Track Movement

Icarus & his friends have crafted handmade wings. Day and night, jubilant with their newfound freedom, they fly higher & higher... A trick-taking game of flying, flipping, & trying not to soar into the hot, hot sun.

With competitive (2-5p) and co-operative (3-5p) modes, players win tricks to fly higher in the sky. The winner of each trick moves to the next open space above them on the scoring track unless they fly into the sun, in which case they will plummet to below the bottom-most player.

Every card has two different values which alternate - along with the trump suit - whenever a 5-card is played. With rules simple enough to teach in a few minutes, Trickarus is accessible for those unfamiliar with trick-taking, while also having enough challenge for more experienced trick-takers to experiment with different strategies.

US EDITION Changes:
Smirk & Dagger Games has made the following adjustments for the English edition.
The Lightning Bolt card has a new function. It no longer causes the winner of a trick to fly down the track. 2 copies of the card now exist in the Stormy Weather rules.

Stormy Weather rules:
Add 2 Lightning cards and the second (new) poker chip token.
A Lightning card may be played at one of two times, as the first card of the round when you are the Lead player – or – if you are unable to follow suit during a trick.

Playing the Lightning card swaps the Day / Night chip with the one currently out of play. This will change the Strongest Suits (Trump) from Sun & Moon to Clouds & Raindrops and vice versa. Note: swapping the chip does not change Day / Night and cards are not rotated. If the Sun is face up (Day) it swaps for Clouds (also Day). If the Moon is face up (Night) it swaps for Raindrops (also Night) and vice versa.

This means that Clouds and Raindrops are no longer always “junk” suits but have the ability to be the
Strongest Suits.

---
New 2 Player game

A dummy score tracker token (Icarus) is added to the game. Icarus is dealt a three card hand, face up, so both players know what Icarus will play over the span of three rounds. Then, a new set of cards comes out.
Unlike the 3-5p mode, a player does not win by being highest on the track at the end of the game. Instead: One player has the goal of the game ending with Icarus either above or below all the other
players on the score track.
The other player has the goal of the game ending with Icarus between the two other players on the score track.
While both are tested as equally balanced ways to win, players will have personal preferences and strategies. This push and pull mechanic makes for a far more engaging two-paler experience.

The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible is a thematic sequel to the popular board game Rurik: Dawn of Kiev.

In this board game you will lead the boyar families competing for power and honor in the 16th-century Tsardom of Russia. Over four decades, you’ll collect income from estates and equip troops, trade with foreigners and fortify cities, seek privileges and carry out royal assignments. Use your influence on the tsar, bribe his minions, and perhaps it is your family that will succeed in taking the Russian throne in the next century.

The game is played over four rounds, each one representing approximately a decade of Ivan the Terrible’s reign. At the beginning of each round the players send their boyars to the Kremlin chambers, choosing their actions for the current decade.

Then the players perform the chosen actions:
receive income from cities;
place boyars and warriors on the map and move them;
gain and complete construction, trade and military projects;
exchange goods;
acquire new titles and estates.
At the end of the round, the players with the most influence in the four regions receive additional rewards.

An important element of the game is the Tsar’s favor,
which is used to resolve all ties.

At the end of the game, the player with the most victory points wins.

Retell the incredible origin myth of the Inca in this dramatic mid-weight eurogame.

In the beginning, Viracocha the creator brought forth Inti, the sun god, and Mama Quilla, the moon god. From the union of these two gods sprang four sons and four daughters: the Ayar. These siblings were tasked with guiding the first clans and teaching them the skills needed to build a civilization. As they traveled the land in search of fertile ground, the Ayar one by one met their fates until only two remained to found Tawantinsuyu – the Inca Empire.

In Ayar: Children of the Sun, players take control of one of the first clans, journeying with the Ayar across the Andes. Follow their teaching and improve your skills at farming, pottery, weaving, and reed bundling. As well as advancing your own clan, you must influence the progress of the Ayar, ensuring the survival of those who reward your most developed skills. Seek the approval of Mama Quilla through long-term strategy, and please Inti with tactical play. Be careful not to earn the ire of one of these jealous gods because at the end of the game, whichever one favors you least will determine your final score.

The future of your clan – and the Inca civilization – is in your hands.

Become the leaders of scientific teams venturing into uncharted boreal territories to observe and photograph the Arctic’s most adorable inhabitants.

Play cards from your hand to one of 3 locations on your player board to snap a photo and send your scientists sliding to the left and to the right - but only if their colors match the ones printed on your card!

Line up vehicle symbols, race to claim objectives, and arrange animals in pre-determined end-game scoring patterns to earn the most points and gain everlasting fame at the Society for Polar Inquiry. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even get your own tiny snow-covered island named after you.

In Crafting the Cosmos, you are interstellar architects, competing to build the galaxy – one star at a time. Manipulate the laws of the universe to your advantage, shifting gravity or the flow of time to activate useful power cards, and even spawn advanced life that can earn you extra victory points at the end of the game. Use your resources wisely as you craft your cosmic creation.

Each round consists of each player taking a turn, which then is followed by shared end phase. A player's turn consists of two phases: energy and craft. Players takes their turns moving energy on the main board and gaining resources. They then spend their resources to craft their galaxy.

During the energy phase, you move energy tokens around the controls on the main board to gain resources for crafting your cosmos. Then during the collect resources phase, you gain the resources from the one active control space with your energy token, then from all four of the passive control spaces.

Once a player has collected all of their resources, they spend them during the craft phase in any order to craft their galaxy. You may take placement actions, scoring actions, energy card actions, and slider actions in any order. You may place the four standard kinds of stars: hydrogen (H), helium (He), carbon (C), and oxygen (O), place proto life, or even nebulae.

Players can spend energy cards to gain power cards to help them craft their cosmos more effectively, and they compete to complete universal goals.