Dice Rolling

The Rivals for Catan is a reimplementation of Catan Card Game.

The Rivals for Catan was released in German in September of 2010, on the 15th anniversary of the original card game. An English edition was released in the fourth quarter of 2010. The designer of the game, Klaus Teuber, has stated that he completely reworked many of the original card game's mechanics to make it easier for newcomers to play the game.

Each player portrays a prince for Catan, developing their individual provinces and competing to build a more successful province than the other. The basic mode of play is similar to the original Catan Card Game, where players expand their provinces by building settlements connected by roads. Players may also build expansions in their settlements that aid them in various ways, or upgrade their settlements to cities to allow more expansions to be built. They build these additions by using resources that they accumulate each turn, which are determined by the roll of a die. Cards are drawn on each turn to replenish the players' hands. The players may also use action cards that directly affect either their own province or their opponent's province.

The Rivals for Catan features a reduced pool of cards, without the more aggressive style of action cards found in the original Catan Card Game. Therefore, all action cards will be able to be used from the beginning of the game unlike in the original card game.

Ways to Play:
The Introductory Game focuses on the basics of the card game, featuring gameplay that is more appropriate for newcomers. This game is played to 7 victory points and includes 36 Expansion Cards in four stacks. This play style should take beginner players 25 to 30 minutes to play.

Three Theme Games add more rules, expansions, and aggressive cards. These Theme Games may be played individually or combined to play a variant called "The Duel of the Princes." Each Theme Game adds 24 Expansion and Event Cards to the cards from the Introductory Game, which are placed in two stacks separately from the cards from the Introductory Game. When playing a Theme Game, playtime should be around 45 to 60 minutes.

As with the original Catan Card Game, players can also play the Tournament Game, in which each player chooses specific cards to build their deck ahead of time from which they draw from during the game.

Theme:
The theme of The Rivals for Catan is no longer restricted only to the feudal era of the Middle Ages like the original Catan Card Game. The Introductory Game portrays the very early years of the world of Catan, while each Theme Game takes place in progressively later eras. These eras are known as "The Era of Gold," "The Era of Turmoil," and "The Era of Progress."

Belongs to the Catan Series.

From the publisher:

"At the start of each round, six cards are lined up between the players with each card corresponding to the numbers 1-6 on a die. The cards show sailors of different nationalities or special actions with which the players can influence the die results or enlarge their team. The player take turns rolling dice and assigning one of them to a card until a player wants to get out and start shanghaiing, at which point the cards are distributed to whoever has more dice on their side."

At the end of the game, the stronger nationality score victory points equal to the value of the weaker team. Having a monopoly causes you to score the value of your own team.

Expanded by:

Shanghaien: Extrakarte 1
Shanghaien: Extrakarte 2
Shanghaien: Extrakarte 3

Online Play

Yucata (turn-based)

Monolith is a fast-paced, confrontational, and exciting worker placement game that will reward players who make use of thoughtful and creative gameplay strategies. No two games will play the same as changing Fate and Rune cards are introduced to create a variable game board offering phenomenal replayability. Players will be executing exciting combinations and managing valuable resources, all while cautiously engaging other players.

To begin the game, the game board is seeded with five Starting Rune cards, six Rune cards at random, and one randomly-drawn Fate card. Once the first player is determined, they gain the powerful Primus Token and randomly determine the placement of the starting "Round 1" card, while all other players receive one Skill card or one gem.

Players then take turns placing or socketing one die at a time onto a Rune card of their choice, yielding Skill and Power cards, gems or victory points, and they can even attack other players. After all dice have been placed, the cards on the board are resolved in sequential order. As each die is removed, the effect of that placement is resolved. This sequence makes for exciting combinations and rewards strategic play.

All resources of the game are finite, so players need to play carefully in order to avoid wasting placements. The game ends after five rounds or immediately if any player reaches Victory on the Score Track.

Time to film the latest western being produced at Deadwood Studios, makers of terrible western movies. All the special roles are up for grabs: "Man falling off roof", "Crying woman", "Stagecoach driver", "Dead man", and more. Yes, they're all available, and if you're good enough – that is, if you progress up through the "hack" levels represented by the number on your character's die – you may even get to play that complicated character part "Rear-end of Horse"!

In Deadwood Studios USA (originally published as Deadwood), players wander across the backlot each day, looking for acting jobs. Your actor is a six-sided die, and the number on top represents your status. (These dice are never rolled; they just show your status.) After you take a role in the movie, you can roll a die and try to "act", or you can "rehearse" to improve your odds. As you work, you'll earn money and fame, and you can trade those things at the casting office for higher status, which brings you the ability to take better-paying roles.

At the end of the game, you add up your money, fame, and status points, and the player with the highest score is the best actor at Deadwood Studios!

In this latest collaboration between Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc, players must buy the favor of the gods in their race to be the first player to build two cities in the Ancient Greek island group known as the Cyclades.

Victory requires respect for all the gods - players cannot afford to sacrifice to only one god, but must pay homage to each of five gods in turn. Each turn, the players bid for the favors of the gods, as only one player can have the favor of each god per turn - and each player is also limited to the favor of a single god per turn.

Ares allows the movement of player armies and the building of Fortresses.
Poseidon allows players to move their navies and build Ports.
Zeus allows his followers to hire priests and build temples.
Athena provides her worshipers with philosophers and universities.
Apollo increases the income of his worshipers.