Game collection
Health Science Education & Research Librarian
Technology Director
Action Point Allowance System
Healthy Heart Hospital
This is a cooperative game that pits the collective wits of the players against the waves of patients needs. In this game the players will run a hospital including managing resources like staffing to meet the needs of the patients while keeping the hospital solvent.
Players:1-5
Playtime; 90 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Press Your Luck, Variable Player Powers
Pandemic
This is a cooperative game where the players face a world with rapidly spreading diseases. Together they must fight off the disease and find cures before the diseases spread to far.
Players:2-4
Playtime; 45 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Medical
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Hand Management, Point to Point Movement, Set Collection, Trading, Variable Player Powers
Area Control / Area Influence
Pandemic: Contagion
Each player competes as a disease for survival and to wipe out all humans. Tweak your disease's incubation person, infection rate and resistance to be the winner.
Players:2-5
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 14+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Type: Family
Category: , Card Game, Medical
Mechanisms:Area Control / Area Influence Hand Management
Auction / Bidding
Virulence: An Infectious Card Game
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 15-20 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Simulation
Category: Bluffing, Deduction, Dice, Medical, Number
Mechanisms: Auction / Bidding, Betting / Wagering, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Player Powers
Betting / Wagering
Virulence: An Infectious Card Game
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 15-20 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Simulation
Category: Bluffing, Deduction, Dice, Medical, Number
Mechanisms: Auction / Bidding, Betting / Wagering, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Player Powers
Card Drafting
Citadels
Each turn players choose a different character to use their special abilities in a race to grow their city before another player completes their city.
Players: 2-7
Playtime; 30-60 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Bluffing, Card Game, City Building, Fantasy, Medieval
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Set Collection, Variable Player Powers
Gut Check: The Microbiome Game (coming soon)
Players attempt to develop a healthy microbiome while interfering with the microbiomes of their opponents. Give your friends the plague, botulism and more! Go to work sick to get rid of a pathogen, take some probiotics, or have some lasagna (if you can digest it). Gut Check draws on elements from a number of games including Pandemic, Magic: The Gathering, and Dominion. This is a print and play game. You can download the game for yourself.
Players:2-4
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Card Game, Educational, Medical, Print & Play
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Hand Management, Player Elimination, Take That
Ion: A Compound Building Game
This is a very accessible card game that starts with few rules and no way to win. As the play progresses, players add rules and goals. A deceptively simple and very fun game.
Players:2-7
Playtime; 20-40 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party Game
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Educational, Medical
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Cooperative Play, Pattern Building, Set Collection
Pax Emancipation
The 7 wonders of the great civilizations were built by slave-power, and societies' need to enslave weaker neighbors went unquestioned for millennia. Until the day an audacious petition was sent to Parliament, not just to end slavery in England, but throughout the entire world! In this game, you assume the role of an abolitionist during the Age of Enlightenment, either a Parliamentarian, an evangelical, or a private philanthropist. Assign warships to blockade slave ports or intercept slave ships, install missions, trading posts, and colonies in foreign lands steeped in serfdom, challenge the institution of slavery on moral and legal grounds in courts, and sanction underground railroads, slave revolts and revolutions. Play in cooperative-competitive, cooperative, or solitaire modes. If victorious, you achieve the greatest political accomplishment in history: making slavery everywhere illegal.
—description from the publisher
Players:1-3
Playtime; 2-3 hours
Ages: 14+
Difficulty/Complexity: Heavy
Category: Age of Reason
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling
7 Wonders Duel
Players vie for cards to build their city. This is a race to see how many points can be earned before one player completes the 7th wonder. There are three strategies for winning: military might, development of science, or basic victory points.
Players: 2
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Type: Strategic
Category: Bluffing, Card Game, City Building, Civilization
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Set Collection
Terraforming Mars
This game simulates the terraforming of Mars. Players compete for space and resources while at the same time working to increase temperature, oxygen and water. Players must balance their resource to gain victory points and ultimately make Mars habitable.
Players: 1-5
Playtime; 120 minutes
Ages: 12+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Heavy
Type: Strategy
Category: Economic, Environmental, Industry/Manufacturing, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Territory Building
Mechanisms:Card Drafting, Hand Management, Set Collection, Take That, Tile Placement, Variable Player Powers
Cooperative Play
Healthy Heart Hospital
This is a cooperative game that pits the collective wits of the players against the waves of patients needs. In this game the players will run a hospital including managing resources like staffing to meet the needs of the patients while keeping the hospital solvent.
Players:1-5
Playtime; 90 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Press Your Luck, Variable Player Powers
Ion: A Compound Building Game
This is a very accessible card game that starts with few rules and no way to win. As the play progresses, players add rules and goals. A deceptively simple and very fun game.
Players:2-7
Playtime; 20-40 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party Game
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Educational, Medical
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Cooperative Play, Pattern Building, Set Collection
Pandemic
This is a cooperative game where the players face a world with rapidly spreading diseases. Together they must fight off the disease and find cures before the diseases spread to far.
Players:2-4
Playtime; 45 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Medical
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Hand Management, Point to Point Movement, Set Collection, Trading, Variable Player Powers
Pax Emancipation
The 7 wonders of the great civilizations were built by slave-power, and societies' need to enslave weaker neighbors went unquestioned for millennia. Until the day an audacious petition was sent to Parliament, not just to end slavery in England, but throughout the entire world! In this game, you assume the role of an abolitionist during the Age of Enlightenment, either a Parliamentarian, an evangelical, or a private philanthropist. Assign warships to blockade slave ports or intercept slave ships, install missions, trading posts, and colonies in foreign lands steeped in serfdom, challenge the institution of slavery on moral and legal grounds in courts, and sanction underground railroads, slave revolts and revolutions. Play in cooperative-competitive, cooperative, or solitaire modes. If victorious, you achieve the greatest political accomplishment in history: making slavery everywhere illegal.
—description from the publisher
Players:1-3
Playtime; 2-3 hours
Ages: 14+
Difficulty/Complexity: Heavy
Category: Age of Reason
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling
Deck / Pool Building
Pax Emancipation
The 7 wonders of the great civilizations were built by slave-power, and societies' need to enslave weaker neighbors went unquestioned for millennia. Until the day an audacious petition was sent to Parliament, not just to end slavery in England, but throughout the entire world! In this game, you assume the role of an abolitionist during the Age of Enlightenment, either a Parliamentarian, an evangelical, or a private philanthropist. Assign warships to blockade slave ports or intercept slave ships, install missions, trading posts, and colonies in foreign lands steeped in serfdom, challenge the institution of slavery on moral and legal grounds in courts, and sanction underground railroads, slave revolts and revolutions. Play in cooperative-competitive, cooperative, or solitaire modes. If victorious, you achieve the greatest political accomplishment in history: making slavery everywhere illegal.
—description from the publisher
Players:1-3
Playtime; 2-3 hours
Ages: 14+
Difficulty/Complexity: Heavy
Category: Age of Reason
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling
Virulence: An Infectious Card Game
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 15-20 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Simulation
Category: Bluffing, Deduction, Dice, Medical, Number
Mechanisms: Auction / Bidding, Betting / Wagering, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Player Powers
Dice Rolling
Pax Emancipation
The 7 wonders of the great civilizations were built by slave-power, and societies' need to enslave weaker neighbors went unquestioned for millennia. Until the day an audacious petition was sent to Parliament, not just to end slavery in England, but throughout the entire world! In this game, you assume the role of an abolitionist during the Age of Enlightenment, either a Parliamentarian, an evangelical, or a private philanthropist. Assign warships to blockade slave ports or intercept slave ships, install missions, trading posts, and colonies in foreign lands steeped in serfdom, challenge the institution of slavery on moral and legal grounds in courts, and sanction underground railroads, slave revolts and revolutions. Play in cooperative-competitive, cooperative, or solitaire modes. If victorious, you achieve the greatest political accomplishment in history: making slavery everywhere illegal.
—description from the publisher
Players:1-3
Playtime; 2-3 hours
Ages: 14+
Difficulty/Complexity: Heavy
Category: Age of Reason
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling
Virulence: An Infectious Card Game
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 15-20 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Simulation
Category: Bluffing, Deduction, Dice, Medical, Number
Mechanisms: Auction / Bidding, Betting / Wagering, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Player Powers
Yahtzee
This classic dice game is played with 5 dice. Each player's turn consists of rolling the dice up to 3 times in hope of making a set of dice values that match 1 of 13 categories. The categories are generally similar to poker hands. For example: 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, straight, full house, etc. Each player tries to fill in a score for each category, but this is not always possible. When all players have entered a score or a zero for all 13 categories, the game ends and total scores are compared. The winner is the person who has the highest point total.
Players: 2-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 6+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Dice
Mechanisms: Dice Rolling, Paper-and-Pencil, Press Your Luck, Set Collection
Grid Movement
Chess
The classic game two player perfect knowledge game. Each player controls 16 pieces of 6 different types. the object of the game is to eliminate your opponent's "king" piece by maneuvering your pieces and eliminating your opponent's pieces. No rules are included with this game, but there are many resources online for learning (https://www.wikihow.com/Play-Chess).
Players: 2
Playtime; 60 minutes
Ages: 6+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Heavy
Type: Abstract
Category: Abstract Strategy
Mechanisms: Grid Movement
Onitama (coming soon)
In this game payers play with perfect knowledge and almost no randomness. When you use your moves to maneuver your pieces on board your opponent will get the ability to use that same move against you.
Players: 2
Playtime; Less than 30 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Abstract
Category: Abstract Strategy, Ancient
Mechanisms: Grid Movement, Hand Management
Hand Management
Anatomy Fluxx
This is a very accessible card game that starts with few rules and no way to win. As the play progresses, players add rules and goals. A deceptively simple and very fun game.
Players:2-6
Playtime; 5-30 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Set Collection
Antidote
This card game imagines you are a victim of a toxin. Using the cards can you come up with an antidote in time
Players:2-7
Playtime; 20-30 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Medical
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Partnerships, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Phase Order
Awkward Moments (coming soon)
Each round in Awkward Moment puts 3-8 players in terrifically awkward social situations. Take turns being the Decider. Draw a moment Card to a reveal hysterical, embarrassing, or stressful situation. Use the Decider Card to determine the basis for a winning Reaction. Impress the Decider by submitting the best response from your hand!.
Players: 3-8
Playtime: 20 minutes
Ages: 12+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Simultaneous Action Selection
Exploding Kittens
From the creator of The Oatmeal, this game pits players in a last-man-standing scenario that of course it kitty themed.
Players:2-5
Playtime; 15 minutes
Ages: 7+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Animals, Card Game, Comic Book/Strip, Humor
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Player Elimination, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Take That
Gut Check: The Microbiome Game (coming soon)
Players attempt to develop a healthy microbiome while interfering with the microbiomes of their opponents. Give your friends the plague, botulism and more! Go to work sick to get rid of a pathogen, take some probiotics, or have some lasagna (if you can digest it). Gut Check draws on elements from a number of games including Pandemic, Magic: The Gathering, and Dominion. This is a print and play game. You can download the game for yourself.
Players:2-4
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Card Game, Educational, Medical, Print & Play
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Hand Management, Player Elimination, Take That
Love Letter
This very quick game matches player wits against each other, trying to deduce which cards the other player holds and remain in the game.
Players:2-4
Playtime; 20 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Renaissance
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Player Elimination
Onitama (coming soon)
In this game payers play with perfect knowledge and almost no randomness. When you use your moves to maneuver your pieces on board your opponent will get the ability to use that same move against you.
Players: 2
Playtime; Less than 30 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Abstract
Category: Abstract Strategy, Ancient
Mechanisms: Grid Movement, Hand Management
OrganATTACK! (coming soon)
In this game players attempt to remove their opponent's organs before the opponents can remove theirs. The last person with any organs wins. Players defend themselves by playing appropriate disease cards on organs..
Players:2-6
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Take That
Pandemic
This is a cooperative game where the players face a world with rapidly spreading diseases. Together they must fight off the disease and find cures before the diseases spread to far.
Players:2-4
Playtime; 45 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Medical
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Hand Management, Point to Point Movement, Set Collection, Trading, Variable Player Powers
Pandemic: Contagion
Each player competes as a disease for survival and to wipe out all humans. Tweak your disease's incubation person, infection rate and resistance to be the winner.
Players:2-5
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 14+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Type: Family
Category: , Card Game, Medical
Mechanisms:Area Control / Area Influence Hand Management
Sequence
Sequence uses standard playing cards in combination with a board. The board shows all the cards (except for the Jacks) of two (2) standard 52-card decks, laid in a 10 x 10 pattern. The four corners are free spaces and count for all players equally. The players compete to create rows, columns or diagonals of 5 connected checkers placed on the cards that the player has laid down. Two-eyed Jacks are wild, while one-eyed Jacks allow an opponent's checker to be removed. The goal of the game is for a player to reach a predetermined number of sets.
Players: 2-12
Playtime; 10-30 minutes
Ages: 7+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Abstract Strategy, Card Game
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Partnerships, Pattern Building
Terraforming Mars
This game simulates the terraforming of Mars. Players compete for space and resources while at the same time working to increase temperature, oxygen and water. Players must balance their resource to gain victory points and ultimately make Mars habitable.
Players: 1-5
Playtime; 120 minutes
Ages: 12+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Heavy
Type: Strategy
Category: Economic, Environmental, Industry/Manufacturing, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Territory Building
Mechanisms:Card Drafting, Hand Management, Set Collection, Take That, Tile Placement, Variable Player Powers
Tsuro (coming soon)
A beautiful and beautifully simple game of laying a tile before your own token to continue its path on each turn. The goal is to keep your token on the board longer than anyone else's, but as the board fills up this becomes harder because there are fewer empty spaces left... and another player's tile may also extend your own path in a direction you'd rather not go.
Players: 2-8
Playtime; Less than 30 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Abstract Strategy, Fantasy
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Network and Route Building, Player Elimination, Tile Placement
Uno
This classic card game has each player competing to empty their hand first. The catch is the players need to remember to say "Uno" when they reach one card in their hand.
Players: 2-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 6+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Take That
Virulence: An Infectious Card Game
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 15-20 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Simulation
Category: Bluffing, Deduction, Dice, Medical, Number
Mechanisms: Auction / Bidding, Betting / Wagering, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Player Powers
Hidden Traitor
The Resistance
This is a party game of social deduction. It is designed for five to ten players, lasts about 30 minutes, and has no player elimination. Players are either Resistance Operatives or Imperial Spies. For three to five rounds, they must depend on each other to carry out missions against the Empire. At the same time, they must try to deduce the other players’ identities and gain their trust. Each round begins with discussion. When ready, the Leader entrusts sets of Plans to a certain number of players (possibly including himself/herself). Everyone votes on whether or not to approve the assignment. Once an assignment passes, the chosen players secretly decide to Support or Sabotage the mission. Based on the results, the mission succeeds (Resistance win) or fails (Empire win). When a team wins three missions, they have won the game.
Players: 5-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party
Category: Bluffing, Card Game, Deduction, Negotiation, Science Fiction, Spies/Secret Agents
Mechanisms: Hidden Traitor, Partnerships, Simultaneous Action Selection, Voting
Hexagon Grid
Cryptid (coming soon)
Cryptid is a unique deduction game of honest misdirection in which players must try to uncover information about their opponents' clues while throwing them off the scent of their own. Each player holds one piece of evidence to help them find the creature, and on their turn they can try to gain more information from their opponents. Be warned; give too much away and your opponents might beat you to the mysterious animal and claim the glory for themselves!
Players: 3-5
Playtime; 30-50 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Deduction
Mechanisms: Hexagon Grid, Modular Board, Pattern Recognition
Memory
Codenames
Players divide into two teams and try to get their team to guess their cards without picking the other teams cards or especially the assassin card. The trick is each card has a random word and you can only give your team a one word clue and a number.
Players: 4-8
Playtime; 15 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Spies/Secret Agents, Word Game
Mechanisms: Memory, Partnerships, Press Your Luck
Nyctophobia
Nyctophobia (fear of the dark), is a semi-cooperative game of survival in where players cooperate to escape from a terror in the dark. Players actually play the game blinded by blackout glasses. This game is tactile maze game. Only one player can see and they play the hunter trying to catch the other players.
Players:3-5
Playtime; 30-45 minutes
Ages: 9+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Thematic
Category: Horror
Mechanisms: Memory, Partnerships, Variable Player Powers
Modular Board
Cryptid (coming soon)
Cryptid is a unique deduction game of honest misdirection in which players must try to uncover information about their opponents' clues while throwing them off the scent of their own. Each player holds one piece of evidence to help them find the creature, and on their turn they can try to gain more information from their opponents. Be warned; give too much away and your opponents might beat you to the mysterious animal and claim the glory for themselves!
Players: 3-5
Playtime; 30-50 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Deduction
Mechanisms: Hexagon Grid, Modular Board, Pattern Recognition
Network and Route Building
Tsuro (coming soon)
A beautiful and beautifully simple game of laying a tile before your own token to continue its path on each turn. The goal is to keep your token on the board longer than anyone else's, but as the board fills up this becomes harder because there are fewer empty spaces left... and another player's tile may also extend your own path in a direction you'd rather not go.
Players: 2-8
Playtime; Less than 30 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Abstract Strategy, Fantasy
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Network and Route Building, Player Elimination, Tile Placement
Paper-and-Pencil
Yahtzee
This classic dice game is played with 5 dice. Each player's turn consists of rolling the dice up to 3 times in hope of making a set of dice values that match 1 of 13 categories. The categories are generally similar to poker hands. For example: 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, straight, full house, etc. Each player tries to fill in a score for each category, but this is not always possible. When all players have entered a score or a zero for all 13 categories, the game ends and total scores are compared. The winner is the person who has the highest point total.
Players: 2-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 6+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Dice
Mechanisms: Dice Rolling, Paper-and-Pencil, Press Your Luck, Set Collection
Partnerships
Antidote
This card game imagines you are a victim of a toxin. Using the cards can you come up with an antidote in time
Players:2-7
Playtime; 20-30 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Medical
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Partnerships, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Phase Order
Codenames
Players divide into two teams and try to get their team to guess their cards without picking the other teams cards or especially the assassin card. The trick is each card has a random word and you can only give your team a one word clue and a number.
Players: 4-8
Playtime; 15 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Spies/Secret Agents, Word Game
Mechanisms: Memory, Partnerships, Press Your Luck
Nyctophobia
Nyctophobia (fear of the dark), is a semi-cooperative game of survival in where players cooperate to escape from a terror in the dark. Players actually play the game blinded by blackout glasses. This game is tactile maze game. Only one player can see and they play the hunter trying to catch the other players.
Players:3-5
Playtime; 30-45 minutes
Ages: 9+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Thematic
Category: Horror
Mechanisms: Memory, Partnerships, Variable Player Powers
The Resistance
This is a party game of social deduction. It is designed for five to ten players, lasts about 30 minutes, and has no player elimination. Players are either Resistance Operatives or Imperial Spies. For three to five rounds, they must depend on each other to carry out missions against the Empire. At the same time, they must try to deduce the other players’ identities and gain their trust. Each round begins with discussion. When ready, the Leader entrusts sets of Plans to a certain number of players (possibly including himself/herself). Everyone votes on whether or not to approve the assignment. Once an assignment passes, the chosen players secretly decide to Support or Sabotage the mission. Based on the results, the mission succeeds (Resistance win) or fails (Empire win). When a team wins three missions, they have won the game.
Players: 5-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party
Category: Bluffing, Card Game, Deduction, Negotiation, Science Fiction, Spies/Secret Agents
Mechanisms: Hidden Traitor, Partnerships, Simultaneous Action Selection, Voting
Sequence
Sequence uses standard playing cards in combination with a board. The board shows all the cards (except for the Jacks) of two (2) standard 52-card decks, laid in a 10 x 10 pattern. The four corners are free spaces and count for all players equally. The players compete to create rows, columns or diagonals of 5 connected checkers placed on the cards that the player has laid down. Two-eyed Jacks are wild, while one-eyed Jacks allow an opponent's checker to be removed. The goal of the game is for a player to reach a predetermined number of sets.
Players: 2-12
Playtime; 10-30 minutes
Ages: 7+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Abstract Strategy, Card Game
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Partnerships, Pattern Building
Pattern Building
Ion: A Compound Building Game
This is a very accessible card game that starts with few rules and no way to win. As the play progresses, players add rules and goals. A deceptively simple and very fun game.
Players:2-7
Playtime; 20-40 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party Game
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Educational, Medical
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Cooperative Play, Pattern Building, Set Collection
Sequence
Sequence uses standard playing cards in combination with a board. The board shows all the cards (except for the Jacks) of two (2) standard 52-card decks, laid in a 10 x 10 pattern. The four corners are free spaces and count for all players equally. The players compete to create rows, columns or diagonals of 5 connected checkers placed on the cards that the player has laid down. Two-eyed Jacks are wild, while one-eyed Jacks allow an opponent's checker to be removed. The goal of the game is for a player to reach a predetermined number of sets.
Players: 2-12
Playtime; 10-30 minutes
Ages: 7+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Abstract Strategy, Card Game
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Partnerships, Pattern Building
Pattern Recognition
Cryptid (coming soon)
Cryptid is a unique deduction game of honest misdirection in which players must try to uncover information about their opponents' clues while throwing them off the scent of their own. Each player holds one piece of evidence to help them find the creature, and on their turn they can try to gain more information from their opponents. Be warned; give too much away and your opponents might beat you to the mysterious animal and claim the glory for themselves!
Players: 3-5
Playtime; 30-50 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Deduction
Mechanisms: Hexagon Grid, Modular Board, Pattern Recognition
Player Elimination
Exploding Kittens
From the creator of The Oatmeal, this game pits players in a last-man-standing scenario that of course it kitty themed.
Players:2-5
Playtime; 15 minutes
Ages: 7+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Animals, Card Game, Comic Book/Strip, Humor
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Player Elimination, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Take That
Gut Check: The Microbiome Game (coming soon)
Players attempt to develop a healthy microbiome while interfering with the microbiomes of their opponents. Give your friends the plague, botulism and more! Go to work sick to get rid of a pathogen, take some probiotics, or have some lasagna (if you can digest it). Gut Check draws on elements from a number of games including Pandemic, Magic: The Gathering, and Dominion. This is a print and play game. You can download the game for yourself.
Players:2-4
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Card Game, Educational, Medical, Print & Play
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Hand Management, Player Elimination, Take That
Love Letter
This very quick game matches player wits against each other, trying to deduce which cards the other player holds and remain in the game.
Players:2-4
Playtime; 20 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Renaissance
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Player Elimination
Tsuro (coming soon)
A beautiful and beautifully simple game of laying a tile before your own token to continue its path on each turn. The goal is to keep your token on the board longer than anyone else's, but as the board fills up this becomes harder because there are fewer empty spaces left... and another player's tile may also extend your own path in a direction you'd rather not go.
Players: 2-8
Playtime; Less than 30 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Abstract Strategy, Fantasy
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Network and Route Building, Player Elimination, Tile Placement
Point to Point Movement
Pandemic
This is a cooperative game where the players face a world with rapidly spreading diseases. Together they must fight off the disease and find cures before the diseases spread to far.
Players:2-4
Playtime; 45 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Medical
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Hand Management, Point to Point Movement, Set Collection, Trading, Variable Player Powers
Press Your Luck
Healthy Heart Hospital
This is a cooperative game that pits the collective wits of the players against the waves of patients needs. In this game the players will run a hospital including managing resources like staffing to meet the needs of the patients while keeping the hospital solvent.
Players:1-5
Playtime; 90 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Press Your Luck, Variable Player Powers
Codenames
Players divide into two teams and try to get their team to guess their cards without picking the other teams cards or especially the assassin card. The trick is each card has a random word and you can only give your team a one word clue and a number.
Players: 4-8
Playtime; 15 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Spies/Secret Agents, Word Game
Mechanisms: Memory, Partnerships, Press Your Luck
Exploding Kittens
From the creator of The Oatmeal, this game pits players in a last-man-standing scenario that of course it kitty themed.
Players:2-5
Playtime; 15 minutes
Ages: 7+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Animals, Card Game, Comic Book/Strip, Humor
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Player Elimination, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Take That
Virulence: An Infectious Card Game
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 15-20 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Simulation
Category: Bluffing, Deduction, Dice, Medical, Number
Mechanisms: Auction / Bidding, Betting / Wagering, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Player Powers
Yahtzee
This classic dice game is played with 5 dice. Each player's turn consists of rolling the dice up to 3 times in hope of making a set of dice values that match 1 of 13 categories. The categories are generally similar to poker hands. For example: 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, straight, full house, etc. Each player tries to fill in a score for each category, but this is not always possible. When all players have entered a score or a zero for all 13 categories, the game ends and total scores are compared. The winner is the person who has the highest point total.
Players: 2-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 6+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Dice
Mechanisms: Dice Rolling, Paper-and-Pencil, Press Your Luck, Set Collection
Set Collection
7 Wonders Duel
Players vie for cards to build their city. This is a race to see how many points can be earned before one player completes the 7th wonder. There are three strategies for winning: military might, development of science, or basic victory points.
Players: 2
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Type: Strategic
Category: Bluffing, Card Game, City Building, Civilization
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Set Collection
Anatomy Fluxx
This is a very accessible card game that starts with few rules and no way to win. As the play progresses, players add rules and goals. A deceptively simple and very fun game.
Players:2-6
Playtime; 5-30 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Set Collection
Buffalo
In each round of Buffalo, players race to make matches using cards on the table. Be the first to shout out the name of a real person or fictional character who matches the descriptors on two or more word cards, claim the matched cards, and continue flipping. When the deck runs out, the player with the most cards wins.
Players: 2-8
Playtime: 20 minutes
Ages: 14+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party
Category: Education, Real-Time, Trivia
Mechanisms: Set Collection
Citadels
Each turn players choose a different character to use their special abilities in a race to grow their city before another player completes their city.
Players: 2-7
Playtime; 30-60 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Bluffing, Card Game, City Building, Fantasy, Medieval
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Set Collection, Variable Player Powers
Cytosis: A Cell Biology Board Game
This is a worker placement game that takes place inside a human cell. Players start out with a number of workers and on a player’s turn, they will place one of their workers in any available location within that cell. Some of the locations provide players with resources (e.g., mRNA, ATP); some with actions (e.g., convert resources, collect cards). Resources are used to build enzymes, hormones and/or receptors, which score Health Points. The player with the most Health Points at the end of the game wins!
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 60-90 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Type: Strategic
Category: Economic, Education, Industry / Manufacturing, Medical
Mechanisms: Set Collection, Worker Placement
Exploding Kittens
From the creator of The Oatmeal, this game pits players in a last-man-standing scenario that of course it kitty themed.
Players:2-5
Playtime; 15 minutes
Ages: 7+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Animals, Card Game, Comic Book/Strip, Humor
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Player Elimination, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Take That
Ion: A Compound Building Game
This is a very accessible card game that starts with few rules and no way to win. As the play progresses, players add rules and goals. A deceptively simple and very fun game.
Players:2-7
Playtime; 20-40 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party Game
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Educational, Medical
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Cooperative Play, Pattern Building, Set Collection
Pandemic
This is a cooperative game where the players face a world with rapidly spreading diseases. Together they must fight off the disease and find cures before the diseases spread to far.
Players:2-4
Playtime; 45 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Medical
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Hand Management, Point to Point Movement, Set Collection, Trading, Variable Player Powers
Terraforming Mars
This game simulates the terraforming of Mars. Players compete for space and resources while at the same time working to increase temperature, oxygen and water. Players must balance their resource to gain victory points and ultimately make Mars habitable.
Players: 1-5
Playtime; 120 minutes
Ages: 12+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Heavy
Type: Strategy
Category: Economic, Environmental, Industry/Manufacturing, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Territory Building
Mechanisms:Card Drafting, Hand Management, Set Collection, Take That, Tile Placement, Variable Player Powers
Virulence: An Infectious Card Game
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 15-20 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Simulation
Category: Bluffing, Deduction, Dice, Medical, Number
Mechanisms: Auction / Bidding, Betting / Wagering, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Player Powers
Yahtzee
This classic dice game is played with 5 dice. Each player's turn consists of rolling the dice up to 3 times in hope of making a set of dice values that match 1 of 13 categories. The categories are generally similar to poker hands. For example: 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, straight, full house, etc. Each player tries to fill in a score for each category, but this is not always possible. When all players have entered a score or a zero for all 13 categories, the game ends and total scores are compared. The winner is the person who has the highest point total.
Players: 2-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 6+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Dice
Mechanisms: Dice Rolling, Paper-and-Pencil, Press Your Luck, Set Collection
Simultaneous Action Selection
Antidote
This card game imagines you are a victim of a toxin. Using the cards can you come up with an antidote in time
Players:2-7
Playtime; 20-30 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Medical
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Partnerships, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Phase Order
Awkward Moments (coming soon)
Each round in Awkward Moment puts 3-8 players in terrifically awkward social situations. Take turns being the Decider. Draw a moment Card to a reveal hysterical, embarrassing, or stressful situation. Use the Decider Card to determine the basis for a winning Reaction. Impress the Decider by submitting the best response from your hand!.
Players: 3-8
Playtime: 20 minutes
Ages: 12+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Simultaneous Action Selection
The Resistance
This is a party game of social deduction. It is designed for five to ten players, lasts about 30 minutes, and has no player elimination. Players are either Resistance Operatives or Imperial Spies. For three to five rounds, they must depend on each other to carry out missions against the Empire. At the same time, they must try to deduce the other players’ identities and gain their trust. Each round begins with discussion. When ready, the Leader entrusts sets of Plans to a certain number of players (possibly including himself/herself). Everyone votes on whether or not to approve the assignment. Once an assignment passes, the chosen players secretly decide to Support or Sabotage the mission. Based on the results, the mission succeeds (Resistance win) or fails (Empire win). When a team wins three missions, they have won the game.
Players: 5-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party
Category: Bluffing, Card Game, Deduction, Negotiation, Science Fiction, Spies/Secret Agents
Mechanisms: Hidden Traitor, Partnerships, Simultaneous Action Selection, Voting
Virulence: An Infectious Card Game
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 15-20 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Simulation
Category: Bluffing, Deduction, Dice, Medical, Number
Mechanisms: Auction / Bidding, Betting / Wagering, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Player Powers
Take That
Exploding Kittens
From the creator of The Oatmeal, this game pits players in a last-man-standing scenario that of course it kitty themed.
Players:2-5
Playtime; 15 minutes
Ages: 7+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Animals, Card Game, Comic Book/Strip, Humor
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Player Elimination, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Take That
Gut Check: The Microbiome Game (coming soon)
Players attempt to develop a healthy microbiome while interfering with the microbiomes of their opponents. Give your friends the plague, botulism and more! Go to work sick to get rid of a pathogen, take some probiotics, or have some lasagna (if you can digest it). Gut Check draws on elements from a number of games including Pandemic, Magic: The Gathering, and Dominion. This is a print and play game. You can download the game for yourself.
Players:2-4
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Category: Card Game, Educational, Medical, Print & Play
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Hand Management, Player Elimination, Take That
OrganATTACK! (coming soon)
In this game players attempt to remove their opponent's organs before the opponents can remove theirs. The last person with any organs wins. Players defend themselves by playing appropriate disease cards on organs..
Players:2-6
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Take That
Terraforming Mars
This game simulates the terraforming of Mars. Players compete for space and resources while at the same time working to increase temperature, oxygen and water. Players must balance their resource to gain victory points and ultimately make Mars habitable.
Players: 1-5
Playtime; 120 minutes
Ages: 12+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Heavy
Type: Strategy
Category: Economic, Environmental, Industry/Manufacturing, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Territory Building
Mechanisms:Card Drafting, Hand Management, Set Collection, Take That, Tile Placement, Variable Player Powers
Uno
This classic card game has each player competing to empty their hand first. The catch is the players need to remember to say "Uno" when they reach one card in their hand.
Players: 2-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 6+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Family
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Take That
Tile Placement
Terraforming Mars
This game simulates the terraforming of Mars. Players compete for space and resources while at the same time working to increase temperature, oxygen and water. Players must balance their resource to gain victory points and ultimately make Mars habitable.
Players: 1-5
Playtime; 120 minutes
Ages: 12+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Heavy
Type: Strategy
Category: Economic, Environmental, Industry/Manufacturing, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Territory Building
Mechanisms:Card Drafting, Hand Management, Set Collection, Take That, Tile Placement, Variable Player Powers
Tsuro (coming soon)
A beautiful and beautifully simple game of laying a tile before your own token to continue its path on each turn. The goal is to keep your token on the board longer than anyone else's, but as the board fills up this becomes harder because there are fewer empty spaces left... and another player's tile may also extend your own path in a direction you'd rather not go.
Players: 2-8
Playtime; Less than 30 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Abstract Strategy, Fantasy
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Network and Route Building, Player Elimination, Tile Placement
Trading
Pandemic
This is a cooperative game where the players face a world with rapidly spreading diseases. Together they must fight off the disease and find cures before the diseases spread to far.
Players:2-4
Playtime; 45 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Medical
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Hand Management, Point to Point Movement, Set Collection, Trading, Variable Player Powers
Variable Phase Order
Antidote
This card game imagines you are a victim of a toxin. Using the cards can you come up with an antidote in time
Players:2-7
Playtime; 20-30 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Category: Card Game, Deduction, Medical
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Partnerships, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Phase Order
Variable Player Powers
Citadels
Each turn players choose a different character to use their special abilities in a race to grow their city before another player completes their city.
Players: 2-7
Playtime; 30-60 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Bluffing, Card Game, City Building, Fantasy, Medieval
Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Set Collection, Variable Player Powers
Healthy Heart Hospital
This is a cooperative game that pits the collective wits of the players against the waves of patients needs. In this game the players will run a hospital including managing resources like staffing to meet the needs of the patients while keeping the hospital solvent.
Players:1-5
Playtime; 90 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Press Your Luck, Variable Player Powers
Nyctophobia
Nyctophobia (fear of the dark), is a semi-cooperative game of survival in where players cooperate to escape from a terror in the dark. Players actually play the game blinded by blackout glasses. This game is tactile maze game. Only one player can see and they play the hunter trying to catch the other players.
Players:3-5
Playtime; 30-45 minutes
Ages: 9+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Thematic
Category: Horror
Mechanisms: Memory, Partnerships, Variable Player Powers
Pandemic
This is a cooperative game where the players face a world with rapidly spreading diseases. Together they must fight off the disease and find cures before the diseases spread to far.
Players:2-4
Playtime; 45 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Category: Medical
Mechanisms:Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Hand Management, Point to Point Movement, Set Collection, Trading, Variable Player Powers
Terraforming Mars
This game simulates the terraforming of Mars. Players compete for space and resources while at the same time working to increase temperature, oxygen and water. Players must balance their resource to gain victory points and ultimately make Mars habitable.
Players: 1-5
Playtime; 120 minutes
Ages: 12+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Heavy
Type: Strategy
Category: Economic, Environmental, Industry/Manufacturing, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Territory Building
Mechanisms:Card Drafting, Hand Management, Set Collection, Take That, Tile Placement, Variable Player Powers
Virulence: An Infectious Card Game
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 15-20 minutes
Ages: 8+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Simulation
Category: Bluffing, Deduction, Dice, Medical, Number
Mechanisms: Auction / Bidding, Betting / Wagering, Deck / Pool Building, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Set Collection, Simultaneous Action Selection, Variable Player Powers
Voting
The Resistance
This is a party game of social deduction. It is designed for five to ten players, lasts about 30 minutes, and has no player elimination. Players are either Resistance Operatives or Imperial Spies. For three to five rounds, they must depend on each other to carry out missions against the Empire. At the same time, they must try to deduce the other players’ identities and gain their trust. Each round begins with discussion. When ready, the Leader entrusts sets of Plans to a certain number of players (possibly including himself/herself). Everyone votes on whether or not to approve the assignment. Once an assignment passes, the chosen players secretly decide to Support or Sabotage the mission. Based on the results, the mission succeeds (Resistance win) or fails (Empire win). When a team wins three missions, they have won the game.
Players: 5-10
Playtime; 30 minutes
Ages: 13+
Difficulty/Complexity: Light
Type: Party
Category: Bluffing, Card Game, Deduction, Negotiation, Science Fiction, Spies/Secret Agents
Mechanisms: Hidden Traitor, Partnerships, Simultaneous Action Selection, Voting
Worker Placement
Cytosis: A Cell Biology Board Game
This is a worker placement game that takes place inside a human cell. Players start out with a number of workers and on a player’s turn, they will place one of their workers in any available location within that cell. Some of the locations provide players with resources (e.g., mRNA, ATP); some with actions (e.g., convert resources, collect cards). Resources are used to build enzymes, hormones and/or receptors, which score Health Points. The player with the most Health Points at the end of the game wins!
Players: 2-5
Playtime; 60-90 minutes
Ages: 10+
Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Light
Type: Strategic
Category: Economic, Education, Industry / Manufacturing, Medical
Mechanisms: Set Collection, Worker Placement