Dr. Microbe

Can you grab the microbes you need?

In each round of Dr. Microbe, you’re presented with a challenge card that shows some combination of microbes and (possibly) a superbug. Each player has tweezers and a petri dish that’s divided into three small sections and one large one. As soon as the card is revealed, players must race to place the microbes (and superbug, if present) in their petri dish. What’s more, they must figure out which microbes (and possibly the superbug) to place in their petri dish based on this rule: The superbug must always be a different shape and color than the other three microbes in your dish! Whoever fills their dish with the proper items first claims the challenge card, and whoever first grabs five cards wins the game!

As a variant, you can play with the purple virus, which starts the game in the large petri dish that contains all of the other bits. You can grab this purple virus and place it in the petri dish of your left-hand neighbor, then that person can pass it left, etc. You can’t end the round if the purple virus is in your petri dish! Whoever has the purple virus in their dish at the end of the round must give one of their previously collected cards to that round’s winner.

Oktoberfest

Welcome, brewmasters, to the world renowned Bavarian festival known as Oktoberfest! The 1810 wedding celebration of Crown Prince Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen swiftly became an annual tradition known as Oktoberfest. Each year the scope of the festival expanded, and by the late 1800s sponsored beer halls and competing breweries were in full operation.

Oktoberfest is a card-driven game loosely based on the folk festival which began as a public celebration of a royal wedding. Based during the festival in the late 1800s, players vie for control of each of six types of beer, even though many of those beer styles are barely available in Bavaria and completely unrelated to Oktoberfest. As patrons arrive at the festival, players bid to decide where they go and how much they drink. By placing cards in the various tents, players can purchase barrels of beer based on the type and number of patrons on the card. The player who gets rid of the most barrels of each gains points for that type of beer at the end of the game.

The problem? The game ends before all twelve tents can be completed, and only closed tents count for points. Whichever beer type is the last in the tent before it closes claims all points for that tent, and the players with the most barrels of each type acquire points.

But watch out for the evacuation card that comes out randomly and wipes out entire tents. Collect the right types of barrels, close tents with the corresponding beer cards on top, and victory could be yours!

Honshū

Learn more about Honshū at our Renegade Games Night next Tuesday!

Honshū 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 Honshū 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.

Stay Away!

A group of archeologists has mysteriously disappeared during an expedition to the risen island of R’lyeh. You are a member of a rescue team sent to aid them, but as you investigate the site, you encounter something terrible that seeks to destroy your team from within…

You’ll need intuition, nerves of steel, and clever acting if you’re going to survive and win the game. Who will believe you? Who is whom, and who is what? You can’t trust anyone and no one will trust you, so block the doors, quarantine a suspect, reveal your identity to your “allies”, grab a flamethrower, or run away — but look carefully where you will end up because “The Thing” might be closer than you think…

In Stay Away!, 4-12 players try to track down “The Thing”, a creature 
awakened from a nauseating eternal slumber on the emerged R’lyeh island that has the capability of possessing the human body, cloning it, then taking its place, so as you play you won’t know who “The Thing” is or when someone will become “The Thing” or who is infected or not. The archaeologists are looking for The Thing; their goal is to work together to identify which player is The Thing and roast it with a “Flamethrower” card. You remain Human until The Thing passes an “Infected!” card to you during a card exchange, at which point you become an Infected and take on that new Role: You are now an ally of The Thing and must take care that its identity is not revealed.

Castle Falkenstein Curious Creatures

From the darkest jungles of Africa to the rooftops of London, animals are everywhere in New Europa. Curious Creatures offers a glimpse into the less civilized side of Castle Falkenstein, drawing out into the light the marvelous, the monstrous, and the mythic for your edification and delight. Brought to you from across the Faerie Veil and written by one of the most knowledgeable naturalists of all time, the reader will find within these pages:

  • A bestiary offering in-depth analysis of over thirty new creatures as well as statistics for their inclusion in your Adventure Entertainment.
  • New and clarified rules for the use of creatures of all types in your Adventure Entertainment.
  • A new Magick lorebook as well as insight into the existence of sorcerous familiars in New Europa.
  • Details on Sphinxes, a potentially sinister power operating from the shadows.
  • Rules on choosing a True Unicorn, Beast Folk, or wild Child as a Dramatic Character.
  • Dinosaurs!
  • New Dramatic and Host Characters to enliven any event set in the Age of Steam.
  • A new tale of heroics and adventure set in a land where fiction, fantasy, and history collide!

The Captain is Dead

Learn more about The Captain is Dead from the designer at our Demo Night this Thursday from 6-9!

Imagine that you are one of the crew in your favorite science fiction TV show. Now imagine that in the last 10 minutes of the show things have gone so badly that the captain is dead and you and the surviving members of your crew have to pull together and save the day yourselves!

The Captain Is Dead is a co-op game for 2 to 7 players. All you have to do is get the ship’s engines (aka “Jump Core”) back online and you win, but because there is a hostile alien ship trying to destroy you, that is easier said than done.

You have an impressive star ship full of useful systems that will help you fend off the aliens, and get the Jump Core back online. Each system gives you an advantage while it remains online. The assault from the hostile alien ship tends to keep knocking those systems offline however. So you need to balance your time between keeping the ships system’s online, fending off the alien threat, and completing your objective.

Each member of your crew has special abilities and skills. You need to work as a group to maximize the potential of each role. If someone tries to be a hero, you’ll all die.

One Deck Dungeon – Back in Stock!

One Deck Dungeon is a card game “roguelike” — a dungeon delve that is different every time, difficult to survive, with a character you build up from scratch. The deck consists of various foes to combat and other perils from the dungeon. Each card, though, depicts both the obstacle to overcome and the potential rewards for doing so. When you defeat a card, you claim it as either experience, an item, or a skill, tucking it under the appropriate side of your character card to show its benefits.

The longer you take exploring the dungeon, the deeper you’ll delve, and the difficulty will scale up quickly! If you make it far enough, you’ll have to fight the dungeon boss. Survive, and you’ll be a legend!

One Deck Dungeon is designed for 1-2 players. With multiple sets, you can add more players.