Puzzle

Step into a world of wonder and natural splendor with HUTAN: Life in the Rainforest, an immersive family game inspired by the Indonesian word for rainforest.

In HUTAN, all players have their own rainforest patch where they will plant sprouts and flowers that over time grow into towering trees. When a habitat is created, an iconic forest animal arrives: the orangutan, the sumatran tiger, the rhinoceros hornbill, the cassowary, or the sumatran rhino.

HUTAN plays over nine rounds, and all players have two turns each round. On your turn, you take a flower card from the shared market pool and place the flowers into your rainforest. If you place a flower on top of a matching flower, you grow a tree. When an area is completed with trees, the last tree is replaced by an animal.

At the end of the game, the player who grew the best rainforest and attracted the most animals will score the most points and win.

—description from the publisher

In Spectacular, you are creating and developing your own animal park for vulnerable species. In order to preserve the species, you must ensure breeding within each habitat. Spectacular provides simultaneous play and ensures interaction between the players, as your opponents’ decisions will affect which tiles and dice are available for you. The game also comes with asymmetric player boards (on their backs).

During the game, you select animal tiles and dice, where the dice represent food for the animals. The color of the dice must match the habitat color of the animal tiles. Each turn provides crucial decision-making where you need to consider whether to draft a die of a certain value or ensure an animal tile which may not be available again.

At game end, for each area of connected tiles of the same habitat, you score points for the sum of your dice of that color. However, points are only awarded if dice values of 1 or 2 are placed on certain “family” tiles within the habitat! Over the course of the game, you will also build watchtowers, which will score you points for all three dice adjacent to them. To make your park even more spectacular, you also aim to collect as many different species as possible, with increasing points awarded for greater variety. Finally, the player with the most points wins the game.

After a few plays, you may challenge yourself by playing with three (of 18) mission tiles. While they offer the potential for a higher score, they also raise the difficulty level of the puzzle.

—description from the publisher

Square One is an engine-building strategy game, similar to its predecessor Project L. Its easy-to-learn yet hard-to-master mechanics offer high replayability for the whole family.

In Square One is players match tiles with patterns to pattern cards on the board. Build more patterns and make more combos to earn points. The person who completes all their patterns first, wins the game.

—description from the publisher

Diatoms is a puzzly tile-placement and pattern-making game where players create their own microscopic mosaic, based on an obscure Victorian art form.

Hidden in the water all around us are tiny lifeforms known as “diatoms.” These microscopic algae cells come in a variety of exquisite geometric shapes and patterns. Their outer layer is made with silica, giving them a glass-like quality. Here at the Society for the Microscopic Arts, we collect these diatoms and delicately arrange them on slides into beautiful, tiny mosaics. As part of your induction into the Society, you will each create your own entry for today’s Exhibition of Microscopic Mosaics.

In Diatoms, you compete with your fellow players to collect and place diatom shapes into a mosaic form. You take turns placing tiles representing algae colonies. From that placement you earn diatoms of different colors and shapes. You then strategically place these diatoms on your personal board, taking care to consider how your arrangement will be scored at the end of the game. In the base scoring, you'll want to achieve matching colors, shape variety, and symmetry along your mosaic's central lines. Each time you play, you may also have a "guest" judge card that brings a unique scoring criteria to the game.

Diatoms also includes a solo variant where you collect diatom tiles as in the main game while trying to create a mosaic that fulfills specific requirements from mosaic commission prompts.

—description from publisher

Decorate the magnificent ceilings of the palace. Will the vaults look more beautiful by day or by night? Azul Duel invites you to play with light and pit opposites against each other.

This competitive strategic game for two players retains the purity and elegance of the original Azul while adding an extra tactical dimension in which you determine the pattern in which tiles will be placed, in addition to drafting tiles to complete that pattern.