Fluxx is a card game in which the cards themselves determine the current rules of the game. By playing cards, you change numerous aspects of the game: how to draw cards, how to play cards, and even how to win.
At the start of the game, each player holds three cards and on a turn a player draws one card, then plays one card. By playing cards, you can put new rules into play that change numerous aspects of the game: how many cards to draw or play, how many cards you can hold in hand or keep on the table in front of you, and (most importantly) how to win the game.
Doctor Who Fluxx takes the basic gameplay of Fluxx and merges it with multiple regenerations of the Doctor, various companions, Gallifreyan technology, K-9, Cybermen, Daleks, Weeping Angels, and the Master.
Introduced by the Moors, azulejos (originally white and blue ceramic tiles) were fully embraced by the Portuguese when their king Manuel I, on a visit to the Alhambra palace in Southern Spain, was mesmerized by the stunning beauty of the Moorish decorative tiles. The king, awestruck by the interior beauty of the Alhambra, immediately ordered that his own palace in Portugal be decorated with similar wall tiles. As a tile-laying artist, you have been challenged to embellish the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora.
In the game Azul, players take turns drafting colored tiles from suppliers to their player board. Later in the round, players score points based on how they’ve placed their tiles to decorate the palace. Extra points are scored for specific patterns and completing sets; wasted supplies harm the player’s score. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Will you play citizens into your hometown for points, or contribute them to the capital and benefit from their special abilities? In Capital Lux, you always balance on a razor’s edge, so will you take risks? Bluff? Or follow a carefully laid plan? The choice is yours in this clever card game, featuring beautiful art by American painter Kwanchai Moriya.
Each round begins with the players drafting a hand of five or six character cards. On your turn, you must play a card either in front of you (your hometown) or in the middle of the table (the capital). When you play a card into the capital, you benefit from the card’s special ability. Each character belongs to one of four professions, and their special abilities are:
Merchant: Take 1 gold coin. Gold coins can be used at the end of a round to increase your own limit for one of the four professions.
Agent: Draw a secret modifier card and add it (face down) to one of the four professions in the capital. This will affect the limit of the chosen profession at round’s end.
Scholar: Draw a card from the deck into your hand.
Cleric: Move the lowest valued card of any profession from the capital into your hometown
At the end of a round, for each profession, you are not allowed to have a higher total value in your hometown than the current total value in the capital. If you break the limit for one of the professions, you lose all cards of that profession from your hometown. At the end of the third round, all characters remaining in a player’s hometown are worth points.
This means that for every card there’s a dilemma of whether to add it to your hometown for possible points, or to the capital which not only gives you the benefit from a special ability, but also increases the potential points for all players. Since every player is dealt only five or six cards at the beginning of a round, every card play is crucial…
In Matchmaker, you take characters under your wing and try to find them suitable partners. Some characters want to fall in hopelessly in love but others are more pragmatic – or just plain mercenary!
You’ll discover your characters’ motives with the roll of a dice. Each character has a preference which makes them more likely to prefer a particular ‘trait’ – Charm, Virtue, Rank or Fortune.
Making a suitable match – for example marrying one of your gold-diggers to a rich suitor – will earn you more prestige. The player who earns the most prestige wins the game.
You can gain even more prestige by earning the approval of patrons. Mrs Norris only approves of people with a good fortune whereas Lady Bertram is more impressed by charm.
In addition to making matches, you can invite characters to prestigious residences to boost your prestige still further. Make sure you invite the right sort of guest, they don’t approve of riffraff at Mansfield Park!
Note from designer:
The original Matchmaker card game was intended for social play (3 or more players) but I received many requests for a 2-player variant. Jane Austen’s Matchmaker: Chapter 2 was designed with this in mind.
Whether you play head to head or with up to three other players, you must assess each proposal and your chances of coming out on top, before you accept or decline.
This expansion consists of 50 new cards and rules to supplement the original game.
You must still make advantageous marriages for your ladies and gentleman but now with the inconvenience of an undead apocalypse which threatens to make a bloody mess of your wedding plans. One player starts the game afflicted with the Curse of the Living Dead.
The Cursed player draws cards from the new deck – both on their own turn and when anyone gets married. This deck includes many Zombie cards, which transform the Cursed player’s ladies and gentlemen into flesh-eating monsters! If the player runs out of characters to infect, they must pass the Curse onto someone else.
Gift cards send useful items to other players – including weapons and the means to protect themselves from zombie attacks. Event cards may unleash a horde of ravenous Zombies on polite society or help the poor survivors to persevere with their essential tea-drinking and courtship.
It is very difficult for the Cursed player to win, but not impossible – if they can keep their Zombies well-fed with a stocked up Slaughter pile…
In Jane Austen’s Matchmaker, a card game for 3 to 6 players, you place your Ladies into Society and propose to other players’ Ladies with your Gentlemen. Some proposals lead to love and happiness and some to financial prosperity, but some are nothing more than shallow seductions. Whatever happens, you must ensure that your characters come out on top!
When proposing, if a Gentleman’s Charm is lower than the Lady’s, he must discard cards to make up the difference. If he wants to really impress her, he can discard additional cards to boost his Charm. If the Lady accepts, the players exchange characters and whoever has the higher Wealth draws cards equal to the difference. If she declines – paying cards if necessary to counter his Charm offensive – the Gentleman returns to the player’s hand to brush up on his manners.
Declining a proposal from a Gentleman with a higher Rank will earn you additional cards, and if you have more Ladies in Society than anyone else at the start of your turn, you get an extra ‘go’. This can help you to dominate the matchmaking scene but will doubtless draw the ire of your rivals. It’s good to be protective of your Ladies, but don’t let them get left on the shelf…
When the deck runs out, the game ends and players tally up the Virtue of their married characters, then subtract the Virtue of their ‘old maids’ (Ladies left unwed in Society). Whoever has the highest Virtue total wins!
Cang Jie is one of the legendary figures in ancient China. As legends foretold, he was inspired by the footprints of animals on the ground, and began to create all kinds of different symbols according to the forms of all things in nature, hoping to replace the conventional, yet unreliable, knot tying way of remembering things. For conveniences, Jie decides to name these symbols “Zi”, which means “character”. This is the origin of “Hanzi”, the “character from Han dynasty”.
In Hànzì, players travel back 3600 years and serve as one of the pupils of Master Cang Jie. As you learn from the Master, you will create new characters that serve as the foundation of modern Chinese culture.
In game terms, you lay out double-sided cards on the table that show the old letters on one side and the newer traditional letters on the other. On a turn, you choose a task card that shows a theme and score points by identifying two of the many kanji that match your theme from among the old letters. Whoever first earns ten points wins.
Valerie Stone was another negotiator who was constantly competing with you, but never garnered the accolades or had the level of success that you did. Ultimately it became too much for her and she’s decided the only way to prove she is better than you is to force you to negotiate with her… and she knows just how to accomplish that.
Clyde Seaver’s life is in shambles. His wife left him and in fear of losing his 2 children he’s kidnapped them with the help of his loyal sister, Tina. She has the kids hidden in Becker Swamp and you have to negotiate with the suicidal Clyde and buy your team time to find the kids.
A cult has turned to violence to push its agenda and to garner more attention. Many in the cult are as much victims as they are culprits. How will you handle the situation when the Abductors are also the Hostages? Find out in this thrilling pack.
