Card Game

In Monkeys on the Moon, players advance monkey civilizations while also freeing monkeys from lunar isolation by launching spaceships. Players must carefully balance which tribes they advance, however, as there are monkey politics at play! Influencing one tribe will likely harm another tribe's opinion of you. The player who launches the most powerful primates home to Earth by game end will claim victory.

Every move that a player makes will impress one the six monkey tribes yet anger another. Knowing when to play favorites, and when to risk incurring the scorn of a tribe, is key to success.

The game's monkey cards also feature six original drawings by cartoonist Scott Starkey.

In Augustus, you vie with your fellow players to complete "objective" cards for special powers and ultimately for victory points. Each card has 2-6 symbols which you must populate with legionnaire meeples in order to complete the card. These symbols are drawn one at a time from a bag, with all players gaining the benefit equally, but interestingly, the bag contains more of some symbols than others.

So the pivotal skill you'll deploy is in making your choice of which three objectives you'll start the game with (you're dealt six) — balancing potential difficulty of completion against value of the reward — and then which of five available objectives you'll add to your plate each time you complete one of your three. The game ends when someone completes seven objectives.

You are the leader of one of the 7 great cities of the Ancient World. Gather resources, develop commercial routes and affirm your military supremacy. Build your city and erect an architectural wonder which will transcend future times.

7 Wonders lasts three ages. In each age, players receive seven cards from a particular deck, choose one of those cards, then pass the remainder to an adjacent player. Players reveal their cards simultaneously, paying resources if needed or collecting resources or interacting with other players in various ways. (Players have individual boards with special powers on which to organize their cards, and the boards are double-sided). Each player then chooses another card from the deck they were passed, and the process repeats until players have six cards in play from that age. After three ages, the game ends.

In essence 7 Wonders is a card development game. Some cards have immediate effects, while others provide bonuses or upgrades later in the game. Some cards provide discounts on future purchases. Some provide military strength to overpower your neighbors and others give nothing but victory points. Each card is played immediately after being drafted, so you'll know which cards your neighbor is receiving and how his choices might affect what you've already built up. Cards are passed left-right-left over the three ages, so you need to keep an eye on the neighbors in both directions.

Though the box of earlier editions is listed as being for 3-7 players, there is an official 2-player variant included in the instructions.

Game description from the publisher:

In the wake of one of Tempest's namesake storms, a new area near the city-state has opened up for development. Your faction looks to you to carve out your power in this new area.

Place canals to connect your buildings to resources and to the harbor. Ensure the peasantry looks to you for employment. Improve the prestige of your work by placing scenic gardens. And wouldn't the Senate Annex look most aesthetically pleasing right there, where it completely blocks the view of your opponent's building?

Canalis is a game of building a new district in the City-State of Tempest, arranging the canals and placing buildings in such a manner as to benefit you the most. Players use a mixture of card drafting and tile laying to build the district, and each player's secret missions keep the outcome in doubt until the last card is played.

The social elite of Tempest live in a world of power, intrigue, and alliances that can often shake the very foundations of the city's society. In Courtier, you move within these circles of social power to further your goals. Work with established courtiers to gain influence and stymie the rise of your rivals as you attempt to earn or cheat your way into their world.

In Courtier, 2–4 players compete for recognition in the royal court. Your mission is to act as an influence broker, manipulating the levers of power and granting favors to important supplicants. You accomplish this by influencing key people to act at your behest.

Play influence cards to gain sway over a key courtier, or play power cards to manipulate the board in your favor. Control each of the courtiers listed on a given petition, and you earn victory points for completing that request. Bonus points can be earned from cards and abilities. The winner is the player with the highest score at the end of the game.

Number 1 in the Tempest Shared World Game Series