Open Drafting

The Fox Experiment

In 1958, Demitri Belyaev and Lyudmila Trut started an experiment on domestication. From a large group of foxes, they selected the ones that reacted to humans with more curiosity and less aggression. In each generation, they selected only the friendliest pups to become parents — hoping to recreate the process that originally led to domestication thousands of years ago. The experiment made stunning progress. Even though the foxes were chosen only for their friendliness, they soon started to get many of the physical traits that we associate with domesticated animals — like spots, floppy ears, and curly tails. As communication opened up, the foxes made major contributions to our understanding of how these traits are expressed. The experiment continues to this day.

In The Fox Experiment, you’ll breed your own domesticated foxes. In each round you'll select a pair of fox parents who have certain traits. You'll gain those specific trait dice, roll them, then try to move them around to make complete trait symbols which you'll then mark off on your pup card. You'll then gain trait tokens depending on how many traits you marked off which you'll use to upgrade tracks on your personal player board.

At the end of the round, the previous generation of foxes will be cleared and all of the new pups will be moved to the kennel — thus becoming candidates to be chosen as parents in the next round. The game ends after 5 rounds and you'll gain points for pleasing patrons (end of game scoring bonuses), studies completed (personal player objectives), if you ever won the friendliest fox award, upgrades on your personal player board, and extra tokens. The player with the most points wins!

—description from the publisher

Ticket To Ride: Berlin

Welcome to the city of culture, arts and music! Discover Unter den Linden, and immerse yourself in the young cultural capital of Europe. Enjoy a sightseeing cruise on the river Spree, ride a bike through the Brandenburg Gate, or be amazed by the masterpieces displayed in the Pergamon Museum.

In Ticket to Ride: Berlin, players race one another to visit the most iconic locations of the city and complete their Destination Tickets. The winning player will utilize Berlin's streetcars and, for the first time, will venture under the streets to incorporate a subway system into their routes.

Forever Home

Welcome to Forever Home, the puzzly pattern-building game about second chances for shelter dogs.

Using a combination of tile placement, set collection, and drafting, you and your friends take on the role of shelter workers. Take it in turns to bring dogs into your shelter, complete training cards, and match pups up with new families. You'll be competing for valuable shelter commendations, as well as gaining reputation for training and rehoming the dogs in your care. At the end of the game, the shelter worker with the most reputation wins!

Featuring quick and simple turns; a unique solo mode; and a second advanced side to the player board, Forever Home is a replayable, easy-to-love abstract game.

—description from the publisher

Forest Shuffle

In Forest Shuffle, players compete to gather the most valuable trees, then attract species to these trees, thus creating an ecologically balanced habitat for flora and fauna.

To start, each player has six cards in hand, with cards depicting either a particular type of tree or two forest dwellers (animal, plant, mushroom, etc.), 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 paying the cost, then putting it into play.

During set-up, three winter cards were placed into the bottom third of the deck. When the third winter card is drawn, the game ends immediately, then players tally their points based on the trees and dwellers in their forest. Whoever scores the most points wins.

Forest Shuffle is the first in a line of Lookout games sporting the Lookout Greenline label, produced on FSC certified paper and avoiding plastic completely.

Hellton Palace

Somewhere, deep in the underworld, not far from the Styx and Elysian Fields, bellhops are preparing themselves to knock on their guest's doors. And YES : they ARE scared.

In Hellton Palace, both players are managing a hotel, hiring bellhops to address their guest needs. But in the end, they know the place is going to collapse at some point... Try to outlast your opponent!

An unsatisfied customer would penalize your reputation, but a too enthusiastic legendary creature or god can literally break the pillars supporting the building!

Twist your habit by having a new goal: Losing last!

On your turn:
1) Welcome a guest in one of the available rooms in the matching row.

2) Dismiss your bellhops by flipping their tile to their "break" side.

3) Hire new ones by paying the cost with your hard-earned money.

4) Move your Bellhop pawn from room #1 to #9. When they reach an empty room, ignore it and move on to the next one. When they reach an occupied room, choose whether to serve the Guest or not.
Serving a Guest removes their irritation token and makes them satisfied, which allows you to apply the effects on their door hanger
If you decide not to serve the Guest, place an Irritation token on them except if they have one already. In this case, remove it with a Bell token. In this case, remove all irritation token and lose one bell token.

5) Choose between collecting coins (of all satisfied guests/all guests without irritation token) OR gaining a Bell token back.
There are two ways of ending the game:

A player has no bell token left
A player has a column with no pillar token left

—description from the publisher