Tile Placement

In the tile-laying game Castles of Mad King Ludwig, players are tasked with building an amazing, extravagant castle for King Ludwig II of Bavaria...one room at a time. You see, the King loves castles, having built Neuschwanstein (the castle that inspired the Disney theme park castles) and others, but now he's commissioned you to build the biggest, best castle ever — subject, of course, to his ever-changing whims. Each player acts as a building contractor who is adding rooms to the castle he's building while also selling his services to other players.

In the game, each player starts with a simple foyer. One player takes on the role of the Master Builder, and that player sets prices for a set of rooms that can be purchased by the other players, with him getting to pick from the leftovers after the other players have paid him for their rooms. When a room is added to a castle, the player who built it gains castle points based on the size and type of room constructed, as well as bonus points based on the location of the room. When a room is completed, with all entranceways leading to other rooms in the castle, the player receives one of seven special rewards.

After each purchasing round, a new player becomes the Master Builder who sets prices for a new set of rooms. After several rounds, the game ends, then additional points are awarded for achieving bonus goals, having the most popular rooms, and being the most responsive to the King's demands, which change each game. Whoever ends up with the most castle points wins.

In Ugg-Tect, first released as Aargh!Tect, players work in teams to construct fabulous – well, let's say "functional" – structures out of materials lying around them. All the players are cavemen, however, so you have only rough blocks with which to build and you can communicate only through primitive gestures and sounds. Ugungu!

When you're the architect on your team, you see a building plan that shows how the blocks should be placed in the finished design. To get the builders on your team to do the heavy work, you must tell them which piece to use – through gestures like stomping your feet or raising your arms above your head – and what to do with it. "Manungu" tells them to put the piece at the front of the structure, while "Manungu manungu" means to put it at the back. Moving pieces left or right, up or down, laying them down or rotating them – lots of details need to be conveyed with only a few commands and your trusty (inflatable) spiked club. When you give a command and your team performs well, tap them on the head once to show approval. Hit them twice, though, and they know they messed up and need to pay better attention. I said, "Karungu!!" (stomp stomp stomp)

The fastest – and most accurate – architect/building team will carry the day...

Mayfair's update of the Galloglass game, HellRail (Second Perdition). There are several refinements, but the major change is the addition of many more circle powers and the circle powers are now randomly distributed (and can change during the game). And yes, the train engines are wood instead of pewter.

Gold Ahoy! consists of 36 square tiles that are laid out in a 6x6 grid in the course of the game. The tiles contain two landscape types: water and sand. Water is in the corners and sand is on the sides. An treasure chest sits in the center of each tile, which is one of the two colors. Placed together, the tiles form a water/sand maze.

During the game, players take turns drawing a tile and adding it to the grid in almost any location; the one restriction is that a player cannot extend the grid in the direction of the opponent. When the grid is complete, players score one point for each chest that is connected to more exits on their side of the grid than on the opponent's side. Whoever has the highest score wins.

Your casino empire is expanding, but new players want a piece of your action. There's only one direction to go to stay ahead of your competition — up! Lords of Vegas: UP! allows for up to six players to compete in Lords of Vegas.

What's more, you'll now be able to increase the size of your casinos not just by building out, but also by building up. These new, taller hotels are more prestigious, and as a result earn you more victory points.