Theme: Nature

Trailblazer: The Arizona Trail

Travel the spectacular 800 mile long Arizona Trail as you take in the sights and sounds of the mountains, canyons, plateaus and deserts seeking out the amazing variety of wildlife such as the Roadrunner and Javelina, while avoiding the Gila Monster. From Saguaro National Park, the Sonoran desert, through the largest Ponderosa pine forest on Earth and into the Grand Canyon, you will interact with the incredible diversity of Terrain, Flora and Fauna found in State 48... aka Arizona.

Players will call upon the legendary Jackalope and Lost Dutchman to aid in their travel. Turn order is determined for each round of travel and actions through a unique movement and observation mechanism. Players will need to acquire an interesting blend of key Natural and Personal resources to obtain advantages and create their own mural of Arizona wonders through efficient placement of polyomino depictions.

After 8 weeks/rounds of travel, the player who builds a reserve of the most Arizona Grit and Superstition Gold is declared ... TRAILBLAZER

-description from publisher

Spectacular

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

Everdell Duo

In Everdell Duo, you either compete against your single opponent or play co-operatively with another player to earn the most points. You accomplish this by placing workers to gather resources, then use those resources to play cards face up in front of you, creating your own woodland city.

Cards may be played from your hand or from the face-up area on the board called the meadow. However, only cards touching the sun or moon token may be played from the meadow, and players move these tokens each time they perform a turn. Therefore, planning for and timing which cards you play is critical.

Each game you try to achieve various events, the requirements of which differ from game to game, making certain cards and combinations more important to pursue.

The game lasts for four seasons, then players add their scores to determine the winner. If you're playing co-operatively, check the requirements for the chapter you are playing to see whether you have won.

—description from the publisher

Rauha

After millennia of sterility, life has sprung again on Rauha. As a venerable Shaman, one of its five worlds has been entrusted to you. Your powers are divine and allow you to shape the environment in order to turn this world into a cradle of life energy, keeper of serenity and harmony for the centuries to come.

Obtain the most victory points, represented as Life Energy, to win the game. You have 2 Ages to turn your world into an energetic core of Rauha. In Age 1, vegetation, terrain, and wildlife will appear. In Age 2, civilizations will thrive.

The game takes place over 4 rounds, each divided into 3 turns followed by a scoring phase. Each turn, you will follow 5 steps:
1. Simultaneously take all Biome cards from the satellite whose symbol matches the one beneath your Avatar on your Player board (moon or star).
2. Choose one card to place on any square of your Player board or discard to the Black Hole.
3. Receive a Divine Entity if you create a row or column of matching symbols on your Player board.
4. Activate your Avatar, plus any Divine Entities in the same row or column as your Avatar.
5. Finally move your Avatar one notch clockwise along the edge of your Player board, changing the row or column that will be activated on the next turn.

During the Scoring Phase, you will activate all your Biomes with Spore tokens and any Divine Entities you may have, gaining crystals and points as shown on the components.

-description from publisher

Pixies

In Pixies, you move through the seasons to meet little creatures emerging from a flower or sheltering in the hollow of a tree. Choose one of the revealed cards, but be careful which ones you leave to your opponents!

Place that card in your playing area according to its number. Cards placed one on top of another are validated and earn you points at the end of the round, as do your largest color zone and your spirals. Easy...yet you'll find that the other players won't be short of bad advice.

—description from the publisher