Hand Management

In Western Town, each player is a Marshal of an expanding town in the Old West of the U.S. in the early 1860s. Each Marshal wants to develop the most prosperous town, one that President Lincoln himself would be proud to visit.

The three principal criteria that allow you to win the game are population growth, charm/attractiveness, and wealth, as measured by gold. Turns are regulated by the visits of Lincoln, who determines, bit-by-bit, the value of the towns relative to those three criteria. These criteria can and do change every round, and you will need to adapt to these changing criteria to win this game!

Each player has his own board on which he will be building his town. Every building gives him different, and increasing, rights and abilities, and therefore power. The bigger your town gets, the better – but managing too much growth is challenging, so you'll need to make difficult choices at the beginning of each round as to which buildings you'll bring into play.

This "building-adding" mechanism helps players stay in the game and not get lost in the overwhelming number of choices available. Of 22 different buildings, six of them are identified every round as "bonus" buildings, and players are forced to adapt varying strategies and test new combinations of these buildings for their town as the game progresses.

In addition to logic and strategy, Marshals will need to bluff and occasionally resort to questionably bending the law a bit, to succeed in building their Western Town. And as if that weren't enough, there are even occasional Indian attacks to deal with as well!

Gambling your fortunes in the Old West for 3 to 6 players.

In Austin Poker, you will be playing four hands of five-card stud poker simultaneously out of your own deck of cards. Your initial draw is 11 cards. Out of these cards, you will choose your four hole cards and place them face down on your player mat. You will then choose your first show card for each hand and place them face down on the hole cards, leaving you with a hand of three. Each hand's show card is revealed and bid on separately. After all hands have been bid upon, players draw one card for each hand they have not folded. The next show cards are placed with their respective hands, face down. This play continues until all hands have been played to five cards. The winners receive the pots. Then, all players have the opportunity to purchase Bonus cards in the order they finished the poker phase. The bonus cards count toward the victory points required to win the game, as well as having abilities that help you on subsequent turns. At the tend of each turn, the money spent buying Bonus cards is divided equally among all of the players and the next turn begins.

It is the early 20th Century, and the great museums of Europe and America compete for artifacts from around the world in order to fill their museums with the most prestigious exhibitions. In Artifact, players are archaeologists researching sites around the globe to search for artifacts, which are then shipped back to the museums in order to produce exhibitions that increase funding for future digs and earn prestige to win the game. Actions and funds are limited, however, and competition is fierce. Sometimes it is even necessary to deal on the black market in order to generate extra income or to acquire the one artifact that will complete a valuable exhibition.

The player who earns the most prestige points through producing exhibitions and managing his budget best wins the game.

Artifact is a rich gaming experience that provides players with many options to think about. In order to make it easier to learn the game, the rules have been separated into the Base Game, followed by rules for the two expansions that, when added, make up the Complete Game. The game can be played and enjoyed as the base game or by including any one of the expansions, but the complete game is highly recommended for experienced players.

From the SimplyFun website:

Exclusively Created for SimplyFun

Welcome to the unsettled Island of Catan. Using combinations of resources - wood, brick, wheat, wool and ore - players build, barter and trade in this family strategy game. The faster you build roads, settlements and cities, the more points you earn towards victory. Clever trading, lively negotiation, and the luck of the dice add to everyone's fun and enjoyment. Once you start playing you won't want to stop.

Simply Catan is based on the international, award winning classic game Settlers of Catan, which has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Designed for beginning players, Simply Catan takes less than 5 minutes to set up and 30 minutes to play.

Also includes advanced play rules with variable game board and development cards.

Belongs to the Catan Series.

It is 1729 in pre-revolution France, a time when the aristocracy has all the power and the means to rule the country. As a wealthy, well-educated aristocrat, you have travelled the world and had the fortune to enjoy your life to the fullest – but you see that history is about to change course and you know that in order to stay strong, your family must prepare well. You need to find new allies. You must absorb smaller families and use their potency to strengthen your kin. You have to arrange wise marriages, nurture strong connections at court, obtain titles, build mansions, and find the right spouses for your daughters and sons...

Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy enables you to build a powerful dynasty in 18th century France as you step into the shoes of a French noble and compete for lasting honor. Over three generations, you – a resourceful patriarch or matriarch – will attempt to create a lasting legacy by establishing a house with ties to many different wealthy and powerful families from France and abroad (Spain, Italy, Russia and other countries).

This card game offers endless possibilities. Each time you build a family, you write a unique story, bringing to life the diverse relationships between parents and their children, between cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces. Whether you are looking for the best husband for your only daughter or a suitable wife for one of your two sons, whether you are looking to add new blood to your family by marrying into foreign nobility – you will be working to make your family rise in status through prestige and wealth, new skills and abilities.

In Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy – known previously as Nobles of Paris and winner of Ducosim Spelontwerp in 2009 – you will find 75 spouse cards with unique traits, more than twenty secret missions, nine titles, and nine "contribution to the family" cards. This all culminates in a highly thematic card game that will satisfy players who enjoy exploring many different paths to victory.

Legacy is a worker placement game in which you take actions to improve the standing and/or wealth of your family. You will expand your family, creating an ever-growing tableau, the family tree. You will need to balance the three 'currencies' in the game, Prestige (converts to Honor points at the end of each generation, of which there are three), Income (your income which converts to hard cash at the end of each round, of which there are 9), and Friend cards (which are actual connections/friends, and are the only way to marry into wealthy/famous families, and can only be received through actions, such as marrying a woman who brings some of her social contacts with her).

Prestige, Income and Friend cards can be gained and lost. You can, for example, lose some prestige by marrying someone infamous or lose some Honor points (i.e. reputation) by asking friends for money. There are also numerous actions you can take that will affect one of the three 'currencies' detrimentally, such as bribing someone to get a title (for which you need to pay, but also in the loss of friends who felt they deserved that title, and not you), or the maintenance of a beautiful new park you have built for the people (losing you income). Finally, you can also take actions that result in the loss of some of your social contacts (friends), due to jealousy, or people simply no longer wanting to be associated with you.

These currencies are carefully balanced by the male and female friend cards in the game. Generally men will give you income and possibly prestige, but will cost you a dowry/wedding costs. Women, on the other hand, will give you connections (new friends you can choose from the current socialites (cards lying open on the table) and possibly prestige, and will sometimes even earn you a dowry!

The card interactions allow for multiple different paths to success, but you must choose your road strategically, planning out where you want to be headed, else you will be left behind in the dust by those with greater and more successful plans than yours.