Auction / Bidding

Ra is an auction and set-collection game with an Ancient Egyptian theme. Each turn players are able to purchase lots of tiles with their bidding tiles (suns). Once a player has used up his or her suns, the other players continue until they do likewise, which may set up a situation with a single uncontested player bidding on tiles before the end of the round occurs. Tension builds because the round may end before all players have had a chance to win their three lots for the epoch. The various tiles either give immediate points, prevent negative points for not having certain types at the end of the round (epoch), or give points after the final round. The game lasts for three "epochs" (rounds). The game offers a short learning curve, and experienced players find it both fast-moving and a quick play.

From the Box:
The game spans 1500 years of Egyptian history in less than an hour!
The players seek to expand their power and fame and there are many ways to accomplish this: Influencing Pharaohs, Building monuments, Farming on the Nile, Paying homage to the Gods, Advancing the technology and culture of the people. Ra is an auction and set collecting game where players may choose to take risks for great rewards or... And all this is for the glory of the Sun God Ra!

This version of the game is rare and requires a membership to play. See Game Associate for details.

Five Tribes: The Artisans of Naqala, the first expansion for Five Tribes, introduces a new tribe to the game, and players will want to use these artisans to help them in their quest to claim the Sultanate.

The artisans, represented in the game by purple meeples, allow players to craft precious goods or magic items, with some of these items being worth victory points (VPs) and others unlocking special powers for their owner.

To make use of these artisans, you'll need to visit the new tiles included in this expansion: workshops (where the artisans craft their items) and specialized markets (where players can purchase specific merchandise that they need). An additional tile in the game features an impassable chasm, and this tile — as well as the included mountain markers — forces players to adapt to new landscapes when moving meeples on the board.

Five Tribes: The Artisans of Naqala also includes two new Djinns.

In Alliances, you will play a superpower nation seeking world domination along with its ally. The game is mainly based on trick-taking mechanisms, with each trick representing a local struggle to control a country in the world. The world is composed of a vast number of countries, each one represented by a tile on the table. Each country also has its own defensive attributes: a certain military strength, economic strength and political strength which need to be overcome. In order to win, your alliance has to dominate the world by gaining control over the most countries.

Alliances includes three different games in one box:

For 2 players, a confrontational trick taking game.
For 3 players, a game in which each player in turn plays a superpower empire while the other two players fight him off as rebels.
For 4 players, a game in which you and your ally will team up to fight your rival alliance to control the world!

Northwest India at the beginning of the 18th century. The rule of the Grand Moguls is waning, and the Maharishis and princes seize the opportunity to take control of the region. By influencing the prominent forces, building magnificent palaces, and ensuring a steady supply of commodities, the princes increase their power until the most successful has won.

The goal of the game is to gain the most influence points. These can be obtained by building palaces and by acquiring commodities. A palace can be built after securing the support of the Vizier, the General, the Monk, the Princess, or the Grand Mogul. Commodities are gained by seizing control of a region or by retrieving them on a space where a palace has just been built.

There are twelve turns with an auction for the region control and the support of the Vizier, General, Monk, Princess, and Grand Mogul, each represented by a different symbol. Players use cards in four colors to bid for the various prizes, and each player may only play one color in any given turn. During your turn you can either increase your bid by playing more cards or withdraw. When you do, you gain the reward for every symbol you have the majority of. You place palaces, gain region tiles, and increase your score accordingly. There are bonus points for connecting palaces over several regions on the map.After the final area on the board is auctioned, the player with the highest point total wins the game.

This game is #3 in the Alea big box series.

This version of Monopoly comes in silver tin.

The major differences from the standard version are:

The board is made of silver colored holographic foil
The money is translucent
The dice look like jewels
The houses stack and are translucent
There are 8 new game tokens (computer, video cell phone, in-line skate, glove, plane, car, bicycle, and labrador.