In AQUA, your starting point is a hot spot that gradually becomes surrounded by expanding coral formations. These corals serve as habitats for small marine animals. By fostering biodiverse habitats, you can then create ideal conditions for attracting the largest marine animals. AQUA plays over 17 rounds. On your turn, you must take a new coral tile from the market and add it to your reef, then you may also attract animals to your ecosystem if you create the correct patterns of coral. At the end of the game, the player who grew the best coral formations and attracted the most large and small sea animals will score the most points and win. AQUA invites you to dive into the beauty and wonder of the ocean, delivering an incredible variety of gameplay experiences for the whole family.
In Maps of Misterra, you play as explorers have discovered a mystical and unknown island. Your goal: Explore the island and complete your personal and hidden objectives while proposing a correct cartography of the island to earn maximum points.
To set up, place a central board representing the island on the table, and give each player a personal map they will use to transcribe their discoveries. Each turn, players choose two actions among these:
Move their explorer pawn on the central board.
Discover new terrains close to your explorer pawn, choosing from four randomly drawn tiles.
Claim control of areas.
A type of terrain on the central island must be explored twice before being validated. Thus, the unvalidated terrain types can change — “You thought you saw grass? You were mistaken.” — and then your personal map will no longer match the central board. You have to find the ideal balance between your personal objectives, and a correct cartography of the island.
Acornism is a sweet little tile placement game coming to crowdfunding near you. I was provided with a nearly finished prototype. The components include nicely illustrated tiles and adorable wooden leaves and acorns. The leaves are player markers and the acorns will be used to show the size of the forest. (I love the Ginkgo leaves!) The box size will be only 4″ x 6″.
The goal of the game is to earn the most animal points through clever placement of tiles. A tile shows an animal with a number from 5-10 on one half and the other may show from 0-4 acorns. There is a single magical acorn which can be any number for each animal it touches. On a turn players will place a tile in an 8×8 grid determined as players lay tiles. The total number of acorns around an animal must always equal the animal number exactly, otherwise the tile may not be placed there. Animals on the edge of the grid will not score because they cannot be surrounded. Tiles must be placed so that animals alternate squares with acorns. If when placing a tile, an animal is completely surrounded on all 4 sides by the exact number of acorns as the number on the animal picture, the player places one of their leaf tokens on the animal and will score points equal to the animal number. at the end of the game. The player with the most points will win the game!
If you like puzzly tile placement games this game may be for you.
If you like cute animals and adorable wooden bits this game may be for you.
If you like quick games with replayability this game may be for you.
If you like games that come in small packages that are easy to take while traveling, this game may be for you.
This game shines with 2 players. It ticks all the boxes for me, and I look forward to more plays!
In the card game Xylotar, you’ve found the long lost xylotar schematics from the instrument original designed by Bobby McColdsnap and Keifer Basset. This unique musical device was based on both xylophone and synthesizer technology in the mid 80’s. and was created as an alternative to the keytars of the era. Without knowing exactly how it should work, play until you discover the sweetest sounds. The player who scores the most points has found the perfect balance of 80’s synthesizer rock and modern carimba-style melodies. Only then can you mass produce the xylotar, succeeding in your goal of achieving moderate commercial success! In this trick-taking game players know only the colors of their cards and their relative order. Use deduction and observation to figure out the value of your cards, then bid to try to gain extra points.
You’ve joined a hot air balloon festival in which the goal is to go higher than your opponents. Dump as many sandbags as you can — and try to gain rockets as well! — to send yourself higher and higher to win.
Sandbag is a trick-taking game of avoiding tricks, manipulating trump, and reconfiguring your hand of cards. In each of the three rounds, you configure your basket with two face-up cards; the most common color among all players’ cards is the trump suit. Each trick, players either play from their hand, play a sandbag (to sluff, that is avoid winning the trick), or play one of their opponents’ face-up cards. During the round, it’s possible for the trump to change as the number and kind of face-up cards are exchanged for face-down sandbags. Five rocket cards worth negative points are in play each round, and you want to win these while avoiding the sandbag cards because in the end the player with the lowest score wins.
I last published a list of my top 20 trick-taking games back in 2021. There have been several additions to the list, in large part due to the recent explosion in interest in the mechanic. Without further ado, here is my latest list, updated for 2024.
For context, these are the top 20 in a category I very much love, I estimate that I’ve played at least 300 trick-taking games (and possibly closer to 400, depending on how public domain games are counted). I’m picky about what I buy, but I still own about 100 of the designer titles (plus I have printed rulesets for numerous public domain games). I myself have designed more than 20 tricksters (but have left those off this list).
To clarify up front, I didn’t count “climbing games” in this list, although if I had, Seers Catalog and Tichu would have made it. I also didn’t count games where the trick taking was incidental to play, as in Brian Boru or Honshu (though none of those games would have made the list).
They are listed in alphabetical order. I apologize for the lack of pictures: gathering 20 different images and putting them in this blog is a challenge!
My 20 Favorite Trick-Taking Games (Article by Chris Wray)
I last published a list of my top 20 trick-taking games back in 2021. There have been several additions to the list, in large part due to the recent explosion in interest in the mechanic. Without further ado, here is my latest list, updated for 2024.
For context, these are the top 20 in a category I very much love, I estimate that I’ve played at least 300 trick-taking games (and possibly closer to 400, depending on how public domain games are counted). I’m picky about what I buy, but I still own about 100 of the designer titles (plus I have printed rulesets for numerous public domain games). I myself have designed more than 20 tricksters (but have left those off this list).
To clarify up front, I didn’t count “climbing games” in this list, although if I had, Seers Catalog and Tichu would have made it. I also didn’t count games where the trick taking was incidental to play, as in Brian Boru or Honshu (though none of those games would have made the list).
They are listed in alphabetical order. I apologize for the lack of pictures: gathering 20 different images and putting them in this blog is a challenge!
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