Hand Management

Description from the publisher:

In a time long forgotten, the cruel Fomori rule over Érin, the green island. They praise their king Balor, who reigns from his fortifications in the north with an iron fist. Old paths and ruins spread over the island's face, which will be called Ireland many generations from now. But new tribes arrive at the island striving for permanent presence. Who will control Érin's fate over the next centuries to come?

Each player in The Arrival represents a tribe leader who tries to gain predominance over the mythical island of Érin while pushing back the demon-like Fomori. But the players are facing a dilemma, for spreading too quickly means becoming more and more corrupt and strengthening the Fomori in their power...

Over 4-6 rounds, the players determine their resources by means of a unique game mechanism, which will be used later on profitably. During a first phase (Earning Phase), players draw four cards, each showing three sections of different resources. Two of these sections are gradually blocked by the player, thus leaving one section. The resources shown on this section are the ones the player gets. During this phase, they have to decide which section is the best one; while the upper section of the cards offers many resources, it also results in unwanted Corruption Points. The middle and the lower sections offer fewer resources, but also less Corruption.

After that, the Action Phase takes place and the players must use their resources wisely while having the choice from different kinds of actions in order to get Fame Points.

The game ends when a certain number of rounds have been played or somebody reaches the corruption limit.

The winner is either the one with the highest amount of Fame Points or the one with the fewest Corruption Points. This depends on the scene of the board at the end: Do the tribes (players) control more locations on Érin than the Fomori do — or is it the other way around?

The monolithic city-state of Dûhr is at once a crucible of emerging and forgotten cultures, a cynosure of commerce, and a titan of military might. Its Great and Lesser Houses rise and fall with the whims of its Family Royal, the Sovereign House Kythidûhr. Amidst the festivals of summer, House Kythidûhr announced its intent to elevate one of Dûhr’s Lesser Houses to Great House status. By autumn’s frosts, the Lesser Houses were deeply embroiled in a fierce battle for the coveted title. Not with soldiers, for that would waste blood and gold, but with the most insidious of political weapons: suspicion and scandal. They attacked each other with aspersions and calumny, well devised and craftily exploited, designed to erode the social standing of their rival Houses and thereby remove them from contention.

Dûhr: The Lesser Houses accommodates 4 to 6 players. Each player is the master of a Lesser House of Dûhr, vying for Great House status. Players take turns using cards in their hand to trigger events, place suspicions and scandals on each other’s House, or activate their own House’s unique ability to affect cards already placed. The accumulation of suspicion and scandal cards on a House card erodes the populace’s favor for that House by raising suggestions of wrongdoing or embroiling it in scandals that incite public outrage.

All Houses begin the game without any suspicions or scandals and favored by the people of Dûhr. When a House accumulates a combined total of 5 suspicion and/or scandal cards, that House falls into disfavor with the populace. If a disfavored House ever has 3 or more revealed scandal cards, the House becomes vilified. The game ends immediately when the number of favored Houses remaining is 1 or none. Whoever has the highest score at that point wins the game. It is possible for a disfavored or vilified House to outscore a favored House and win the game!

Pronunciation note: pronounce "û" in "Dûhr" like the "oo" in "doom."

Long ago, a vengeful god stole the stars from the night sky. To illuminate the night, hopeful people sent glowing paper lanterns floating toward the heavens. Out of nowhere, clever magical phoenixes appeared, soaring through the sky. As they flew from lantern to lantern, their enchanted touch changed the lanterns into new stars! The phoenix who can create a constellation of seven new stars will be the champion of a world looking for light!

Tsuro: Phoenix Rising is a new entry in the classic Tsuro series. The game shares a bond with the foundations of the venerable original: play tiles, move pawns, and stay in play, but it introduces a revolutionary board that allows for the double-sided tiles to flip and rotate throughout the game, creating diverging paths and opening up new strategies.

Featuring gorgeous phoenix miniatures, beautiful lantern tokens, and unique gameplay elements such as life tokens that allow your phoenix to be reborn from the ashes once per game, Tsuro: Phoenix Rising is a new chapter in the legacy of Tsuro!

Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 7 – Japan & Italy includes a double-sided game board — the longest yet in the Map Collection series — that features Japan on one side and Italy on the other.

In the Japan half of the expansion, some routes are reserved for the Bullet Train network, and once such a route is claimed, it can be used by all players to complete destination tickets. To claim such a route, discard a number of cards equal to the length of the route with all the card being the same color, then mark the route with a single Bullet Train miniature; instead of scoring points for such a route, advance your marker on the separate Bullet Train track as many spaces as the length of this route. At the end of the game, whoever has contributed the most to this shared project receives the largest bonus, with the player who contributes least being penalized.

This game board also has a small inlay for the Tokyo subway system, so players are effectively working on two networks at once. You might have a ticket that lists a city outside Tokyo and a station with Tokyo, and you need to complete a route from that other city to Tokyo, then from the central Tokyo station to that particular subway station.

In Italy, the game board is divided into regions, and players score bonus points based on how many regions they connect in their network, with three regions — Sardegna, Sicilia, and Puglia — counting as two regions in your tally. If you have separate networks, then you score each one separately.

The board also introduces a new type of ferry route. On this game board, all gray routes are ferry routes, with these routes having 1-4 spaces marked with a wave symbol. To cover a wave symbol, you must play a locomotive or a ferry card from your hand (in addition to the other cards needed to claim this route); a ferry card is a special type of card that can be drafted on its own on your turn, and it contains two wave symbols, so it can be used on its own to cover two symbols on a route.

The player trains and game cards from Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride: Europe are needed to play this expansion.

Fog of Love is a game for two players. You will create and play two vivid characters who meet, fall in love and face the challenge of making an unusual relationship work.

Playing Fog of Love is like being in a romantic comedy: roller-coaster rides, awkward situations, lots of laughs and plenty of difficult compromises to make.

Much as in a real relationship, goals might be at odds. You can try to change, keep being relentless or even secretly decide to be a Heartbreaker. It’s your choice.

The happily ever after won’t be certain, but whatever way your zigzag romance unfolds, you’ll always end up with a story full of surprises – guaranteed to raise a smile!