Dice

Gem Rummy is similar to standard Gin Rummy except each card has a background color & gem symbol; Kings have two background colors; (Jokers are included but are not used in hands). Adding colors to each card allows for more interesting combinations (like having all eight gems in hand). Another difference is that (2) 6-sided dice are used at the beginning of each hand to establish the "Knock number", and also the "Diamond number" for a special meld called "Queen's Diamonds".

The object is to get your hand down to a few points of Deadwood by getting Melds.

There are 3 phases to each hand: 1) DEAL & ROLL; 2) CARD PLAY; 3) SHOWDOWN & SCORING.
Cards in Melds and Lay-offs will not score for your opponent, but have no inherent point values themselves. Cards not in Melds or Lay-offs are called Deadwood and might add points to your opponent’s score.

There are 4 different Melds available: Sets, Runs, Stashes, and Queen’s Diamonds (the latter two are new).

SET: At least 3 cards of the same rank (i.e., 5, 5, 5).
RUN: At least 3 consecutive cards in the same suit (i.e., 6, 7, 8, all clubs).
STASH: At least 4 cards of the same gem color (i.e., 4 Emeralds).
QUEEN’S DIAMONDS: Any Queen + one designated Diamond card that is determined by the initial roll number on the dice. Both dice are rolled to find one number (i.e., 3 and 4 = 7, indicating 7 of Diamonds is the card). An “11” or “12” indicates JACK of DIAMONDS.

Also, "Gem Parts" is a bonus players can earn by having all 8 gems at the end of a hand.

A new minimum score rule keeps the game moving along nicely.

—description from the designer

Be fast or be last!

In Cubitos, players take on the role of participants in the annual Cube Cup, a race of strategy and luck to determine the Cubitos Champion. Each player has a runner on the racetrack and a support team, which is represented by all the dice you roll. Each turn, you roll dice and use their results to move along the racetrack, buy new dice, and use abilities — but you must be careful not to push your luck rolling too much or you could bust!

—description from the publisher

In a time when early sea-faring Polynesians roamed the Pacific they came across the archipelago of Tungaru, today also known as Gilbert Islands. Rich in nutrients and resources they set about colonising these lands and spreading their culture.

Tungaru sets players as early Polynesians in this dice placement and resource conversion, medium-weight euro game. Players will jump from island to island in an effort to recruit Nomads as new tribe members, colonise land, spread their culture and exchange goods. Players use dice as workers, Leader cards which are blind revealed which are then given to your neighbour and custom shaped meeples specific to their tribe. All in an effort to be the most successful tribe!

—description from the publisher

From the Dark Night Metal comic series, the evil hybrid of Batman and Joker — The Batman Who Laughs — is determined to unleash the Dark Knights and Barbatos on Prime.

In The Batman Who Laughs Rising, a passage from the Dark Multiverse has allowed the most dangerous evildoers to infiltrate Gotham City, and these Dark Knights alongside their menacing leader are eager to do their worst to the city.

Players roll dice and work together to save the multiverse, starting with one of four starting heroes — Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, or Batman — and recruiting allies such as Harley Quinn, The Flash, and Cyborg, whose skills can complete objectives or help recover what is lost to darkness. Take out villainous versions of Batman such as The Merciless, The Dawnbreaker, The Murder Machine, and more before facing off with the psychotic Joker-ized antagonist himself, who's represented by a custom-sculpted, full-color figure who commands a fistful of chained Evil Robins!

Description from the designer:

Nautilion is a dice game in the Oniverse series!

Take the helm of a Nautilion submarine and recruit a heroic crew to vanquish the treacherous Darkhouse that lurks in the oceanic depths. You must get to the Abyss, lair of the Darkhouse, before the Phantom Submarine (his henchman) reaches your homeland, the Happy Isles — but to defeat the Darkhouse, not only must you be faster than the Phantom Submarine, you must also assemble the submarine's crew along the way.

Each turn, you roll three dice and give one to each of these figures: the Nautilion, the Phantom Submarine, and the Darkhouse. The dice of the Nautilion and the Phantom Submarine move those figures along a path formed by Crew tokens: the Nautilion from the Happy Isles towards the Abyss; the Phantom Submarine in the opposite direction. The crew token on which your Nautilion ends its move joins your submarine, the one the Phantom Submarine reaches is lost!

Only four copies exist of each of the nine different tokens, so you have to decide carefully which die you need and which you can leave to your enemies. (The Darkhouse doesn't move, but inflicts damage to you each time he gets a die with a high value.) To win, you need to reach the Abyss with a full crew of nine different tokens.

Five expansions are included with the game, adding new crew members, powers, treacheries and challenges.