Paleo

Paleo is a co-operative adventure game set in the stone age, in which players try to keep human beings in their care alive while completing missions. Sometimes you need a fur, sometimes a tent, but these are all minor quests compared to your long-term goal: Painting a woolly mammoth on the wall so that humans thousands of years later will know that you once existed. What might keep you from painting that mammoth? Death, in all its many forms.

Each player starts the game with a couple of humans, who each have a skill and a number of life points. On a turn, each player chooses to go to one location and while you have some idea of what you might find there, you won’t know for sure until you arrive, at which point you might acquire food or resources, or find what you need to craft a useful object, or discover that you can aide someone else in their project, or suffer a snakebite that brings you close to death. Life in Paleo is full of both wonders and terrors… 1-4 Players, Ages 10+ $75.00

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Pebble Rock Delivery Service

Help Pebble, Oscar, Hamish, and Elvis on a daring high seas adventure of package delivery! Guide them through swift currents, sharks, and pirates as you race to deliver much-needed cargo to the remote islands around Pebble Rock. Choose to roll fast dice and risk attracting enemies like Pirates and sharks, or play it safe and choose to roll slow dice.

Based on the delivery orders given to every player by Brock the Badger, navigate your boat to nearby islands to make deliveries and score points. As you go, you’ll also need to stop by the shop islands to gain important equipment to give yourself an edge over the competition.

Pebble Rock Delivery Service is an all-ages “Pickup and Delivery” game. The game has enough depth to entertain seasoned gamers, while the core mechanics are simple enough to teach to young sea-captains. 2-4 Players, Ages 6+ $36.00

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Wayfarers of the South Tigris

Wayfarers of the South Tigris is set during the height of the Abbasid Caliphate, circa 820 AD. Players must carefully manage their caravan of workers and equipment, while reporting back regularly to journal their findings at the House of Wisdom.

Points are primarily gained by mapping the land, water, and sky. Players can also gain points from upgrading their caravans, by gaining inspiration from nobles, and by influencing the three guilds of science, trade and exploration. As they make discoveries, players will want to quickly journal their progress. The game ends once one player’s marker has reached the far right column of the journal track. 1-4 Players, Ages 12+ $70.00

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Wreckland Run

Wreckland Run is a solo campaign game! It takes place in a post-apocalyptic landscape known as the Wrecklands that’s filled with marauders and other dangers and played across 7 chapters. With each new chapter, the continuing story will unfold in the campaign book. You will be instructed to open up a new envelope that adds exciting new bosses, enemies, and secret gameplay twists. Do not reveal them until you’ve been instructed to!

You will first choose a vehicle and driver. Choose wisely, as this will be your combination that you’ll carry across all 7 chapters. The enemies and Parts you’ve encountered will remain in their decks, increasing the power of your arsenal, but also the ferocity of your foes!

The game is played over three rounds, each consisting of two phases, Wreckage and then Run. In Wreckage you’ll repair and outfit your vehicle with new and upgraded parts. In the Run phase, you battle enemies over a series of turns, and hopefully survive to fight another day! You win by defeating the Boss in the third and final round of the game! Load up your vehicle with supplies, strap on a few weapons, and prepare to make your Wreckland Run. 1 Player Ages 10+ $56.00

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War of the Ring: The Card Game

In War of the Ring: The Card Game up to 4 players compete in two teams, the Shadow against the Free Peoples, each player using a specific and different card deck representing the strengths and weaknesses of the different factions involved in the war.

The Free Peoples desperately try to complete their quest to destroy the One Ring, while at the same time defending their homelands from the encroaching hordes of Sauron and from his evil allies. The Shadow players must strike quickly and decisively, before the Ring-bearers can complete their quest; or try to slowly corrupt Frodo, burdening him with wounds, toil, and the sorrow for the loss of his Companions.

During the game, players will take turns playing cards representing the characters, armies, items, and events of the War of the Ring. Each card they play will help or hinder the journey of the Fellowship as it progresses on its Path; or be used to defend or conquer the strongholds of Middle-earth, as they fight to control the new Battleground cards activated in each round.

With more than 100 original illustrations from the greatest Tolkienian artists in the world, including an amazing gallery of landscapes from The Shire to Mordor by John and Fataneh Howe, War of the Ring: The Card Game is more than a game – it also a memorable collection for all lovers of the world imagined by J.R.R. Tolkien.

2-4 Players, Ages 12+ $63.00

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Radlands

Radlands is a competitive, dueling card game where you must protect your three camps from a vicious rival tribe. If all of them are destroyed, you lose the game. The main resource in the game is water and you will spend it to play people and events, and to use the abilities of cards you already have on the table or discard cards for quick “junk” effects. To win, you will need to manage your cards and water wisely.

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Unmatched: Robin Hood vs Bigfoot

Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two players that picks different iconic legendary characters and pits them against one another. Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style. Tactical movement and no-luck combat resolution create a unique play experience that rewards expertise. This installment features Robin Hood the outlaw with his ranged attacks squaring up against Bigfoot and his ally the Jackalope.

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Roam

In Roam, you and up to three friends compete to find lost adventurers. The game includes more than fifty unique, tarot-sized adventurer cards. Each turn, you may activate one of the adventurer cards in your party by flipping the card face down which allows you to place search tokens on the board in the shape depicted on your adventurer card. When a landscape card has been searched, the player who contributed the most work towards exploring claims the card/lost adventurer and adds them to their party which gives them victory points and a new pattern to use when searching.

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Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef

In this game, each player takes the role of a young hero competing to be named a Tidal Blade. Each day you will send your hero to take actions on the different Locations and to undertake Challenges. Completing Challenges and fighting monsters will advance your character in the four traits of Focus, Spirit, Resilience and Synergy. Each Tidal Blade will be judged at the end of the 5 rounds based on the Challenges they have completed, the level of each of their Traits, their standing on the Champions Board, and the monsters they have fought.

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Explorers

Go exploring! You and each other explorer place four landscape tiles and three different scoring tiles in your game frame and then from your starting village, you go on an exploratory tour. On your turn, you reveal an exploration card, chooses one of the two types of terrain, then cross off three spaces ahead of your current location. Your fellow players must then decide whether to place only two crosses on the same landscape, or choose the other landscape and tick off three crosses. At the end of four rounds you receive points for provisions and gems, with a map you can place crosses on any type of terrain, and lost temples can be explored with keys — but whoever reaches the temple first receives the most points for it. Let the best explorer win! Available solo mode as well.

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Fort

Be a kid again in this 2-4 player card game! And like many kids, you want to grow your circle of friends, collect pizza and toys, and build the coolest fort. Your cards not only let you take actions on your own turn, but also let you follow the other players’ actions on their turns. Will you devote yourself to your own posse, or copy what the other kids are doing?

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First Rat

In this game, each player starts with two rats and may raise two more. After movement, you collect resources (cheese, tin cans, apple cores, baking soda, etc.) matching the color of the space you occupy or move your lightbulb along the light string, which will boost your income in future turns. (More lights in the junkyard makes it easier for you to find things!) When a player places their fourth rat on the spaceship — or places their eighth scoring marker on the board — the game ends, and the player with the most points wins. Solo mode available.

Everdell (1-4) $99

This board game boasts some amazing art on its cover and cards. In Everdell you play as animals preparing for a year of harvest. A meaty worker placement game, you must balance collecting wood, resin, pebbles, and berries as the four commodities in order to fill your town with buildings and inhabitants. Each animal has an associated building and combos may be formed. But plan each seasons carefully as it’s a race to achieve global objectives and snatch available cards from the central area called ‘The Meadow’. This game starts quick and easy and sprawls out to be a very satisfying and strategic board game. Gorgeous components make this an easy 10 out of 10.

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Scythe (1-5) $105

Military games don’t get much better than Scythe. This Stonemaier game has players vying for control of a war-torn eastern Europe. The 1^st world war never ended and instead went on and on into a steam punk era of Mechs and Airships. You must use your faction’s unique bonus to be the first to collect 6 stars achieved through nearly a dozen different methods. But these stars just determine game end, in order to win you must complete secret objectives, earn coins, and control the most territories. Thematic encounter cards will give your heroes unique choices on what kind of a ruler you’ll be remembered as. Tyrant or benevolent. Just remember that by the end of the game, how popular you are with the masses will act as a multiplier for your score. No dice, only strategy.

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Wingspan (1-5) $84

If you’ve been shopping around or playing games in the last 3 years you’ve probably heard of this one. It’s in short supply all the time, but the Stonemaier title has earned its place among the top 25 games of all time. Wingspan is gorgeous, educational, a puzzling card engine creator, and above all really addictive and fun. Laying birds in 3 different habitats is easily accomplished by picking up resources in the forms of worms, wheat, cherries, fish, and rodents. Each bird eats what they’d actually eat in the wild and have interesting facts. An ornithologist’s dream, this game even charts their wingspan, types of nests, and includes random tidbits of fluff info at the bottom of each card. To get really good at wingspan you need to balance getting different types of birds including high point cards, cheap egg layers, at least one resource generator, and above all extra bonus card birds.

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Terraforming Mars (1-5) $99

While Terraforming Mars doesn’t have the pretty art of some of these earlier games it more than makes up for it with its high replay-ability, satisfying engine construction, and meaty feel. This game is almost always ranked in the top 5 in the world on Board Game Geek! You’re a CEO of a company trying to make Mars habitable. You cooperate in creating the planet, but compete for resources. You’ll acquire unique project cards from a deck of over 200 different choices so each game will be different from the last you played. Juggling a research, action, and production phase, Terraforming is likely to be one of those titles you just keep revisiting for another crack at getting those megacredits.

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Paladins of the West Kingdom (1-4) $83

If you’ve played other Renegade titles like Raiders of the North Sea or Architects you’ll recognize the theme and art style right away. But paladins is it’s own heavier style of game. Picking from three paladins each turn you’ll give yourself additional military, economic, or religious power based on which of the three you choose to play. Using these skills and developing your player mat your workers will earn you points in these categories while you venture outside on the game board to secure the wilderness from rampaging mercenaries. Just seven rounds and this one is over. Sounds short? It definitely isn’t. Be ready for a real analysis paralysis type of match every time you play.

Splendor (2-4)

One of the best selling strategy games out on the market, Splendor is a wonderful balance between easy to learn while still being surprisingly tactical. Players will collect gem tokens in order to purchase cards. These cards will then act as permanent gems and victory points for the rest of the game. The object is simple, be the first to acquire 15 points, but beware, your opponents can see which gems you’re collecting and you can only ever have a total of 10 gems in hand. You’re going to need to plan ahead, reserve some cards, and try to see if you can attract some nobles to your cause.

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Villainous (2-6)

This game is brilliant even if you aren’t a fan of disney movies, but if you grew up on them and always wanted a really fun board game then Villainous is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. Each player takes on the role of a unique disney villain. Jafar from Alladin, King John from Robin Hood, The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Ursula from the Little Mermaid, Hook from Peter Pan, or Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. Each plays completely different from the other, but each has their own win scenario. You’ll play minions from the movies to aid your cause and you can hinder your opponents by causing them to draw from their fate deck where all of the movie’s heroes are waiting to come thwart their plans. This is a medium to difficult weight game but is very managable in smaller groups. For 5+ players some experience with Euro-games is recommended!

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El Dorado (2-4)

If you’ve heard of the card game Dominion then you’re going to love El Dorado. This game features a card engine in much the same way where you draw a hand of 5 cards, play them out to add cards to your hand, and then discard. Shuffling when you run out of cards. The difference and what games like El Dorado have improved on since Dominion is that now your card engine DOES something. You use your cards to race through the jungles, mountains and waterways to be the first explorer to discover the lost city of Gold. Buy machetes, ditch prop planes, and hire navigators to give you that edge you need to be the speediest explorer of the bunch.

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7 Wonders (3-7)

Larger Euro-games can be hard to find as most cap out at 4 or 5 players. 7 Wonders, as the name suggests, can accommodate up to 7. Each player will get one of the 7 wonders of the world and gather resources to advance their civilization. There are many ways to score points and ultimately win the game, such as advancing your science, building up more military might than the players you’re adjacent to at the table, and constructing blue cards as city improvements. And don’t forget more points for completing your wonder by the end of the 3^rd age. Each age is a drafting phase where players will get a chance to pick cards and compete for the title of most advanced nation.

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Azul (2-4)

This game is quick, fun, and gorgeous. Amazingly simple in its design while still offering a lot to players who like a spatial brainteaser. Players will pick coloured tiles to place within their palace. In order to score points players are trying to complete vertical lines, horizontal lines, or collect all 5 tiles in a colour. The trick isn’t just in acquiring them though, thoughtful placement and timing will result in more points as players will score points for each tile making up a line orthogonally as each tile is placed. Careful, if you wind up with tiles you can’t place on your grid you’ll get slapped with hefty negatives so it’s worth checking which your opponents are collecting so you can snag them first.