Tile Placement

The old dragon Drakon has captured a brave band of adventurers who have sneaked into her lair to steal her gold. But rather than eat them immediately, Drakon has decided to make it a game: Greed shall set one of the adventurers free. She sends the frightened adventurers into her magical, mad vaulted chambers, and the first one to collect ten gold from Drakon’s maze gets to go free. The rest get to be lunch.

Each turn, players must choose one of two options: (1) place a tile from their hand onto the board, expanding the dungeon; or (2) move their Hero to an adjacent tile. Many of the dungeon tiles have an icon that allows players entering that space to take a special action (for example, taking a piece of gold from the dragon's hoard, stealing gold from another player, or destroying a tile that is already in play).

This is the third edition of Drakon, and includes the following updates:

plastic miniatures are used for the heroes and the Drakon
new tiles are larger (measuring 2.5 by 2.5 inches) and have all new artwork
tiles include a combination of rooms from Drakon (second edition) and Drakon Expansion 1
new rules, variants, and player aids are provided
each gold piece now has a value between 1 and 3

In the basic game, the first player to earn 10 gold wins the game. Some variants provide different winning conditions.

Game last between 20 and 60 minutes.

10,000 years in the future, humanity has claimed the stars. But all is not well. The Emperor is weak, and without strong guidance, the Empire is crumbling. Powerful guilds within the empire are squabbling, positioning themselves for their own gain. If the Empire is to survive, it needs a strong leader - that means you! You must build a power base throughout the Empire by connecting with important guilds: the military, traders, priests, engineers, expansionists, and politicians and then claim the throne. Time is running out, though; others also struggle for the throne. You must form a network of support with powerful guilds and slander your opponents. Each connection gains the support of some guilds, and at the end of the game the player with the most support grasps the Galactic Throne. Take advantage of events that occur for further gain. Be careful, though, because each slander you receive reduces your support.

The name "Carpe Astra" was chosen after Jackson Pope asked the users of BGG to [threadid=303123 brainstorm a name for the game.

Blokus (officially pronounced "Block us") is an abstract strategy game with transparent, Tetris-shaped, colored pieces that players are trying to play onto the board. The only caveat to placing a piece is that it may not lie adjacent to your other pieces, but instead must be placed touching at least one corner of your pieces already on the board.

There is a solitaire variation where one player tries to get rid of all the pieces in a single sitting.

Components:
Blokus Game Board (400 squares)
84 game pieces (four 21-piece sets of red, green, blue, and yellow)
Each color inlcudes:

1 one-square piece
1 piece with 2 squares
2 pieces with 3 squares
5 pieces with 4 squares
12 pieces with 5 squares

Goal of the Game:

Each player has to fit as many of his/her 21 pieces on the board as possible.

How to Play:
1. Each player chooses a color and places that set of 21 pieces in front of his/her side of the board. The order of play is as follows: blue, yellow, red, and then green.

2. The first player (blue) places any of his/her pieces in a corner square. Play proceeds clockwise around the board (yellow, red, and green), each player putting their first piece down in one of the corner squares.

3. Play continues as each player lays down one piece during a turn.

Each new piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners.

No flat edges of same color pieces can touch.

There are no restrictions on how pieces of different colors can touch one another.

4. Whenever a player is unable to place one of his/her remaining pieces on the board, that player must pass his/her turn.

End of Game:
The game ends when all players are blocked from laying down any more of their pieces. This also includes any players who may have placed all of their pieces on the board. Scores are tallied, and the player with the highest score is the winner.

Scoring:
Each player counts the number of unit squares in his/her remaining pieces (1 unit square = -1 point).

A player earns +15 points if all his/her pieces have been placed on the board plus 5 additional bonus points if the last piece placed on the board was the smallest piece (one square).

There are unauthorized versions of the game published under various names, including The Strategy Game, Tetris, Blokád (unofficial Hungarian version with cardboard pieces) and The Family Chess Game.

This abstract game consists of 108 wooden blocks with six different shapes in six different colors. There is no board, players simply use an available flat surface.

Players begin the game with 6 blocks. The start player places blocks of a single matching attribute (color or shape but not both) on the table. Thereafter, a player adds blocks adjacent to at least one previously played block. The blocks must all be played in a line and match, without duplicates, either the color or shape of the previous block.

Players score one point for each block played plus all blocks adjacent. It is possible for a block to score in more than one direction. If a player completes a line containing all 6 shapes or colors, an additional 6 points are scored. The player then refills his hand to 6 blocks.

The game ends when the draw bag is depleted and one player plays all of his remaining blocks, earning a 6 point bonus. The player with the high score wins.

Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which the players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, etcetera. Having placed a tile, the player can then decide to place one of his meeples on one of the areas on it: on the city as a knight, on the road as a robber, on a cloister as a monk, or on the grass as a farmer. When that area is complete, that meeple scores points for its owner.

During a game of Carcassonne, players are faced with decisions like: "Is it really worth putting my last meeple there?" or "Should I use this tile to expand my city, or should I place it near my opponent instead, giving him a hard time to complete his project and score points?" Since players place only one tile and have the option to place one meeple on it, turns proceed quickly even if it is a game full of options and possibilities.