educational

Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor is a stand-alone game within the Forest Shuffle family and introduces a brand new habitat and features new species with new abilities and bonuses to explore. As in the earlier original Forest Shuffle, in Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor players compete to build the most valuable environment by placing trees and shrubs, then attracting species to these locations to create an ecologically balanced habitat for flora and fauna.

What's new in Dartmoor is the introduction of TERRAIN cards that are played horizontally and serve as a home or feeding ground for different species than trees or shrubs. Due to the nature of the terrain, species can only be placed above and below a terrain card. Deer and other species stay clear from bogs or peat areas in the moorland. They need their drink, but won't feel safe at dwells or next to rivulets. So players have to be watch out, where to place their species.

Like its predecessor, Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor comes with a unique back side: Each of the 180 cards of the deck can be placed face down, creating a bog, if the action allows it. The caves in Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor now will be drafted at the beginning of the game and offer asymmetrical starting conditions. On top, the number of tree symbols has been reduced from eight to six to enable bonuses more easily.

The game mechanism stays untouched: To start, each player has six cards in hand, with cards depicting either a particular type of tree, shrub or terrain or two moor dwellers (animal, plants), with these latter cards being divided in half, whether vertically or horizontally, with one dweller in each card half. On a turn, either draw two cards — whether face down from the deck or face up from the clearing — and add them to your hand, or play a card from your hand by discarding other cards to pay the cost, then putting that first card into play. In the end, the player with the highest score wins.

For over 300 million years, trees have traded nutrients with fungi in a vast underground network. Scientists continue to make new discoveries about this hidden world.

In Undergrove, you are a towering evergreen with an ancient symbiotic connection to the fungi in your forest. As new mushrooms appear, your options expand for converting nutrients and helping your seedlings. Using cube conversion, tile placement, area control, and a tiny bit of engine building, you’ll need to claim the most advantageous locations and optimize your actions to leave the best legacy in the forest. The player with the greatest number of successful seedlings, wins!

● Build a shared forest containing mushrooms with diverse abilities.
● Trade with the mushrooms to get resources based on the partnerships you’ve made.
● Place your seedings in the most advantageous positions to score the most points.

Inspired by real mycorrhizal trading networks. Shape the destiny of your forest with every decision!

-description from publisher

Travel the spectacular 800 mile long Arizona Trail as you take in the sights and sounds of the mountains, canyons, plateaus and deserts seeking out the amazing variety of wildlife such as the Roadrunner and Javelina, while avoiding the Gila Monster. From Saguaro National Park, the Sonoran desert, through the largest Ponderosa pine forest on Earth and into the Grand Canyon, you will interact with the incredible diversity of Terrain, Flora and Fauna found in State 48... aka Arizona.

Players will call upon the legendary Jackalope and Lost Dutchman to aid in their travel. Turn order is determined for each round of travel and actions through a unique movement and observation mechanism. Players will need to acquire an interesting blend of key Natural and Personal resources to obtain advantages and create their own mural of Arizona wonders through efficient placement of polyomino depictions.

After 8 weeks/rounds of travel, the player who builds a reserve of the most Arizona Grit and Superstition Gold is declared ... TRAILBLAZER

-description from publisher

Trekking the World 2nd Edition is a light strategy game where you race to the world’s most fascinating places, draft itineraries, collect souvenirs, and gain powers that combo.

The 2nd edition is a complete mechanical overhaul based on analysis of thousands of online comments about 1st Edition, and our evolving design principles.

We’ve tried to create a game hobbyists AND their families will like. A tough design challenge.

Who It’s For:

Hobbyists who want to entice non-gamer friends and family into playing
Hobbyists who like rules-light games with some hidden strategy
Folks getting into the hobby for the first time
Folks looking for a gift (it feels premium)
Folks who want to turn their 10-and-up kids onto strategy games
Folks who want to learn about cool places in the world, or want their kids to

Who It’s Not For:

Folks who adore 1st Edition (why risk regression to the mean?)
Folks for whom the blocking in 1st Edition is essential - we replaced it with other interactions (but it's easy to house-rule it back in).
Hobbyists who dislike rules-simple games regardless of strategic qualities

—description from the publisher

In Sankoré: The Pride of Mansa Musa, a dynamic, interactive, mid-weight Eurogame, 1-4 players manage the prestigious University of Sankoré in 14th-century Timbuktu, tasked by the emperor Mansa Musa with spreading knowledge throughout West Africa, even as the great university is raised around them.

By enrolling and graduating your pupils, teaching classes, adding to your curriculum, and filling the great library with books, you will advance knowledge in four main disciplines: theology, law, mathematics, and astronomy. Once construction of the university is complete, the value that the empire places on each discipline will dramatically affect how you score the knowledge you have passed on.

In a dedicated solo mode, you compete against the "Distinguished Scholar", a passionate and ambitious academic controlled by an elegant automated system. They may not be as nimble as you, but they are focused and driven and will strive to produce the best possible students.

Can you navigate the corridors of academic competition and bring renown to Mansa Musa's prized university?

—description from the publisher