Theme: Construction

In Pyradice you are part of an ancient civilization whose main goal is to build pyramids. Each player will try to get the best stones from the quarry to create their pyramid and earn the most points at the end of the game.
The quarry is made up of 47 dice placed on 3 floors. On their turn, the player takes a dice that has at least 3 free sides and places it at the base of the pyramid or on higher floors if it has 2 dice underneath it. On each floor of the pyramid that the dice are placed, the player gains a bonus that allows them to manipulate the dice that are already in the pyramid (turn 180°, roll again, etc). In this way, they try to have a pyramid with dice that corresponds to the public objectives of each card (having only even-value dice, having only increasing values, etc.). If you succeed, at the end of the game you win the points that could give you victory. Each game box can only hold 2 players. But if you add another box, you can play with 3-4 players.

During the 19th century, the elevation of the Chicago area was just a few feet higher than the shoreline of Lake Michigan. For many years, there was little or no naturally occurring drainage from the city surface, and this lack of drainage caused unpleasant living conditions. Standing water harbored pathogens that caused numerous epidemics including typhoid fever and dysentery, culminating in the 1854 outbreak of cholera that killed six percent of the city's population. The crisis forced the city to take the drainage problem seriously. In 1856, engineer Ellis S. Chesbrough drafted a plan for the installation of a citywide sewerage system and submitted it to the city council, which adopted the plan.

However, due to the minimal elevation above the lake, the sewer could not be built underground and had to be built at street level. The city council then decided to implement a radical idea: Prevented from digging down, they instead decreed the buildings of the city would be raised to allow the new sewer system to be hidden under the new street level. Representing one of the four companies that were created to tackle the problem of raising the buildings of Chicago, it's up to you to gather resources, take on the most attractive projects, and help solve the sanitation crisis of the city.

On your turn in Raising Chicago, you place a tile on a resource slot associated with one of five building projects, then claim the resource you covered. After all players have placed tiles, each project is evaluated. The winning player pays resources to complete the project, claims the project reward, then places all of their tiles associated with that project as levels underneath the building onto a space on the board. Players earn points for placing buildings cleverly, doing the most work in a ward, and meeting the demands of council people.

Only the most successful player will win, so play strategically to prove you can raise buildings the best in Raising Chicago!

—description from the publisher

This entry is for the retail edition that has 32 gods and 4 mode cards, as compared to the Pantheon Edition with 100 gods and 12 mode cards. The remaining content was split into 4 expansion packs: Soaring over Olympus, Tides of Poseidon, Seasons of Chaos, and Hiding in the Underworld.

NOTE: Pantheon Edition includes all material from the Golden Fleece expansion, as well as every promo card and many new cards. A lot of cards are revamped, reworked and rebalanced.

Santorini is an accessible strategy game, simple enough for an elementary school classroom while aiming to provide gameplay depth and content for hardcore gamers to explore, The rules are simple. Each turn consists of 2 steps:

1. Move - Move one of your builders onto an unoccupied neighboring space that is a similar level, up one level, or down any number of levels.

2. Build - Construct a building level adjacent to the builder you moved. When building on top of the third level, place a dome instead, removing that space from play.

Winning the game - If one of your builders moves from a lower level to the third level, you win. Or, if your opponent cannot move, you win.

Variable player powers - Santorini features variable player powers layered over an otherwise abstract game, with many thematic god and hero powers that fundamentally change the way the game is played.

Monkey Palace is a jungle-themed game of light strategy that incorporates both collaborative and competitive elements.

Players must strategically work together to construct the Monkey Palace while competing for the highest brick income and points, all under the watchful gaze of the Monkey. The palace gradually takes form thanks to a construction using LEGO elements, and each time the board game is played, the building experience and final construction are unique.