Racing

It's race day in Quedlinburg, and with the right combination of food and luck, you will ride your mount to victory and claim the golden cauldron.

Mit Quacks & Co. nach Quedlinburg features similar gameplay to The Quacks of Quedlinburg, with each player building their own bag of tokens over the course of play, then drawing those tokens to try to further themselves to victory.

Each player starts the game with their mount at the start of the racetrack and a bag that contains four dream tokens, a yellow 1 token, two red 1 tokens, and a red 2 token. On a turn, you draw a token from your bag, then place it on your animal board. If you draw a colored token, place the token on your animal board, advance your animal on the track as many spaces as the number on the token, then carry out the effect of that color: red tokens earn you 1-3 rubies, yellow tokens let you roll a die for a random bonus, green tokens let you take another turn or return a drawn token to your bag, and blue chips let you move extra or upgrade a token.

If you draw a dream token, place it on one of the clouds on your animal board. After you draw and place a third dream token, use all the rubies on your board to buy new tokens — no two being the same color, mind you — then place these new tokens and all previously drawn tokens in your bag. Keep taking turns until someone reaches the end of the track and wins!

Mit Quacks & Co. nach Quedlinburg includes a double-sided game board for a shorter or longer race; orange and purple tokens that provide new powers, such as advancing as many spaces as the number of rubies you have; and double-sided action boards for each type of colored token, allowing you to play with different sets of actions from game to game.

Junior Labyrinth, the beginner's version of Labyrinth and part of the Ravensburger Labyrinth Games series, is a maze like no other with twelve different treasures waiting to be found within the paths of the labyrinth, which shift with every turn.

Thankfully, the players have some control over how the labyrinth walls move. Each turn, the active player takes the free labyrinth tile and pushes it along one of the rows or columns marked with an arrow on the game board. This action inserts that tile into the labyrinth and pushes the other tiles one space, popping one tile out of the labyrinth to be used by the next player on her turn. By shifting the walls, the player hopes to be able to move his token along the paths to land on the treasure currently being sought. If the player does this, he claims the treasure card and a new card is revealed; if not, play continues until someone grabs that treasure.

Once all the treasure has been collected, the game ends and whoever nabbed the most treasure wins!

Legend has it that a long time ago, mankind was ignorant to the extent of not knowing how to count or tell the years apart. The ever-benevolent Jade Emperor wanted to help mankind out. From there, the idea of a twelve-year cycle and the naming of each year in the cycle after an animal was born.

But how should the Jade Emperor choose twelve animals from among so many animals in the living world, while remaining impartial? To resolve this equitably, the Jade Emperor decided to hold a race involving all animals on his birthday. The first twelve animals to cross the river and reach the Heavenly Palace will have a year named after them, in the order of how they finished the race. The race became known as The Great Race and the twelve-year cycle was named the Chinese Zodiac.

Race for the Chinese Zodiac is a board game that recreates The Great Race. Each player has a hand of eight action cards (numbered 1-8) as well as energy cards of different values and karma tokens. Each player selects one animal token and takes the corresponding animal card, which grants the player advantages during the race. All players place their animal token on the start space of the racetrack. Players assemble the dual-layered and double-sided action wheel that's used to determine the effectiveness of each action and place it in the center of the table.

On a turn, all players select an action card and an energy card from their hand, then they reveal these cards simultaneously. If the action card selected is one value lower than the player's previously played action card, the player must spend one karma token; if two or more values lower, they must spend two karma tokens. Players then resolve all played actions based on the orientation of the wheel, ideally gaining movement, new energy cards, and karma. Everyone places their played cards face up in front of themselves, then rotate the wheel clockwise by one space and start a new turn.

The first animal to complete the race earns the coveted right of having the first year of the Chinese Zodiac named after it!

—description from the publisher

As gremlins climb on rocks and wade in puddles to catch a glimpse of the big race, their favorite racers gear up at the starting line. Time to find out who’s the fastest, and more importantly, who’s the fan favorite!

Bayou Bash is a chaotic racing game for 2-4 players filled with rambunctious racers who will do anything to win over the most fans before crossing the finish line. Each player takes control of a racer with unique abilities, and must battle for victory across the customizable track while gaining fans along the way. In Bayou Bash, it’s not about who crosses the finish line first, but who pulls off the craziest tricks during the race!

—description from the publisher

Players are represented by one of four tokens, each with variable special ability. The play surface is customizable, allowing for a variety of racetracks. Starting condition cards add additional random elements into the game. Each turn, players draft cards that control movement, provide supplies, etc. The first player to cross the finish line ends the game but it’s the player with the most fans who wins. Cheap shots are encouraged.

—user summary

It’s Telestrations, but Upside Down! This take on the award winning Telestrations game gives a whole new meaning to laugh out loud miscommunication. Telestrations: Upside Drawn puts a teamwork spin on “The Telephone Game Sketched Out” by putting the pen in one person’s hand, and control of the board in another’s! Only through “Up” or “Down” directives can the team put the pen and board together to guess the clue first! The team to reach 10 points wins!

Components:
4 sketch boards
4 dry-erase markers
1 category die
100 cards – includes 1000 words and phrases
60 scoring chips
Instructions

-description from publisher