It's New Game Friday David Wiley (Cardboard Clash) is here to tell us about the new games.
Here’s what is new this week:
- HYVE
- Terreign
- Chateau Gardens
- Monster Party
- Tiny Maze Things
- Dangerous Space: Archivist Four, Commandeer Mission
https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
HYVE
Manage your population, choose your actions wisely and take your colony from merely surviving to thriving! The game sheet comes to life with color as you play the game, leaving you with a nice displayable art piece when you’re finished.
An interesting new roll-and-write game with a very fitting theme, this has you managing bees and their hives, expanding your colony and surviving long enough to see the game come to its end. With three ways to win and two to instantly lose, there’s plenty to try and juggle across the 16 seasons. What I like is that there’s a TON of variant modes, including ones for lower player counts and for kids to join in on the fun. Come check it out and see how the game plays before the buzz begins to pick up.
Terreign
Immerse into a very hot and dry desert where animals strive to stay hydrated against the radiating heat. These animals carry fruits from the native cacti in their mouths because cactus fruit (like Barrel Cactus fruit and Prickly Pear Cactus fruit) store water inside of them and are a quick snack for the animals in need.
A fun little game of using multiple animals, who move in differing ways, to try and collect fruit laying around. I love that each type does move in an unique pattern, meaning you need to really plan your moves around the grid, and that you can scare off your opponents’ animals, providing more dynamics around the board as the game progresses. With two ways to win, as well as several easy-to-use modifications to provide variety to the gameplay experience, you’ll need to move quick to claim the Terreign.
Chateau Gardens
You are 18th-century architects laying out gardens for capricious French nobles. You will draw your own blueprints piece by piece as the next elements of the garden are revealed, trying to plan how to fit each planting area in the available space and configure your arrangement to set up the best views for nobles from their platforms. Keep going as long as you can meet their random demands, then graciously bow out or press your luck for a few more items - but be careful, any elements you cannot fit will count against you.
I love the clever ways that designers come up with using common items - in this case, a standard deck of cards - in new and unique situations. This game has players using those cards for both the size of the shape drawn, but also how its shape must be formed/placed on the grid. That’s really clever, and I love that there is a press-your-luck aspect present in case you want to try to squeeze out just one more shape…and pray you don’t lose points equal to double the number flipped if it won’t fit…
Monster Party
Do you know the game War? It's sort of like that, but with bidding!
A small, relatively simple game of trying to have the best monster party, but instead of facing off with card values of what flips, you’re bidding money cards on the monsters - yet those cards are discarded after use and what you draw to replace it might not be quite as good as the one you played. Do you try and bid big to win a card you really want, or do you play the long game and make some moderate bids to try and steal some extra monsters when your opponents are holding worse cards? That decision will be yours when you join the monster party.
Tiny Maze Things
A short, simple game that can easily be played with a morning cup of coffee, or any other breakfast beverage of choice. This is a very simple one of trying to reach the end in the maze without getting to another flag, staircase, or dead end. Add up your score based on what you ran across on your path, and see if you can optimize your score AND reach the end.
Dangerous Space: Archivist Four, Commandeer Mission
When the Solar Church takes an interest in a junker, watch out. That usually means this ain’t no average dive. Good thing Sunshine has psionic abilities!
Here comes the Archivist in his full circle, tackling the mission requiring him to mark next to levers and then put those same numbers into the final room. The foes here are sure to be irritating, especially since the Elite Stowaway causes you to possibly re-roll your highest die. Thankfully, you can double-dip into Skills on the dangerous spaces, boosting dice by 1 when marking a dangerous space as well as being able to possibly ignore adjacent doors or traps. He might just need everything you can pull out in order to win this one!
https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
Game of the Week: Roll Estate (now available for free!)
Roll Estate is a love letter to the classics, where you’ll roll and write your way to wealth in a race to become the richest entrepreneur! Roll the dice three times to acquire loads of rental property, open bold new businesses, try your luck with some risky investments, and perhaps even win the lottery! Can you turn five dice into cool cash?
When you think classic, what comes to mind? If the answer wasn’t Roll Estate, it will be after you play this one. Capitalizing on the popularity of roll-and-writes isn’t a bad thing, right? This game has a definite classic feel while also being fresh, fun, and challenging to players. The best thing is that it can be played alone, or with up to 5 others, and has several options for score sheets. With a relatively small rulebook, you’ll be up and rolling in no time!
Check out Game of the Week here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/game-of-the-week
Aurora Decree
The Dynasty is in retreat. At the edge of their old border, newly liberated sectors are finally free to determine their own fate. As provisional governments gather to issue an Aurora Decree, the blueprint for their ideal future, they may find that old grudges and rival interests are hard to overcome…
A little game of role-playing, but in this one you’re going to be competing against the others at the table to try and get the most topics proposed and passed. There’s some wrinkles along the way, such as Revelation cards which can be used toward a character or during a vote to gain an extra vote to nudge things in your direction. With a market of Resources to also manage, you’re vying to not only balance the best things for yourself, but also the longevity of the sector. Based on how the results end, you get a chance to also wrap things up by role-playing the future of the sector under its new government power.
Check out the new Button Shy releases here: https://www.pnparcade.com/collections/new-games
See you next week with more information on our newest print and play games!