pattern building

Fit to Print

Fit to Print is a puzzly tile-laying game about breaking news, designed by Peter McPherson and set in a charming woodland world created by Ian O’Toole!

Thistleville is the world’s most bustling little town — it’s a challenge to keep up with everything going on, from who took home first prize for their baked goods at the community fair to who has been digging in Mrs. Brambleberry’s carrot patch.

As an editor at one of the local newspapers, your job is to tell their stories!

The front page is due in just a few hours and you have no time for perfection. Grab the big stories before the other papers get a chance, and make sure you get the right photos too. A newspaper is a business, so the money has to come from somewhere — don’t forget the ads! After you’ve picked out a combination of stories, photos, and ads, it’s time to lay out the front page. Did you take enough tiles to fill the paper, but not so many that things have to be cut? Over the course of three hectic days, your skills will be tested as you compete to be the most newsworthy editor!

Fit To Print is a tile-laying game for the whole family. Players simultaneously collect newspaper tiles, stacking them on their desks until they think they have what they need to make the perfect front page. Then, they will yell “Layout!” and begin to lay out the page by carefully considering the placement of centerpieces, articles, photographs, and advertisements. When everything is just right, they yell “Print” to be the first off the press and gain their choice of centerpiece for the next round! This hectic spatial puzzle features over 100 unique newspaper tiles, 6 characters with their own special abilities, as well as 3 decks of Breaking News cards — so that each and every time you play you will be solving a new puzzle!

If real-time games aren’t your style, Fit to Print has a number of alternative modes to satisfy every type of puzzle gamer. In Slo-Mode players take turns drafting tiles from a shared market and arranging them on their front pages. In Puzzle Mode, take a specific set of tiles and piece together the highest-scoring arrangements. Whether you enjoy relaxing solo puzzles on your own, or frenetic action for up to 6 players, you will have a blast helping the critters of Thistleville tell their stories!

—description from the publisher

BOOoop.

A deceptively cute, deceivingly challenging & SPOOPY abstract strategy game for two players.

Every time you place a kitten on the bed, it goes “boop.” Which is to say that it pushes every other kitten next to it one space away. Line up 3 kittens in a row to graduate them into cats… and then, get 3 cats in a row to win.

But that isn’t easy with both you AND your opponent constantly “booping” kittens around. It’s like… herding cats!
And now, things just got boopier and spoopier -
with NEW Ghost Cats that float between the spaces. And so scary, cats will leap right over each other to get away!

Approachable but challenging abstract game following the incredible success of the original "boop" as a limited seasonal game.
Features a new quilted, fabric board that lays over the back of the box, completing the minature bed playing surface. 34 adorable wood cat and kitten playing pieces!
NEW Ghost Cats can boop cats over other pieces as they move across the board between spaces.

—description from the publisher

IKI

Edo — what we now know today as Tokyo, Japan — was a thriving city with an estimated population of one million, half townspeople and half samurai. With a huge shopping culture, Edo's main district, Nihonbashi, was lined with shops, selling kimonos, rice, and so much more.

Nihonbashi is the focus of IKI: A Game of EDO Artisans, which brings you on a journey through the famed street of old Tokyo. Hear the voices of Nihonbashi Bridge's great fish market. Meet the professionals, who carry out 700­-800 different jobs. Enter the interactivity of the shoppers and vendors. Become one with the townspeople.

One of the main professions in the world of Edo is the artisan. Each of the Edo artisans uses their own skill of trade to support the townspeople's lives. In this game, not only are there artisans, but street vendors, sellers at the shops, and professions unique to this time and age. Meet the puppet masters, putting on a show. Meet the ear cleaners that people would line up for.

The goal of this game is to become the annual Edoite, best personifying what is known as "IKI", an ancient philosophy believed to be the ideal way of living among people in Edo. Knowing the subtleties of human nature, being refined and attractive — these are all elements of a true IKI master.

Zoo-ography

In Zoo-ography, players take turns drafting building tiles to construct a zoo while drafting sets of animals as they arrive on boats into the game. Players have to balance building pens to support the animals available while also building sufficient attractions to keep guests engaged. Each zoo can earn up to 10 stars by meeting a variety of specific goals involving biodiversity, attractions, features, and aesthetics.

Tuned

In Tuned, you want to get your animal band in order so that they'll be ready to play — and although you're competing for space in the practice room with another band, you can incorporate all the musicians in your quest for the right arrangement.

To set up, each player takes two donkeys, two dogs, two cats, and one rooster. Place the rooster on the "move a figure" action space on your side of the 3x3 game board, leaving your two "add a figure" actions exposed.

On a turn, move your rooster to an open action space on your side of the board. If you choose "add", then place one of your figures on the board by following the placement rules:

Place a donkey only on an empty space.
Place a dog on an empty space or on an unencumbered donkey.
Place a cat on an empty space or on an unencumbered dog.

For a "move" action, choose an animal on the game board and move it to a new location while following the placement rules. You can move a portion of a stack; you cannot reverse the opponent's previous move.

As soon as a player creates an orthogonal or diagonal row with three of the same animals on top, that player wins. If a player is forced to add an animal (because their rooster occupies the lone "move" action) but cannot, they lose.