Abstract

Shadows in Kyoto is a two-player abstract game based with the background of Hanamikoji in which players take control of the Oniwaban, a group of undercover spies, secretly protecting the Shogun, or an intelligence agency of the Meiji Government, funding with the advanced technology of the Western Industrial Revolution.

As the commanders, the players must secretly gather key intelligence from the opponent while protecting their own interests. Through movements, conflicts, and tactics, players have three different paths to victory:
1). Capture 2 enemy agents who possess real intelligence.
2). Let your opponent captures 3 agents of your own who possess fake intelligence.
3). Succeed in the escape of 1 agent of your own who possesses real intelligence.

Torres is an abstract game of resource management and tactical pawn movement. Players are attempting to build up castles and position their knights to score the most points each turn. Players have a limited supply of knights and action cards that allow special actions to be taken. Efficient use of pieces and cards, along with a thoughtful awareness of future possibilities, is the heart of this game.

Torres is considered by many to be an informal member of what is referred to as the Mask Trilogy.

As a koi fish, you spend your days (turns) swimming to and fro by playing a number of movement cards, with the goal of gobbling up as many dragonflies and frogs as you can every day. Each movement card has from two to four programmed moves — straight, turn, rotate any direction and leap over a space — with some moves being mandatory when played and others being optional.

Your tranquil koi pond begins with some decorative stone and a few lily pads, but you will also receive natural beauty cards in your hand that allow a player to add more lily pads, cherry blossoms, ornamental stone and frogs — which both enhances the beauty of the pond and causes turmoil beneath the still waters for the other koi. Lily pads are great as they spawn dragonflies every turn, each of which is worth 3 victory points when eaten. Cherry blossoms ripple the surface of the water as they land, causing all living things to scatter in the opposite direction — and if you play the blossoms wisely, right into your mouth! Stones prevent fish from entering a space and are best placed to block an opponent's path to a meal. Frogs are delicious 1 VP meals all their own, but they also eat dragonflies in adjacent spaces, so often they are placed to deprive opponents of their dinner.

As the weather changes and a new event card is revealed for the day in KOI, so must your strategy change. At the end of seven days, the game comes to an end, with the best-fed fish being declared the winner. Be wise, be quick, or go hungry. Persevere and you shall succeed.

Also features a solo play mode, where you must outscore a programmed AI opponent, with adjustable difficulty settings.

Based on iconic seasonal flowers found in Japan, Kuzushi Seasons pits 2, 3 or 4 players against each other in a unique game of positional influence and control. Simple rules lead to beautiful complexities in this abstract area control tile placement card game. It's smart, fun, approachable and addictive.

Card placement and area control is all resolved orthogonally to other cards. So up, down, left and right only. Players try to control more of the board through influence from the base cards they play on each turn. Then they check up, down, left and right of the base they place to see what player (if any) has a majority of base cards around it. If no one has more bases than anyone else around it, that square is uncontrolled, and any flag there is returned to its owner, which they can again either as a base or a flag as required.

This makes for a dynamic board that gets built out into a square as play continues (6x6 for 2 players, 7x7 for 3 players, or 8x8 for 4 players). Once the boundaries are established, play continues until all the board is filled. The winner is the player who has the most cards of their color on the board. If there's a tie, the player with the largest "island" of their color cards touching is the winner.

—description of the publisher

Description from the publisher:

In the tile-laying game Ancestree, players get to build their personal family trees! During each of three rounds, every player begins with a hand of six ancestor tiles. They choose one and pass the remaining tiles to the next player. The chosen ancestor is then added to the family tree, connected by leaves or hearts. Once five ancestor tiles have been added to the tree, the round ends. Players compare their family tree to those of their neighbors and gain points for the longest connected generations and for coin icons in their tree.

After three rounds, players gain bonus points for all the marriages they have created. The player with the highest score wins!