TableTop Games

7 Wonders lasts three ages. In each age, players receive seven cards from a particular deck, choose one of those cards, then pass the remainder to an adjacent player. Players reveal their cards simultaneously, paying resources if needed or collecting resources or interacting with other players in various ways. (Players have individual boards with special powers on which to organize their cards, and the boards are double-sided). Each player then chooses another card from the deck they were passed, and the process repeats until players have six cards in play from that age. After three ages, the game ends.

In essence, 7 Wonders is a card development game. Some cards have immediate effects, while others provide bonuses or upgrades later in the game. Some cards provide discounts on future purchases. Some provide military strength to overpower your neighbors and others give nothing but victory points. Each card is played immediately after being drafted, so you'll know which cards your neighbor is receiving and how his choices might affect what you've already built up. Cards are passed left-right-left over the three ages, so you need to keep an eye on the neighbors in both directions.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-7 Players
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Age: 10+

But new tribes arrive at the island striving for permanent presence. Who will control Érin's fate over the next centuries to come?

Each player in The Arrival represents a tribe leader who tries to gain predominance over the mythical island of Érin while pushing back the demon-like Fomori. But the players are facing a dilemma, for spreading too quickly means becoming more and more corrupt and strengthening the Fomori in their power...

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 75-90 Minutes
Age: 12+

Explore the outback, build your rail empire across mountains and deserts to build a fortune. But beware dangerous sandstorms and flooding rivers as you stretch your rails across this vast continent!
Australia Rails is part of the award-winning Empire Builder® series of games, but is a complete stand-alone adventure in the world of railroading.

Using a specially designed board, you will use crayons to draw your rail lines.

It is part of the crayon rail games.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-6 Players
Playing Time: 180-240 Minutes
Age: 10+

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.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 30-45 Minutes
Age: 8+

Dice are thrown each turn, and each player must decide which of his men to move based on the outcome of the roll. Players can capture each other's men, forcing the captured men to restart their journey around the board. The winner is the first player to get all 15 men off the board. A more recent addition to the game is the "doubling cube", which allows players to up the stakes of the game, as it is often played for money. Although the game relies on dice to determine movement, there is a large degree of strategy in deciding how to make the most effective moves given each dice roll as well as measuring the risk in terms of possible rolls the opponent may get.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2 Players
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Age: 8+

Will Gandalf turn the tide for the Free Peoples? Will the Eagles arrive, or Beorn come to the rescue? Or will Bilbo the Hobbit perish in a last stand on Ravenhill?

The Battle of Five Armies features a game board representing the Eastern and Southern spurs of the Lonely Mountain and the valley they encircle, and a number of plastic figures representing troops, heroes and monsters.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2 Players
Playing Time: 90-240 Minutes
Age: 13+

Players collect these resources (cards)—wood, grain, brick, sheep, or stone—to build up their civilizations to get to 10 victory points and win the game. Setup includes randomly placing large hexagonal tiles (each showing a resource or the desert) in a honeycomb shape and surrounding them with water tiles, some of which contain ports of exchange. Number disks, which will correspond to die rolls (two 6-sided dice are used), are placed on each resource tile. Each player is given two settlements (think: houses) and roads (sticks) which are, in turn, placed on intersections and borders of the resource tiles. Players collect a hand of resource cards based on which hex tiles their last-placed house is adjacent to. A robber pawn is placed on the desert tile.

About the Game:
# of Players: 3-4 Players
Playing Time: 60-120 Minutes
Age: 10+

In Century: Spice Road, players are caravan leaders who travel the famed silk road to deliver spices to the far reaches of the continent for fame and glory. Each turn, players perform one of four actions:

Establish a trade route (by taking a market card)
Make a trade or harvest spices (by playing a card from hand)
Fulfill a demand (by meeting a victory point card's requirements and claiming it)
Rest (by taking back into your hand all of the cards you've played)

The last round is triggered once a player has claimed their fifth victory point card, then whoever has the most victory points wins.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-5 Players
Playing Time: 30-45 Minutes
Age: 8+

Pieces only move diagonally, and only one space at a time. If a player can move one of his pieces so that it jumps over an adjacent piece of their opponent and into an empty space, that player captures the opponent's disc. Jumping moves must be taken when possible, thereby creating a strategy game where players offer up jumps in exchange for setting up the board so that they jump even more pieces on their turn. A player wins by removing all of his opponent's pieces from the board or by blocking the opponent so that he has no more moves.
This game, also known as Draughts, is part of the Checkers family.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2 Players
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Age: 6+

Each type of piece has a unique form of movement and capturing occurs when a piece, via its movement, occupies the square of an opposing piece. Players take turns moving one of their pieces in an attempt to capture, attack, defend, or develop their positions. Chess games can end in checkmate, resignation, or one of several types of draws. Chess is one of the most popular games in the world, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments. Between two highly skilled players, chess can be a beautiful thing to watch, and a game can provide great entertainment even for novices. There is also a large literature of books and periodicals about chess, typically featuring games and commentary by chess masters.

The current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from a similar, much older game of Indian origin. The tradition of organized competitive chess began in the 16th century. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886. The current World Champion is Magnus Carlsen, Norway. Chess is also a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2 Players
Playing Time: 60 Minutes
Age: 6+

Players are dealt character, weapon, and location cards after the top card from each card type is secretly placed in the confidential file in the middle of the board. Players must move to a room and then make an accusation against a character saying they did it in that room with a specific weapon. The player to the left must show one of any cards accused to the accuser if in that player's hand. Through deductive reasoning each player must figure out which character, weapon, and location are in the secret file. To do this, each player must uncover what cards are in other players hands by making more and more accusations. Once a player knows what cards the other players are holding, they will know what cards are in the secret file. A great game for those who enjoy reasoning and thinking things out.

About the Game:
# of Players: 3-6 Players
Playing Time: 45 Minutes
Age: 8+

Thanks to the double-sided game board, players can choose to solve the murder mystery in The Red Keep or in Meereen. WHO was responsible for plotting the murder? WHAT weapon was used and WHERE did the crime take place?

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-6 Players
Playing Time: 30-45 Minutes
Age: 18+

Unfortunately, several of your book collector colleagues (more like acquaintances, really) are also candidates. To outshine your competition, you need to expand your personal library by sending your trusty assistants out into the village to find the most impressive tomes. Sources for the finest books are scarce, so you need to beat your opponents to them when they pop up.

You have only a week before the Mayor's Official Inspector comes to judge your library, so be sure your assistants have all your books shelved! The Inspector is a tough cookie and will use her Official Checklist to grade your library on several criteria including shelf stability, alphabetical order, and variety — and don't think she'll turn a blind eye to books the Council has banned! You need shrewd planning and cunning tactics (and perhaps a little magic) to surpass your opponents and become Grand Librarian!

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Playing Time: 45 Minutes
Age: 10+

When the northerners went out for a raid, they used to say they headed out for a viking. Their Scandinavian ancestors, however, were much more than just pirates. They were explorers and founders of states. Leif Eriksson is said to be the first European in America, long before Columbus.

In what is known today as Normandy, the intruders were not called Vikings but Normans. One of them is the famous William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066. He managed to do what the king of Norway failed to do only a few years prior: conquer the Throne of England. The reason why the people of these times became such strong seafarers is due to their unfortunate agricultural situation. Crop shortfalls caused great distress.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Playing Time: 30-120 Minutes
Age: 12+

The oracles foretold of strangers who would maneuver the Five Tribes to gain influence over the legendary city-state. Will you fulfill the prophecy? Invoke the old Djinns and move the Tribes into position at the right time, and the Sultanate may become yours!

Designed by Bruno Cathala, Five Tribes builds on a long tradition of German-style games that feature wooden meeples. Here, in a unique twist on the now-standard "worker placement" genre, the game begins with the meeples already in place – and players must cleverly maneuver them over the villages, markets, oases, and sacred places tiles that make up Naqala. How, when, and where you dis-place these Five Tribes of Assassins, Elders, Builders, Merchants, and Viziers determine your victory or failure.

As befitting a Days of Wonder game, the rules are straightforward and easy to learn. But devising a winning strategy will take a more calculated approach than our standard fare. You need to carefully consider what moves can score you well and put your opponents at a disadvantage. You need to weigh many different pathways to victory, including the summoning of powerful Djinns that may help your cause as you attempt to control this legendary Sultanate.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 40-80 Minutes
Age: 13+

Players must work together out of necessity to clear out menacing dungeons and forgotten ruins. In the process, they will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make.

This is a game with a persistent and changing world that is ideally played over many game sessions. After a scenario, players will make decisions on what to do, which will determine how the story continues, kind of like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. Playing through a scenario is a cooperative affair where players will fight against automated monsters using an innovative card system to determine the order of play and what a player does on their turn.

Each turn, a player chooses two cards to play out of their hand. The number on the top card determines their initiative for the round. Each card also has a top and bottom power, and when it is a player’s turn in the initiative order, they determine whether to use the top power of one card and the bottom power of the other, or vice-versa. Players must be careful, though, because over time they will permanently lose cards from their hands. If they take too long to clear a dungeon, they may end up exhausted and be forced to retreat.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Playing Time: 60-120 Minutes
Age: 12+

One can see why many people say it's one of the most elegant brain-burning abstract games in history, with players trying to claim territory by walling off sections of the board and surrounding each other's stones. The game doesn't end until the board fills up, or, more often, when both players agree to end it, at which time whoever controls the most territory wins.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2 Players
Playing Time: 30 - 180 Minutes
Age: 8+

The game board shows a grid of 5x5 squares. Ten cards are placed beside the first four rows in stacks of 4, 3, 2 and 1 card. On their turn, the player picks up an open card from one of the stacks next to the game board and places it in another row — always in a clockwise direction. All players whose colors are on that card (one or two) are then allowed to build a new tower or build on top of an existing tower in this particular row. Building on an open space is free, while building on top of somebody else's tower costs as many ducats as the number of "floors" already built. A player can decide to trigger a general round of scoring simply by moving the last card of any stack. High towers are a good way to claim a large, connected territory and collect a lot of ducats.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 45 Minutes
Age: 10+

In Latice Hawai’i, players take turns laying tiles that each present an animal and an element. Tile placement requires the animal or element to match adjacent tiles. Players earn extra moves through superior strategy. Easy to learn, hard to master, Latice Hawai’i is an excellent addition to any collection, be it humble as a gecko or worthy of the game rooms of Maui and Pele.

The new edition features new components and thoughtfully revised content to create the best possible updated version of the game. Rules have been added for "kid mode", "timed modes", and "advanced player modes"

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-8 Players
Playing Time: 20 - 60 Minutes
Age: 6+

When times get tough, players may have to mortgage their properties to raise cash for fines, taxes and other misfortunes.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-8 Players
Playing Time: 60-180 Minutes
Age: 8+

The Duke of Wellington's armies are drawn to defend the road to Brussels. Napoleon's superior French forces begin their assault. Can the British thin red line hold until the Prussian army arrives to fall upon Napoleon's flanks?

About the Game:
# of Players: 2 Players
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Age: 10+

Each player is a deadly disease and they must battle against each other to spread their plagues, develop new symptoms and ultimately wipe out humanity.

Starting with Patient Zero, you spread your infection across the world by placing tokens in cities - earning DNA points and preventing other players from becoming dominant. Players choose which countries are placed on the board but you must be both climate resistant and connected to a country before you can infect it. Eventually, as countries become fully infected - you try to kill them using the Death Dice.

Each player’s unique pathogen can be upgraded by evolving trait cards onto an evolution slide (with DNA points). At the start, your disease is weak and unspecialized, so you will need to add new symptoms to make it stronger. Choose carefully and plan ahead in order to react to the changing world and exploit opportunities created by other player’s actions.

A simple nosebleed could accelerate things early on, whilst diarrhea will help you thrive in hot countries. Sneezing can infect new continents by air but Total Organ Failure would allow you to wipe out multiple countries each turn. As countries start to fall, use powerful event cards to alter the balance of power. You might try to eradicate a dominant player by bombing their diseased cities, or hold the Olympics to cause huge numbers of infected people to travel to a healthy continent. When the world collapses, who will be the ultimate plague?

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Playing Time: 60 Minutes
Age: 14+

Each player's turn consists of:

Gaining reinforcements through number of territories held, control of every territory on each continent, and turning sets of bonus cards.
Attacking other players using a simple combat rule of comparing the highest dice rolled for each side. Players may attack as often as desired. If one enemy territory is successfully taken, the player is awarded with a bonus card.
Moving a group of armies to another adjacent territory.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-6 Players
Playing Time: 120 Minutes
Age: 10+

Choose to play with 2 or 4 players. With 2 players, each player is in control of either Team Captain America (Captain America and Falcon) or Team Iron Man (Iron Man and War Machine). With 4 players, each player is in control of his or her own hero and works in teams of 2. No matter which way of play is chosen, after 5 rounds of excitement and strategy, the game is over, and mission tokens are scored. The team with the most points wins the game!

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 75-90 Minutes
Age: 10+

War and chaos have descended upon the realms of Men. In Westeros, the death of Robert Baratheon has created a power vacuum with rival Houses competing for control of The Iron Throne. Meanwhile, in Essos, Daenerys Targaryen is building an army to contest the rule of the Ghiscari slavers, before returning to reclaim The Iron Throne.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-7 Players
Playing Time: 120-140 Minutes
Age: 18+

The nefarious Marquise de Cat has seized the great woodland, intent on harvesting its riches. Under her rule, the many creatures of the forest have banded together. This Alliance will seek to strengthen its resources and subvert the rule of Cats. In this effort, the Alliance may enlist the help of the wandering Vagabonds who are able to move through the more dangerous woodland paths. Though some may sympathize with the Alliance’s hopes and dreams, these wanderers are old enough to remember the great birds of prey who once controlled the woods.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the region, the proud, squabbling Eyrie have found a new commander who they hope will lead their faction to resume their ancient birthright. The stage is set for a contest that will decide the fate of the great woodland. It is up to the players to decide which group will ultimately take root.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 60-90 Minutes
Age: 10+

Scythe is an engine-building game set in an alternate-history 1920's period. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and valor. In Scythe, each player represents a character from one of five factions of Eastern Europe who are attempting to earn their fortune and claim their faction's stake in the land around the mysterious Factory. Players conquer territory, enlist new recruits, reap resources, gain villagers, build structures, and activate monstrous mechs.

Each player begins the game with different resources (power, coins, combat acumen, and popularity), a different starting location, and a hidden goal. Starting positions are specially calibrated to contribute to each faction’s uniqueness and the asymmetrical nature of the game (each faction always starts in the same place).

About the Game:
# of Players: 2 Players
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Age: 8+

alongside the islanders who live there.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Playing Time: 90-120 Minutes
Age: 13+

The game is conducted with pitcher and batter cards constructed with statistical probabilities so they realistically reproduce the real-life performance of each player for the season represented. The gamer is placed in the role of the manager and/or general manager of a team and controls the batting order, the choice of a starting pitcher, game strategies (hit and run, steals, intentional walks, bunting, positioning of infielders, pinch hitters, defensive substitutions, pitching changes, etc.). If a full season is played, the game produces amazingly realistic statistics at the player, team, and league levels. The game comes in two versions: a cards and dice version that has been around since 1962 and a computer version that automatically looks up play outcomes and compiles player, team and league statistics. Every year, Strat-O-Matic releases new player card sets based on the previous baseball season, seasons past, and some "greats" collections.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-2 Players
Playing Time: 45 Minutes
Age: 11+

In Tapestry, you start from nothing and advance on any of the four advancement tracks (science, technology, exploration, and military) to earn progressively better benefits. You can focus on a specific track or take a more balanced approach. You will also improve your income, build your capital city, leverage your asymmetric abilities, earn victory points, and gain tapestry cards that will tell the story of your civilization.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-5 Players
Playing Time: 90-120 Minutes
Age: 12+

Terra Mystica is a full information game without any luck that rewards strategic planning. Each player governs one of the 14 groups. With subtlety and craft, the player must attempt to rule as great an area as possible and to develop that group's skills. There are also four religious cults in which you can progress. To do all that, each group has special skills and abilities.

Taking turns, the players execute their actions on the resources they have at their disposal. Different buildings allow players to develop different resources. Dwellings allow for more workers. Trading houses allow players to make money. Strongholds unlock a group's special ability, and temples allow you to develop religion and your terraforming and seafaring skills. Buildings can be upgraded: Dwellings can be developed into trading houses; trading houses can be developed into strongholds or temples; one temple can be upgraded to become a sanctuary. Each group must also develop its terraforming skill and its skill with boats to use the rivers.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-5 Players
Playing Time: 60-150 Minutes
Age: 12+

The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.

"The rules are simple enough to write on a train ticket – each turn you either draw more cards, claim a route, or get additional Destination Tickets," says Ticket to Ride author, Alan R. Moon. "The tension comes from being forced to balance greed – adding more cards to your hand, and fear – losing a critical route to a competitor."

About the Game:
# of Players: Players
Playing Time: Minutes
Age:

The number of dice you roll is determined by the strength of your galaxy. Each die is engraved with symbols representing the various actions you can take, such as moving a spaceship, increasing your culture or energy resources, or advancing your political or economic influence over newly discovered planets.

Through careful planning, you must make the most out of your turn, taking the available actions in whichever order you consider most beneficial. But be careful, as each of your opponents can choose to follow each action you take by expending valuable resources. This means that it can always be your turn, even when it is someone else’s turn!

Players will colonize new planets throughout the game, thereby earning victory points and accumulating special abilities which they can activate for their galactic empire. Careful spending of resources will ensure the fastest growth of your empire, while allowing you to receive the biggest possible pay‐off from the actions you take.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-5 Players
Playing Time: 30-60 Minutes
Age: 14+

The goal is to keep your token on the board longer than anyone else's, but as the board fills up this becomes harder because there are fewer empty spaces left... and another player's tile may also extend your own path in a direction you'd rather not go. Easy to introduce to new players, Tsuro lasts a mere 15 minutes and actually does work for any number from 2 to 8.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-8 Players
Playing Time: 15 Minutes
Age: 8+

While Europe sits unprotected in Victorian Masterminds, you and other players send your henchmen to different cities to use their varied abilities, collect material for your steampunk-inspired contraptions, destroy buildings, and complete missions. At the same time, the Secret Service follows your path of destruction. Every contraption is unique and allows you to take different actions, leading to highly strategic, asymmetric gameplay.

In more detail, during the game, players take turns placing one of their five agent tokens — Henchman, Machine, Saboteur, Pilot, Number 2 — face down on one of the five action spaces. As soon as three tokens are on a space, those tokens are flipped and activated, first in first out, with each agent carrying out its individual action in addition to whatever takes place in that space. When an evil mastermind completes their contraption or the Secret Service brings this villainy to a halt, the game ends, and whoever has generated the most victory points wins.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 45 - 60 Minutes
Age: 14+

Use your familiars to gather ingredients and cast spells on the villagers to achieve goals and score victory points as you vie to be named the village crone.

All the players are witches who have come upon a medieval village without a crone. They send out familiars to gather ingredients they can use in spells to complete Witch's Scheme cards. Each of the cards is worth 1, 2, or 3 points, which also indicates how difficult the scheme is to complete. The witch who scores 13 points wins.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-6 Players
Playing Time: 90 Minutes
Age: 13+

They each have a dream of being the first to call their winery a true success. The players are in the position of determining how they want to allocate their workers throughout the year. Every season is different on a vineyard, so the workers have different tasks they can take care of in the summer and winter. There's competition over those tasks, and often the first worker to get to the job has an advantage over subsequent workers.

Fortunately for the players, people love to visit wineries, and it just so happens that many of those visitors are willing to help out around the vineyard when they visit as long as you assign a worker to take care of them. Their visits (in the form of cards) are brief but can be very helpful.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-6 Players
Playing Time: 45-90 Minutes
Age: 13+