deduction

In Vanuatu, you are a Vanuatuan who wants to prosper during the eight turns of the game. In order to prosper, you have to manage with natural resources, rare items, vatus (local currency) and tourists. To earn money or prosperity points, you may also draw on the sand*, carry tourists all over Vanuatu islands, or trade cargo with foreign countries.

On each turn, the archipelago expands and you have to program your actions with five tokens. You put one or more of them on the chosen action spaces, and on your turn, you will only be able to play an action if you have the majority on its space. Thus, sometimes have to wait for other players to remove their tokens by playing their actions. If you are not in majority anywhere, you have to remove all of your tokens from an action and give up hope of playing this action. A good strategy lets you block other players; for example, they won't be able to sell fishes if they haven't caught them first – order matters! Islands and sea resources are rare, so be quick and take them first!

There is no such thing as a rich Vanuatuan. When you reach ten Vatus, they automatically transform into 5 prosperity points and again, you are poor. Life is hard, but you may encounter ten men to help you; on each turn you choose one of them to increase your benefits from an action. As always, being the first player lets you choose before the others.

In short, Vanuatu is a strategy game of programming and majorities that features development, blocking, and a lot of interaction between players.

This Quined Master Print edition brings you the wonderful original game, as well as the Rising Waters expansion and the extra character of the Governor, with completely new artwork by Konstantin Vohwinkel. The Rising Waters expansion adds a whole new level of tension to the game: Global warming threatens Vanuatu. Many islands are in danger of disappearing under the sea due to rising waters. Players will therefore have to unite to protect the islands by building dikes. However, the interests of one are not necessarily the interests of others.

(*) Sand Drawing in Vanuatu belongs to the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity of the UNESCO.

This is a semi-cooperative game which puts the "thief" against the rest of the players, who take the role of detectives. As the thief, you secretly plot your movements around a private art museum. As you go, the detectives take turns trying to find you with their eyes, the video cameras, or motion detectors. You can deactivate the cameras, and you can even cut off the power to the entire museum to mask your movements. Another advantage is that the thief gets a turn after every detective's individual turn.

Another problem for the detectives is the fact that, once the thief has picked up a painting, she can take her next turn before removing the painting from the gameboard. The good guys know the vicinity, but won't know her exact location, as the thief is now up to 3 squares away from that spot. If a detective ever spots you with the naked eye, secret movement is over, and the thief's token is placed on the board for all to see. This can get frantic, since the thief can only move 1-3 spaces, while detectives roll a d6 for movement!

The thief player has to decide when to attempt a getaway. The catch is, some of the windows and doors are locked. There are actual lock pieces, and you must flip over the one you are attempting to open (instant detective frenzy!). If she has stolen 3 paintings (in a one-off game), and manages to get out, she wins. In a tournament style game, each player gets a turn at being the thief, so the number of paintings needed will vary based on the other players' scores.

1991 Mensa Select

Also selected by Family Fun Magazine as one of the best games.

Original name by inventors was Heist. Clue name was added for marketing purposes when the game was licensed with Parker Brothers.

Similar to

Scotland Yard
The Fury of Dracula
Specter Ops

Ultimate Werewolf is an interactive game of deduction for two teams: Villagers and Werewolves. The Villagers don't know who the Werewolves are, and the Werewolves are trying to remain undiscovered while they slowly eliminate the Villagers one at a time. A Moderator (who isn't on a team) runs the game.

Ultimate Werewolf takes place over a series of game days and nights. Each day, the players discuss who among them is a Werewolf and vote out a player. Each night, the Werewolves choose a player to eliminate, while the Seer learns whether one player is a Werewolf or not. The game is over when either all the Villagers or all the Werewolves are eliminated.

Ultimate Werewolf: Deluxe Edition features all new artwork, a great new design, totally rewritten and more comprehensive rules, and an even better moderator scorepad. What's more, it supports more players than ever: 75 of your closest friends can converge on one or more villages using the components in this box.

In Covalence, players work together to accurately reconstruct a number of secret organic compounds. One player takes on the role of the “Knower” who has knowledge of the secret compounds, while all other players, “Builders”, must deduce what these secret compounds are, based upon clues given to them by the Knower. All Builders must cooperatively utilize a limited number of clues available in order construct their compounds before the clues run out!

ION: A Compound Building Game is a card drafting game where players select from a number of available Ion Cards and Noble Gas cards with the goal of creating sets of compounds and inert noble gases.

Here’s how the game is played: Each player is dealt eight cards, must select one of those cards and then passes the remaining. Players must choose to either bond (pair) their selected card with another Element Card or set it alone (possibly to form an ionic bond at a later time). Throughout the game, players gain additional points for building specific compounds which are listed on the Compound Goal Cards and have available a set of Action Tiles which award them additional moves throughout the game. Players score points based upon the quantity and type of neutrally balanced compounds they construct and noble gas sets they collect. After three rounds, players add their total scores from each round, subtract points from Action Tiles used, and the player with the most points wins!