Publisher: Abacusspiele
Price: €17.99

A tin holding case for up to eight Anno Domini games out of the 20 available by mid-2008. The Jubiläums Metallbox comes with a 52-card set of soccer-related facts that aren’t available elsewhere.

Publisher: Abacusspiele
Designer: Urs Hostettler
Players: 2-8
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Price: €12.99

As with other Anno Domini games, the challenge is to place events in the correct temporal order: Did the first murder shown on the screen take place before or after Angela Merkel became Cabbage Queen of the city of Oldenburg? (I thought about researching this Merkel/cabbage situtation further, but many more games await my attention. Perhaps another day...)

Publisher: Abacusspiele
Other Publishers: Rio Grande Games
Designer: Michael Schacht
Players: 2-5
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Release Date: Q2 2008
Price: €29.99
Link:

Aquaretto is a thematic sequel to Spiel des Jahres winner Zooloretto that can be played on its own or in combination with the original for a “larger and substantially more demanding” game, according to Abacusspiele.

Players each control a water park and are trying to lure visitors in order to score victory points. They must focus on getting suitable animals since their parks can hold only a limited number of species. Players can place animals as they wish in the pens, yet they must maintain a certain amount of distance between different species, so if they succeed in acquiring many animals, it might prove worthwhile to expand the water park. If the public display areas are full, then any other animals must be stored, which will cause the player to lose points.

Each turn a player can (a) turn over a tile, (b) choose a set of revealed tiles, or (c) expand his water park. As in Zooloretto, if you collect the male and female of a species, you’ll receive a young’un. If you fill your holding pens, you’ll receive money and workers—and the skillful use of worker pieces can give a player additional victory points, and the player with the most points wins.

Publisher: Abacusspiele
Designers: Roman Pelek & Michael Schacht
Players: 2
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €16.99
Links:

Many a sailor entered the harbor tavern in Shanghai only to awake with a roaring skull in the cabin of a floating death trap—which is how this “recruiting method” of unscrupulous captains got the name “shanghaied.”

The notorious captains Ramon “el Dado” and Terrible Michele will now fight amongst themselves to see which of them can pull together the better team. They’re going to play dice for the sailors, and you can be sure there will be some dirty tricks!

How the game is played: At the start of each round, six cards are lined up between the players with each card corresponding to the numbers 1-6 on a die. The cards show sailors of different nationalities or special actions with which the players can influence the die results or enlarge their team. The player take turns rolling dice and assigning one of them to a card until a player wants to get out and start shanghaiing, at which point the cards are distributed to whoever has more dice on their side.

At the end of the game, the player with the stronger team in a nationality scores the strength of the weaker team in victory points; if a player has a monopoly on a team, then he scores the full value of his own team.

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

Roll to recruit

Potential pirate

Publisher: alea
Designer: Andreas Pelikan
Players: 3-5
Ages: 9+
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €20.00
Link:

Here’s a translated description of this game from alea, which will be shown at Nuremberg and on sale in mid-March:

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Reinhard Staupe
Players: 2-4
Ages: 4+
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Price: €7.99
Links:

A color-training game for the youngsters.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Players: 2-4
Ages: 4+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €6.99
Links:

A smaller version of a previously released ( ) game.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Dominique Erhard
Players: 2-4
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Price: €27.99
Link:

Each player takes a team to various excavations sites and tries to gather as many different dinosaur skeletons as possible. Naturally other excavation teams want to make the same finds, so turning up these prehistoric creatures won’t be easy.

Note: This cover is preliminary.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Alan R. Moon
Players: 2-6
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Languages: German, English, French, Italian, Dutch
Price: €27.99
Links:

A tenth anniversary release of this Spiel des Jahres-winning title in a tin box, along the lines of 6 Nimmt! and Bohnanza from previous years.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: H. Jean Vanaise
Price: €19.99

For details on the this game, head to the Horus listing under Mayfair Games, which is copublishing this title.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Michael Schacht
Players: 3-8
Ages: 5+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €6.99
Link:

Laura has invited her friends to a game afternoon, and everyone wants to play Eyes Up! with Laura. A card is revealed: a lamp. Everyone must find out how many lamps are in the room, so quickly look, count and snatch the right number piece! If you grab the right number, you claim the card; the player holding the most cards when the deck is exhausted wins the game.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Silvia Brinkmann
Players: 1-6
Ages: 5+
Playing Time: 30-60 minutes
Price: €9.99
Link:

With this game, long car rides will become an entertaining pleasure. With the help of playing cards, children are asked to observe traffic signs, vehicles or objects by the side of the road. Your goal is to find as many images as possible on the cards.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Thomas Pauli
Players: 2-8
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Price: €6.99

A new design of a previously released ( ) title.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Reiner Knizia
Players: 2-6
Ages: 6+
Playing Time: 15 minutes
Price: €6.99
Link:

A German version of Penguin, which was released by Fantasy Flight Games in 2007, except that it uses chips and not those blasted plastic penguins that people find so bothersome.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Stefan Dorra
Players: 3-5
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Price: €6.99
Links:

A smaller version of a previously released ( ) game.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Matthias Prinz
Players: 2-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 6 minutes
Price: €12.99
Links:

Each player has a deck of cards from 1-18 with three cards face-up. Players take turns rolling three, two, then one die, and you can score any cards that match the numbers that other players roll. When you’re rolling, you can score nothing, so roll like the wind! When a player receiving the dice thinks that time has expired, he lifts the cover concealing a six-minute sandtimer; if time is up, he takes a card from the dice-giver; if not, he hands over a card. Whoever has more points after three rounds wins.

Designer Matthias Prinz has created a tutorial for Six, and although it’s in German, you’ll have no trouble understanding how the game is played.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designer: Reinhard Staupe
Players: 2-4
Ages: 6+
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Price: €6.99
Links:

Promise your children a game, then whip out this little number which is meant to help them learn how to tel ltime and watch their faces fall...

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designers: Thorsten Löpmann & Andreas Wetter
Players: 3-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €12.99
Link:

Note: The cover is preliminary.

Publisher: Amigo Spiele
Designers: Thorsten Löpmann & Andreas Wetter
Players: 2 or 4
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €12.99
Link:

Note: The cover is preliminary.

Publisher: Asmodée Editions
Designers: Bruno Faidutti, Greg Stafford, Don Frew & a designer to be named later
Players: 3-6
Release Date: 2008
Links:

This small expansion, which will be released only in French for now, contains new fate and event cards, new terrain hexes, and new tokens. For images and more information, head to Bruno Faidutti’s Valley of the Mammoths expansion webpage. Note that the yeti pictured below is at the center of a contest to design a card to be included in the published game. What will the yeti do?!

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

The cover

Yeti of mystery

Publisher: Bézier Games
Designer: Ted Alspach
Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Release Date: Spring 2008
Languages: English, German
Link:

Here’s what Ted has to say about his game:

Publisher: Californian Products
Designer: Bas Kesting
Players: 2-6
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Release Date: Q4 2008
Price: €32.95

A pedagogical game that includes more than 200 cards with questions and tasks about...skeet shooting? Volcanos? Hairbrushes? Give me a moment, and I’m sure the topic will come to mind...

Publisher: Clemens Gerhards
Designers: Jens-Peter Schliemann & Michail Antonow
Players: 2

A two-player abstract in the traditional beautiful CG style in which players need to conquer from the outside. When you control the majority of a fields around an area, you claim that area. The center area has eight neighbors, while all the other areas have an odd number of neighbors. Apparently it’s impossible to create a board layout with an odd number of fields in which each field has an odd number of neighbors. No word on whether a proof of this mathematical fact is included.

Publisher: Clementoni
Designer: Carlo A. Rossi
Artist: Michael Menzel
Players: 3-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30-40 minutes
Link:

While Italian designer Carlo A. Rossi has a few games to his credit, you would most likely have heard his name in association with Alchemist, released by Mayfair Games and Amigo Spiele in 2007. Alchemist, which in an alternate universe would be plastered with a Harry Potter license and on mass market toy shelves worldwide, has received decent ratings and far more publicity than Graverobbers, a card game from Jolly Roger Games, and a couple of giveaway games from daVinci.

This spring, Clementoni will publish Rossi’s Gisborne, which he describes as “a very well-themed family game with a fair amount of luck.” Gisborne, which is both a city and a district in New Zealand, is one of the first cities to see the sun each day since it’s within spitting distance of the International Date Line.

Of course the IDL didn’t exist back in 1769 when explorer James Cook landed on shore and claimed New Zealand for the British crown—and that’s where you step in, as part of a group of explorers who have landed on the eastern coast and must make their way through unknown landscapes to the far shore.

This landscape is composed of fixed starting and ending tiles and 10 face-down landscape tiles, nine of which are revealed as explorers make progress. (The tenth is removed from the game before play.) As soon as one player reaches the edge of a tile, the path is extended with the next tile, which might show a shortcut or a village—or packs of hungry wolves waiting to eat your face!

Each tile has a scroll on it, and the first cartographer to reach this scroll receives a card chip worth 1-3 victory points (VPs) and triggers a scoring round. Each player receives a number of cards based on his or her position on the path—with those in the lead getting more—and players can either keep these cards in hand to be used for movement or store them in their chest for VPs. (The chests nicely resemble those in the first edition of Diamant.)

The cards show either gold, silver or bronze coins, and the values on the cards reflect those of the metals: gold coins have a value of 3 or 4; silver, 2 or 3; and bronze, 1 or 2. You play one or more cards—all of the same color—each turn, then draw 0, 1 or 2 replacement cards depending on whether you played gold, silver, or bronze cards. Each player also holds a tent card, which is used solely to draw two cards.

In addition to the card fields, each tile has something special pictured on it, such as a swamp that slows a cartographer’s movement; a river, which restricts the number of cards you can hold; or a shortcut, which is just what you think it is.

The game ends once a player reaches the far shore. That player nabs a 4-point card chip, then everyone tallies their points, with cards in the chest worth 1 point each. Whoever has the most victory points wins; everyone else must hang their head in shame and vow to be more like James Cook in the future…

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

One

possible

arrangement

of

the

tiles

Publisher: Cocktail Games
Designer: Antoine Bauza
Players: 2-4
Ages: 8+
Release Date: November 2007
Links:

Released after Spiel 2007, Chabyrinthe is a small game in Cocktail’s pocket tin collection in which players play and rotate cards in a 3x3 maze in order to find good homes for cats wandering the streets. Find the cat a good home, and you score!

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

The cover

They wouldn’t be alleycats without alleys

Publisher: Cocktail Games
Distributor: Hutter Trade
Designer: Guillaume Blossier
Players: 4-8
Ages: 12+
Price: €7.99
Links:

A German version of Tchin Tchin, previously released by Cocktail Games in French. Each player in Tchin Tchin receives a character card showing a Russian, a German, a Brit, etc., along with a drink, a place, a gesture, and a toast (i.e. “Kanpai!") Cards are revealed, and players race to make the right gesture and toast in order to claim the card.

More card images are available on the designer’s Tchin Tchin website.

Publisher: Cocktail Games
Distributor: Hutter Trade
Designer: Jean-Marc Pauty
Players: 3-42
Ages: 6+
Playing Time: 15 minutes
Price: €7.99
Links:

A German version of Brouhaha, previously released by Cocktail Games in French in 2004. Saugut contains a deck of animal cards peppered with a few hunters. After the deck is dealt out, each player chooses a card, lays it down on the table, then starts making the noise of that animal (or any animal if you play a hunter). As soon as two people think they match, they slap the table and reveal their cards, scoring if they’re correct. Bruno Faidutti talks up the game in his Ideal Game Library.

Publisher: daVinci Editrice
Designer: Paolo Mori
Players: 3-5

In 2006, Mori—whose first published title was UR—won the Best Unpublished Game (BUG) contest, the Gioco Inedito, held annually by daVinci Editrice and Lucca Comics & Games, a famous Italian convention for gamers and comic readers. As with Lucca Città and Oriente, two previous daVinci publications, Mori’s winning design was chosen from among dozens of other game prototypes to be developed and published.

Borneo, as the game came to be called, was released in a limited edition as a card game at Spiel 07 and sold out long before the convention ended. DaVinci had announced in Fall 2007 that Borneo would be published in a larger international edition in 2008, and that’s you’ll get to read about now.

Set in Europe during the 17th century, Borneo is a game about merchants, ships and spices in which players control merchant companies struggling for power as they ship every type of previous good.

Each player controls three merchants affiliated with one or more of the four merchant companies; during your turn, you can either have one of your merchants move up in his company by openly challenging another merchant, or he can change companies entirely, rising again from the ranks. Afterward, trading goods are loaded on the ships that are about to depart, and when a ship enters its destination harbour, the goods are then distributed.

The card game released in 2007 is shown above. The international edition will be shown in preview form at Nuremberg and sold as a board game instead of a card game with new game rules and mechanisms. The image above is a draft of a map to be included in the new release.

Note that the number of players on this version of Borneo is 3-5, as in the card game released at Spiel 07. I initially reported that the number had changed to 2-4 but this isn’t the case. Carry on!

Publisher: daVinci Editrice
Designer: Guglielmo Duccoli
Players: 2-4

DaVinci publishes card games for the most part, and Gonzaga will be the first big board game published by the company since Leonardo da Vinci in 2006. DaVinci’s Silvano Sorrentino was gushing about Gonzaga at Spiel 07, but alas the game will only be previewed at Nuremberg and not available for sale until later.

So what is the game about? Hard to say. The only details I have now is that (1) Gonzaga is a placement game in which you make two moves each turn that areplanned, then played in a certain order by the players, (2) the game is set in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries when noble men and women married to create alliances between families, and (3) each game starts with a random set-up to change the strategic value of the different zones on the map of Europe.

The image above is a draft of the cover.

Lupusburg, an expansion for Lupus in Tabula, will not appear at Nuremberg after all and is listed here only for reference.

Publisher: Devir
Designer: Martin Wallace
Release Date: Q2 2008 (see below)

Martin Wallace confirmed that this game is a Spanish-language version of the new Mayfair Games edition of Age of Steam—but the announced Spring 2008 date is highly suspect due to (1) an ongoing trademark dispute between Wallace and John Bohrer, who developed the Warfrog edition of Age of Steam, and (2) continued development on the new version of the game in January 2008.

Publisher: Drei Magier Spiele
Designers: Anja Wrede & Christoph Cantzler
Players: 2-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 15 minutes
Language: German
Release Date: February 2008
Price: €9.00
Links:

Delayed from Spiel 07, Hai-Alarm!!! (i.e., Shark Alarm!!!) contains two types of cards—sharks and dolphins—and your goal is to (1) collect dolphins, (2) collect three more sharks than everyone else, or (3) know where your dolphins are after the shark alarm sounds.

Publisher: Drei Magier Spiele
Designer: Matthias Etter
Players: 2-6
Ages: 6+
Playing Time: 30-40 minutes
Link:

According to designer Matthias Etter, Serendipity is a combination of strategy, memory, and “serentipity.” The game includes 91 hexagonal cards in seven colors, six with flower motifs and one as a joker with a “serentip-motif,” in Etter’s words. The cards are turned face-down, then players take turns trying to find their cards, as in a memory game. “There are simple rules to remove cards and create ‘flowerbeds,’ areas with the same flowers,” says Etter. “The serentip-card multiplies the possibility to remove cards and accumulate points. The most valuable flowerbed wins.”

Publisher: eggertspiele
Distributors: Hutter Trade / Rio Grande Games
Designer: Bruce Whitehill
Artist: Alexander Jung
Players: 2-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30-45 minutes
Release Date: 2008
Price: €24.95
Links:

Change Horses is a low-luck horse-racing game in which the player whose horse comes in last wins the game. Sounds bizarre, I agree.

At the start of the game, each player is randomly given a secret horse color. Each round an auction takes place to determine the order of play, then in player order everyone plays a card that corresponds to two horses. Once each player has played a card, any horses with an odd number of cards played to them move forward while horses with an even number of cards stay put. Wild cards let you take special actions, such as (wait for it!) changing horses. Players reveal their colors only at the end of the race, and whoever owns the losing horse wins!

Publisher: eggertspiele
Distributors: Hutter Trade / Z-Man Games
Designers: Tobias Stapelfeldt & Peter Eggert
Artist: Klemens Franz
Players: 2-4
Ages: 14+
Playing Time: 60-120 minutes
Price: €29.95
Release Date: February 2008
Links:

This will be a new version of eggertspiele’s 2004 release Neuland. “Generally it will be the old Neuland,” says co-designer Tobias Stapelfeldt. “We changed some rules to make it more fluent and prevent some blocking situations. The rulebook itself will be completely rewritten. For the new illustration and the layout, we have Klemens Franz, the illustrator of Agricola. Every building will have its own picture, so the game will in no way have the old abstract look of the first edition.”

Note: The earlier pastoral cover was but a ruse. The cover above is the one that will be used.

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

Castle tile with new artwork

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Antje Reiter
Artist: Martina Leykamm
Players: 2-6
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 10-20 minutes
Price: €24.95

How much is 5 time 8? Clearly it’s 40—so now all the players must find the correct fly and give it a smack. But where does it buzz around the table?

Whoever calculates quickly and catches the most flies wins this turbulent smackfest.

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Roberto Fraga
Artist: Ulrike Fischer
Players: 2-4
Ages: 5+
Playing Time: 15-20 minutes
Price: €24.95

There’s turmoil and crowds at Treasure Island, with treasure hunters searching for gold coins—but whoever wants treasure must first perform tasks and time is always running out.

The tasks demands memory, skill or luck from the players, and they involve, for example, finding matching resources, grabbing animals, or building towers. After each task, the payer must decide whether he wants to solve another or end his treasure hunt. Beware—a player who doesn’t finish a task before time expires in the hourglass gets no gold coins! Whoever collects the most coins over three rounds wins.

Publisher: HABA
Designers: Stefanie Warich & Wolfgang Dirscherl
Artist: Sebastian Coenen
Players: 2-6
Ages: 5+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €24.95

Pizza, chips, jam—the family Quackelpü is trying everything it can in the supermarket and is eating too much! Now the extraterrestrials have intense belly pain. They must learn a lot about nutrition—who can help them?

Children playfully learn what and how much they can eat in a day, and that movement is the best way to balance the diet. They are encouraged to examine their previous eating habits and preferences.

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Bernhard Schmid
Artist: Antje Flad
Players: 1-4
Ages: 3-8
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Price: €22.95

The animals at the zoo have discovered an exciting game: Threading! Monkey, tiger and elephant are already lining up, and even the zoo warden is giggling at the long vine being created. And the children thread!

The game promotes many ideas and fine motor activities, and children can play this freely with the thread or as a colorful or speedy dice game.

I’m not sure what “threading” has to do with animals. Perhaps this is a German pun that I’m missing...

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Wolfgang Dirscherl
Artist: Theis Schwarz
Players: 2-4
Ages: 5+
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Pricee: €7.95

Carefully Max scampers forth out of the mousehole. All the mouse can think of is cheese, cheese, cheese. Luckily, he doesn’t discover the cat Kasimir anywhere, so Max courageously runs about in order to gather as many pieces of cheese as possible and bring them back to his mousehole.

The players move both Max the mouse and Kasimir the cat from room to room, or rather from one card pile to the next. To gather lots of cheese requires a risk and good luck with the dice, but if Kasimir and Max land in the same room, all the cheese pieces go away. The player who has the most cheese wins.

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Reiner Knizia
Artist: Gabriela Silveira
Players: 2-4
Ages: 4+
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Price: €7.95

The famously notorious cat gang is in town and driving everyone crazy. Close your windows and doors, and treat them with respect! If you get visited by the gang, it’s a good idea to have enough fish stocked on hand.

The players are trying to collect cat gangs, and each time you have three identical cats or three cats with the same background, you receive a fish as a reward. The goal of the game is to have the most fish in the end.

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Wolfgang Dirscherl
Artist: Felix Scheinberger
Players: 2-4
Ages: 5+
Playing Time: 10-20 minutes
Price: €14.95

It’s a feast at Gruesome Castle! The vampires have arrived as guests, but unfortunately the castle owner, Count Gregory, serves only horrifying and abominable tomatoes. The vampires want their favorite food: garlic! But only with bluffing and luck will they collect the coveted tubers.

On the way to the castle, the players must plan their steps carefully if they want to receive garlic (which brings points) instead of tomatoes. In each round, choose two dice to roll to move the two matching-colored vampires forward. This is sacrily exciting because the players don’t know who has which color!

Publisher: HABA
Designer & Artist: Guido Hoffmann
Players: 2-4
Ages: 5+
Playing Time: 15 minutes
Price: €19.95

Leo Longfinger is in the city. The notorious pickpocket has made the country unsafe for years and has yet to be caught. Swoop! There he goes again—but what did Leo steal? Now the suitcase detectives are asked: Do you recognize what the pickpocket stole out of the suitcase?

A player “swipes” two items out of a special suitcase, and the remaining six items lie scattered colorfully in confusion, sometimes in the suitcase or the blue wrapping, which makes it difficult to recognize what’s missing. It’s the task of the detectives to determine, in the shortest possible time, what’s missing. Whoever recognizes the most stolen objects wins.

Publisher: HABA
Players: 1-3
Ages: 2+
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Price: €19.95

The game collection in the line “My First Games” offers different activities for children: The material promotes fine motor skills and gets children acquainted with colors and forms.

Publisher: HABA
Designers: Jutta Neundorfer & Stefanie Warich
Players: 1-4
Ages: 2+
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Price: €19.95

The game collection in the line “My First Games” offers different activities for children: This game promotes fine motor skills and promotes the imagination and creativity of children. Moreover, the role play with the hand puppets supports the development of linguistic and social capabilities.

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Jutta Neundorfer
Players: 1-3
Ages: 2+
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Price: €19.95

The game collection in the line “My First Games” offers different activities for children: The especially beautiful and easy to handle material promotes fine motor activity in the two dice games.

Publisher: HABA
Artist: Dorothea Cüppers
Players: 2-4
Ages: 4+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €19.95 each

With Susie Velvetpaw, Leo Lynx, and Anton Eagle-Eye, the players go on an exciting trip into the world of the senses. The learning games in this small format are intended to improve the perception in different areas. Each of the three games has five actions trained on hearing, feeling, or seeing. A pamphlet included gives parents and educators tips for improving that perception.

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Wolfgang Dirscherl
Artist: Michael Menzel
Players: 2-5
Ages: 6+
Playing Time: 10-15 minutes
Price: €7.95

The Vikings are loaded down with gems and jewelry from their latest foray. With loud jubilation, they begin to load their captured treasure: “One on a ship for me, one on a ship for you...”

But the Vikings must keep a cool head and not pounce too early in the distribution. Who knows if the most valuable treasure will come on a later ship? Your goal is to end the game in possession of the most jewels, and if you do, you’ll win this Viking adventure.

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

Sample cards

All treasure acquired legally

Welcome home!

Publishers: Hans im Glück / Rio Grande Games
Designer: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede
Players: 2-6
Ages: 8+
Release Date: February 2008 (for HiG)
Languages: German / English
Link:

This sixth expansion for Carcassonne brings together three previously released tiny expansions—River II, the King half of King & Scout, the Count—with a new expansion called Cult Site. You can add these expansions to the base Carcassonne game in any combination.

While this boxed set will appeal to newcomers who haven’t picked up the earlier expansions, longtime Carc players might be peeved at the thought of buying these tiles a second time. Asked about the set, Jay Tummelson of Rio Grande said, “I understand it will also have a few new tiles, which I will make available somehow.”

Publishers: Hans im Glück / Rio Grande Games
Designer: Din Li
Players: 2-4
Ages: 8+
Release Date: February 2008 (for HiG)
Price: €26.00
Languages: German / English
Link:

Stories and tales grow around the Hanging Gardens of the Semirabis almost as thickly as the tropical flowers and plants. The floating natural spectacle, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had erected for his wife, is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was the first botanical garden, with resourceful architects creating different terraces on the bank of the Euphrates so that the abundant flora seemed to float there.

Up to four landscape architects (i.e., the players) will use the game components included to develop designs for how the future garden miracle should look. In order to build the most beautiful and harmonious landscape designs possible, you’ll need to design a big game plan for the 64 building cards. When the cards are displayed before each player, they should lie partially one above the other so that a design similar to the wonderful Hanging Gardens of Semiramis emerges. At the same time, if possible, the cards should be played in order to create pictures of harmonious landscape.

For successful combinations, as a wage of good work, you’ll receive bonus tiles. Yet beware! For what presents itself as easy naturally has its complications: One wonderful subject won’t fit with another; a building can’t be enlarged despite your wishes; and you’ll miss the right moment for erecting a temple. Everything can affect the final scoring of the best combination of tiles—as well as the future of the garden architects in the empire of Nebuchadnezzar.

Editor’s note: Did you know that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were also called the H.G. of Semiramis? I sure didn’t. (Wikipedia provides info on Semiramis, who is apparently a demigod sired by a fish goddess.) Get ready for all sorts of Amyitis/Hanging Gardens comparisons once this game appears in print.

Publishers: Hans im Glück / Rio Grande Games / Filosofia Games
Designer: Michael Tummelhofer (see below)
Artist: Michael Menzel
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10+
Price: €34.00
Link:

It was truly hard times, when our ancestors had to stoop and struggle behind a stone plow in order to put something on the noon table. Happy was the family whose head made a good javelin throw that snagged a stag or whose hands were able to form things for trading. Whoever wanted to make headway in these times couldn’t just sit by the hearth, but had to maintain himself as a hunter, collector, farmer or tool maker. That’s the scenario of Stone Age, with up to four players submerging themselves in the past.

For hunting, for resource gathering, for agriculture and cattle-raising—for tools, nourishment and building—for every action that is needed in Stone Age in order to climb step by step up the civilization ladder, you’ll find lots of corresponding game material. In addition to the forty wooden Stone Age men, you’ll find a gameboard on which they’ll be active in three different phases in order to turn back the stone ages.

In the first round, they occupy the places where they think good fortune will come: the forest, the huts, maybe the gold mine. Then the action is announced: A hunt, bartering in the trading centers, or something in the quarry where there’s building material for your cottage or for trade. Stone Age is about growth—and that’s not possible without nourishment. Only those with enough to eat will chew his way through the hard life of this time. In the third round, only those who have kept in mind the habits of squirrels will have a stockpile and be able to deal with the resources available.

Despite the big role played by the five dice, don’t think that reaching the goal in Stone Age is trivial. This new game isn’t a pure luckfest, but one might need a little good fortune in order to come out on top…

Editor’s note: Michael Tummelhofer was a pen name used by Bernd Brunnhofer, Jay Tummelson and Michael Bruinsma on a previous HiG/RGG release, Saint Petersburg, but this time Brunnhofer is the sole designer standing behind the facade.

Publishers: Hans im Glück / Rio Grande Games
Designers: Karen & Andreas Seyfarth
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10+
Languages: German / English
Link:

This second expansion for Thurn & Taxis was sold as part of a combo pack with the base game at the end of 2007 in some German stores, but in 2008 it will be sold as a standalone item. The box actually contains two expansions: In the first, the players send their chaplains towards Rome in five beautiful wooden carriages and try to arrive at the best possible moment in order to win an audience with the Pope. The second expansion, “In Amt und Würden,” adds additional ways to draw city cards, earn victory points, and even place new houses.

Publisher: Homo Ludens
Designer: Giancarlo Fioretti
Players: 2-5
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 45-130 minutes (about 25 per player)
Links:

From a BGN preview that ran in June 2007:

Constantonopolis takes places in the sixth century CE, when the city of Constantinople was the greatest trade center of the Byzantium Empire. Opportunities for commerce are expanding rapidly, and handling the export of local goods by sea to nearby cities is an ideal way for local entrepreneurs to increase their own riches. The players are entrepreneurs in the city of Constantinople, trying to use government functions to increase their own business activity and the production of assets in order to trade them away, sell them in Constantinople at markets, and ship them to other cities through fleets.

Designer Giancarlo Fioretti says that in the early stages of Constantinopolis he was trying to develop a game of production, resource management, and resource trading. He wanted a game with different types of ships that would evolve during the game into a real small commercial fleet.

“The idea of using the ships came from an old Amiga game, “Ports of Call,” where players travel the world with their ships trading goods,” says Fioretti. “The first mechanism developed indeed was the sea transport. I was looking for a sea system without a board where you move the ships, but something related to the time spent to complete the travel. The game was all developed around this system of travel.”

Says Fioretti, “Thanks to the help of the members of the Associazione Culturale Bisanzio, I was able to reconstruct the game’s background in an historical way, bringing the theme from an idea to a final game.” The game tiles are written in Latin, both to refer to the highest moment of progress of Constantinople and to make the game completely language independent.

“This is my first board game. and I’m really excited,” says Fioretti. “When I first met the Homo Ludens lads, they were stunned by the game and from there we’ve been in agreement as to what the final game has to be. I’m really satisfied about their work.”

He adds, “I believe the game has a good longevity and is quite deep; I think it will be good mostly for core gamers.” That bold claim might sound like one you’ve heard before from other designers, but Fioretti notes that he’s played Constantinopolis more than 120 times! As he told Liga, he’s trying to balance and tune all the different aspects of the complex economic system behind the game in a perfect way to eliminate the possibility of a single winning strategy. More on whether or not he succeeded when Liga gets a chance to play and report on the game.

Photo courtesy of Liga; Giancarlo Fioretti is in the middle

Publisher: HUCH & friends
Designer: Eva Ruppert
Artist: Oliver Fischer & jasmin Borowski
Price: €4.95

A pocket-sized trivia game to help you learn table manners and rules of etiquette. Yes, you.

Publisher: HUCH & friends
Designer: Friedemann Friese
Artists: Peter Braun, Alexander Jung & Volker Maas
Players: 2-6
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 45-60 minutes
Price: €32.95

Explore the species of the world in a two-dimensional format.

Publisher: HUCH & friends
Designer: Thierry Denoual
Artist: Volker Maas
Players: 2-4
Ages: 6+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €19.95

A sequel of sorts to Rondomino (aka Bendomino), the game with curved domino pieces that imposed new restrictions on how you can play the tiles. Fundomino introduces special action pieces.

Publisher: HUCH & friends
Designer: Jacques Zeimet
Players: 2-8
Link:

A drawing game with erasable gameboards in which players are trying to identify both what the artwork is and which player created it.

Publisher: HUCH & friends
Designer: Sébastien Pauchon
Release Date: 2008

For details on this game, head to the Metropolys listing under Ystari Games.

Publisher: HUCH & friends
Co-publisher: Faber-Castell
Artist: Atelier Papenfuss
Players: 2-4
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €19.95

The English title would be “Granny, Aunt, Relatives"—which is hardly
inspiring.

Publisher: IQ Spiele
Distributor: HUCH & friends
Designer: Susanne Galonska
Artists: Oliver Fischer & Jasmin Borowski
Players: 1-6
Ages: 7+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €14.95
Link:

By chance, I met with Galonska at Spiel 07, and here’s what I wrote about Triovision then:

This game should have the same appeal as Set for gamers who like to stare at things for a while before shouting out an answer. On a 4x4 grid, four differently colored pairs of tokens as placed on individual squares. A number of cards are laid out, and players try to spot a pattern on a card that can be created by moving exactly one of the tokens one space. Lots of mental head-twisting going on since you can’t move the board.

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

The previous version shown at Spiel 07

Publisher: HUCH & friends
Players: 2-6
Ages: 16+
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Price: €44.95
Link:

Following on the heels of World of Wine and World of Beer is World of the Good Kitchen, a trivia game about delightful meals and zzzzzzzz....

Publisher: HUCH & friends
Co-publisher: Faber-Castell
Artist: Atelier Papenfuss
Players: 2-4
Ages: 6+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Price: €19.95

Publisher: Intellego Holzspiele
Players: 2
Ages: 5+
Price: €44.00
Link:

Two games can be played with this handsome wood game, both of which involve moving your dice towards the opponent’s side of the board. In the first, players take turns moving and if two dice collide, the one with the lower number is removed from the board.

In the second game, players can hop a die over another one along the lines of chinese checkers. The game ends when one player has occupied all seven spaces on the opponent’s side of the board—but the winner is the player with the most pips showing.

Publisher: Intellego Holzspiele
Designer: Christian Zaha
Players: 2-4
Ages: 5+
Release Date: Q3 2008
Price: €79.00

The board looks reminiscent of Parcheesi, and the game play will, too, although there is naturally a twist. Each player controls a group of six robbers, and the first to reach the robber’s den with three robbers wins the game. But as you make your way around the board, you’ll find the way to the robber’s den is riddled with pitfalls. If one of your baddies falls through a hole, he can be rescued only through the help of another robber in the same group.

As with all the intellego releases, this game looks gorgeous and costs a pretty penny. The gameboard is beech, and the numbered tokens are maple.

Publisher: Intellego Holzspiele
Players: 1-2
Price: €24.90
Link:

I touted intellego’s Sudoku Color initially, but that version has already been released. What’s new is the Sudoku Color nic, which is a 4x4 version of the game suitable for youngsters who can’t fathom a 9x9 version.

Publisher: Intellego Holzspiele
Price: €79.00
Link:

A memory game, called “The Walk of the Woods” in English, in which you’re trying to collect mushrooms from the other players. The coolest aspect is that the 21 tiles are made from seven different types of wood, and the types of wood are used as an element of the game play.

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

From trunks...

...to seeds...

...to leaves

Publisher: Jenzowsky Spieleverlag
Designers: Eva Maria Tobies & Hendrik Nicola Jenzowsky
Players: 2-4
Ages: 12+
Playing Time:
Release Date: Released
Price: €15.00
Link:

Imagine that there’s a demonstration and nobody shows up. That’s not good for you because your job is to organize demonstrations, hopefully both successful and peaceful. Watch out for drunks and hooligans, and be prepared for counter-demonstrations to steal your glory despite the fabulous VIP you’ve convinced to speak. And, of course, the press will have its own opinion…

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

The Demo

A demo

Publisher: Jenzowsky Spieleverlag
Designers: Eva Maria Tobies & Hendrik Nicola Jenzowsky
Players: 2-5
Ages: 12+
Price: €35.00
Links:

Here’s a translated description of the game:

Who actually governs the sand? In Wüstenkönige (Desert Kings), you’ll answer this question in a strategic race through the desert. But beware, because many dangers lurk on the road. Sandstorms threaten to topple your camels, flying carpets cross your path, and even in the oases you can’t feel safe as an epidemic might break out. Avoid your opponents as well because you’ll be richly laden with goods by the time you reach your destination, and they’ll likely be lurking in front of the palace waiting for you…

Pictures: (Click for a larger version)

Desert on display

2D camels

Publisher: JKLM Games
Designer: Nigel Buckle
Players: 2-4
Release Date: May 31 (UK Games
Expo)
Link:

Publisher: JKLM Games
Designer: Ian Vincent
Players: 3-6
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Release Date: April 2008
Price: £17.00
Links:

A game of Athene starts with a grid of mostly face-down tiles, which represent a calm ocean upon which the players travel. Each player has a ship and a hand of cards, one of which moves your ship forward one space (and returns to your hand after being played), and the rest of which are drawn randomly from a deck; these cards have commands such as “rotate right,” “move diagonally forward,” “move back two spaces,” and so on.

On a turn, you play some number of rotate cards followed by a move card, after which:

• If you land on a face-down tile, you reveal that tile, decide which way to place it, and take any special action (rotate another tile, swap two tiles, discard cards) shown on it.
• If you land on a face-up tile, you follow the current shown, which leads you to (1) another face-up tile (so loop back to the beginning of this line), (2) a face-down tile (see above), or (3) rocks or the edge of the world, in which case you die. Pity.

You can watch a Flash demonstration of Athene at the JKLM website, in addition to being able to preorder at a 20% discount.

A demo copy of Athene will be shown at Nuremberg, with the published game due in April 2008.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Sebastian Rapp
Players: 2-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30-45 minutes
Price: €5.99

A trick-taking game with a deck of 45 cards (1-11 in four colors and a white 24) in which each trick you take comes off a starting total of 24. Your goal is to be the first to get down to zero.

Each player is dealt six cards, with the player to the left of the dealer naming trump after three cards. After looking at their hands, players may discard up to three cards and receive replacements. A conventional trick-taking game follows except that (1) the white 24 is highest trump and (2) if a player plays a 1, he may choose to flip the value of the cards so that 1s are highest and 11s lowest, with the 24 being lowest of all. Players who take no tricks are penalized by having points added to their score.

Publisher: Kosmos
Ages: 6+
Release Date: March 2008
Link:

You know Conni—always going to school...

Publisher: Kosmos
Designers: Olivier Mercier & Jean-Thierrie Winstel
Players: 2-12
Ages: 10+
Price: €31.99
Link:

Grunt, tickle, knock, knead, gesture, draw, stammer—the ur-party game Cro-Magnon will bring the natural elements of Homo Ludens to full development. As you cast yourself back to the time of the Stone Age, you don’t have good control of language, so noisy gesticulation will have to do.

Players make their way through different levels of communication as they move through to the present from distant eras. As long as your figure stands on the red zone, for example, you can speak to other players only in pantomime. After that you “learn” how to represent concepts with clay, then you can form basic words and make more complex messages through the adept use of chalk. Players take turns giving clues using whatever method they’ve evolved to; the guesser gets to move ahead a field, and the cluegiver moves ahead as many spaces as correct answers he received in the time alotted.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designers: Bastian Sick, Markus Reichert & Britta Schmider
Ages: 12+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €5.99
Links:

Apparently a smaller version of the game released in 2006 under the same name in which players try to figure out whether German sentences are correct or not.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designers: Bastian Sick & Fritz Gruber
Ages: 12+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €29.99
Links:

And apparently a large-sized version for those who want more of the original...

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Reiner Knizia
Players: 1-2
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 10-45 minutes
Release Date:
Price: €19.99
Link:

Following on the heels of Einfach Genial Knobelspass, which won the 2007 Swiss Spielepreis in the family game category, comes Domino Knobelspass, which is the same game only different. Each player has a set of 21 domino pieces and 30 domino puzzle cards; the cards sometimes depict one or more domino symbols to show you where particular numbers must be played, and sometimes they are blank. Adjacent dominos must have matching numbers. Clackity-clackity-clack!

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Peter Neugebauer
Players: 2-4
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €5.99
Link:

A translated descriptionfrom the publisher:

In Rocky Beach, the largest clock in the world is on display! Yet then the incredible happens: The incredible clock disappears! The Three ??? Kids are searching, but which detective is following the right clue?

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Heinz Meister
Players: 2-4
Ages: 8+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €5.99
Link:

A translated descriptionfrom the publisher:

In Captain Larson’s private zoo, strange things are happening! Which animals are in danger? Or will it remain unknown to Justus, Peter or Bob?

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Reiner Knizia
Ages: 8+
Release Date: February 2008
Price: €5.99
Link:

A push-your-luck game using the familiar EG components. Here’s a translated description:

Simple rules—brilliant game play: Your goal is to grab seven symbol tiles with all six symbol colors. After each turn, players decide whether to continue or stop. Whoever continues can possibly grab more tiles or he can lose everything. The game works in the brain—and tickles the twitching hand.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Günter Burkhardt
Players: 2-6
Ages: 12+
Price: €24.99
Link:

A trivia/party game of sorts, in which players try to determine where particular countries rank in order after being given a category card, such as “cars per 1,000 inhabitants.” Five or six country markers are laid out for a category, then players take turns placing one marker on a country: I think Turkey is in 1st place for most cars per 1,000 inhabitants; you think Chile is 1st; she thinks Mongolia is last; and so on. Once each player has placed a token, the answers are revealed; those who answered correctly score three points, those one off score two points, those two off score one point, and those further off score a big fat zero.

As you move around the scoring track, you’ll meet barriers, and to pass them you must locate countries on an unmarked map or name the capital of a certain country. Whoever has the most points after ten rounds wins.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Peter Neugebauer
Artist: Franz Vohwinkel
Players: 2
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Price: €15.99
Link:

The armored bears Iorek and Iofur encounter one another in a battle arena. In a showdown, they fight for the right to become King of the Bears. In an inexorable duel, each must use his own strengths and recognize the weakness of the opponent in order to win.

Players alternate being the aggresor and defender, and you want to do as much damage as possible through the skilled use of battle cards; the smart play of joker cards can provide the decisive advantage.

Publisher: Kosmos

Just a title for the moment.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Klaus Teuber
Players: 3-4
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 50-60 minutes
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €24.99
Link:

In this next title in Teuber’s Entdecker series, In the Empire of the Desert Sons, new desert landscapes emerge and you can focus on the search for profitable oases and valuable goods. If an oasis is discovered, the players involved each earn a reward tile. While these are needed for victory, players also need supplies to make their way further into the game, such as additional water casks, more camels, and Bedouins.

An overview of the game, in German only alas, has been published on Catan.com.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Reiner Knizia
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Price: €26.99
Link:

On the paths of life lies this old Celtic wisdom: Every person begins in the negative, but with every step ahead he arrives in the positive.

With suitable cards, you send your game figures down the different stone paths, and the farther your figures go, the more points they bring in the end. You must decide each time whether to continue a card row, bring a new row, or simply throw off a card—yet cards thrown off can be used by other players. As soon as five figures stand in the goal, the game ends, so you must always weigh whether to bring a new figure down the way because if you don’t move far enough, you’ll score negative points.

In its press material, Kosmos describes Keltis as an answer to fans’ requests for a version of Lost Cities that accomodates more than two players.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Uwe Rosenberg
Players: 2-6
Ages: 14+
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Release Date: February 2008
Price: €20.99
Link:

Rosenberg, who created the party game Frauen und Männer for Kosmos in 2005, is back with a new party game that skews much more to the female gender this time. Kennen Sie Di?—or, in English, Do You Know Di?—has 180 cards with questions about famous women throughout history.

Publisher: Kosmos

Just a title for the moment.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Kai Haferkamp
Ages: 6+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €5.99
Link:

A translated description of this game:

Whenever a beautiful rainbow appears in the sky, the young elves start to dance over its colorful steps into the world of men. In order to get enough magical energy for the long trip over the rainbow, the elves share magical elf crystals—but of course each of the small elves would prefer to be first on the other side of the rainbow when the children arrive.

I seem to recall reading about an epidemic of elf crystal meth in the paper...

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Günter Burkhardt
Players: 2-4
Ages: 8+
Price: €29.99
Link:

A tile-laying game in which you want to have your own color represented the most times in circles as they get closed off. As circles are finished, the pieces of players involved are stacked with the dominant person coming out on top—the higher the tower, as determined by the number of colors involved, the more points. Your unplayed pieces also matter at the end of the game.

Kosmos compares On Top to other abstract titles in its line: Einfach Genial, Tsuro and Ubongo. We’ll see...

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Günter Burkhardt
Ages: 4+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €19.99
Link:

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Rüdiger Dorn
Artist: Franz Vohwinkel
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 60-75 minutes
Price: €29.99
Release Date: March 2008
Links:

Kosmos’ series of games based on literature continues with this take on the Jules Verne classic (i.e., admired more than read) novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth. Here’s a translated description of the game from Kosmos:

Descent into inner Earth. The players lead the three main characters—Professor Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel and their Icelandic guide Hans—into a crater in an Icelandic volcano down into inner Earth. There they discover a dense forest of giant mushrooms and an underground ocean before being hurled out of a vent of an Italian volcano on Stromboli on the surface of the Earth. On their trip, they discover fossils and observe primeval sea creatures. At the same time, they need to cleverly use their carried equipment. The player who masters this task best will win this exciting adventure.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Heinz Meister
Ages: 6+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €5.99
Link:

Keep Sheltie under control or else he’ll bust out with all his pony friends and wreck havoc at the mall.

Publisher: Kosmos

Just a title for the moment.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Günter Burkhardt
Ages: 8+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €5.99
Link:

A unicorn race through the starry night, with players using dice tospur on the mythical beasts.

Publisher: Kosmos
Other Publishers: Mayfair Games / Ubik
Designer: Martin Wallace
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10+
Price: €31.99
Link:

In the 16th century, the fascinating city of Toledo was the capital of the Spanish empire, a place where Christians, Muslims and Jewish culture mixed peacefully, a place that the great painter El Greco called his homeland. But Toledo was also the center of European swordsmith art.

Your task is this: Forge the most beautiful swords of the city and deliver them to the rules in the Alcazar. Your talent in the procuring of the needed materials is called for at the same time as your dexterity in forging. Don’t neglect your fighting arts if you want to have success.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Grzegorz Rejchtman
Players: 2
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 15-40 minutes
Price: €15.99
Link:

Ubongo is a cult! (At least that’s what the Kosmos press release claims.) This addictive game is now a duel for two so that you can measure yourself in a direct contest against another crazy tile-layer. Finish a puzzle first, and you score a victory point; the first player to win five head-to-head duels wins the game.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designers: Jean-Philippe Mars & Valéry Fourcade
Ages: 6+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €5.99
Link:

A translated description of this game:

Doing magic is the favorite activity of young elves—but the art of elven magic must be learned. Whoever carries enough stardust on himself can observe the elves in their magic hour in the elven forest. But pay attention! Which object has the summer elf just hidden in stardust and has the winter elf really conjured a beautiful flower…

Whoever can notice best which objects the elves magically move back and forth will be the victor.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Peter Neugebauer
Players: 2-4
Ages: 8+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €5.99
Link:

A fast-playing soccer game in which you want to get the right players on the field and storm the opponent’s goal to win.

Publisher: Kosmos
Designer: Kai Haferkamp
Ages: 6+
Release Date: March 2008
Price: €5.99
Link:

Elves are apparently all the rage at Kosmos this year. In this game, whoever can best notice where the elves have magically hidden objects and many elfen chips in the magic forest gets the most elven crystals. (Presumably this is good.)

Publisher: Ludorum Games
Designers: Dean Conrad & John Streets
Players: 2-4
Ages: 11+
Release Date: 2008
Link:

Ice Flow, which will be shown at Nuremberg and available sometime later in the year, sounds like a neat mix between the Frogger video game and Wolfgang Kramer’s Goldland. Players have three explorers that they need to move from Alaska to Siberia, and to do so they will use the ice floes that pass through the Bering Strait. Why not a canoe or airplane? Because they’re tough guys, that’s why!

Ice floes pass north or south through the Bering Strait and on a turn a player must move an ice floe, rotate an ice floe, or introduce a new ice floe to the waters. The player may then move an explorer or go fishing. Ice floes sometimes contain fish, rope or polar bears; you can pick up the fish and rope, but hands off the bears, buddy. You use the rope to go fishing or to cross ice packs, that is, the broken ice between ice floes; the fish lets you distract a polar bear and cross that floe safely, or you can eat the fish to gain enough strength to cross an open sea hex. You can also use fish to sic polar bears on another player.

While the game sounds like fun, it also provokes an existential crisis. As the rules state: “Ice Flow ends as soon as one player gets each of their 3 explorers to a different station in Siberia: This player is the WINNER!” While the player might be a winner, the explorers seem like losers. Why am I sending these poor schmoes to Siberia? Did they cheat on my wife? Steal money from my retirement fund? What did they do to deserve this sorry fate? My heart goes out to them, those sorry doomed explorers of the frozen North, but I’ll send them to an icy death if that’s what I need to do to win. May history understand and forgive me...

Publisher: Mayfair Games
Designer: Fréderic Moyersoen
Artist: Chris McGloughlin
Players: 3-8
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30+ minutes
Release Date: April 2008

Here’s Mayfair’s description of this new game from Moyersoen, best known for the Z-Man/Amigo title Saboteur:

It is 37 AD and Caligula is the extravagant Emperor of Rome! It is a time of excesses. It is a time of intrigue. And the latest gala in Caligula’s short reign is starting tonight—Bacchus’ Banquet!

As a player, you are one of the nine “honored” guests—each with his or her own secret objective. You might be a glutton who is only there for the food and wine. You might be an avaricious opportunist longing for the presents that are often bestowed. You might be a conspirator in one of the many plots to kidnap or assassinate the Emperor. You might even be Caligula himself, exploiting the all too human foibles of his groveling subjects.

Whatever your true goals, you fully participate in the orgy of rich cuisine, fine wine, and elaborate entertainments. Caligula is watching! But be careful, accompanying every course is the potential of a drunken stupor, a subtle poison, or an assassin’s dagger—any one of which can destroy you and your aspirations.

So, put on your best toga, cleanse yourself, and hire a food taster. You have an engraved invitation to Bacchus’s Banquet, and you are in for the night of your life!

Publisher: Mayfair Games
Other publishers: 999 Games
Designer: H. Jean Vanaise
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Release Date: March 2008
Links:

Here’s a description of the game from Mayfair:

Great kings compete to forge mighty kingdoms in a struggle to control the land of “Kemet.” Along the banks of the great river they expand their influence and explore new territory. And they hope to earn the favor of the great falconheaded god Horus.

Are you the one to unite the valley into one great kingdom? With clever use of card and tile play, you guide the course of the sacred river, and the lands that surround it! You determine where the desert will give way to the green marshes, red hills, and rich black farmlands of this ancient land. Using your influence, you gain control of valuable regions. You may even build a holy necropolis to thwart the expansion plans of your foes. If true and noble, you might even earn the blessings of the Horus temple!

Horus uses a unique combination of tile and card play to create a delightfully casual yet engaging game with surprising strategic and tactical depth. Beautifully designed tiles feature ancient hieroglyphics, and the playing pieces evoke the deities of this fascinating culture. Horus is easy to learn and play, but is full of intrigue and player interaction. Ever changing, always different, you will find mastery of the Nile delightfully elusive. Can you seize your destiny and reign supreme over the land of Egypt? Discover your inner Pharaoh with Horus!