Asteroid Mining

2-5 players

Components

• Board. A section of the asteroid belt with paths orbiting and linking 10 asteroids and a space base at the centre.
• 50 Resource tiles in three sets with diferent backs and different ratios of the four available resources (Water, Diamonds, Iron, Energite):
• Set A: 2xWater, 4xDiamonds, 8xIron, 6xEnergite.
• Set B: 1xWater, 2xDiamonds, 10xIron, 7xEnergite.
• Set C: 2xWater, 4xDiamonds, 2xIron, 2xEnergite.
• Ships card deck. 10 cards, each corresponding to a ship with a unique cargo ability:
• Cost $5: Iron+Diamonds, Iron+Water, Iron+Energite, Diamonds+Water, Diamonds+Energite, Water+Energite.
• Cost $10: Iron+Diamonds+Water, Iron+Diamonds+Energite, Iron+Water+Energite, Diamonds+Water+Energite.
• 10 Ship tokens corresponding to each of the ships on the card deck.
• 200 Fuel cells (cubes).
• Game money.

Setup

Shuffle the three tile sets together, face down, and place a pile of 5 tiles on each asteroid to represent its resources.

Game play

The game has three phases: Exploration, Hiring ships and Mining.

1. Exploration

Each player receives 10 fuel cells. Unused fuel cells are kept for phase 3.

During this phase players gather information about the asteroid resources through two methods:

• Spectrum analysis. Players can look at the backs of the tiles, keeping the tile order of the examined piles. Given the difference in resource distribution on seta A, B and C, this provides useful information about what resources are more likely to be found on the asteroid. Cost: Free.
• Probes. Players can peek at the fronts of the tiles, keeping the tile order of the examined piles. Cost: 1 fuel cell for the first three tiles in a pile, 1 fuel cell per further tile in the same pile.

Players can perform spectrum analysis and/or send probes to as many asteroids as they wish, as long as they have enough fuel cells to pay for the probing.

2. Hiring ships

Each player receives $15. Unspent money can be kept or used to buy fuel cells at $1 per unit.

The ship deck is shuffled and placed face down to form a reserve. The top two cards are placed face up next to the reserve; these are the ships currently available for hiring. Players take turns to either hire one of these ships or pass.

To hire a ship the current player pays the ship price ($5 for 2-resources ships, $10 for 3-resources ships), takes the ship card, and places the corresponding token on the base at the centre of the board. The card is replaced with the next card from the reserve, and the process continues until all players have two ships.

3. Mining

Each player receives 20 fuel cells. If they wish so and have money left from the previous phase, they can buy extra fuel. Players assign fuel to each of their ships by placing fuel cells on the ship cards.

Players then spend three actions per turn. Available actions are:

• Move ship. Players can move either of their ships from the base to an asteroid, from asteroid to asteroid, or back to the base, using the established routes. One action can involve more than one leg. Both ships can be moved in the same turn, using separate actions. Cost: 1 fuel cell (from the ship card) per leg.
• Mine. Pick the topmost tile from the asteroid's pile. First tile of each resource is left face up on the asteroid to indicate that the resource can now be collected from that asteroid. Subsequent tiles of an already uncovered type are kept by the player (placed on top of the ship card) if the ship is able to collect the resource, or placed back at the bottom of the pile if not. One mine action can be used to turn as many tiles as desired. Cost: 2 fuel cells for the first three tiles in a pile, 2 fuel cells per further tile in the same pile.

When a ship arrives at the base, its load can be sold at the following rates:

• Water: $20 per tile
• Diamonds: $10 per tile
• Iron: $5 per tile
• Energite: $5 per tile

Energite tiles can also be converted into 3 fuel cells each while a ship is away from the base; this does not count as an action. Extra fuel can also be bought when at the base, at the regular rate of $1 per fuel cell. When at the base, a ship can be assigned more fuel from the player's reserve. If a ship runs out of fuel away from the base, the ship and its full load are lost.

Game end

When all asteroids are deplated, or no player wants to send a ship in a mining mission, the game ends.

Ships with enough fuel may return to the base and sell their final loads. The player with the most money is the winner.

High Card Race

by magic_user

• A simple racing game where the object is to use the cards in your hand to beat the other players to the finish line. First player to the goal wins!

Goal

Be the first player to reach the finish line.

Equipment

• 1 deck of playing cards, no jokers
• 2-8 player markers, each a different color
• 1 game board:
• 

Setup (4 players)

• Shuffle the deck and deal each player 5 cards face down.
• Place the player markers at the bottom of the board, each on a different nexus.

Card Ranking

For this game, Aces are low.

Play

For each round, the players will each look at their cards and select three cards, discarding the remaining two. They will then place the three selected cards face down on the table in the order they are to be played, the top card will be played first. Plays are made simultaneously. Everyone turns over their top card and movement is resolved. This is repeated for the next two cards. After the third card has been played and the movement resolved, the players are each dealt five cards for the next round. If there are not enough cards left in the deck, shuffle the discard pile and add it to the deck. Rounds continue until a winner is declared. There can be ties.

Movement Resolution

Movement is determined by the suit of the card that is played. Spades allow movement straight up or down. Hearts allow movement to the left and right. Club movement is on the diagonal from the lower right to the upper left, and Diamond movement is on the diagonal from the lower left to the upper right. Each card allows movement from one nexus to an adjacent nexus along the line of direction dictated by the card's suit.

Resolution happens after all players move. Each nexus can have only one player marker, so on any nexus with more than one marker the players compare cards. The highest card value stays on the nexus and the remaining player(s) must drop down one level along the line of direction of their choice (i.e. the player may choose any of the 2 or 3 paths available, not restricted by the card that was originally played). Resolutions may cascade, highest card always stays on the nexus, remaining player(s) drop down. In case of tie, the tied players will shuffle the discard pile and cut for high card until a winner is determined for that nexus.

Special rule - if resolution cascading takes the player to the starting line, the player may place their marker on any open nexus on the starting line.

Results

The first player to the opposite side of the board wins.

Variations

For 8 players, four start at one end of the board and four start at the other end of the board. All movement, i.e. "forward" and "back" is relative to the side of the board the player started from. The same goes for 6 players (three and three). Do your best for 5 and 7 players. :-)

Apology

The new job is taking a lot of time, so sorry in advance for my lameness. I still hope this game makes you think!

Monster Island

A game for 2-5 players.

A new reality show, ”Survive Monster Island” has gone horribly wrong! There is no hope now but to try to escape. Be the team that gets the most humans to safety, or play as the monsters and eat your fill!

Setup

One player plays as the monsters, the rest of the players are the humans. Randomly make a board out of hex squares representing different land types (lakes, roads, etc). Place the base camp on one end, and the getaway ships on the other. Each player places all of their humans in the base camp. The monster player has three monsters (T-Rex, Zombie Swarm, and Thing From Another Planet). Randomly place three “Last Known Sighting” tokens on the board to indicate where each of your monsters begin, and record their location on your secret pad.

Goal

The first player to get three humans to the escape ships wins. If this ever becomes impossible, then the monster player wins.

Cards

Monster Island comes with a deck of cards, which determine movement. Each card indicates a particular land type on it. A player can play a card to move to land of a particular type (eg. Play a forest card to move into the forest). Some cards have multiple land types on them. A player can play this to move to one of those land types. Last, some cards have a Hidden marker on the back. A monster player may play one of those cards without revealing the land type. Finally, a small number of cards have “Monster-View Camera,” and a monster, written on them. When a player plays this card, the monster player must reveal where that monster is by placing a “Last Known Sighting” token on the board. If a monster player draws this card, she must reveal the monster at the start of her turn.

The Monster Turn

At the start of the turn, draw 6 cards. Each monster may move up to two spaces. Place up to 2 cards in front of each monster, and secretly record where each monster has moved to. Card must be left up for all to see, however you do not need to announce what Hidden cards you have played, and if a card has multiple land types on it, you do not need to announce where you have gone. The cards are left in place until the monster is sighted (either with a Camera card, or by eating a human), after which they are discarded (since the players no longer need to try to deduce where the monster is).

If one of your monsters begins the turn adjacent to a human, you may move on to the human space if able (see Eating Humans). A monster may not, however, move two spaces and end on the same space as a human.

At the end of your turn, discard all unused cards.

The Human Turn

At the beginning of each turn, each human player draws cards until their hand reaches five. She may then play as many cards as she desires, to move her humans as many spaces as she desires. If she moves into a space which contains a monster, the human is eaten (see Eating Humans).

Humans may not be attacked inside the base camp. Any movement card will allow a human to enter a getaway ship from an adjacent space. Once a human has made it to the getaway ship, remove it from the board. The first player to get three humans to the getaway ship wins. If this becomes impossible, the player is eliminated.

Eating Humans

If a human and monster come into contact, the human is eaten. Remove it from the board, and place a “Last Known Sighting” token in it’s place. Future humans will hopefully know to stay clear of that area.

The initial number of humans, size of the board, and makeup of the deck, will be determined after playtesting.

CLAYMORE

for 3-5 players

BASIC CONCEPT

"Claymore" is a card-driven race game where players are traversing a field littered with mines. Some mine locations are known and controlled by the player, but most are not. Players must utilize cards and their own observational talent in order to cross the board safely, as well as detonating mines that their opponents land on to push them back.

PROLOGUE

Executive Order 134340: Full-scale retreat from the combat zone, effective at 0800 tomorrow. All soldiers unable to return on army helicopters will be considered MIA and no evacuation support given past the 0800 deadline tomorrow.

OVERVIEW

One half-mile separates you and your comrades from a one-way ticket back to the homeland. There's a problem though: you're going through a minefield. It's not so bad though, your squadron planted the mines, so everyone knows where at least the mines they placed are. Working together to plan a route through the field should get you safely across...except the helicopter has room for only one of you.

OBJECTIVE

The first player to reach the golden row of spaces at the top of the board is the winner.

CONTENTS

• 60 mine location cards (each showing the coordinates of one space on the board)
• 50 action cards
• 6 soldiers (two-sided wooden discs in six different colors; one side of each disc shows the number "2," the other side "1")
• Playing board (with coordinates on each space):
• 

SETUP PHASE

Deal out the 60 mine location cards evenly in enough stacks so that there is one for each player and an extra stack (with 3 players, these stacks are cards; with 4 players, 12 cards; with 5 players, 10 cards). Players may look at their mine location cards immediately. Shuffle the extra stack of mine location cards into the deck of action cards.

Deal five action cards to each player, setting the rest aside in a "draw" pile. Designate an area for a "discard" pile. Each player selects a soldier of their choice. Randomly select a starting player: they will place their soldier, showing the number "2," in the dark green starting zone at one of the spaces on the bottom of the board. Play continues counter-clockwise - once all players have placed their soldiers, the player who went last will be the starting player in the main phase of play.

CONCEPTS

Each soldier has 2 HP from the start, shown by the "2" on that token. When a soldier goes down to 1 HP, flip that soldier over to the side that says "1." When a soldier goes down to 0 HP, the player controlling it takes it off the board.

MAIN PHASE

On your turn, draw a card from the draw pile.

You also have 2 Action Points - or "AP" - to use in order to attempt to reach the end of the board. Every mine location and action card has a description of the action it performs, how much AP it costs to use it, and any other pertinent information. Aside from the cards, here are actions you may ALWAYS perform:

• Movement - Cost: 1 AP. Move your soldier one space in any direction you choose.
• Reinforce - Cost: 1 AP. Return a fallen soldier to start area on the board.

In addition to those, here are some of the actions provided on the cards:

• Detonate - Cost: 1 AP - -2 HP to any soldier on this space. -1 HP to any soldier in an adjacent space (note: Detonate is only shown on mine location cards).
• Rations - Cost: 2 AP - +1 HP to your soldier.
• Detection - Cost: 2 AP. Name a coordinate that your soldier is on or is adjacent to. All players must reveal to you one card with at least one of the same letter or number coordinates, if able.
• Meditation - Cost: 2 AP. Place this card in front of you. On your next turn, you have 3 AP instead of 2. Discard after your next turn.
• Body Armor - Cost: 2 AP. Place this card in front of you. Whenever your soldier would lose 1 HP, discard this card instead.

Cards must be discarded whenever they are used, unless noted otherwise. You do not need to use every AP you have in a turn, but you will always start the next turn with 2, unless noted otherwise. At the end of your turn, the player to your left begins their turn. If the deck ever becomes empty, continue to play without drawing any cards.

VICTORY

The first player to reach one of the golden spaces at the top of the board wins!

Pioneers

Contents:

• 48 Terrain Cards (4 sets of 12)
• 80 Paths (4 sets of 20)
• 24 Buildings (4 sets of 6)
• 160 Resource Cards (4 decks of 40)
• 65 Terrain Tiles (12 Fields, 12 Woods, 10 Waters, 10 Foothills, 9 Mountains, 8 Impasses, 4 Homes)
• 4 Resource Dice

Setup:

Each player gets 1 set of Terrain Cards, Paths, Buildings and a Home tile of their color. Arrange the non-Home tiles into a hex, with 5 tiles on an edge. Each player then chooses a starting point at the edge of the board, places their Home Tile there (see fig. 1) and places a building on it.

Turns consists of (in order):

• 1) PAYOUT
• 2) BUILD
• 3) BUY

PAYOUT

Roll the dice. The resources on the dice denote how many cards you will draw from which resource deck(s). There are 5 resources – Gold, Metal, Oil, Stone, Wood. Each deck contains 35 resource cards and 5 action cards. If you desire, discard one die and re-roll ANY AMOUNT of the remaining dice. You may do this as many times as you choose, discarding one die each time. Once you are satisfied with the resources shown on the dice, draw the appropriate number of cards from each resource deck.

BUILD

You may reveal any amount of land that you have bought (see BUY). Discard resources from your payment equal to that terrain’s cost (which may be less than you paid), and begin a path at one of your buildings or continue an existing path. Paths are placed across the edge of two adjacent tiles, at a 120° or 180° angle to any path(s) it connects to (see fig. 2). Paths are continued INTO tiles whose terrain matches land you’ve bought. Paths may not branch unless you play an action card that allows it. If you reveal TWO terrain cards of THE SAME TYPE, you may either CONTINUE TWO PATHS or PLACE ONE BUILDING on a tile of that terrain type ANYWHERE on the board (and begin new paths from it, even on the same turn). YOU MAY NOT BUILD ON A TILE CONTAINING ANY OF AN OPPONENT’S PIECES, UNLESS IT IS A CITY. After building, IF AND ONLY IF there is more than one leftover resource (see BUY) that was not used to build, you may reclaim one of them of an opponent’s choice. If there is only one leftover resource, it is discarded. Once you have built on land you’ve bought, return any revealed terrain cards to your hand. There are 12 cities located on the bottoms of certain terrain tiles. Each time a path or building is placed on an unflipped tile, flip it to reveal whether it is a city or not. You will eventually discover where the remaining cities are by process of elimination.

BUY

Each player gets a set of 12 terrain cards (2 per terrain). To buy land, place your payment on top of a face-down terrain card that matches the tile that will contain your intended path or a tile where you wish to place a building. You may only reclaim that terrain card by building (see BUILD), so if you want to buy land 3 times on the same terrain you must build first, since you only have 2 terrain cards of each type. Payment can be ANY AMOUNT OF RESOURCES OF ANY TYPE, but AT LEAST the minimum necessary to buy a path on that type of terrain (see “COSTS” below). GOLD can be used in place of any resource at a ratio of 2:1 (if you need to pay 1 wood, you may instead pay 2 gold to disguise this). It is up to your opponents to deduce what the face-down card is based upon the resources you have paid. NOTE: Because you have the ability to build buildings ANYWHERE on the board, not just adjacent to tiles with your paths, paying 5 resources where only 3 are necessary can be a useful tactic to confuse your opponents.

COSTS:

• FIELD – stone, 2oil
• WOODS – 2metal, oil
• FOOTHILLS – wood, stone, metal
• MOUNTAIN – wood, 2oil, metal
• WATER – 2stone, 2wood
• IMPASSE – 2wood, 2oil

At the end of your turn, you may only hold 3 resource (or action) cards plus 1 resource/action card per piece of land you’ve bought. You must discard any others.

SCORING

For each city-city connection, the player with the shortest path connecting them gets 3pts – if there is a tie, all tied players get 2pts. Each player gets 1pt for each building they have on the board and an additional 1pt for each of those buildings in a city. A player with 10pts wins immediately. If no player has 10pts by the time either a) every city is revealed, or b) one player has played all their roads AND buildings, the highest score wins.

Clandestine Freedom Movement

A small country's first democratic presidential election was "won" by the current unpopular military dictator. The people are restless, claiming the election was a fraud. The dictator has responded by clamping down on communications and squashing resistance. The people are desperate to let the whole world know about the injustices, so they have organized a system to pass a message out of the country. Will they successfully invite the intervention of other world leaders? Or will the dictator's military police stop their attempt?

Overview

A game for two players. One player becomes the Clandestine Freedom Movement (CFM), attempting to deliver a message from the movement's headquarters to a target destination. The other player becomes military police (MP) attempting to stop the CFM. The CFM player wins if he is able to transport the secret message to the target destination. The MP player wins if he locates the secret message.

Components

• 1 board divided into three concentric zones:
• the inner zone contains four areas
• the middle zone contains eight areas
• the outer zone contains twelve areas including the airport, dock, train depot and the MP headquarters
• 9 numbered player pawns
• six CFM pawns, numbered 1-6
• three MP pawns, numbered 1-3
• 4 message tokens (one is the secret message that must be carried to the target destination)
• 2 player-boards (CFM gets the 6-space board, MP gets the 3-space board)
• 1 deck of 96 cards (four cards for each of the 24 areas on the board)

Setup

• The CFM player secretly selects and sets aside two cards:
• one inner zone card designates the CFM headquarters
• one airport, dock, or train depot card designates the target destination
• The other cards are shuffled into one draw pile.
• The CFM player places the four message tokens face down on the four inner areas, ensuring the secret message token is placed the space corresponding to the card that was drawn.
• The CFM player places his pawns following these rules:
• The 1 and 2 pawns may start and/or travel only in the inner or middle zones.
• The 3 and 4 pawns may start and/or travel only in the middle zone.
• The 5 and 6 pawns may start and/or travel only in the middle or outer zones.
• The MP player places his three pawns on the MP Headquarters.
• Each player places their player-board in front of them. Both players draws six cards each.

Game Play

The game is played with alternating planning and action phases. The CFM player does all of his planning before the MP does his planning. Then, the CFM player takes all of his actions before the MP takes actions.

The Planning Phase

Players may place one card face down on each the numbered spaces on his player-board. When finished, the CFM player may discard any of the remaining cards into the discard pile and draw his hand back up to six cards. When the MP player finishes, he may save or discard any of his remaining cards, but waits to draw until the end of the action phase.

The Action Phase

Players reveal the cards on their player-boards and, following the action rules below, move their corresponding pawns. The players may also move their pawns one orthogonal space for any corresponding area on the player-board that didn't receive a card.

The CFM player may “carry” one message token underneath each pawn. The message token may be passed between two pawns in the same location and may be dropped when a pawn moves to a new location. If a CFM-pawn, carrying the secret message token, arrives at the target destination, the CFM wins the game.

A MP-pawn may “arrest” a CFM-pawn in the same location by taking both pawns to the MP's headquarters where the CFM-pawn will remain for the next planning and action phases. After this, the pawn is “released” to the space from which it was originally arrested. A MP-pawn may also capture a message token. If the captured message token was the secret message, the MP player wins. Otherwise the captured message is removed from the game. The MP player may use up to three of his remaining cards to block off the corresponding spaces for the next round. Before ending his turn, the MP player draws back up to six cards.

Action Rules

• Players may only play cards that are within three orthogonal spaces of their current position.
• The CFM's pawns may travel only in their designated zones (see setup).
• The MP's pawns may travel freely through any zone.
• Shuffle the discard pile whenever the draw pile becomes exhausted.