Bluffing

Shadow Hunters is a survival board game set in a devil-filled forest in which three groups of characters – the Shadows, creatures of the night; the Hunters, humans who try to destroy supernatural creatures; and the Neutrals, civilians caught in the middle of this ancient battle – struggle against each other to survive.

You belong to one of these groups and must conceal your identity from others since you don't know who you can trust – at least not initially. Over time, though, someone might decipher who you are through your actions or through Hermit cards, or you might even reveal yourself to use your special ability.

The key to victory is to identify your allies and enemies early because once your identity is revealed, your enemies will attack with impunity using their special abilities like Demolish, Teleport, and Suck Blood or equipment cards such as the Rusty Broad Ax or Fortune Brooch. This ancient battle comes to a head and only one group will stand victorious – or a civilian, in the right circumstances, might claim victory.

The 2011 edition of Shadow Hunters from Z-Man Games includes the Shadow Hunters Expansion Kit, a set of ten new characters previously sold separately.

In Citadels, players take on new roles each round to represent characters they hire in order to help them acquire gold and erect buildings. The game ends at the close of a round in which a player erects her eighth building. Players then tally their points, and the player with the highest score wins.

Players start with a number of building cards in their hand; buildings come in five colors, with the purple buildings typically having a special ability and the other colored buildings providing a benefit when you play particular characters. At the start of each round, the player who was king the previous round discards one of the eight character cards at random, chooses one, then passes the cards to the next player, etc. until each player has secretly chosen a character. Each character has a special ability, and the usefulness of any character depends upon your situation, and that of your opponents. The characters then carry out their actions in numerical order: the assassin eliminating another character for the round, the thief stealing all gold from another character, the wizard swapping building cards with another player, the warlord optionally destroys a building in play, and so on.

On a turn, a player earns two or more gold (or draws two building cards then discards one), then optionally constructs one building (or up to three if playing the architect this round). Buildings cost gold equal to the number of symbols on them, and each building is worth a certain number of points. In addition to points from buildings, at the end of the game a player scores bonus points for having eight buildings or buildings of all five colors.

The expansion Citadels: The Dark City was initially released as a separate item, but the second edition of the game from Hans im Glück (packaged in a tin box) and the third edition from Fantasy Flight Games included this expansion. With Dark City, Citadels supports a maximum of eight players.

In Blood Bound, a deduction game played in 15-30 Minutes, players assume the roles of members of two clans – the brutal, animalistic warriors of the Clan of the Beast and the graceful, deadly members of the Clan of the Rose – and (with an odd number of players) the human inquisition. Disguised by a secret identity, they try to kidnap the Elder of the opposing clan or give their lives for the benefit of their own Elder. Malicious attacks, aimed indiscretions, and assistance from others will slowly uncover the truth: Who fights for whom? And who is the Elder?

At the start of the game, each player knows three things:

Who he is and to which clan he belongs
That a few other players are his allies, while everyone else is the enemy of both him and his clan
The clan to which one of his neighbors belongs – although some characters can lie about their clan identity

Now the players have to figure out who the Elder of the opposing team is (if there is one) and capture him. To do this, players need to attack, negotiate and deduce, with an attacked player being required to reveal information, such as his rank or clan affiliation. Each player has an ability unique to his character, and this ability can be used only at the moment that he reveals his rank. The Assassin forces players to suffer wounds, for example, while the Guardian protects a player of the character's choice.

In the end, if you capture your rival clan's Elder, you win – but if you capture the wrong vampire, you've fallen into the enemy's trap and lose the game.

Ultimate Stratego is an updated version of the original which introduces 3 new gameplay modes. The Lightning Game pits 2 players against each other in fast-paced 1-on-1 combat. The Campaign Game introduces 4 army combat, giving each player control of 2 armies instead of 1. Finally, the Alliances Game is a 4 player partnership battle. Ultimate Stratego features a double sided square combat board and introduces revised rules and new ranks to the original game.

The S.S. Nvrsnks is going down, and who is always first off a sinking ship? The rats!

Abandon Ship is a game in which you play to move your group of rats off the ship before the rising water drowns them. The Nvrsnks is also loaded with valuable points-earning cheese, but don’t let desire for that lovely food send your rats to the watery depths. Your opponents may also share some of the rats in your group; they may want to move the rats in a different manner from you.

Game Play
Before play, each player gets secretly assigned three colors - these are their rats.
Players roll colored dice (there is one for each rat and one neutral die) and the active player chooses one of them to move the corresponding rat forward (or backwards in case the die shows an anchor). Encircled numbers and symbols can be used for a rat of any color. The next player rolls the remaining dice (in case there was an x next to the number, the previously used die remains in the pool) and does the same. When there is only one die left, the ship sinks a number of fields according to a token drawn. If the water level reaches a rat, the rat and the corresponding die is taken out of the game. When a rat reaches a cheese token, the player who moved the rat gets the token.
The first rat to reach the top deck gets nothing; the second rat scores 5 points, the third one 3 points and the fourth one 2 points. Most points wins.