Hand Management

Winterborne is a Euro-style medium weight game with light deckbuilding and tableau building. Players will use three different characters; the Viking, the Shaman, and the Explorer to lead their clan and expand their kingdom. The game is played over the Norse calendar year and each clan is preparing for the harsh winter. Players will enjoy the light interaction by exploring for cards and conquering nearby lands. Once winter is over the game ends and the player with the most Victory Points wins the game.

Winterborne has multiple paths to victory and each player can decide the best route based on card collection, expanding and settling, or trading with allies. Each path provides a rich and enjoyable play.

—description from the publisher

Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam features the familiar gameplay from the Ticket to Ride game series — collect cards, claim routes, draw tickets — but on a map of 17th century Amsterdam that allows you to complete a game in no more than 15 minutes.

You are in the middle of the Gouden Eeuw, the Dutch Golden Age. Amsterdam is the beating heart of global trade and the wealthiest city on Earth. Goods from around the world are piling up on the docks, in ship holds, in warehouses, and on the banks of its countless canals. You mean to profit from this!

Each player starts with a supply of 16 carts, two transportation cards in hand, and one or two trade contract tickets that show locations in the Amsterdam market. On a turn, you either draw two transportation cards from the deck or the display of five face-up cards (or you take one face-up wild card, which counts as all six colors in the game); or you claim a route on the board by discarding cards that match the color of the route being claimed (with any set of cards allowing you to claim a gray route); or you draw two trade contract tickets and keep at least one of them.

Whenever you complete a route that has carts depicted on it, with these primarily being on the perimeter of the city, you claim a merchandise bonus card.

Players take turns until someone has no more than two carts in their supply, then each player takes one final turn, including the player who triggered the end of the game. Players then sum their points, scoring points for the routes that they've claimed during the game, the trade contract tickets that they've completed (by connecting the two locations on a ticket by a continuous line of their carts), and their standing among those who hold merchandise bonus cards. Whoever holds the most cards collects 8 points, with other players collecting fewer points. You lose points for any uncompleted contract tickets, then whoever has the high score wins!

In Pax Pamir, players assume the role of nineteenth century Afghan leaders attempting to forge a new state after the collapse of the Durrani Empire. Western histories often call this period "The Great Game" because of the role played by the Europeans who attempted to use central Asia as a theater for their own rivalries. In this game, those empires are viewed strictly from the perspective of the Afghans who sought to manipulate the interloping ferengi (foreigners) for their own purposes.

In terms of game play, Pax Pamir is a pretty straightforward tableau builder. Players spend most of their turns purchasing cards from a central market, then playing those cards in front of them in a single row called a court. Playing cards adds units to the game's map and grants access to additional actions that can be taken to disrupt other players and influence the course of the game. That last point is worth emphasizing. Though everyone is building their own row of cards, the game offers many ways for players to interfere with each other directly and indirectly.

To survive, players will organize into coalitions. Throughout the game, the dominance of the different coalitions will be evaluated by the players when a special card, called a "Dominance Check", is resolved. If a single coalition has a commanding lead during one of these checks, those players loyal to that coalition will receive victory points based on their influence in their coalition. However, if Afghanistan remains fragmented during one of these checks, players instead will receive victory points based on their personal power base.

After each Dominance Check, victory is checked and the game will be partially reset, offering players a fresh attempt to realize their ambitions. The game ends when a single player is able to achieve a lead of four or more victory points or after the fourth and final Dominance Check is resolved.

Good times in the tiny kingdom of Emara: During the reign of King Thedorius the Wise, wars, uprisings, and other inconveniences became a thing of the past. Thedorius always cared more for the well-being of his subjects than for power or riches. Therefore, only the nobleman who is able to care for Emara's citizens as well as Thedorius himself did shall become Thedorius' successor and wear the Crown of Emara.

To test the skills of all aspirants, Thedorius and his counselors issue a challenge of practical use: Whoever can persuade the majority of the newly arrived citizens in the capital to support their claim shall become the future king of Emara. To achieve this, players have to cater to the citizens' needs and — most importantly — offer proper housing for everyone. This means that promoting the building activities in town will be one of the major tasks of the candidates.

Crown of Emara skillfully combines card actions with worker movement actions, allowing players to plan their turns carefully during their downtime. The two counselors available to every player move in two separate roundabouts, requiring players to optimize every move. Additionally, two scoring tracks lead to a multidimensional playstyle as only the lower score counts towards victory and thus both tracks have to be advanced equally.

You have an invitation at 5 p.m. at the Mad Hatter’s garden. The table is ready, the cookies taste like buttery heaven, and the tea is strong and spicy. "More sugar?" asks the Mad Hatter, giving you a bizarre look.

"Yes, plea..."

"Time's up!" he yells, interrupting you. Sugar, cookies, and millions of hats fly everywhere. Tea spills all over the tablecloth as he proceeds with a huge smile on his face. "It's time to play a game."

•••

In Hats, two to four players compete to acquire the most outstanding hats by exchanging cards in hand with cards on the tea table board. Each card exchange influences how each hat is scored. Naturally, at the end of the game, the player with the highest score will be declared the maddest!

To play, everyone draws nine cards. You take your turn by performing one of the following two actions:

Exchange hats — Play a single card from your hand face up and exchange it with one of the same type (color) from the tea table board or exchange it for a card of any type but of a lower value. Add the card exchanged from the tea table board to your collection by placing it face up in front of you.

Create a black hat — Play a single card face down in front of you to add it to your collection as a black hat. Each black hat in a player's collection at game's end is worth 1 point.

Optional action: At any time during your turn, you may discard a single card of your choice to draw a new one from the draw deck. In a four-player game, players will exchange cards with their teammates.

END GAME SCORING

Hat Collection: Players earn points for the hat cards in their collection based on the position of the matching type on the tea table board. If two or more hat cards on the tea table board are of the same type, find the hat card of that type with the lowest position on the tea table board and keep it face up, while turning all other cards of that type face down.

Favorite Hat: Each player reveals the final card in their hand as their "favorite hat" type. Players gain points equal to the sum of all cards in their collection that match the type of their "favorite hat" minus the value of the final card in their hand.

The Last Cookie: There is only one cookie left at the table. Players compete for the cookie by having the most different types of hat cards in their collection. Black hats count as a type. During the game, pass the cookie to the player who has the most different types of hat cards. The chocolate chip cookie is worth five points at the end of the game.

—description from publisher