Tile Placement

Torres is an abstract game of resource management and tactical pawn movement. Players are attempting to build up castles and position their knights to score the most points each turn. Players have a limited supply of knights and action cards that allow special actions to be taken. Efficient use of pieces and cards, along with a thoughtful awareness of future possibilities, is the heart of this game.

Torres is considered by many to be an informal member of what is referred to as the Mask Trilogy.

Tikal is a game of exploration within the Central American jungles in search of lost temples and the treasures within. Players send their team of explorers into the jungle, exposing more and more of the terrain. Along the way, you find temples that require further uncovering and treasures. Players attempt to score points for occupying temples and holding onto treasure.

Tikal is the first game of the Mask Trilogy.

Sequel:

Tikal II: The Lost Temple

In Taluva, players place tiles consisting of volcanoes and other terrain. Tiles can be placed adjacent to other tiles or on top of other tiles. Thus, the island expands outward and upward during the course of the game. At the same time, the players are trying to settle their peoples on the island by building huts, temples and towers. Each building type has a different restriction regarding placement. The game ends when all the land tiles have been played or when a player builds all of his buildings in two of the three types.

Part of the Knizia tile-laying trilogy, this game is set in medieval Japan. Players compete to gain the favor of three factions: samurai, peasants, and priests, represented by helmet, rice paddy, and Buddha tokens scattered about the board, which represents some of the islands of Japan. The competition is waged through the use of hexagonal tiles, each of which help curry favor of one of the three factions (or all three at once!). Players can make lightning-quick strikes with horseback ronin and ships or approach more methodically. As each token (helmets, rice paddies, and Buddhas) is surrounded, it is awarded to the player with who has gained the most favor with the corresponding group.

Gameplay continues until all the symbols of one type have been removed from the board or four symbols have been removed due to a tie for influence.

At the end of the game, players compare captured symbols of each type, competing for majorities in each of the 3 types. Ties are not uncommon and are broken based on the number of other, "non-majority" symbols each player has collected.

In The Princes of Florence, players attract artists and scholars to their palace while trying to become the most prestigious family in Florence.

Over seven rounds, players attempt to score points in various ways, with most points being earned by playing profession cards to generate "work points", which can be exchanged for money or victory points. The game includes a variety of professions, such astronomers, organists, and architects; each profession is attracted to a particular combination of building, landscape feature, and social freedom, and players acquire these items via auctions. The more that a player can match these preferences, the more work points they earn — but the minimum requirement of work points increases each round, and you must meet that threshold in order to convert the work points.