Patterns - A Mandala Game is another area control design by Trevor Benjamin and Brett J. Gilbert. Patterns draws you in as you take turns swapping tiles from the large mandala at your table. Each player tries to mark contiguous colored areas as territory. Start by spreading the unique tea towel play mat first and creating a mandala by all but 2 out of 54 colorful mandala tiles. Whoever claims most point in the end, wins.
Embark on a journey of exploration and discovery along the historic John Muir Trail through the High Sierras of California. Explore the majestic mountains and lush meadows, the picturesque waterfalls and alpine lakes. Scale the heights of Yosemite's iconic Half Dome or Sequouia's Mt. Whitney! Enjoy meandering through Evolution Valley or Tuolumne Meadows, pausing to take in the beauty of Thousand Islands Lake or cooling your feet in the Kings River. Be humbled beneath a giant and ancient Sequoia, or catch (and release) a Golden Trout, listen to the song of an Ouzel, watch Marmots at play, or spot the rare Snow Plant. Happy trails!
Trailblazer: The John Muir Trail takes place over the course of twelve days/rounds of hiking and backpacking along the John Muir Trail (JMT). You will experience daily trail encounters, choose to explore destinations along the trail, acquire and manage natural and personal resources, discover and observe the sights and sounds of your environment, adapt to ever-changing weather conditions, and move along the entire trail, all while wisely using the items in your backpack to maximize your experience.
You can earn trail points in several ways along the route, such as placing workers on your tracks, collecting sets of field guide cards, scoring instantly with destination cards, and using your backpack gear efficiently.
Welcome to Forever Home, the puzzly pattern-building game about second chances for shelter dogs.
Using a combination of tile placement, set collection, and drafting, you and your friends take on the role of shelter workers. Take it in turns to bring dogs into your shelter, complete training cards, and match pups up with new families. You'll be competing for valuable shelter commendations, as well as gaining reputation for training and rehoming the dogs in your care. At the end of the game, the shelter worker with the most reputation wins!
Featuring quick and simple turns; a unique solo mode; and a second advanced side to the player board, Forever Home is a replayable, easy-to-love abstract game.
—description from the publisher
Somewhere, deep in the underworld, not far from the Styx and Elysian Fields, bellhops are preparing themselves to knock on their guest's doors. And YES : they ARE scared.
In Hellton Palace, both players are managing a hotel, hiring bellhops to address their guest needs. But in the end, they know the place is going to collapse at some point... Try to outlast your opponent!
An unsatisfied customer would penalize your reputation, but a too enthusiastic legendary creature or god can literally break the pillars supporting the building!
Twist your habit by having a new goal: Losing last!
On your turn:
1) Welcome a guest in one of the available rooms in the matching row.
2) Dismiss your bellhops by flipping their tile to their "break" side.
3) Hire new ones by paying the cost with your hard-earned money.
4) Move your Bellhop pawn from room #1 to #9. When they reach an empty room, ignore it and move on to the next one. When they reach an occupied room, choose whether to serve the Guest or not.
Serving a Guest removes their irritation token and makes them satisfied, which allows you to apply the effects on their door hanger
If you decide not to serve the Guest, place an Irritation token on them except if they have one already. In this case, remove it with a Bell token. In this case, remove all irritation token and lose one bell token.
5) Choose between collecting coins (of all satisfied guests/all guests without irritation token) OR gaining a Bell token back.
There are two ways of ending the game:
A player has no bell token left
A player has a column with no pillar token left
—description from the publisher
Fit to Print is a puzzly tile-laying game about breaking news, designed by Peter McPherson and set in a charming woodland world created by Ian O’Toole!
Thistleville is the world’s most bustling little town — it’s a challenge to keep up with everything going on, from who took home first prize for their baked goods at the community fair to who has been digging in Mrs. Brambleberry’s carrot patch.
As an editor at one of the local newspapers, your job is to tell their stories!
The front page is due in just a few hours and you have no time for perfection. Grab the big stories before the other papers get a chance, and make sure you get the right photos too. A newspaper is a business, so the money has to come from somewhere — don’t forget the ads! After you’ve picked out a combination of stories, photos, and ads, it’s time to lay out the front page. Did you take enough tiles to fill the paper, but not so many that things have to be cut? Over the course of three hectic days, your skills will be tested as you compete to be the most newsworthy editor!
Fit To Print is a tile-laying game for the whole family. Players simultaneously collect newspaper tiles, stacking them on their desks until they think they have what they need to make the perfect front page. Then, they will yell “Layout!” and begin to lay out the page by carefully considering the placement of centerpieces, articles, photographs, and advertisements. When everything is just right, they yell “Print” to be the first off the press and gain their choice of centerpiece for the next round! This hectic spatial puzzle features over 100 unique newspaper tiles, 6 characters with their own special abilities, as well as 3 decks of Breaking News cards — so that each and every time you play you will be solving a new puzzle!
If real-time games aren’t your style, Fit to Print has a number of alternative modes to satisfy every type of puzzle gamer. In Slo-Mode players take turns drafting tiles from a shared market and arranging them on their front pages. In Puzzle Mode, take a specific set of tiles and piece together the highest-scoring arrangements. Whether you enjoy relaxing solo puzzles on your own, or frenetic action for up to 6 players, you will have a blast helping the critters of Thistleville tell their stories!
—description from the publisher