Nautical

Madame Ching is a hand-management game in which 2-4 players try to put together voyages that take their ships far across the waters, possibly all the way to Hong Kong.

Each player starts the game with four cards in hand, each card having a number from 1 to 50-something; the cards have a colored bar across the top, often with a symbol in them. In the first round, each player lays down a card, drafts one of the available cards, then moves one of her ships to the right on the ocean. Players then repeat this process, possibly starting a new journey — a.k.a., new row of played cards — or adding to the journey already begun by playing a higher-valued card that what was last played. In the latter case, if the color of the card matches the color of the card previously played, the ship moves directly to the right; otherwise the ship moves both down and right.

When a player can't add to a journey any more and must start a new one, she scores that voyage, possibly claiming one of the ship tiles on display based on the length of the voyage. (Each space on the game board's ocean has values on it, and the more times you move both down and right, the higher your score overall — doing this is more difficult than you'd hope for, however, since you must consistently have cards that are both of higher value and different color.) Each ship bears some combination of gems, and those are worth points at the end of the game.

If you have certain symbols on a voyage, you can claim bonus action cards that let you steal gems or cards from opponents, take cards from the discard pile, insert cards in a voyage, and so on. Get the right symbols, and you can claim the Madame Ching vessel, ending the game. Players then tally their points for destinations, gems, and so forth, and whoever has the highest score wins.

Vikings is a fast economic game. Despite the nominal "Viking" theme, no actual exploration or pillaging is involved.

The resources in the game consist of coins and several types of ship tiles, island tiles and meeples. In each of 6 rounds, a random set of 12 tiles and 12 meeples becomes available. Players take turns buying and placing pairs of meeples and tiles. There is no direct player interaction, only indirect contention for resources during the buying phase.

The most unusual aspect of the game is the pricing wheel, which pairs meeples with tiles and sets their prices.

The basic game play of Tsuro of the Seas resembles that of Tom McMurchie's Tsuro: Players each have a ship that they want to sail — that is, keep on the game board — as long as possible. Whoever stays on the board the longest wins the game.

Each turn players add "wake" tiles to the 7×7 game board; each tile has two "wake connections" on each edge, and as the tiles are placed on the board, they create a connected network of paths. If a wake is placed in front of a ship, that ship then sails to the end of the wake. If the ship goes off the board, that player is out of the game.

What's new in Tsuro of the Seas are daikaiju tiles, representing sea monsters and other creatures of the deep. Notably, daikaiju can move: each tile has five arrows, four for moving in each of the cardinal directions and another one for rotation. On the active player's turn, he rolls two six-sided dice; on a sum of 6, 7, or 8, the daikaiju will move, while on any other sum they'll stay in place. To determine which direction the daikaiju tiles move, the player then makes a second roll, this time with a single die. On 1-5 in the second roll, each daikaiju moves according to its matching arrow. On a 6 in the second roll, a new daikaiju tile is added to the board.

If a daikaiju tile hits a wake tile, a ship, or another daikaiju tile, the object hit is removed from the game. Another way to be ousted! The more daikaiju tiles on the game board, the faster players will find themselves trying to breathe water...

Reef Encounters of the Second Kind was released at Essen 2006. It is an expansion set for Reef Encounter, introducing new creatures, opportunities, and tactics to the basic game.

The crown of thorns starfish with their voracious appetites have now found the reef and will consume any corals that they can reach. Blue shrimps will assist host shrimps in protecting the larger corals, but these blue shrimps are notoriously unreliable. Meanwhile, the polyp tiles now come in a variety of different forms, and even the rocks are liable to change shape.

A selection of cards provides one-off opportunities to influence the game, to introduce or to move the blue shrimps, or to affect the scoring at the end of the game. An appropriate card is also required before a parrot fish can consume its first coral.

Contents: 4 blue wooden shrimps, 48 special tiles, 56 cards (28 in English and 28 in German), and 2 rules sheets, one in English and one in German.

Expands:

Reef Encounter

Reef Encounters of the Second Kind Microbadge :

Are you the best Merchant of Venice?
Sailing along the courses of ancient Venetians in Oltre Mare, the unknown lands of Barbaria. Looking for the most precious wares and the richest stocks; exchanging wares with other merchants, loading your ship and selling at the market; but at the same time trying to escape the ever-present pirates.... Oltre Mare - Merchants of Venice is an engaging voyage through the Mediterranean Sea, in the golden Age of Sail.

How to play:
On his or her turn, the player can trade Goods (corn, wine, spices, silk, etc.) for other Goods or for money (which also double as points) with fellow players. He or she then plays cards from his/her hand to perform certain actions that allow you to earn money, to draw cards, or to move your ship on the map (where you can obtain special powers). But there is also a dreadful Pirate action that you have to look out for! The cards played also represent the Goods that are loaded as cargo on your ship. The more cards of the same Good type shipped, the more money (and score) you will gain at the end of the game. The cards played will also influence the next turn, so choose your strategy well.

In order to win, you have to trade wisely, choose the right cards to perform the best actions, and maximize the profit from your ship's cargo!

The original version from Mind the Move is a small blue box. Rio Grande and Amigo released a bigger box version with a larger board in 2005.