Auction / Bidding

Who does not know the colloquial expression "Buying the cat in the sack" ("Buying a pig in a poke")? In this game you can experience the meaning of this expression yourself. A group of cats wants new owners, but these lucky people do not know if they get some sweet pussycats or one or more mean old cats. Sometimes only a dog is helpful, who chases the unwanted cats away. But then too many dogs are worse, too, because they only think about chasing themselves away. A clever auction game with many interesting decisions.

Idea of the game: With their mice, the players attempt to grab the famous cat in the sack. In the sack, there are both good and bad cats. Each player can also put a dog or rabbit into the sack instead of a cat, allowing players to bluff one another. At game end, all positive cats and mice count plus points, but negative cats count minus points.

Each player plays a character who starts the game as a teenager and then must choose the cards that will make his life take shape. He can repeat a school year and get new friends, start smoking, take part in a Bible discussion group and have his first sexual intercourse during Oktoberfest – all very realistic. Every event in the life of a character has some effect on his main characteristics - tobacco addiction, alcohol addiction, drug addiction, wealth, health, sadness, spirituality and wisdom. Excess comes at a price, though, and when a characteristic gets too high, it cancels another one – if you smoke too much, you get thin; if you get too fat, you must stop drinking; if you drink too much you lose your wisdom, and so on – once more, very realistic. During game, you can get friends, and often more, with other player’s characters. This is an important feature in the game, since what happens to you usually affects, in good or bad, your friends, and this is one of the main interaction aspects of the game.

Description from Bruno Faidutti's ideal game library.

Honshu is a trick-taking, map-building card game set in feudal Japan. Players are lords and ladies of noble houses seeking new lands and opportunities for fame and fortune.

One game of Honshu lasts twelve rounds, and each round is divided into two phases. First, map cards are played in a trick, and the player who played the highest valued card gets to pick first from those cards played. Then the players use the map cards picked to expand their personal maps. Each player must expand their personal maps to maximize their scoring possibilities.

Manipulating your position in the player order is crucial for mastering Honshu.

Working in fast-food is hell. All the employees are zombies, and you can't find a single brain amongst them. Except for the brain part - there is, in fact, one brain - that's the premise of Give Me the Brain!, a card game in which players take on the roles of zombies in a fast-food restaurant in hell. They all have to complete a number of tasks before leaving work, and the work keeps piling on. Even worse, some of the tasks require basic intelligence and there's only one brain to go around.

Game Synopsis: Lord of the Fries is a thematic sequel to Give Me The Brain!. It takes place at the same restaurant, has the same cast of characters, and requires roughly the same equipment. But the game is entirely different.
Players choose orders (sometimes randomly, sometime not) from the figuratively colorful Friedey's menu, and try to fill them with cards from their hands. Some orders are easy, like the Cowabunga. One Cow Meat, one Bun. Some are a little harder, like the Chickabunga Conga: same as a Chickabunga (Bird Meat plus Bun), plus Fries and a Drink. Sound easy? Now try your hand at a Lord of the Fries, a Meat Munch, or the infamous Patriarch (Fish Meat, Cheese, Bun, Fries, Drink, and the oft-maligned Strawberry Pie).

Awards

1998 Origins Award Nominee: Best Traditional Card Game
2003 Listed in GAMES Magazine's GAMES 100

Online Play

GameTable Online (free, multiplayer, real-time)

Versions

1998 cardstock version (out of print)
2003 Special Edition (color) as Lord of the Fries De-lux
2008 Third Edition (color)

Third Edition card count - 12 Drink, 12 Bun, 12 Fries, 12 Veggies, 12 Cow, 10 Bird, 8 Cheese, 8 Sauce, 8 Fish, 4 Pie