Economic

VivaJava: The Coffee Game is all about finding that perfect blend of beans to create the next best-seller in the coffee houses and kitchens of the world.

In the game, players send their researchers to hot spots around the globe to gather the perfect bean. This may bring them into contact with other players who are also on the hunt, creating a crucial choice: Go it alone and continue to research, or join forces with that opponent, hoping to combine beans from both player's bags and share the score with a superblend. Going it alone with research can often prove useful as players spend time in the lab developing abilities that grant them an advantage. However, in VivaJava the bold taste of victory will go only to those players who are able to balance solitary research with cooperation amongst their fellow gamers.

The rich depth of varying strategies and social play will satisfy most players' thirst for unique gameplay, but VivaJava has even more brewing. This flexible game can accommodate up to 8 players, and through smooth simultaneous actions, play is quick and constant with little downtime.

Set during the tumultuous 'yellow journalism' years at the end of the 19th century, Penny Press has players taking on the role of newspaper magnates such as Pulitzer and Hearst as they strive to become the dominant paper in old New York City.

Players move up on the circulation track throughout the game by publishing newspapers, and they are awarded bonuses at the end of the game for best covering the five news 'beats' or leading news categories of the day: War, Crime & Calamity, New York City, Politics, and the Human Condition.

To publish newspapers, players assign some or all of their five reporters to the popular stories of the day. When they're ready, players 'roll the presses' to claim those stories where their reporters have a majority and assemble them on their 'front page' player mat. The score of each press run is determined by the current values in each of the five news beats. Stories also have 'star' values, and the player with the most stars in each news beat gets that beat's endgame bonus.

The end of the game is triggered when one player publishes his fourth (in a two- or three-player game) or third (in a four- or five-player game) newspaper. The player who moved farthest along the circulation track is the winner of Penny Press.

Players move their workers around the board (which is composed of variable groups of hexes) building houses along the banks of two rivers. Each turn certain hexes along the river pay out, either in money (which you use to build houses) or lumber (used to make dams). The first player to construct all five of their buildings (four houses and one hacienda) or a hacienda and three houses that are all on a riverbank, wins. Players build dams to change the flow of the rivers.

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.

From the publisher's website:

As the leader of a powerful merchant clan, you must carefully plan the trade routes that will bring wealth to your family. Build fleets and caravans to control commerce in key cities and vie for rights of passage to your rivals' islands.

Caravans of Ahldarahd is a boardgame set in a fantastic realm of desert kingdoms. Each player has a unique gameboard with a mix of advantages and disadvantages. As you plan your strategy, you must choose whether to secure monopolies in your own region or throw caution to the wind and deploy your traders to distant ports. Your deals with fellow players will ultimately determine your success or failure.

The resources you need to build your trading empire can only be acquired by the highest bid, so you must balance fast expansion with longterm planning. If you strike too soon, your control may be easy to challenge. But if you wait too long, the game could end before you're able to fulfill your plans.

In addition to resource and route management, players can bid for the favor of the mighty Shah, the zealous Eyes of Shamesh, and the mysterious Pirate Queen to secure special advantages. Meanwhile, each person's map can be invaded by any opponent controlling its Right of Passage card. The position of your allies changes from turn to turn, so those who ignore the political play can find themselves at a disadvantage.