Variable Set-up

Hello, student beings! The cosmic faculty of the Technical Academy of Creation is delighted to welcome you to your Civolution, the final exam in Civilization Design!

For this occasion, we prepared a humanoid scenario on an isolated continent. Here, each of you holds the rank of a local deity which is closely linked to its very own civilization and must lead it to success over the other civilizations. Your developmental possibilities are endless and reach from cultural and technical progress to evolutional adaptations. For example, what would you consider more beneficial to your tribes: inventing the wheel or growing wings? Demonstrate your ability to operate your civilization console and show us how well you can adjust to changeable environmental conditions and mild creational chaos.

When the exam ceases after four eras, whoever managed to gather the most success points will not only pass the exam but will become a full member of the Technical Academy of Creation and garner the opportunity to be promoted to the next instance.

Civolution is a medium heavy to heavy euro-style game that utilizes a dice selection mechanism to trigger actions on a tech tree-like structure. As you figure out how to best use your dice and put your unique cards into play, tons of strategies and paths to victory emerge, though each time you play, you will only explore a fraction of the possibilities that the game’s system and many cards provide.

—description from the publisher

A webapp implementation of the V.I.C.I solo automa is available.

Congratulations! Your architectural firm has been selected to renovate the city's downtown...but you're not the only ones. To pip your opponents at the post, you need to manage your resources and carefully plan your constructions. Be careful not to leave too many opportunities to your competitors!

Each turn in Tower Up, you either:

Pick a card and take the corresponding resources, or
Use your resources to construct a new building: choose an empty spot, pay the cost to adjacent buildings, place a roof, and earn the corresponding points.

Wishland is a worker placement eurogame based on the management of a theme park. Through a series of rounds players will purchase different cards from the board to create their own and unique theme park.

The game last 7 rounds. At the end of the game, the player with the most victory points is declared the winner.

There are 5 different types of cards in the game:

Restaurants: Increases the base income of players.

Actors: Add additional workers, happiness and visitors. They also earn victory points at the end of the game with a set collection mechanic.

Rides: The heart of a theme park. You need a minimum amount of rides in order to enlarge your theme park. They also provide victory points.

Hotels: Some allow you to ignore some game rules, while other give you end game objectives or direct rewards related to the other types of cards.

Mascots: Can make a big difference in the end game. All cards of the game have an icon on them. Each of the 12 different mascouts gives you points at the end of the game for each card sharing icons with them.

-description from designer

In Black Forest, you start out with a small domain in need of new buildings and livestock. You’ll travel from village to village to enlist the aid of the best specialists. Exploiting the abilities of these specialists lets you collect resources, lay out new landscape tiles (e.g., ponds and fields), and build a variety of buildings, which come in four types. Choose the right buildings, place landscapes, fire up your glass production, and expand your domain.

Uwe Rosenberg’s resource wheels are making once again making their presence, made famous in Glass Road (2013). Two resource wheels on your tableau help you keep track of your resources and production. Black Forest continues the story - as the name suggests — in the Black Forest. Among others, the main difference between the two games is the use of worker placement in BLack Forest instead of simultaneous action selection.

A wide selection of buildings and their different effects offer many different paths to victory.

—description from publisher

How about creating your own botanical garden? As an aristocrat in the late 19th century, you have bought land, hired a gardener and set out to find the best plants there are.
As you know, the visitors are very picky about the plants they want to see, so your job is not only to acquire the plants, but also to sort them according to the visitors' preferences.
In Botanicus, you compete for the best action-spots in a unique selection mechanism, and then make the most of the options available to you. You have to collect new plants, take care of them, water them and keep an eye on the gardener. Last but not least, you have to collect some money along the way to pay for all this.
In the end, what counts is how many visitors you satisfy and how beautiful your garden is. Will you be able to outdo the gardens of your competitors?

—description from the publisher (translated)

Wie wäre es eigentlich, einen eigenen botanischen Garten anzulegen? Als Artistokrat:in des späten
19. Jahrhunderts hast du Land gekauft, heuerst einen Gärtner an und machst dich auf, die schönsten Pflanzen überhaupt zu finden. Allerdings haben die Besucher ganz spezielle Vorstellungen, welche Pflanzen sie in deinem Garten bewundern wollen. Es reicht also nicht, sie irgendwie einzupflanzen – nein, du musst die Pflanzen dummerweise auch noch so aufstellen, dass die passenden Besucher das sehen, was sie wollen.
In Botancius konkurrierst du über einen neuen Aktions-Mechanismus mit deinen Mitspieler:innen um den besten Ertrag für deinen Garten. Du willst also die richtigen Pflanzen ergattern und diese zum richtigen Zeitpunkt gießen, dich um deinen Gärtner kümmern, und natürlich darfst du auch deine Finanzen nicht vernachlässigen!
Am Ende kommt es darauf an, wie viele der Schaulustigen zufrieden mit ihrem Besuch sind und wie schön euer Garten ist. Schaffst du es, die Gärten deiner Konkurrent*innen zu überschatten?

—description from the publisher