Number Drop

• Designer: Florian Sirieix and Benoit Turpin
• Players:1-6
• Age: 10+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Says the publisher: “Number Drop  is a Tetris-style roll-and-write game played with shapes and numbers.Players use 4 number dice and 1 shape die to determine the way they must fill in their grid, by creating the shape with the numbers. Players also have 5 block tiles they can use to block the other players’ grid. In this game, you must drop shapes in the right places to create combinations of identical or consecutive numbers on your grid. You aim at being the most efficient and being able drop penalties onto your opponents ! As soon as a player reaches the Game Over line, the game ends and whoever has the most points is the winner. Will you reach the ultimate score of 100 ?”

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Barcelona

• Designer: Dani Garcia
• Publisher: Board&Dice
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 14+
• Time: 60-90 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Barcelona is one of my favorite cities in Europe to visit; I have been there on a number of occasions, and I am already planning to be there again next February.  Part of what I love is the architectural beauty of the Eixample – the expansion of the old city, masterminded by Ildefons Cerda.  The filled city blocks and street grid with diagonals is easily recognizable.

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Scram!

• Designer: Ted Alspach
• Publisher: Bezier Games
• Players: 3, 4 or 6
• Age: 15+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by Bezier Games

Per the publisher: After hiking a local trail, you and your partner have returned to a campsite completely ransacked by pesky critters. Team up to clear your campground of critters before your neighbors. Scram! is a fun & fast team based card game that plays 1 vs 2, 2 vs 2 & 3 vs 3! Each animal has a different card value, and many have a special action. Be careful, there may be critters who are still hiding and waiting for the right moment to present themselves! Call out “Scram!” when you think your team has the fewest animals in your campsite; but will your team be able to toss out the troublesome trespassers before your neighbors?

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The White Castle

• Designers: Shei S & Isra C
• Publisher: DEVIR
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 12+
• Time: 80 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

From the publisher:

The heron flies over the Himeji sky while the Daimyo, from the top of the castle, watches his servants move. Gardeners tend the pond, where the koi carp live, warriors stand guard on the walls, and courtiers crowd the gates, pining for an audience that brings them closer to the innermost circles of the court. When night falls, the lanterns are lit and the workers return to their clan.

In The White Castle, players will control one of these clans in order to score more victory points than the rest. To do so, they must amass influence in the court, manage resources boldly, and place their workers in the right place at the right time. [In this game, you will] explore the most imposing fortress in modern Japan, Himeji Castle, where the banner of the Sakai clan flies under the orders of Daimio Sakai Tadakiyo.

The White Castle is a Euro type game with mechanics of resource management, worker placement and dice placement to carry out actions. During the game, over three rounds, players will send members of their clan to tend the gardens, defend the castle or progress up the social ladder of the nobility. At the end of the match, these will award players victory points in a variety of ways.

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