on, that's when the haunt starts, and one player will switch sides to play the role of the monster! Will you be able to stop them before they carry out their sinister plan?

Betrayal at Mystery Mansion contains 25 new haunts based on popular episodes and movies from the Scooby-Doo oeuvre, with different monsters, items, events, and locations each time you play.

—description from the publisher

You have an invitation at 5 p.m. at the Mad Hatter’s garden. The table is ready, the cookies taste like buttery heaven, and the tea is strong and spicy. "More sugar?" asks the Mad Hatter, giving you a bizarre look.

"Yes, plea..."

"Time's up!" he yells, interrupting you. Sugar, cookies, and millions of hats fly everywhere. Tea spills all over the tablecloth as he proceeds with a huge smile on his face. "It's time to play a game."

•••

In Hats, two to four players compete to acquire the most outstanding hats by exchanging cards in hand with cards on the tea table board. Each card exchange influences how each hat is scored. Naturally, at the end of the game, the player with the highest score will be declared the maddest!

To play, everyone draws nine cards. You take your turn by performing one of the following two actions:

Exchange hats — Play a single card from your hand face up and exchange it with one of the same type (color) from the tea table board or exchange it for a card of any type but of a lower value. Add the card exchanged from the tea table board to your collection by placing it face up in front of you.

Create a black hat — Play a single card face down in front of you to add it to your collection as a black hat. Each black hat in a player's collection at game's end is worth 1 point.

Optional action: At any time during your turn, you may discard a single card of your choice to draw a new one from the draw deck. In a four-player game, players will exchange cards with their teammates.

END GAME SCORING

Hat Collection: Players earn points for the hat cards in their collection based on the position of the matching type on the tea table board. If two or more hat cards on the tea table board are of the same type, find the hat card of that type with the lowest position on the tea table board and keep it face up, while turning all other cards of that type face down.

Favorite Hat: Each player reveals the final card in their hand as their "favorite hat" type. Players gain points equal to the sum of all cards in their collection that match the type of their "favorite hat" minus the value of the final card in their hand.

The Last Cookie: There is only one cookie left at the table. Players compete for the cookie by having the most different types of hat cards in their collection. Black hats count as a type. During the game, pass the cookie to the player who has the most different types of hat cards. The chocolate chip cookie is worth five points at the end of the game.

—description from publisher

TimeBomb Evolution is a game derived from TimeBomb.

In the game, players are secretly assigned a role which is either a terrorist or a SWAT officer. Then cards are dealt to each player. They look at their cards and randomly place the cards face-down in front of them. SWATs win together if they deactivate the time bomb by revealing all of the SUCCESS cards.

Each turn, a player chooses a card in front of another player and reveal it. If it is a SUCCESS card, SWATs get closer to winning. Otherwise it is a threat card, and its threat effect is activated according to its color. Terrorists win together if four threats of the same color are revealed.

Players may discuss whose card should be revealed, but they should be noted that terrorists may be misleading SWATs.

Description from the publisher:

In Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne, which uses the game systems from Cosmic Encounter, you and your friends each command one of the Great Houses of Westeros, pitting iconic characters against each other in epic battles and schemes. Negotiate, bluff, forge alliances, threaten your rivals — use every tool at your disposal to spread your influence, establish supremacy, and claim the ultimate prize: the Iron Throne!

In more detail, each turn centers around the resolution of an encounter between two players. These encounters can result in hostilities, startling conquests, and the spread of influence, or they can result in the formation of temporary alliances. And though only two players in any encounter will be the "active" players, your friends might offer you their support — or turn around and offer it to someone else.

The encounters of The Iron Throne resolve quickly, but they are full of opportunities for cunning strategy, devious intrigues, and brokered alliances. Each features a challenger and a defender, and after these players assign characters to resolve the encounter on the behalf of their Houses, other players may offer their support to either side. In this way, an encounter that starts as a contest between the Lannisters and the Starks may escalate and draw in the support of the Tyrells or other Houses.

However, there's more to the encounters of The Iron Throne than this initial jostling for power, even with all the alliances and betrayals it can entail. There are still schemes within schemes, and the bluffs, negotiations, and hidden information that color these encounters as the active players discuss the House cards they intend to play. Of course, there's a very good chance that one or both of them may be lying, but they can offer and even agree to a truce. Or they can bid cards from their hands, hoping to win hostilities with the higher total power.

In the event of a truce, the active players discuss what they may give each other in order to maintain the peace. In the event of hostilities, however, one side will win, and the other will suffer. You might seize influence or take hostages, or you may even have your characters put to the sword.

Win enough of these encounters, though — and find the right ones to lose — and you might find yourself in position to seize the Iron Throne. The goal of the game is to spread five of your influence to your opponents' House cards and take the crown for yourself.