Pixel Glory

Designed by: Frank Alberts, Russell NgPublished by: Zafty Games (2014)Players: 2-4Ages: 13 +Time: 30 minutes

Pixel Glory begins with the “Town Phase”: you draft a deck of spells, trying to get the ones you want by skillful bidding. When this phase is over, you should have nine spells (and some basic attacks) at your disposal. Then, you take on the monsters in the “Dungeon Phase” ! Cast spells, or launch your basic attacks — you have to play all your cards, so don’t hold back. And don’t forget to keep track of which elemental forces can pay off with some extra damage.

All fame for a monster’s kill is given to whoever landed the final blow. Getting the most fame also wins you the game, so be vigilant!

Letter Tycoon

Designed by: Brad BrooksPublished by: Breaking Games, Squirmy Beast (2015)Players: 2-5Ages: 8+Time: 30 minutes

At first this looks like a lot of board games, where you try to build the longest words to get points. But in Letter Tycoon, you get money — and stock!

You build words at least 3 letters long from the cards in your hand, and maybe also from the central pool of letters that can be used by anyone. You get cash for building words, which you can eventually spend on patenting one of the letters of the alphabet. After doing this, no one else may use the patented letter without paying you for each use!

Funemployed

Designed by: Anthony ContaPublished by: Mattel (2013)Players: 3-20Ages: 13+Time: 30 minutes

Each player takes a turn as a “hiring manager”, where they get to give every other player a job interview! The HR director of the current turn gets to evaluate which one of the applicants gets offered the job.

But when a player is interviewed, they draw several cards which must be integrated into their answers. Some are absurd, some are scary and some are a bit racy. The challenge for each round’s applicants is to work the unexpected, random words and phrases on the drawn cards into their attempts at marketing themselves, in as seamless (or as entertaining) a manner as possible.

Show & Tile

Designed by: Isaac Shalev and Matt Loomis Published by: Jellybean (2018)Players: 3 – 6Ages: 8 & upTime: 30 minUnearthed by: Ed

Show & Tile is a party game where each player takes two sets of tangram tiles, picks a word, and starts building. At the end of 90 seconds, put your tiles down, flip over the timer and you have 90 seconds to guess everyone’s word on your score pad. You score 1 point for each correct guess, 2 points if anyone guessed your word correctly, or 3 points if you picked a harder star word. After 4 rounds, the player with the most points wins!

Kings’ Struggle

Designed by:  Robert BurkePublished by:  Wizkids (2018)Number of Players: 3 – 6Ages:  14+Run time: 30 min

Unearthed by: Evan

Kings’ Struggle is a negotiation-focused card game, with elements of trick-taking and set collection. The game is mechanically simple: each player plays just one card per round, and each game lasts only seven rounds. Along the way, players vie to win cards and earn gold through various means, which garner victory points.What makes Kings’ Struggle special is the unique card abilities that have been crafted to drive negotiation. The ability of a card you’ve played can be activated on your turn — or not: it’s up to you. Just remember, your action or inaction is for sale! Analyzing who has the most to win — or the most to lose — from your current ability will help you leverage the cards to your maximum benefit.You must learn to play the players, more than you learn to play the game.

Probe

Published by: Parker BrothersEdition Played: 1976 (first published in 1964)Number of Players: 2 – 4Ages: 8+Run time: 30-60 minutesUnearthed by: Celeste

Each player has a long strip of paper with 12 segments. Each player writes a word of 12 letters or less on the segmented paper, making dots on every segment without a letter. Before play begins, the long paper is enclosed in a long, bright orange, plastic case, with 12 tiny lids that open and close independently (one for each segment!). At the start of each of your turns, you draw a card that may give you a special bonus or detriment that will affect your turn. A player’s turn ends when they guess wrong. The scoring of letters varies based on which one is revealed.

Death Wish

Designed by: Jason Hibbert of Sketchy GamesPublished by: Zafty Games (2017)Players: 2 to 8Ages: 15 & upTime: 20-45 minutesUnearthed by: Ed

Death Wish is a light-hearted party card game where the goal is to be the first player to die from fictional diseases.Players take turns collecting matching symptoms and “afflicters”, with the aim of contracting one of the diseases displayed on the table before they’re snapped up by another player. You strive to collect a set of the same colour for most diseases, or one of each color for the wild diseases. Contract a disease by showing the completed set to describe how you caught the disease, and gain “skulls” based on its severity. White strains are most common; less harmful types (one skull) contrast with the rare and deadly red strains (four skulls!)Some diseases trigger outbreaks, which have an array of random creative effects that change the dynamic of the game.The goal is to collect enough “Skull” points to die; the amount required is set by the number of players. First one to die . . . wins the game!

Fist of Dragonstones: The Tavern Edition

Designed by: Bruno Faidutti & Michael SchachtPublished by: Stronghold Games (2018)  Players: 3 to 6Ages: 8 & upTime: 45 – 60 minUnearthed by: Evan

Fist of Dragonstones: Tavern Edition is a closed-fist, bidding game. Players try to outwit their opponents by bidding with different types of gold or silver coins to buy control of an ever-changing cast of enchanted character cards. The powers from those characters help collect valuable Dragonstones, lend their magical powers, help foil other players, and convert Dragonstones into victory.This new Tavern Edition has been updated greatly from the original to improve gameplay. The King’s Favor is introduced to the game, which speeds up play. The game includes more than 70 special character cards, compared to 25 in the original. But we are not comparing this version to the original; we intend to judge it on its own merits.

Squadro

Designed by: Adrián Jiménez PascualPublished by: Gigamic (2018)Players: 2Ages: 8 & upTime: 20 minUnearthed by: Mike

Each player starts with five pieces on their side of the game board, with each player sitting perpendicular to the other. When you move a piece, you move a number of spaces based on the speed indicated in the row that you’re leaving.

Once a piece has made its way across the board, you move it back based on the speed on the other side. If your piece passes over an opposing piece while moving, then that opposing piece must return to its last departing base — and your moving piece advances one cell further than where the opposing piece was.

The first player to return 4 of their pieces home (facing the right direction!) wins.

First Annual Which Game First Awards

Best Archeological Find: This award goes to the best game released more than 30 years ago. The version we played must be over 30 years old to be considered for this category.Nominations: 221B Baker Street, Rich Uncle, Dune, Three On a Match, Anti-MonopolyWINNER: Dune

Best Ice-Breaker game: This award goes to the best casual game to play at parties. Nominations: Deep Sea Adventure, Dixit, Happy Salmon, Love LetterWINNER: Deep Sea Adventure

Best Art: This award goes to the game that has the most engaging or compelling use of art.Nominations: Azul, Ex Libris, Lanterns, Muse, The NetworksWINNER: Muse

Best Game Component:  This award goes to the game with the specific component that immediately brings you into the game.Nominations: Celestia, Sagrada, Nuclear War, Tower of MadnessWINNER: Celestia

Best Shelfie: This award goes to the game that you are proud to show off, due to its overall production value and sleekness of the game’s box and components.Nominations: Azul, Carson City, Gloomhaven, Twilight ImperiumWINNER: Azul

Best Educational Game (Science or History): This award goes to the game that teaches you something cool about the subject while having fun!Nominations: Automobile, Evolution: Climate, Suburbia, Anti-MonopolyWINNER: Evolution: Climate

Best Strategy Game: This Award goes to the game that keeps you up late at night, wondering what strategy you’ll try next time…!Nominations: Power Grid, Terraforming Mars, Twilight ImperiumWINNER: Twilight Imperium

Best Card Game: This Award goes the game that just about the cards, no board needed Nominations: Android: Netrunner, Dominion, San Juan, TichuWINNER: Android: Netrunner

Best New Game:  This award goes to the best game published within the last 24 months, excluding reprints or new editions of older games.Nominations: British vs Pirates, Century: Spice Road, Gloomhaven, Mountain of MadnessWINNER: Gloomhaven

Firstie Worstie: This award goes to the game where the best move is to bury it deep in the ground! Nominations: Battle of the Sexes, Mid-Life Crisis, Pickles to Penguins, Eddie Cantor’s: Tell it to the JudgeWINNER: Battle of the Sexes

Games We Want to See in 2019

CloudspirePublisher: Chip Theory GamesEstimated Release Date: June 2019Website: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chiptheorygames/cloudspire

Trogdor!! The Board Game Publisher: Homestar RunnerEstimated Release Date: June 2019Website: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1999933720/trogdor-the-board-game

UBOOT: The Board GamePublisher: PHALANXEstimated Release Date: Q1 2019Website: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phalanxgames/uboot-the-board-game

War RoomPublisher:  Nightingale GamesEstimated Release Date: Early 2019Website: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1957090458/war-room-a-larry-harris-game

Tainted Grail: The Fall of AvalonPublisher: Awaken RealmsEstimated Release Date: August 2019Website: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/awakenrealms/tainted-grail-the-fall-of-avalon

Music from Freesound.org:

Scuttle!

Designed by: Peter C. Hayward Published by: Jellybean Games (2016)Players: 1 to 5Ages: 6 & upTime: 5 – 10 minUnearthed by: Joe

In Scuttle! You play a swashbuckling pirate captain, racing other dastardly pirates to collect treasure. Each player is dealt a hand of four cards. On your turn, take one action: draw a card or play a card.  Cards may be played as a Treasure, or for its ability. As soon as one player has 21 doubloons worth of treasure or a team has 30 doubloons, they win!In the single-player game, so it’s a race to the get the treasure before the other side gets you

San Juan

Designed by: Andreas SeyfarthPublished by: Alea and Rio Grande Games (2004)Players: 2 – 4Ages: 10 & upTime: 45 – 60 minUnearthed by: Ed

San Juan is a card game based on the well-known game Puerto Rico, designed by Andreas Seyfarth and produced by Rio Grande Games. The deck of 110 cards consists of production buildings (indigo, sugar, tobacco, coffee, and silver) and “violet” buildings that grant special powers or extra victory points. Cards from the hand can be either built or used as money to build something else; face-down cards from the deck may be used to represent goods produced by the production buildings.Every round, starting with the governor, each player selects one of the available roles, which causes that activity to be performed by all players, such as producing goods, constructing buildings, or trading. The person who picks the role gets a privilege that gives them an advantage in that activity. The game ends as soon as one player has put up twelve buildings.  The player with the most victory points, provided by buildings, wins the game!

Hero Realms

Designed by: Robert Dougherty, Darwin KastlePublished by: White Wizard Games (2016) Players: 2 – 4Ages: 12 & upTime: 20 – 30 minUnearthed by: Mike

Hero Realms is a strategic deck building game that can be played head to head, in teams, or in a free-for-all mode. Each player starts with a basic personal deck of 10 cards. Each turn, you play all of the cards from your hand to gain Gold, Combat, Health, and other abilities.Gold is used to buy cards from the Market, which represent Actions, Items, and Champions you may add to your deck. Some cards will become more powerful as allies from the same faction are played.Combat is used to attack your opponent and their Champions.Each player begins the game with 50 Health. When a player has no Health remaining, they are out of the game. The last one standing, wins!

Medieval Academy

Designed by: Nicolas Poncin Published by: IELLO Games (2014)Players: 2 to 5Ages: 8 & upTime: 30 minUnearthed by: Joe

Squires, welcome to Medieval Academy, where you’ll be trained as knights! Master the arts of Jousts and Tournaments, complete dangerous Quests and polish your Education. Show your Charity and Gallantry as you serve the King! Only one of you will be knighted by King Arthur himself, so don your armor and show your stuff!

To win, you must accumulate the most Chivalry points. Squires are judged in seven different categories — some categories award only the best, while others penalize the worst; some are only scored once or twice a game, while others score on each and every turn! Players draft a hand of 5 cards each turn; each one can advance your position in one of the categories. After six turns, the squire with the most Chivalry points is knighted and wins the game.

British vs. Pirates (Volume I)

Designed by: Apollo RandallPublished by: WinGo Games (2017) Players: 2 to 4Ages: 14 & upTime: 45 – 60 minutesUnearthed by: Celeste

This is a team game.  One team plays the British Navy; the other, Carribean pirates. Each player chooses a Captain and a Ship from their side to play. The strengths of each captain are combined with that of their ship, to make up their attacking, defending and maneuvering power. Players sail around the hex map, evading or engaging the enemy. The goal is to defeat enemy ships — either through boarding actions or cannon fire. Additional factors, such as wind and hands of cards, will provide additional factors to the battle. You can play specific mission scenarios, or try to be the last man standing!

Survive: Space Attack!

Designed by: Julian Courtland-Smith, Geoff Engelstein, Brian Engelstein, Sydney EngelsteinPublished by: Stronghold Games (2015)Players: 2 to 4Ages: 8 & upTime: 45 – 60 minUnearthed by: Ed

Welcome to the height of technology and comfort aboard the Space Station Atlantis!  We regret to inform you the station is under attack by aliens, please remain calm and proceed to the nearest escape pod.

In Survive: Space Attack, you try to get your crew to safety. You have 10 crew members with values ranging from 1 to 6.  Each turn you have three move actions to move crew or ships; then remove one station tile, and look at its back to see what events unfold. The tile may place a new creature, a new ship, or provide a special ability to save for later. Lastly, you roll the die to see which type of creature you must move. You may also capture creatures, using a Fighter or Turret, and place them on the board at a later time.

When the “Core Breach” tile is revealed, the game ends! Sum up the value of the crew you rescued, with a bonus for each different jump point you reached.  The highest total wins.

Celestia

Designed by: Aaron Weissblum

Published by: BLAM! (2015)

Players: 2 to 6

Ages: 8 & up

Time: 30 minutes

Unearthed by: Evan

In Celestia, you board an aircraft with a team of adventurers to perform many trips through the cities of Celestia and recover their wonderful treasures.

At the beginning of a journey, all players place their pawns within the aircraft; the players start the game with six cards in hand (or eight depending on the number of players). At the beginning of each round, one player is chosen to be the captain of the trip and he rolls 2-4 dice to discover the challenges that they will face: fog, lightning bolts, killer birds, or pirates. He must then play the appropriate cards — a compass, a lightning arrester, a foghorn, or even cannons — to continue on the journey and reach the next city. But before the captain plays the appropriate cards, each player must decide whether to stay within the aircraft:

If you exit, you’re guaranteed the victory points that come from exploring the current city.

If you stay on board, you hope to make it to the next city in order to catch more precious treasures. If the captain can’t overcome the challenge, though, everyone comes crashing down empty-handed and you’ll need to begin a new trip with all passengers on board.

The winner is the first player to accumulate 50 points worth of treasure.

Power Grid Deluxe

Designed by: Friedemann Friese

Published by: Rio Grande Games (2014), originally published in (2004)

Players: 2 to 6

Ages: 12 & up

Time: 120 minutes

Unearthed by: Ed

The goal of Power Grid Deluxe is to supply the most cities with power!

Each round players will:

Bid for power plants that they need to power cities. However, as power plants are purchased, newer, more efficient plants may become available, so by merely purchasing, you’re potentially allowing others access to superior equipment.

Buy fuel (coal, oil, natural gas, or uranium) needed by your power plants. As resources are purchased, the supply dwindles rising the cost for the following buyers due to demand.

Build generations in cities striving to expand your network to get the cheapest routes before your competitors.

Get paid for powering cities, to use those funds next round to further improve their Power Grid.

The game ends when the grid has reached a set threshold, and whoever powers the most cities, wins.

Mid-Life Crisis

Designed by: Michael Stern

Published by: The Game Works (1982)

Players: 2 to 6

Ages: 18+

Time: 60 min

Unearthed by: Mike

In Mid Life Crisis, players wind their way through the treacherous bowels of their middle years (30-55 according to the designers). Your goal is to get to the end of the game without cracking up from stress, getting a divorce, or going broke. If any of those things happen, it will set you back several spaces and cost you a turn or two to recover. When someone reaches the end of the board, the game ends and the player with the most money wins.

Left Center Right (LCR)

Designed by: Uncredited

Published by: Spin Master

Players: 3 to 12

Ages: 5 +

Time: 20 minutes

Unearthed by: Celeste

Each player is given 3 chips to start.  On their turn, they roll the dice (as many dice as they have chips at the time, up to three). For each ‘L’ rolled, they pass a chip to the player on their left; for each ‘R’, they pass to whoever’s on their right; and for every ‘C’ (or ‘Star’, in this version) they pass a chip to the center; and for each ‘Circle’ they roll, they do nothing. This continues until only one player is left with chips . . . and they are the winner.

Android: Netrunner

Originally Designed by: Richard Garfield

Developed by: Lukas Litzsinger

Published by: Fantasy Flight Games (2012)

Players: 2

Ages: 14 +

Time: 30 – 60 min

Unearthed by: Ed

Android: Netrunner is a two-player, asymmetrical Living Card Game® set in a dystopian, cyberpunk future where monolithic megacorps own and control the vast majority of human interests. They have to guard their intellectual properties from the elite and subversive hackers known as Netrunners.

The corp player has 3 core servers — and may create more remote servers  — to advance agendas or exploit assets. Of course, they must protect all this information from nefarious hackers, by installing ICE other countermeasures.  Netrunners scramble to buy the latest hardware for their rig and install the most devious programs — to steal corporate agendas and trash corporate assets.

The heart of the game’s conflict occurs when the Netrunner “runs” on a corp’s server. The corp may activate ICE installed to keep intruders out, while the runner uses programs called “icebreakers” to bypass defenses.

Corporations advance their agendas, while Netrunners subvert those same agendas. First player to 7 Agenda points wins the game.

221b Baker Street: The Master Detective Game

Designed by: Jay Moriarty

Published by: Antler Productions (1975)

Players: 2 to 6

Ages: 10+

Time: 60 – 90 minutes

Unearthed by: Evan

Follow in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes. There is a case to be solved, and each player might be the detective to crack it wide open. All players are solving the same case.

Everyone starts at 221B Baker Street on the map, from which the players visit each of the 14 locations on the board. Movement is decided by the throw of a single die.

The Case card provides the background of the case as well as listing the location of each clue in the case booklet. A place may provide no clue, or only a part of one. Clues may also be entirely irrelevant, or throw a player off entirely. Clues often are in the form of a riddle, especially multi-part clues.

Upon entering a location the player reads the back of the card containing the case. It consists of a list of locations and a number assigned to each one. The player may then secretly read the relevant paragraph in the back of the rulebook which is the clue.

Each paragraph may contain evidence of note, or it may not! And the clue may be cryptic. A time limit to read the clue is recommended, after which the book must be closed. Play then passes to the next player.

If the player believes that they know the solution to the case, they may return to the starting point at 221B Baker Street. Once there, the player must announce (publicly) the essentials of the crime: typically the culprit, the weapon used and the motive.

Blokus

Designed by: Bernard Tavitian

Published By: Mattel Games (2000)

Players: 2 to 4

Ages: 7+

Time: 30 min

Unearthed by: Joe

Blokus is a game for 2-4, widely recommended for 2 or 4. You must place as many of your pieces on the board as you can, but you must follow the rule: on the first turn, the piece you place must fit over your corner space. You heard me right: just one rule is a bit of a stretch you can actually say this game has just that one rule. . . and get away with it! On every other turn, the piece you place MUST touch another of your pieces, corner-to-corner (never edge-to-edge); but there are no such limitations on how your pieces touch those of your opponents.  Blokus pieces may never be stacked, and the segmented indentations on the board have probably prevented thousands, if not millions, of disasters from the inadvertent jostling of snack bowls or mischievous cats.

Bärenpark

Designed by: Phil Walker-Harding

Published By: Lookout Games and Mayfair Games (2017)

Players: 2 to 4

Ages: 8+

Time: 30 – 45 min

Unearthed by: Ed

Bärenparks: it’s the next big thing! To be successful, you must skillfully fit together enclosures, animal houses, and green areas, and use every available inch of land. Animal houses and enclosures are worth points, and are more valuable if you build them quickly. Construction crews let you claim more land to build on. When one player fills their park, the game is over and it’s time to see who’s won!

Redneck Life

Designed by: Lisa Steenson and Lori Dieda

Published By: Gut Bustin Games (2003)

Players: 2 to 6

Ages: 13+

Time: 1 – 2 hours

Unearthed by: Celeste

A roll of two dice determines how many years of grade school you’ve completed. You start the game at age 18, which sets you up for one of 11 fabulous careers, such as Monster Truck Announcer or Mullet Salon Operator!

Roll the dice to move along the board. Blaze through Blue Collar Americana by taking payday loans to purchase rigs. Also get hitched and housed, divorced, remarried, and raise yourself  a passel of young’uns.

Accidents and brawls do happen from time to time — so take care of your pearly whites! Buy some back at the Day of Reckonin’ if you can. Because at the end of the game, the winner is the player with the most teeth left!

Deep Sea Adventure

Designed by: Jun Sasaki, Goro Sasaki

Published By: Oink Games Inc. (2014)

Players: 2 to 6

Ages: 8 +

Time: 30 min

Unearthed by: Evan

A group of cash-strapped salvagers dreaming of quick wealth venture out to recover treasures from some undersea ruins. They’re all rivals, but budget constraints force them to share a single rented submarine, so they must all share a single tank of air, as well. If they don’t get back to the sub before they run out of air, they’ll drop all their treasure. Now it’s time to see who can bring home the greatest riches.

The game takes place over 3 rounds, and the player to gain the most points over the 3 rounds is the winner. In order to gain points, you must bring treasure back to the submarine. You can only return to the submarine once per round, and you cannot progress any further after returning.

Gloomhaven

Designed by: Isaac Childres

Published By: Cephalofair Games (2017)

Players: 1 to 4

Ages: 12 +

Time: 60 – 120 min

Unearthed by: Joe

Gloomhaven is a legacy game. That means every time it’s played, there are concrete changes made to the game’s setting, so it evolves in reaction to players’ short and long-term effects on the game world. Starting characters include characters like the Scoundrel, the Brute and the Tinkerer. Every character gets their own deck of action cards and starts at level 1. A character’s deck will change as the character accumulates levels of experience.

The game plays out in a series of scenarios, each of which take up to 120 minutes. Before each scenario, the PCs are given battle goal cards to choose from. These give each character a specific goal, to be kept secret from other players. If achieved, this goal will give the character one or two check marks, similar to victory points, which can be used to improve that player’s character later on.

In a typical scenario, the players move their character across the spaces on the map populated with traps and other features laid out and arranged as instructed by the scenario book. When characters engage in combat, they use two action cards each round. Each action card has an initiative number in the middle, top action, and a bottom action.

Between scenarios, the players periodically return to Gloomhaven. When they arrive, they are given a choice to make in a city encounter. When they leave Gloomhaven, they may have a choice to make in a road encounter; both road and city encounters are resolved by group decision, just like a real group of adventurers, and both can have immediate or long-term effects on the game’s story. The game offers dozen of scenarios, new treasures and level-up surprises as you go for tons of adventure gameplay.

Century: Eastern Wonders

Designed by: Emerson Matsuuchi

Published By: Plan B Games (2018)

Players: 2 to 4

Ages: 8+

Time: 30-45 min

Unearthed by: Ed

Centuries ago, the lucrative spice trade led to the discovery of the famed Spice Islands where the most valuable spices in the world were found in the Age of Discovery. Your journey continues in the Far East.

Century Eastern Wonders is played over a series of rounds. Each player will take one turn each round (starting with the first player and going clockwise). On a player’s turn, they may move their boat and then perform one of three possible actions:

Harvest: Gain 2 yellow ginger spice cubes.

Market: May place an Outpost; and if you have an outpost, you may make that exchange.

Port: Trade in the listed spices for VP.