18/01/13:

Pandemic - Compatibility Packs.

Many of you have been wondering how the Compatibility Packs we announced are going to work. Today, we will try and clarify all of the questions you may have about the Compatibility Packs.

There will be two Compatibility Packs.

Pack # 1:
All of the cards from the new edition of Pandemic
48 City cards, 48 Infection cards, 7 Role cards (including the two new roles: Contingency Planner and Quarantine Specialist), 6 Epidemic Cards, 5 Event cards, 4 Reference cards.

Pack # 2:
All of the cards from the new edition of On The Brink
8 Event cards, 8 Virulent Strain Epidemic cards, 7 Role cards, 4 blank cards, 3 Mutation Event cards, 2 Mutation Cards, 1 Epidemic Card, 1 Reference card.

So what happens if…

1. I have the previous edition of Pandemic and I want to play the new edition of On The Brink?

You will need Pack # 1.

1. I have the previous edition of Pandemic and the previous edition of On The Brink and I want to play In The Lab?

You will need Pack # 1 and Pack # 2.

1. I have the previous edition of Pandemic and the new edition of On The Brink and I want to play In The Lab?

You will need Pack # 1.

1. I have the new edition of Pandemic and the new edition of On The Brink and I want to play In The Lab?

No Compatibility Pack is needed.

Hopefully, this will have cleared up the confusion about the Compatibility Packs.

15/01/13:Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Canada

Z-Man Games appoints Filosofia Distribution as Exclusive Distributor
for the Canadian market.

Z-Man Games, the publisher of award-winning board and card games, has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Filosofia for the distribution of their games. Effective April 15th 2013, Filosofia Distribution becomes the sole distributors of Z-Man Games products in Canada.
“For us, an exclusive agreement is a better business model in some markets to insure that the games we publish get the necessary marketing efforts they deserve,” said Z-Man Games CEO and President, Sophie Gravel. “This added effort will benefit not only our own games, but also the games our foreign partners entrusted into our care for the English language market.”

About Z-Man Games
Z-Man Games has been publishing unique board and card games since 1999.  It's portfolio includes award-winning and best-selling games like Pandemic, Agricola, Dungeon Lords, Neuroshima Hex, Troyes, Saboteur , Merchants & Marauders and Clash of Cultures to name just a few. With a network of prestigious international partners, Z-Man Games is one of the leading companies in the gaming industry.  

About Filosofia Distribution
Filosofia Distribution works with more than a dozen foreign publishers, allowing their products to be known in Canada. These partners include: Asmodee, Blue Orange Games Bombyx, Cocktail Games, Days of Wonder, Gigamic, Ilopeli, Libellud, Matagot, Playad Games, Thames & Kosmos and Ystari. Together, Filosofia Distribution and its partners have provided Canadian customers with an ever-growing selection of over 2000 great and awesome games.

14/01/13:

5 years of Pandemic: the virus is growing stronger!

After five years of Pandemic, hundreds of thousands of players have been contracted the virus! To celebrate this milestone, Pandemic has been completely re-designed. With new artwork by Chris Quilliams (Clash of Cultures, Merchants & Marauders), Pandemic will now have a more modern look, inside and outside the box. With two new characters: the Contingency Planner and the Quarantine Specialist, face the game in ways you never thought possible. Brand new challenges are waiting for you!

Becoming researchers and doctors has really hit a cord with players from all around the world. The idea that popped into Matt Leacock’s head one day has now spread like a virus, faster than he had ever anticipated. Pandemic is one of the most successful games of the new game generation and the reference when it comes to co-op games. Since its release, Pandemic has sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide, and has been translated into 14 languages. The Pandemic infection has also spread to stores like Target, Toys “R” Us and Barnes & Noble.

2013 will be the year that you see the infection rate go up a notch! On The Brink will also have an entirely new look! With its three different gameplay options and the bio-terrorist, this expansion is known as a “must have” for the fans of the game. You will find it in stores very soon!

You still want more? Later this year, discover the newcomer in the Pandemic family: In the Lab. In this expansion, you will be transported inside a biotechnology lab in search of a cure. Put your lab coats on and get ready to look for a cure!
Be part of the Pandemic and spread the virus…of the game! Pandemic now has its own Facebook page HERE. Stay informed of Pandemic news and interact with other fans from around the world. As of now, you can view a video of Matt Leacock giving his impressions of the new edition of his game.

For those of you who are wondering, it will also be possible to purchase a compatibility pack for those of you who would want to play the new edition of On The Brink, but have the previous edition of Pandemic.

We are proud to present this new edition of Pandemic, which will be in stores this February, and we can't wait to tell you more about all the things we have planned.

11/01/13:

News about Ginkgopolis and Ladies of Troyes

It’s been a few months now since we’ve announced the release of Ginkgopolis and Ladies of Troyes.
Some of you might be wondering when these games will finally hit the shelves.

Well, we’ve got an answer for you today!

Ginkgopolis and Ladies of Troyes will be hitting U.S. stores next week! Most stores will have their games by Wednesday January 16th and all stores should have received their shipment by the weekend!

Don’t know much about Ginkgopolis and Ladies of Troyes?

Learn more here:

Ginkgopolis: http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/ginkgopolis.htm

Ladies of Troyes: http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/Ladie-of-troyes.htm

9/11/12:

More news about Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island

Today, you will get a bit more information about Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island.

WHAT’S NEW ?

Release Date:
We have an official release date for you today! Yep that’s right, the Z-Man edition of Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island will be available in stores in Summer 2013.

Games for Sale:
There will be boxes of the Portal version of Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island on sale at the Z-Man Games booth at the BGG con this weekend!

GET TO KNOW THE GAME:

In case you don’t know what we are talking about when we say Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island, here is a bit more info about the game.

Robinson Crusoe is a cooperative game at its best. Players must discuss, debate and learn to make sacrifices in order to survive the game.
There are three major actions you can do during your game of Robinson Crusoe:
Explore the island: in this game you do not explore the island because you have to, but because you want to. Sure you need to find resources, but that’s not the main reason to explore. You want to find new territories and perhaps discover hidden treasures and mysterious ruins or villages.
Build a shelter: On an island, you are very exposed to the elements of nature. You must build a shelter to protect yourself. There are different parts of a shelter that you can build…but don’t expect them to stay there for the entire game!
Create tools: Creating things out of practically nothing is always a fun dynamic in games, and Robinson Crusoe does not disappoint on this aspect. It is you versus nature and you have to find ways to survive.

BUT! The best part about this game is that you are not playing next to the game; you are playing WITH the game. How? The game reacts differently depending on which actions you take. If you chose an exploration action, you will pick a card from the exploration deck. For building, a card from the building deck. And for gathering resources, a card from the resource deck. No more random card drawing that has nothing to do with the action that was made. To make this dynamic even more interesting, most of the event cards you draw have a second action on them. Every time you draw an event card, you will mix it in with a pack of 10 cards, randomly drawn. At some point in the game, your actions will come back to haunt you. You will draw form the random event pile and read the second action on the card. These actions are usually negative things that are linked to what you have previously done. For example: if you discovered and old temple in the forest and you decided to explore it, nothing happened for the moment, but when you draw that card again, you will discover that the temple was cursed.

The game reacts to what you do, and it even gives you a little bit of time to prepare for its inevitable counterstrike on what you have achieved throughout the game.

8/11/12:

What is up with Rick?

The 3rd season of The Walking Dead started a few weeks ago and it is looking like it’s going to be the best season yet! Over 15 million people tuned in for the first episode!

This season, Rick is forced into a leadership role and we see that it is affecting him greatly. He’s growing darker. He seems to have developed quite an attitude. It looks like he is thinking, “Hey, you want me to be the leader of this group? That’s fine; I’m the leader now. You don’t like that? Let’s see how well you survive alone out there!” The environment is making him grow harsher towards the people how he used to be close to…

Will Rick be able to retain his humanity? Or will he become some kind of monster existing solely to find refuge for himself and his family?

These are the types of questions that you, as a player, may have to ask yourself when playing The Walking Dead: The Board Game. Will you cooperate with other players around the table or will you let them fend for themselves and get yourself to safety without them.

So between episodes of the new season of The Walking Dead, why not take the time to put in a few plays of The Walking Dead: The Board Game!

1/11/12:

BIG GAME ANNOUCEMENT!

Z-Man Games is proud to announce that we have obtained worlwide English rights for Terra Mystica!

The game had a HUGE success in Essen selling out its 1000 copies by Saturday morning! Since then, more than 500 copies of the game have sold in its original version in Europe. And, the demand is still very strong. We are proud to be the English publishers for the game that will surely be a great success worlwide.

In Terra Mystica, you represent a faction that wants to build a city on the lands of Terra Mystica. You must transform the terrain into a livable surface for your faction. Everybody knows that Mermaids don’t live in the mountains and that Dwarves don’t really like the desert.

As you build, your faction will be able to improve its buildings. The bigger your buildings, the better the reward is during the game. Beware of other factions that will want to come and change the terrain around your buildings.

Here is a brief description of two of the factions:

Mermaids: Mermaids are lovely sea creatures living in the waters of Terra Mystica and traveling by its rivers. They dream of creating their own water cities everywhere around Terra Mystica. Mermaids are able to split their tails into legs to come on land, but only for the purpose of flooding the land to make it their own.

Dwarves: Dwarves are always on the hunt for treasures and valuable objects. Their mines are usually located high in the mountains, but they sometimes dig all the way to another area. Dwarves go through so much soil that they can build new mountains. Insuring that future generations will be able to dig through them all over again.

The Z-Man edition of Terra Mystica will be released in the first quarter of 2013.
We will keep you thoroughly updated about any news we have about this game.

1/11/12:

Clash of Cultures – BGG con pre-order!

Good news today!

We are happy to announce that the pre-orders for Clash of Cultures at the BGG con are now open! Yes you read right! You can now pre-order Clash of Cultures for pick-up at the BGG con by visiting the link here: PRE-ORDERS

You need to have a Pay Pal account to pre-order your game.
Print out your receipt and bring it to the Con with an ID card and you will be able to pick up your game!

5/10/12:

Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the cursed Island by Portal Games
will be published in English by Z-Man games!

We are proud to announce that we will be publishing the English version of the new game from Portal games by Ignacy Trzewiczek, Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the cursed Island.

Robison Crusoe is a cooperative game at its best. Players must discuss, debate and learn to make sacrifices in order to survive the game.
There are three major actions you can do during your game of Robinson Crusoe:
Explore the island: in this game you do not explore the island because you have to but because you want to. Sure you need to fin resources, but that’s not the main reason to explore. You want to find new territories and perhaps discover hidden treasures and mysterious ruins or villages.
Build a shelter: On an island, you are very exposed to the elements of nature. You must build a shelter to protect yourself. There are different parts of a shelter that you can build…but don’t expect them to stay there for the entire game!
Create tools: Creating things out of practically nothing is always a fun dynamic in games, and Robinson Crusoe does not disappoint on this aspect. It is you versus nature and you have to find ways to survive.

BUT! The best part about this game is that you are not playing next to the game; you are playing WITH the game. How? The game reacts differently depending on which actions you take. If you chose an exploration action, you will pick a card from the exploration deck. For building, a card from the building deck. And for gathering resources, a card from the resource deck. No more random card drawing that has nothing to do with the actions that was made. To make this dynamic even more interesting, most of the event cards you draw have a second action on them. Every time you draw an event card, you will mix it in with a pack of 10 cards, randomly drawn. At some point in the game, your actions will come back to haunt you. You will draw form the random event pile and read the second action on the card. These actions are usually negative things that are linked to what you have previously done. For example: if you discovered and old temple in the forest and you decided to explore it, nothing happened for the moment, but when you draw that card again, you will discover that the temple was cursed.

The game reacts to what you do, and it even gives you a little bit of time to prepare for its inevitable counterstrike on what you have achieved throughout the game.

**Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the cursed island, will be available for purchase at the Z-Man Games booth in Essen as well as the Portal booth.

The official release date for the Z-man version of the game is set for the Summer of 2013.

3/10/12:

Clash of Cultures – An interview with Christian Marcussen

As we are getting closer to the release date for Clash of Cultures, we met up with Christian Marcussen to get to know the game a little better.

How did you come up with the idea for Clash of Cultures?

Well, I have always loved playing civilization games on the computer, but I never really felt that any of the board games at the time captured the same feel. What makes the computer games so great are how they have many different elements all packed into a coherent whole. You have combat, development, diplomacy and exploration. That is a lot of stuff to put into a board game – especially since you don’t have a computer to calculate and manage everything for you.  Taking all that and putting it into a manageable board game has, for a long time, been one of the holy grails of board game design. So of course I needed to give it a shot.

What are the differences between Clash of Cultures and other civilization games?

When I started working on Clash of Cultures there hadn’t been released any good Civilization board games for years. In the meantime though, many good games have since been released. But unlike computer games, board games are forced to abstract stuff quite a lot, or ditch elements entirely. Some games have no map while others have generic and interchangeable cities.  So while there are no right or wrong solutions to what you abstract, your abstractions have a large impact on the feel of the game. So I guess you could say that Clash of Cultures feels different from the others due to the things I have chosen to focus on, namely exploration, city development and advancing.

In Clash of Cultures exploration plays a large part in the early game. It shapes and forms the board that you are playing and results in a unique landscape with each play. Likewise the placement and development of your cities is an important and emphasized part of the game.  Additionally each player has a tech-tree that is central to the game. I wanted to create a tech-tree that was flexible, realistic and full of strategic options and interaction. There tends to be three ways of handling techs in board games; either they use a deck of cards (hard to manage) or limit the number advances in the game or simply limit who can get what advances. I wanted the best of both worlds. A huge amount of advances normally allowed by a card based system, but presented in a more accessible form. In Clash of Cultures you have all your advances in front of you, and you are free to pursue whatever direction you wish for your culture (within a few simple limits).

Another major difference from recent titles is that you do not start out as a specific culture in Clash of Cultures. You could say that a game of Clash of Cultures starts out before the Greek become "Greek" and Babylonians become "Babylonians". What makes a nation unique (historically) is its geography, availability of resources, and the decisions made by the leaders of these nations. Rome did not start as an empire with a special potential for formidable armies and unbelievable engineering skills. They made it a priority.

How long have you been working on conceptualizing the game?

I think I started working on it in 2008 and after a year I had the first prototype. Since then I have been working on it on and off, refining the game, adjusting play balance, and making it faster and more streamlined. However, the game is remarkably close the first version. Sure the release version is vastly superior, but someone who played the first prototype would definitely recognize the game.

Why did you decide to put dice in the game?

Ah dice. A highly controversial topic. First, you need to consider that a game like this has many, many elements that I needed to fuse together into a coherent and playable whole. A lot of stuff is going on, there are lots of things to learn, and many components to manage. In Clash of Cultures dice are mainly used for combat and seeing that, combat is only one part of this massive system, I needed something simple and easy to learn. Going for dice was, therefore, a natural choice especially since I did not want a deterministic combat system.
All this means that there are certain natural limits to how intricate and involved the combat system can be in a game like this without making it too complex. So I went for a simple dice system, with a slight twist to make the expected outcome a little more likely. A game like War of the Ring (which I love) has a system where you inflict hits on rolls of 5 and 6. This means that 3 Army units rolling 4, 4 and 4 would do no hits. In Clash of Cultures you add up your roll and divide by 5 to get the number of hits. This means a roll of 4, 4 and 4 would inflict 2 hits (12 / 5). This system favors larger armies and no die result is completely wasted.
In short I use dice because it supports the game and helps make the overall experience a fun and playable one.

How did you come up with the idea of different advances; so that everyone could play a different game?

I started by writing down all the different advances I wanted in the game. Things like Husbandry, Mathematics, Writing etc. I then categorized the advances and cut them down to four within each category. Then, I chose what each advance should do and made sure it made thematic sense. In this process I also paid a lot of attention to making the advances interact in realistic and interesting ways. Then, through a crazy amount of testing, all the advances were changed, moved around, adjusted and fine-tuned.  

How did you come up with the idea of the city pieces, building ON to an existing city?

This was a practical solution born out of what I wanted to achieve with the design. First of all, I knew that I wanted to make cities different from one another using different buildings. But I also wanted cities to visually become larger so their size was easily spotted on the board and to help give the feeling of growth. So rather than having 4 different standard city sizes (small, medium large etc) and then adding a token to show what buildings a player had, I merged the two concepts and made the specific buildings also be used to show city growth. When this solution also meant that I could exchange a city pieces with pieces of another player’s color to show cultural influence, I knew I had found the perfect way of achieving all I wanted in one simple move.

There is a buildup in the game, you start with nothing and at a certain moment in the game everyone has built a civilization independently and then everyone attacks each other. Was this the dynamic that you wanted to create with the game?

No, not directly at least. I had four design goals for combat.
1) I did not want players to be overrun too early in the game
2) I wanted combat to be fairly simple and fast
3) I wanted combat have a random component, but favor the superior Army.
4) I wanted combat to be a viable strategy in the game, but without being too overpowering

In other words, I think what you are describing there is in part group dynamic and in part an emergent result coming from some of the other design goals.

In Merchants & Marauders, players can choose a role, in Clash of Cultures, we found that, in some aspects, you can either be a diplomat or a warrior. Did you want to continue to explore the dynamic of choosing a “side” to play on in your game?

Not really. I’m not sure I agree that you have to choose between being a warrior or diplomat. On the contrary I would say that the key to success is being flexible and able to adapt to the situation around you. When you see the armies come marching toward you, you had better start thinking about your defenses rather than your next diplomatic mission.

27/09/12:

Coming up: Ladies of Troyes

With this expansion to the game Troyes, the basic rules can be modified in 5 different ways and can be combined any way you want.

The Ladies of Troyes first appear as 3 news Character cards that you can integrate into your games. A new action allows players to move their guard onto ramparts to have access to new activities outside the city. The family leader of each player is represented by a new purple die, that can make civil, military or religious actions (as the player choses); other players may not purchase this die. Finally, 27 new activity cards and 6 event cards are also included to help vary your games.

19/09/12:

PICK UP CLASH OF CULTURES AT ESSEN,
1 MONTH BEFORE OFFICIAL RELEASE,
BY PRE-ORDERING NOW!

Many of you have been asking for a few weeks now if there is going to be a pre-sale of Clash of Cultures for Essen. Today, we finally have an answer for you…

The answer is yes!
You will be able to order your copy of Clash of Cultures for pickup at Essen!

Here is how it works:

1)    Order you copy here: http://www.zmangames.com/preorders.html
2)    You will be redirected to pay through a PayPal account.
3)    Pay for your game and print out your receipt.
4)    Bring your receipt and an ID card with you to our booth at Essen. After we confirm your order and your identity, we will give you your game.

Pre-orders start NOW and will be possible until October 12th.

* You MUST pick up your game at Essen. NO SHIPPING.

18/09/12:

Ginkgopolis – More about the gameplay

Last week we ended the article with the basic setup of the game. It left a few questions like: What is the difference between playing a card on its own or playing it with a tile? What are the tiles for? How do I know where to put my tile? And most of all, what are those letters for? You will gat all of those answers today!

When a player decides to play a card on its own, he uses one of the buildings already in play to get either building tile or victory points. If a player decides to play a card with a tile, he participates in building the city by adding his tile to the space indicated by the card.

Let’s get more into the second type of play, because there are different ways of building in Ginkgopolis! If the card you played is a card with a number on it (a building card), the player must place his tile ON TOP of the tile with the corresponding number. The more you build up, the more valuable your buildings will gain. If you decided to play an urbanization card, the ones with the letters (AH finally here’s where the letters come in!), you will build a new building by placing your tile in the place of the corresponding letter. You then put the letter adjacent to any side of the tile you just placed. This will make for very different games every time, since the same cards will never be played at the same time.

Here’s an example of what your city could look like:

Of course there is more to this game then you have learned in the last two articles, but we have to leave a few surprises now don’t we?

12/09/12:

Clash of Cultures – The back-box

This week, we want to show you the back-box of Clash of Cultures.
You can really see all the components that will be included in the game.

That’s all for this week! Enjoy!

11/09/12:

Ginkgopolis – A new type of city

Ginkgopolis is the new game by Xavier Georges (co-author of Troyes and Tournay) that takes you to the year 2212. Ginkgo Biloba, the world oldest species of tree, has become a symbol and a reference on how to build cities that are one with nature. Humans have almost exhausted all of the planet’s resources and must now build cities that respect the fragile balance between what is produced and what is used.

But trying to respect this balance makes it hard to build cities; livable space is becoming more and more rare. To build an efficient, eco-friendly city, you will have to become the best urban designer for Ginkgopolis!

Ginkgopolis is a very simple game, with diabolically original rules! The starting city is composed of 9 tiles (numbered 1 to 3 in 3 colors) and of 12 Urbanization markers (from A to L). Each player starts the game with 4 cards that represent one of the 9 tiles or one of the 12 markers. Simultaneously, players must choose a card to play with or without a building tile (found in their personal reserve). Players then resolve their card before sending their remaining hand to the player to their left. So you must wisely decide which card to play, but also which cards to pass to your opponent.

The draft dynamic in this game will tend to make things very interesting. You will often be second-guessing yourself as for which card you should play. Should you play what you need to, or play something completely random so your opponent doesn’t get the card they desperately need?

More about this game in the coming weeks…

5/09/12:

Clash of Cultures – The rules are in!

Today is a big day! Today is the day you get the chance to see the Clash of Culture rules for the first time.
Inside the 24 page rulebook, you will find tons of information about how to play the game, as well as numerous illustrations of all the different component you will find in Clash of Cultures. You will also find a few variants at the very end of the rulebook!

That’s all for this week!

Enjoy!

Clash of Cultures rules: HERE

15/08/12:

Pandemic available in US Toys ''R'' Us stores this September

Z-Man Game is proud to announce that Toys“R”Us USA has decided to offer Pandemic on its shelves across the United States starting this September.

Pandemic has become a landmark, must-play game. It is one of the games that have changed people’s perception about board games and we are more than happy that Pandemic will be available to a wider audience thanks to Toys“R”Us.

The success of Pandemic proves that the game is appreciated by a wide scope of players.

As of September 2012, even more people will get a try at saving the world!

14/08/12:

Clash of Cultures: All the little pieces (Part 2)

This week, we are revealing the figurines that you will discover in Clash of Cultures. We have been impatiently waiting to show you there for quite a while now, so here we go!

Army: (first on the left) They are used as the combat unit. They will help protect your cities and try to conquer others. Army units may attack foreign Units as well as foreign Cities.

Settlers: They are primarily used to establish cities and explore new territories. They are also used to create trade routes that will allow for merchandise to move freely between cities. They do not fight.

Ships: They are used to transport units and to explore new territory. They can also be used in battle and to establish trade routes between the different cities.

You start the game with one Settler who must go out and explore the land around him. If you want to add more units to your game, there is a price to pay.  Settlers will cost you two Food, while Army units will cost you one Food and one Ore; Boats will cost you two Wood.

New Land units, such as Settlers and Army units, appear in the City that “built” them, while Ships are placed in the Sea space of a Port. You must have a Port to “build” Ships.

08/08/12:

Clash of Cultures: All the little pieces (Part 1)

This week, we can finally reveal all the little pieces that compose Clash of Cultures. We have been impatiently waiting to show them to you for quite a while now, so here we go!

Here we have the City pieces. As you can see, your city can grow throughout the game. You start with a small parcel of your City, which you see in the center of the image. You can then build on your additions.

Settlement: This is the foundation of all cities. You start with a Settlement and then expand your city around it.

Fortress: This will allow you to add a die in combat and cancel one hit when you are attacked. You need the Tactics advance to build a Fortress.

Academy: This will generate 2 Idea resources when built. Its construction requires the Writing advance.

Temple: This will generate 1 Mood token or 1 Culture token when built. To build a Temple, you will need the Myths advance.

Port: With a port, you may have ships, without it you cannot. You must build your port in a city that is adjacent to a Sea space and must place your port so it extends into the Sea. Building a port requires the Fishing advance.

Increasing the size of your Cites offers many advantages, such as the number of resources you can collect, the number of units that can stem from that city and how strong its Cultural Influence will be. Depending on your strategy, you will want to add a certain addition to your city rather than another.

However, you cannot freely build a City to a size 5 (a Settlement with all 4 additions). You may only increase City size according to the number of Cities you have. For instance, if you have two Cities, you can only increase them to a size 2 (Settlement, plus one addition), and so on. So you cannot concentrate on building just one super-city; you have to build many Settlements before you can build your size 5 City.

So, these are the City pieces you will be able to find in Clash of Cultures. Next week, we will present Part 2: Units so stay tuned!

01/08/12:

Atlantis Rising: A long awaited game

As some of you may know, Atlantis Rising has been in the works for some time now. Galen Ciscell has been working on the game with us for quite a while!

If you didn’t know, he has written many Designer Diaries on Board Game Geek talking about various aspects of the game and how they came to be. They are really worth the read:

Design Journal #1: A Game for Galen --->HERE

Design Journal #2: Risk and Reward --->HERE

Design Journal #3: The Mystical Isle --->HERE

Design Journal #4: The Councilors of Atlantis --->HERE

Design Journal #5: Atlanteans and Athenians --->HERE

Design Journal #6: The Difficulty with Difficulty --->HERE

Design Journal #7: Forbidden Knowledge --->HERE

Design Journal #8: How Misfortunate --->HERE

Design Journal #9: An Influential Design--->HERE

And for the fun of it, here is a comparison between the prototype version of Atlantis Rising and what it really looks like now. It’s pretty fun to see how things evolve.

Don’t forget you can try out Atlantis Rising at WBC before its premier at GenCon.

24/07/12:

GenCon 2012: The Z-Man Games game plan!

GenCon is fast approaching! It’s time we told you all about our game plan for the Z-Man Games booth! It’s going to be big! Like in your face kind of big!

Three games will be presented at the convention:

1. Alcatraz: The Scapegoat

You have been sent to Alcatraz, but you do not plan on staying there very long! You must find a way to escape. With your fellow convicts, you will elaborate a plan to return to freedom. But beware; you do not want to be the one the others leave behind… In this cooperative game, you will take the role of prisoners trying to escape together. However, for their plan to succeed, the group knows that one of them will have to be left behind as a scapegoat if any of them hope to make it out alive!

1. Atlantis Rising

In Atlantis Rising, you are an important councillor of Atlantis at what may be its final hour. In this co-op game, players must work together to construct a cosmic gate capable of transporting the island to safety, using the advanced Atlantean science and the energy of their mystic power source, before their civilization is lost forever. Players either savour the victory of saving Atlantis together or must admit defeat when the island is taken away by the seas…

1. Battle Beyond Space

Far beyond the bounds of the Solar System, a signal is launched that penetrates warp space. The signal is old—the only known working piece of technology from an ancient race. Four different fleets answer the siren’s call, intent on claiming the Artifact for themselves at all costs. The destination: a lone asteroid ringed by failed ancient satellites in the middle of a lifeless asteroid field.

All three games will be available to play for all attendees. You will also find many of our popular titles for sale at the booth. Note that if you plan on purchasing items at our booth, it is CASH ONLY.

Hope to see you all at GenCon!

18/07/12:

Clash of Cultures – The different types of cards

You might have seen that Christian Marcussen added new pictures of the different types of cards you will be able to find in Clash of Cultures on Board Game Geek last week.

Well, this week, we will explain what the different cards are and what their influence is on the game.

EVENT CARDS

Event cards, as their name says, hold events that can affect the different civilizations in the game. When your Happiness Level reaches 3, 5 or 7 (see player board for more info on the Happiness Level) you will draw an event card and IMMEDIATELY resolve it. Most event cards will only affect the player who draws them. We have a great example in the picture with Famine: you lose 1 Food. Simple instructions, only affecting the player who draws the card. However, some cards will affect all players, such as the Great Merchant card in the picture. The card is placed on the table until someone can achieve what the card asks.

As you can see on the picture, some event cards also have icons in the top right corner. These are special effects that must be resolved immediately, even if the card will be placed on the table for all players, you must resolve what is in the corner first.

When you resolve an event card, you discard it.

OBJECTIVE CARDS

Each player starts the game with one Objective card. You will receive more throughout the game. Your Objective cards must be hidden from the other players. As you can see on the picture, the cards have two different objectives on them. The top one is often concerned with development, while the bottom one concentrates more on the military aspects of the game. You may only complete one of the two objectives written on the card.

You may, however, complete more than one Objective card at a time. If you fulfill the criteria of both cards, you may finish more than one objective. However, you may NOT complete two identical Objective cards during the same turn. So, if we use example in the picture, you could finish a Happy and a Daring Objective card, but not two Happy cards at the same time.

When you complete an objective, you place the card in front of you.

ACTION CARDS

Action cards are also hidden from other players; you receive one Action card at the beginning of the game and accumulate more throughout the game. The cards have two different effects on them: a non-combat effect and a combat effect.

There are no limits on the number of Action cards you can play on your turn for their non-combat effect. However, you may not play two of the same cards at one time, as it was the case for Objective cards. Combat effects can only be played if you have the “tactics” advance on your personal player board.

WONDERS

There are 7 Wonders in the game. Wonders are revealed by “engineering” and “monuments” advances. The revealed Wonder card is placed on the table and any player can try and fulfill the requirements of the card. When a player is able to fulfill the requirements and pay the cost of the card, he or she may keep the Wonder next to his or her personal player board.

There you go! These are the cards that you will encounter during the game. More information about Clash of Cultures coming very soon!

17/07/12:

Alcatraz : The Scapegoat – Who is the scapegoat ?

So the name of the game is Alcatraz : The Scapegoat. But we haven’t really explained how the role of the scapegoat works in the game. That is the purpose of this week’s article!

OK, so what is this scapegoat all about?

To complete their plan, the prisoners need to leave someone behind. So they elect a scapegoat at the start of the game. At the start of each round, someone is elected the scapegoat by a majority of players. You can even choose to elect yourself the scapegoat if you want.

Advantages of being the scapegoat

• The scapegoat has one more action point per round than the other players. This could allow him or her to get ahead of the others very quickly.
• If the same person is chosen as the scapegoat for more than one round in a row, they get another extra action point (up to 3 extra points)
• The scapegoat is the only person who can use Blackmail cards, which can delay the completion of the escape plan for other players. But use them wisely, because you don’t want the other players to gang up on you because you were mean to them!

Disadvantages of being the scapegoat

• The scapegoat does not get the reward others players receive when someone has completed a task successfully.
• The scapegoat rarely has a specific objective in the first round of play, some players might feel like they are loosing a turn if they are the scapegoat in the first round.

How to avoid being left behind

• Complete parts of the plan before others are able to.
• Block others from completing the plan by stealing their items or playing a Blackmail card.
• Be indispensable! Make sure you have completed parts of the plan that no one else has, this will ensure your escape.

If a player is the scapegoat during the first round, it does not mean that player will be your enemy until the end of the game, do not consider him as a threat (yet…). Things can change very quickly in Alcatraz.

Alcatraz: The Scapegoat – Releasing at GenCon this year.

05/07/12:

Clash of Cultures: Player Boards Explained

This week, we will tell you more, much more, about the player boards that you will find in Clash of Cultures.

These player boards are really the heart of this game. Every player starts with nothing and can choose how he or she wants to build his or her civilization. Every player will take different paths and that will inevitably make the game more dynamic. On the player boards, you will be able to choose which advances you would like to see in your cities. There are nine different sections where you can choose improvements to add to your newly built civilization. We will explore these sections right here and now!

1. Agriculture

As the name of the sections tends to give away, this section focuses on the agricultural improvements, or how you can bring more food to your cities. Farming is the best way to do it, but it’s not always enough to just farm. Sometimes you need a better watering system or more places to store all the food you’ve grown.

2. Construction

In this section, you can add advances that will help you build your cities more efficiently. You can start by doing it the hard way by digging through the mountains, or by creating incredible buildings. It can also be as simple as cleaning up after yourself or building a faster way for getting from point A to point B.

3.Maritime

If you’re less of a land person, and prefer sailing the seas to get around, these advances are for you. In this section, your advances could improve your fishing skills, help you draw maps, help you navigate better and even make your ships stronger.

4. Economics

The economy always comes into play; there is no way to avoid it. But there are different ways of getting what you want for your cities. You can strike a deal with other cities to trade some of your resources for theirs, or even let them use your roads if you can pass through theirs. You can also buy what you need with gold or get the good people of your cities to pay off what you are planning.

5. Culture

Culture can be a very diverse section. There are many different improvements you can make to your cities if the arts interest you. From painting and sculpting to theater and song. Don’t forget museums and circuses as well! And, for the strong and the willing, great sport competitions await you.

6. Science

For the science buffs among us, this section is perfect. Whether you are good with numbers or with metal; if you like gazing at the stars or working in a lab.

The last three sections will have a greater influence on the game then the others. Depending on which one you choose to pursue, it will determine the political outcome of you cities. We are not saying that automatically, in a real world situation, Education leads to Democracy, Warfare leads to Autocracy and Spirituality leads to Theocracy. We are just stating that that’s how it works out in the game.

7. Education (Leading to Democracy)

People can be educated in different ways. The advances offered in this section allow for a variety of educational options. Whether you’re a writer or a philosopher, you might want to study in the private sector or in the public schools. Either way, I’m sure you would love it if it were free!

8. Warfare (Leading to Autocracy)

Warfare, as its name entails, is based on the acts of war. In this section, you can improve your tactics and your weapons, as well as finding more troop and better ways to protect yourself from your enemies. These advances will ultimately lead you towards Autocracy, where you can chose to be a nationalist or a totalitarian. You can crave absolute power and force your people into doing what you want them to.

9. Spirituality (Leading to Theocracy)

In this spiritual section, you will have the option to explore myths and ritual, as well as priesthood. You could also establish state religion throughout your cities. These different advances ultimately leading to Theocracy, where you can also show your devotion for your cities and its dogmas, live in fanaticism or complete conversions.

All of these descriptions explain the different advances that you will be able to use throughout the game. The advances will give you a variety of improvements; from easier movements, to more food, to more gold or a better mood to name a few. 

27/06/12:

Atlantis Rising: How to play

A few weeks ago, we announced the release of Atlantis Rising in time for Gencon 2012. Don’t worry, that hasn’t changed! But we really hadn’t given you any information about the game. So, this week, we are going to give you information about how to play the game.

As we said in our last post, Atlantis Rising is a cooperative game. You will either win as a team or loose as a team. The aim is to save Atlantis from being engulfed by the sea.

OK…but how do I play?

Ate the start of the game, each player chooses his or her Councilor. Each Councilor has different abilities that will be useful as the game advances.

The game is split into phases, where each player participates, not only the active player.

1. Place Atlanteans

At the start of the game, every player has 3 Atlanteans that match his or her councilor’s color. They can be placed anywhere on the island, as long as the number of Altanteans present on a tile does not exceed the maximum allowed.

1. Draw Misfortunes

Misfortune cards may destroy parts of the island with events such as floods. Some Misfortune cards require a group decision, while others don’t give you a choice.

1. Productive Actions

Productive Actions may only be produced where an Atlantean is present. Once the actions have been produced, the Atlanteans return to their owners. Actions vary depending on which part of the island you are. They will allow you to pick up resources, draw knowledge cards, gain mystic energy; among other things. So choose wisely where you place your Atlanteans at the start of each round.

1. Athenians Attack

Not only do you have to deal with the natural disaster threatening the island, you also have to deal with the Athenians attacking Atlantis. Two things determine attacks: the Athenian’s attack track (after each attack the Athenians advance one step on the track) and a roll of the die. The two numbers are then added together to determine the force of the Athenian’s attack.

1. Build Components

Components are built using resources that you have accumulated during the Productive Actions phase. The Component cards are always visible to all players, making it easier to plan as a group who will pick up certain resources.

OK…but how do I win?

Well, like we said before, Atlantis Rising is a co-op game, so you can’t win alone. You either win as a team, or lose as a team. To win, you must activate all ten Component Cards before the center tile of the island is destroyed. If you do not succeed, Atlantis is lost forever in the stormy waters…

27/06/12:

Clash of Cultures – The final artwork & more about the game

This week, we present to you, the finished product: Clash of Cultures final artwork.

So what do you think? Beautiful isn’t it! Needless to say it has taken hours and hours of work to make this artwork what it is today.

But enough about the outside of the game, who better to tell us more about what the game is than the creator of the game itself: Christian Marcussen!

Clash of Cultures is a civilization game where each player leads a civilization from a single settlement to a mighty empire. Players must explore their surroundings, build large cities, research advances and conquer those who stand in the way. The game features a modular board for players to explore, 48 distinct advances, 7 mighty wonders, and loads of minis and cards. The winner will create a culture that will be remembered and admired for millennia.
– Christian Marcussen

Get ready, tons more to come about Clash of Cultures in the coming weeks!

20/06/12:

A new game from the creator of Merchants & Marauders,
Christian Marcussen: Clash of Cultures.

The whole team at Z-Man Games has been working hard to get this game ready for its big release. This game is big; really big! So big, we can’t talk about it in only one post! Clash of Cultures is a box FILLED with figurines, with tons of pieces to build your cities, and a few smiley faces.

This time, Christian Marcussen gives us a civilization game, with his own personal twist! Contrarily to other civilization games, in Clash of Cultures you do not portray any given culture, nor does it depict historical events. History is not influencing the game; you are writing your own story, building your own civilization. You can clearly see this in the sketch for our box top that was designed by Chris Quilliams (Merchants & Marauders); different societies that didn’t exist in the same time period can coexist in Clash of Cultures.

You will discover, in the weeks to come, that there are multiple ways to play Clash of Cultures. Each player will want to concentrate on different aspects than the others, which will change the dynamic of the game every time!  

More to come about Clash of Cultures next week!

19/06/12:

Alcatraz: The Scapegoat – How to play

In our previous article, we told you a little about Alcatraz: The Scapegoat, but we only took a quick look at the game. This time, we will explain how to play!

Things to do before you start the game

The first step is to place the Location tiles; in the order you want, on the table. You chose which locations are next to each other; it’s not a random placement!
The next step is to randomly draw location cards to see where the guards will be placed to start the game. You draw 4 cards, place the guards on the appropriate locations; put the cards back in the deck and pick 4 more cards. So, you could end up starting the game with 2 guards in the same room.
Afterwards, each player randomly draws a location card to see in which area of the prison to start. Hopefully, it will be far away from the guards…
Players then randomly draw 3 location and 3 task cards and place the tasks on the corresponding location tiles. Players now know where they have to go, and what they have to do to complete a part of the escape plan.
Finally, players must elect who will be the scapegoat for the first round of play.

How a round works

Actions in the game are possible by using AP (Action Points). Some actions will cost 1 AP, while others will be free. Players will receive new AP at the beginning of each round.

Free actions:

• Exchange items with another prisoner in the same location. You may need his or her item to complete a part of the plan.
• Bribe a guard. There is always a way to get around the law in this game…

Actions costing 1 AP:

• Moving to an adjacent location.
• Stealing an item from another player in the same location.
• Advancing the plan by completing a task.
• Starting a riot. This allows you to move a guard from an adjacent location to the one you are in.
• Dropping an item; so that someone else can pick it up on his or her turn, or because you want to pick something else up in its place.
• Use a location’s ability, for example picking up an item in the location you are in.

The aim is to carry out all aspects of the plan. So players have to plan their actions in order to complete the tasks they need to escape.

The round ends when all players have had their turn. At the end of every round, a new guard must be added randomly by drawing a location card. Players then elect a new scapegoat (or the same one, that’s for you to decide).

How it ends

As we said before, players want to complete the different phases of the plan as a team. For the plan to succeed, someone must be left behind. Usually, it's the scapegoat, sometimes it isn't. If you are the scapegoat, you can manage to escape if you are indispensable to the plan. Meaning? You must have completed a part of the plan that no one else has.

So, do you think you can escape from Alcatraz?

12/06/12:

Important news about Equilibrion

Z-MAN Games was recently informed that Équilibrion’s title was similar to another trademarked game's name.

Upon receiving this information, we sent out a worldwide cease of sales notice on Equilibrion. (This was prior to any sales in the US)

Since then, we have been searching for a solution to bring this much anticipated game to stores. In collaboration with the author, Shadi Torbey, we have decided that the game will now be called Urbion.

We are hoping to see this new edition in stores this September.

12/06/12:

Will you be the architects of the ascension of Atlantis?

In Atlantis Rising, the new game by Galen Ciscell, you are an important councillor of Atlantis at what may be its final hour. Using the advanced Atlantean science and the energy of their mystic power source, players must work together to construct a cosmic gate capable of transporting the island to safety, before their civilization is lost forever.

Atlantis Rising is a co-op game where players either savour the victory of saving Atlantis together or must admit defeat when the island is taken away by the seas…

Atlantis must survive; will you have what it takes to save it?

Due to release: Gencon 2012.

07/06/12:

Z-Man and Hans im Glück Announce English Language Partnership

Z-Man Games is proud to announce its partnership with the renowned German publisher, Hans im Glück. Recognized around the world for their award winning games, Hans im Glück has granted Z-Man Games production rights for English versions of their games starting in fall of 2012.

Among the titles Z-Man will be producing in English are the Klaus-Jürgen Wrede ‘s blockbuster Carcassonne and all of its expansions, Bernd Brunnhofer’s award winning Stone Age and expansions, as well as new games in the HiG collection that are currently in development.

In the coming months, Z-Man Games will work with retailers and media to ensure that the Hans im Glück collection will continue to grow in popularity and to widen awareness of these quality games on the English market.

About Z-Man Games
Z-Man Games has been publishing unique board and card games since 1999.  Its portfolio includes award-winning and best-selling games like Pandemic, Agricola, Dungeon Lords, Neuroshima Hex, Troyes, Saboteur and Merchants & Marauders to name just a few.

With a network of prestigious international partners, Z-Man Games is one of the leading companies in the US gaming industry.  

About Hans im Glück
Verlags-GmbH is a premiere German board and card game publisher, and the winner of multiple Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis awards. Their catalog includes best selling games such as Carcassonne, Stone Age, Thurn and Taxis, and many others.

06/06/12:

An interview with Michael Schacht about Africana!

Here is a great interview we had the pleasure to have with Michael Schacht, the creator of Africana. Hope you enjoy what he has to say, we sure did!

How did you come up with the concept for Africana?

When I was presenting the prototype of Valdora to the later publisher of the game, we were also already discussing the possibilities of a series. So, we both kept this in mind. In 2011, the publisher gave me the signal that the right time had come for the next "book of adventures game" and I started to work on Africana.

Why did you decide to reuse the concept of the books used in Valdora?

In developing it is always very important for me to see the possibilities around a game and not just the game itself. So, in the case of Valdora I luckily recognized the book mechanism as a strong element, around which a game series could be created.

Was it voluntary to make the game similar to Valdora?

There were no real mandatory elements to include in the game beside the book. One big decision we had to make before the development of the game was how close the new game should be to Valdora. We decided to not go too far away from the previous concept. So, in the end we have two games with some similarities but they are also two different games. Africana has less complex rules but the turn decisions can be more complex than in Valdora. Valdora is a pick up and deliver game; Africana is a modern kind of travel game. As a whole, Africana is probably the lighter game of the series.

Why did you want to set the game in 19th century Africa?

My personal ideas for the series are not based on just one aspect to be picked up. Valdora was an adventure themed game. I wanted to keep that idea. Another aspect is that travelling the real world usually makes for more fun and helps with the orientation of the game. Finally Africa was a great subject in that it is adventurous, the time of the expeditions is the most romantic and exciting era and it offers a lot of things to learn. Besides, the concept of expeditions fits perfectly with the game mechanism.
Personally, I like how the illustrator supported the continuity between both games – if you compare both game boxes you will see so many similarities hidden in the graphical concept. Also, the way the title is designed is a hint to the previous game.

Do you have any more games planned in the near future? Do they resemble Africana and Valdora or are you planning to go in a different direction?

As game design is my fulltime job, I work all year on new designs. The next projects that will be released are different: some card and children’s games. Although I have no real concept yet, I can imagine creating a third book game sometime in the future, as a real series begins with the third title! :-) Maybe it would be interesting then to try something totally different.

30/05/12:

ORIGINS THIS WEEKEND!

You are sure to love the game by Rüdiger Dorn that first released in 2004 and that is still, to this day, in the top 30 best games on Board Game Geek. GOA has remained relevant and appreciated by players even though it has been out of stock for some time now. This new edition will surely appeal to fans of the previous edition as well as people just discovering the game.

28/05/12:

New games available on May 30th!

The wait is almost over! GOA and Tournay will be at Origins this weekend, but they will also be available in stores! YAY!

Hurry up and get your copy of these two great games, we are sure that they will sell out fast.

GOA – by Rüdiger Dorn.
Have you ever dreamt of being and explorer at the beginning of the 16th century? Well, in GOA you can finally realize your dream! The game transports you to the Port of Goa, India, at the start of the 16th century; you are a European trader and have come to make money off of the land by acquiring plantations of different types of spices. You must build your empire and explore new territories to be successful in this new world.

Tournay – by Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges and Alain Oran.
In Tournay, you are a wealthy Tournasian family that manages a district of the city and its citizens. There are three types of Citizens: the military (red), the religious (white) and the civilians (yellow). It is officially a sequel to Troyes!

24/05/12:

Alcatraz: The Scapegoat

You have been sent to Alcatraz, but you do not plan on staying there very long! You must find a way to escape. With your fellow convicts, you will elaborate a plan to return to freedom. But beware; you do not want to be the one the others leave behind…

In this cooperative game, you will take the role of prisoners trying to escape the prison together. However, for their plan to succeed, the group knows that one of them will have to be left behind as a scapegoat if any of them hope to make it out alive!

However, getting out of prison is not an easy task! Players will have to accomplish various tasks that will put into place an element of their escape plan. The players who, cooperatively, manage to carry out all six phases of the plan together will escape; the others will be caught by the guards and spend the rest of their lives in Alcatraz.  

After each round, a new guard will come into play, making it more and more difficult to acquire the things you will need for your escape. But don’t worry; there are ways to make the guards look away from what you are trying to do…

Once a task has been completed, the player who accomplished the task gets to mark his prisoner’s sheet for the appropriate part of the plan. He then randomly draws a task card that will be completed by everyone except the scapegoat.

Being the scapegoat can have its advantages; like being the first to play and having more actions per turn than the other prisoners. This can allow you to become essential to the completion of the plan. So even if you are the scapegoat, you must make yourself indispensable, so that the others have no choice but to let you escape.

After every turn, check to see if there is a group of players that has completed at least one of each parts of the plan. If so, you have succeeded in escaping form Alcatraz; leaving the other prisoners behind you to take the blame…

22/05/12:

Tales of Arabian Nights back in stock in Montreal!

You know what that means. The game will be back in stock in the US in just two weeks!

In Tales of the Arabian Nights, you are the hero or heroine in a story of adventure and wonder just like those told by Scheherazade to her spellbound sultan! You will travel the land seeking your own destiny and fortune. You will learn stories and gain wisdom to share with others. Will you be the first to fulfill your destiny? The next Tale is yours to tell! There is, of course, a winner in Tales of the Arabian Nights, but the point of the game is less to see who wins and more to enjoy the unfolding and telling of a great story!

15/05/12:

Yes my friends, it’s that time of year again! It’s time for Origins.
This year’s theme for the event is: Time Travel.

How will Z-Man games fit into this theme? Well the two games that will be featured at Origins this year are two games that will take you back in time…both to different periods of time…

Still haven’t figured it out?

The two games that Z-Man will be featuring are: GOA and Tournay!

GOA, by Rüdiger Dorn; is a reprint of the version first released in 2004, with a few major changes. The game transports you to the Port of Goa, India, at the start of the 16th century; you are a European trader and have come to make money off of the land by acquiring plantations of different types of spices. You must build your empire and explore new territories to be successful in this new world.

Tournay, by Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges and Alain Oran; is the sequel to the much beloved game Troyes. In Tournay, you are a wealthy Tournasian family that manages a district of the city and its citizens. Contrarily to Troyes where you manipulated dice to generate your strategy; in Tournay the concept stays the same, but with cards instead of dice!

So what, when, and where is this fabulous event?

Well you can find that out on the official website for Origins: http://www.originsgamefair.com/

But, briefly, the event is from May 30th to June 3rd at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, in Columbus Ohio. It’s a great occasion to come and try out some new games and meet some great people!

Bonus! The guests of honour at the event this year: Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton and Adrienne Wilkinson!

14/05/12:

To keep you waiting until the release of Tournay,
we sat down with one of the authors, Sébastien Dujardin, to talk about the game.
Enjoy!

Is Tournay really the sequel to Troyes?

Tournay and Troyes are very linked, but they are also very different.  They form a kind of series, because a strong idea links them: trying to manage coincidences. In Troyes, we made every effort to give some elements of control to the roll of the dice. The goal was for the players to not feel unlucky when they rolled the dice. In Tournay, we are using the same approach but with cards instead of dice. But mostly, both games are similar due to their theme and the use of the same three fields of activity of medieval times. These similarities put aside, both games are very different and offer gameplay experiences that greatly differ. Tournay is notably much faster to play than its older brother!

What mechanisms did you explore in the game, that were not present in Troyes and what elements did you keep from the previous game? Why?

Tournay being a card game, the system of nine draw piles as well as the way to draw them was the starting point in our elaboration of the game. When a player decides to draw, he takes two cards, picks one, and puts the other card face up on the pile he drew from; thus making it clearly available for the other players. We were rapidly pleased with this aspect of the game because it gives simple but heart-rending choices to the players. It was surprising to see the time it sometimes took for a player to choose a card!

The use of meeples to complete actions is another important mechanism of the game. Like the dice in Troyes, the meeples belong to a player but are accessible to all for a price. This creates a constant interaction that forces you to think a few steps ahead.

The third important mechanism is the construction of each player’s district. We wanted the position of the cards to be important. We also wanted every card that was placed in the district to have multiple effects on the game; either on your own game or on the opponent's game.

Why separate the draw pile into nine different draw piles? And why split them on three levels?

Drawing a card among 90 gives you 1 chance out of 90 to get the card you need! By creating 9 draw piles with 10 cards each; a player who knows the game will have a better idea of where to draw cards that fit with his strategy. This is the main idea of the game! It is amusing to note that this was initially the way we wanted to use the cards in Troyes before they came into play automatically.

The idea of having three levels was interesting to translate the feeling of progression in the game. Level 1 cards are less expensive but less strong while level 3 cards will provide you with multiple victory points. Quickly reaching for level 3 is tempting, but it can be extremely risky! The placement of the cards in nine piles makes for many different ways of playing the game.

Where did the concept of combating Event cards come from?

Combating Event cards was the aspect of the game that took the most time to elaborate. We wanted a system that would be very different from the one used in Troyes. One of the important steps in the creation of the game was to not split it into phases like we had done in Troyes. In addition to the feeling of great fluidity, the continuous aspect of the game helped us put the event system in place. Since we have nine draw piles, it was possible to put one event card into each pile. Combating an Event not being interesting enough, we then decided to add the possibility to build ramparts. Everything just took off from there.

Why did you decide to include an expansion in the game?

The basic game seemed to be complete enough to insure its longevity. However, we decided to include additional cards, to make us happy, with effects that would have been too complicated for people who were discovering the game. We also included advanced rules that extend the length of the game and increase the strategic options. I think that you have to play numerous times before understand all the options that this game offers.  The longevity of a game is an extremely important aspect for me.

What is it like to create a game as a team? What is the role of each person in your group?

Working as a team has no disadvantages if the authors are all on the same page and complete each other! The greatest advantage is that problems get solved much faster when all three heads are put together. It’s also easy for two of us to gang up on the third one to convince him of an idea, but only if necessary. But generally, we rapidly find a common vision that incorporates all of our individual preferences. It’s possible because we know each other so well.

The most valuable and important thing for me is that the team gets together often because it is much easier to solve problems face to face than to exchange an endless number of e-mails. It’s also very easy to work as a team because we don’t need to find people to test the initial versions of the game, which are usually very bland.

As for the role of each of us, as editor, I assemble prototypes and write the rules. As for the rest of the creative process, everyone has his equal say in what the game will be like.

Do you have plans for another game in the series? Or are you planning on going in a different direction for you next game?

The next game will be very different both thematically and mechanically and will be the work of only one author…

02/05/12:

Ninjato back in stock!

The wait is over! Ninjato is now back in stock!

IN 12TH CENTURY JAPAN, the Minamoto and Taira clans vie for power while retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa plays his rivals against one another. One of the three factions will triumph to impose the coming social order. In the shadow of these elite powers, a few ninja scheme to exploit the chaos. Daring raids, skill mastery, and subtle intrigue are essential to establishing one’s honor. When the new era dawns, one ninja will flourish as the Ninjato, the Invisible Sword of the ruling family.

26/04/12:

Africana – An adventure into the heart of Africa

Africana will transport you back to the 19th century Africa. You are an explorer on a mission to discover the hidden secrets of the continent.

When looking at the box, you will have a feeling that you’ve seen it before. No your mind is not playing tricks on you; Africana is from the same author as Valdora, Michael Schacht, and it is somewhat considered as the sequel to Valdora. The box was porously made to remind you of the previous game.

In Africana, you will be part of one of four groups of explorers come to discover the secrets of Africa. You will have to make numerous expeditions throughout the continent, from Cairo to Kalahari or from Timbuctoo to Serengeti. These expeditions will help finance your searches for ancient artefacts. Throughout the game, you will have the choise to join an expedition or to go on an adventure looking for precious objects. The more you find, the bigger the bonus at the end of the game!

Get ready, Africa is waiting!

Africana: due to release

25/04/12:

Tournay- the new game from the creators of Troyes!

Tournay, the new game by Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges and Alain Oran, creators of Troyes, is due to release at the beginning of May. It is officially a sequel to Troyes! But don’t worry, it s not exactly like Troyes, there are many differences.

In Tournay, you are a wealthy Tournasian family that manages a district of the city and its citizens. There are three types of Citizens: the military (red), the religious (white) and the civilians (yellow), exactly as in Troyes.

Contrarily to Troyes where you manipulated dice to generate your strategy; in Tournay the concept stays the same, but with cards instead of dice! The idea of the game is that you will build your own part of the city of Tournay by adding cards (3 rows and 3 columns) ot the plaza in front of you.

The different cards are separated into 9 draw piles: 3 colors (for the 3 types of Citizens) and 3 rows (called Levels). Cards in Level 1 are less expensive than cards in Level 2 and so on. Every card you place in your district can give you different advantages, so chose your cards wisely.

On your turn, you MAY place a card in your district (note that you start the game with no cards so you skip this step). You then MUST choose one of the following actions:

1. Draw a card: Military citizens give you access to the red cards, Religious citizens give you access to the white cards and Civilans give you access to the yellow cards. You draw 2 cards and keep 1. You then place the other card on top of the draw pile. The next player may choose to pick this card or place it under the pile and draw 2 new cards.
2. Activate a building: by placing a Citizen on a card of the correct color in your district, you activate the action or bonus shown.
3. Combat an event card: You must pay the price to cancel the effects of the card (1 citizen + 1 denir + 1 denir per coin on the card OR 2 citizens).
4. Earn denirs : You get 2 deniers per citizen of the same color on your plaza.
5. Gather you citizens on our plaza.

There are two ways for the game to end:

1. Two players must have the 9 spots of their district filled, including 2 prestige buildings.
2. One player must have filled their 9 spots, including 2 prestige buildings AND you must have discovered 1 Town Crier more than the number of players.

Tournay is due to release at the beginning of May.

24/04/12:

An interview with Shadi Torbey

To keep you satisfied until the release of the game very soon, we have translated an interview with Shadi Torbey that Filosofia had posted on their website when the game came out in Europe. Enjoy!

Urbion is the sequel to Onirim, what is the difference between both games? (Mechanism, game experience, etc.)

It is indeed a sequel, but not an expansion; it’s a stand-alone game. It is different, but it’s still in the same family as Onirim. The main resemblance is that you play with a hand of cards (4 here, instead of 5 in Onirim) and every turn you have to choose wisely if you should discard or place a card in play. The differences are, I think, the feeling you have while playing is not the same as in Onirim. You can obtain balance in different ways; the possibilities are numerous. And every discarded card will have a direct effect on the game; that is different too (in Onirim, only discarded Key cards would have an effect on the game).

With two games in the same universe, we are now talking about a very original collection. What was the idea behind your collection?

When I developed Onirim, I wanted to satisfy a personal need: to have a collection of games that you could play alone, with simple rules, a quick setup, a short gameplay time and, most importantly, with “real” game decisions. I wanted to create a modern day “Solitaire”, adapted to more playful personalities. I didn’t want to just randomly draw cards (which was what would happened in the majority of solitaire games), I wanted to insure that the random draw of cards would always change the subtleties of the game, enabling more tactical decisions.

I realised, very quickly, that the possibility to play with a friend would be a bonus, not only in gameplay but in conception as well. I would have to find interesting variables for two-player gameplay, probably more than for the solo game. 

Where did you get the idea of exploring the world of dreams?

I am very fond of the medieval-fantastic genre, but at the same time, I had had enough of it. I was having a hard time visualising my game in that clichéd world… So I started with the idea of this dreamlike universe and everything fell into place. I remembered a young artist that I had seen in a gallery a few years back and I had kept her contact information… So I sent an e-mail to Elise Plessis, explaining my project and that’s how we started working together.

You have a career as an opera signer, what place do board games occupy in your life? Do you have ideas for future games?

I love board games! It’s always a thrill to open a new box, to read the rules, to discover new types of gameplay (or rediscover a type of gameplay that has been revisited). For a while now, mostly since my collection has reached scandalous proportions (!), I have rediscovered the joy of diving in to “old” games (15 years or so) that have proved themselves time and again, but that I hadn’t had the time to play as much as I would have liked.

Do I have other projects? Of course I do! Elise and I are working on games 3&4 of the series (but shh! it’s a secret for now…). And also a game…about opera! It’s actually the first game that I had developed, years ago, and it’s finally starting to take shape.

Speaking of opera…I wanted to become an opera singer after seeing and listening to many operas. It’s a passion that became my career…without ceasing to be a passion! (I listen to entire operas with as much – maybe even more – enjoyment than when I was 16).

My “career” as a game creator is eons away from getting the recognition that I get as a singer, but my way of approaching both careers is maybe similar, on certain points: the desire to not just be a spectator/player, but to actively try to “do” things myself, like the ones I admire (van Dam and Domingo, or Knizia and Sackson).

20/04/12:

GOA – A classic game made even better!

Have you ever dreamt of being and explorer at the beginning of the 16th century? Well, in GOA you can finally realize your dream! The game transports you to the Port of Goa, India, at the start of the 16th century; you are a European trader and have come to make money off of the land by acquiring plantations of different types of spices. You must build your empire and explore new territories to be successful in this new world.

GOA was originally released in 2004 and, that year, it won Board Game Geek’s Meeples Choice Award for best new game, voted by the public! Since then, it has sustained its popularity and its relevance.

For all of you who missed out on the game in 2004, you will soon have the occasion to discover this game, and for those who were fans of the game in 2004, you will be able to appreciate the additions that have been made to GOA since then!

Rüdiger Dorn worked on GOA for more than a year to make a game that he would be 100% satisfied with but that would also satisfy the fans of the original game. That’s why he tested the new version of the game with fans of the original!

So what’s new about this version?

Well, a few (important) things have changed!

- Expedition cards have ben modified. You now have 6 symbols on 5 cards instead of 6 cards with 5 symbols. Like before, the most like symbols you have at the end of the game will give you victory points. However, it will be harder to accumulate like symbols since there are fewer cards and more symbols!
- The auction process has also changed. Previously, when a player wanted to sell a tile, everyone would make an offer in the order of his or her turn. The seller would then chose if he took the last offer or if he bought the tile himself by paying the price announced by the last player. In the new version, the process is the same, but now the active player can buy the tile for 1 less than the last offer. A subtle change that could make a big difference!
- The Development Board has been slightly modified.
- A new Bonanza variant! We will leave you the fun of discovering this variant of the game!

GOA – due to release at the end of May 2012.

12/04/12:

Pocket Battles: Macedonians vs. Persians

With the ongoing Pocket Battles contest on BoardGameGeek.com, we decided to take a look at what made the latest version of Pocket Battles, Macedonians VS Persians, different from the previous editions of the game.

Sure, most of the aspects of the game remain the same throughout the series. Macedonians VS Persians does not differ from the fact that Pocket Battles is a one on one battle game where you must have the strongest army to defeat your enemy. Many of the attacks that you can use against your opponent and the traits that your Units can possess are the same throughout the series also.

However, in Macedonians VS Persians, four new traits for your Units make their debut. There are also returning traits that were not present throughout the whole series. The "Leader" trait, that was present in Celts VS Romans but not in Orcs VS Elves, is back! So if the Unit that possesses this trait is on the battlefield, the owner of the card has one more Order Token available to use.
There are also returning traits from Orcs VS Elves that were not present in Celts VS Romans! With "Skirmish", your Unit can intercept or shoot at an enemy Unit without using an Order Token. With "Scout", your Unit can attack a Unit from your enemy’s Front Zone without being intercepted or shot at. Finally, you can add a troop tile with "Auxiliary" on it to any other Unit without taking into account the Formation Value limits.

But enough with the awesome returning traits! What are the four new traits present in Macedonians VS Persians?
"First Strike": if this Unit is charged, it can roll to hit before the charging Unit.
"Prestige": if the Unit is present on the battlefield, to add its Deployment Points to the total of destroyed enemy troops when calculating victory conditions.
"Sacrifice": if this Unit is hit, you can destroy this Troop by sacrifice, therefore not placing any Wound tokens on the other Troops in the Unit.
"Tough": if this Unit is hit, you can force the opponent Unit to roll again a single die that resulted in a hit.

So, with the addition of these four new traits to the returning traits from the two previous games, it is clear that Macedonians VS Persian will give you a different gameplay experience than its predecessors!

01/02/12:

Agricola for 2 players!!!

Agricola for 2 players: a small box full of animals.

Agricola, a game that needs no introduction! Players from all around the world have gone crazy for this return to the world of Agricola. From agriculture to animal breeding, Agricola is an enormous success on all game tables.

It is at the beginning of June that you will be able to get your hands on Agricola - All Creatures Big and Small, a game designed exclusively for 2 players! In fact, for the last year, Uwe Rosenberg has been working on a whole new version of the game.  His objective: to offer a specialized two-player version of Agricola that would offer the same sensation as the original, but in a much shorter, more direct form. The result is that Agricola for 2 players is impressively efficient for such a short game (30 to 40 minutes)! It is not only fast to play; it takes seconds to set up. This gives you the possibility of playing the game over and over!

In Agricola – All Creatures Big and Small, you become an animal breeder (horses, cows, sheep and pigs) and try to make the most of your pastures. You will start the game with a personal board that you must make bigger by adding additional parcels of land or by building new infrastructures, because as the game advances, your herd continues to grow!

Agricola - All Creatures Big and Small: a big game in a small box; 3 boards, 4 farm extensions, 17 tiles and more that 140 wooden pieces.

Get ready to herd in those animals!
Agricola - All Creatures Big and Small: coming out June 2012.

07/03/12:

March 7th, 2012 Vaudreuil-Dorion, Québec, Canada

Z-MAN GAMES appoints Alliance / Diamond as Exclusive Distributors for the US Hobby Market.

Z-Man Games, the publisher of award-winning board and card games, has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Alliance Game Distributors and its parent company Diamond Comic Distributors. Effective immediately, Alliance and Diamond become the sole distributors of Z-Man Games products to hobby retailers in the United States of America.

Z-Man Games will continue to work directly with its current distributors for the rest of the world and these relationships remain unaffected by this agreement.
“ In our view, an exclusive agreement is a better business model in some markets to insure that the games we publish get the necessary marketing efforts they deserve,” said Z-Man Games CEO and President, Sophie Gravel. “This added effort will benefit not only our own games, but also the games our foreign partners entrust into our care for the English language market. The cost of duplicated effort in shipping, warehousing and customer management was significant and did not make much business sense. Consolidating efforts with Alliance will give us back time and resources to concentrate on what we do best: publish great and unique games.”
Upcoming marketing and communication programs to be detailed later this spring will include demo packages and event kits for retailers.  An organized play program is also in the works. 

About Z-Man Games

Z-Man Games has been publishing unique board and card games since 1999.  It's portfolio includes award-winning and best-selling games like Pandemic, Agricola, Dungeon Lords, Neuroshima Hex, Troyes, Saboteur and Merchants & Marauders to name just a few.
With a network of prestigious international partners, Z-Man Games is one of the leading companies in the US gaming industry.  

About Alliance Game Distributors

Alliance Game Distributors is a recognized leader in Hobby Distribution, offering an exceptional range of products, services, and programs to adventure-hobby retailers throughout North America and the world. With 5 sales offices and 4 warehouses in the US, the company takes pride in providing the best service, finest selection, and best support in the industry. For additional information, visit www.alliance-games.com.

About Diamond Comic Distributors

Diamond Comic Distributors (www.diamondcomics.com) is the world's largest distributor of English-language comic books and related pop-culture merchandise.  The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Timonium, MD, with strategically located distribution centers serving over 4,000 specialty retailers worldwide.

03/07/12:

Vinhos: in store next week!

Highly awaited in 2011, Vinhos, from Z-Man Games finally comes out next week! So get yourself a nice bottle of wine to celebrate your first game of Vinhos! This high quality game deserves its space on the shelf next to other great strategy games. So if your gaming taste buds like flavors such as Agricola and Ora & Labora, Vinhos is sure to please!

Vinhos is the first game from Portuguese designer Vital Lacerda. A freelance designer whose passions include board games, running, kite surfing and snowboard, he expertly weaved his theme with his mechanics with Vinhos!

Here is Vital’s presention of his own game and background:

"Since I love complex strategy games, Vinhos, my first game design, is a reflection of that passion. Sometime in 2007 discussing with my friends that there weren’t any Portuguese designers, and Portugal is completely off the game industry, I felt that like a challenge I should try. Having an uncle I love who works in the wine industry. I discovered, that even though Portugal is such a small country, its wine industry was big and fulfilled of with intricate game of influences and lobbies, controlled by a small group of people that manages and deals the industry. Hearing that fascinating story, I started to soak up all the information I could get about this industry and business in Portugal, until I decided to design it in a form of a boardgame.

Vinhos turned out to be a complex game, made by many interlocking mechanisms that really exist in the wine industry. The game was made after the theme, and I tried to leave it as close to reality as possible, even though it is not a simulation. I think those are the main differences between Vinhos and the rest of the strategy games".

01/25/12:

2012 Releases – What’s new for Nurnberg?

A few short days before the Nuremberg Toy Fair, here are the planned releases for the first half of 2012.

Feudality (January 2012): A long time ago in Europe, ages were pretty Dark. The distribution of wealth back then
left a lot to be desired. Greedy people banded together to take things from other people so that the rich could get richer and the poor
could have even less. Twas ever thus. Step into the middle of the normal state of human affairs as a Baron or
Baroness somewhere almost in Europe a long time ago. Thanks to your birth you have a lot of little people working
to make you richer, and you, in turn, are doing your best to make your king even more prosperous.
If you do things right, you might someday be king.

Goa (April 2012): Still on the top 30 of Board Game Rank on BGG, Goa has not aged. Improved by the great
designer Rüdiger Dorn, Goa – A New Expedition renews the experience with new tiles and some surprises.

At the end of the 15th century, European traders and adventurers ventured the Indian Ocean with one goal: get the spices
of Southeast Asia. Fabulous wealth was said to await those who would obtain these riches. Portugal conquered the
province of Goa on the west coast of India. This allowed them to gain the upper hand in the spice trade.

It is from this place of operation that the players are looking for opportunities to acquire wealth and fame
for their personal business. For this, they will require ships, manufacturing plants and money while ensuring
that they keep exploring the region and continue founding colonies. Who will have the most
successful business at the end of the game?

Battle Beyond Space  (June 2012): Far beyond the bounds of the Solar System, a signal is launched that penetrates
warp space. The signal is old—the only known working piece of technology from an ancient race.
Four different fleets answer the siren’s call, intent on claiming the Artifact at all costs. The destination:
a lone asteroid ringed by failed ancient satellites in the middle of a lifeless asteroid field.

Atlantis Rising (July 2012): Atlantis Rising is a new, fully co-op game, in which each player is one of the councilors
of Atlantis nearing its doom. Using their advanced Atlantean science and the energy of their mystic power source,
all must work together to construct a cosmic gate capable of transporting what is left of the island to safety,
before their civilization is lost forever to the sea.

10/03/11:

Troyes back in stores next week in the United States

Z-Man Games is glad to announce that Troyes will be available once again in stores next week.

Troyes is a strategy game in which you represent a rich family from the Champagne region of France, using your influence to recruit and supervise individuals from the three prominent domains: military (associated with the color red in every aspect of the game), religious (white), and civil (yellow).

9/29/11:

After Agricola and Le Havre, how can you distinguish Ora & Labora from the two others?

Replenishing mechanisms
Since 2005, I’m working on replenishing mechamisms in board games. The production wheel in my new game is an enhancement to what we’ve first seen in Agricola and then later in Le Havre and Merkator. You know the basic idea from Puerto Rico. An action space that remains unsused is made more interesting by adding goods until it‘s interesting enough to be taken. In Agricola, you replenish the action spaces at the beginning of a round, even the used ones. In Le Havre and Merkator, you replenish them every turn: two specific spaces in Le Havre, and in Merkator all spaces adjacent to the used one.

Ora et Labora is also a worker placement game
Like in Le Havre, players use their resources to build new action spaces, the so-called buildings. Like in Agricola and  Le Havre, they place their workers on these spaces. What's so special about Ora et Labora is that there is a special worker, the prior. He may use a newly built building on the same turn. That's why you'd like to use him as often as you can, so the question is: how do you get him back? Apart from the prior, each player has two lay brothers. They get them all back, when all three of them have been placed. This is different to Agricola, as players do not place all of their workers in the same round.

The production wheel seems to be the key element in the game. Can you describe the mechanism of the wheel?

The production wheel
In Ora et Labora, you replenish at the beginning of a round again. The big change is the production wheel. It takes the replenishing off your shoulders. In Agricola, you had to place all the goods one by one on the action spaces. In Ora et Labora, the production values of all goods are updated by a rotation of the production wheel: for instance, a single move changes the value of the cattle goods indicator from 2 to 3. Simultaneously, the value of the grain goods indicator changes from 4 to 5. The same is true for the other goods indicators: peat, coins, grapes, clay, stone, wood. And what does this value mean? When the wood goods indicator is on space 6, the next player to take wood gets 6 wood tokens. (An opportunity I wouldn't like to miss in Agricola, too.)
In Agricola, taking the action empties the action space. In Ora et Labora, the goods indicator is reset to 0. And so the circle is complete. It's the same effect, but with less effort.

The replay value of your games is an important element. Can you explain what you have done for Ora et Labora?

The development of Ora et Labora
Ora et Labora contains 65 buildings. Over the course of three years of development time (I have to thank 250 play-testers), there had been over 100 buildings. I had to reduce that number if a building hasn't been used for a long time or has been too powerful. Now, each building has a properly dosed effect.
I achieved replayability by offering short and long paths to the various intermediate goals of the game. To make the longer paths attractive, they are either cheaper, more valuable, or more effective than the shorter ones.
In each game, the same buildings are used. As a result, from game to game, players have the chance to learn how to deal with the many buildings and the 23 different goods.

The different game versions
Players may choose to play a short version that lasts about one hour and a longer version. In addition, there is a France variant that turns grain to bread, and an Ireland version that turns grain to beer. The solo variant that uses (nearly) all of the buildings helps the reader of the rulebook to quickly get a “feel” for the game. Last but not least, there are two rulebooks, a narrative one and a classic detailed one.

I have to thank a playing group from Duisburg for putting the game to the acid test. I'm confident that all parameters have been properly set, that no building is neither too strong nor too weak, that the game allows for many strategies and, finally, that everybody who has read this very long article will like to play it.

9/22/11:

Undermining and Dark Minions : available at Essen !

Undermining :

Undermining casts you in the role of rival miners, hollowing out an alien world in your Universal Mining Vehicle (UMV) for fun and profit.
Alongside prized resources like Uranium, Titanium, Diamond, and Niobium, you’re also
likely to find powerful alien technologies left behind by an ancient civilization.
There is a double-sided board for more replay value. Fun-looking plastic umvees and engaging gameplay will make you enjoy this one.
Undermining is a family strategy game for 2-5 players.

Dark Minions :

Hordes of dark minions have descended upon the countryside, eager to secure their reputation as a scourge on mankind.
The despicable evil marauders attack everywhere in search of conquest. The citizens are helpless and will soon be overwhelmed.
Death and destruction awaits all those in the path of the evil ones… In the advanced game, there are also 15 Minion Overlords, each with a unique
special power that may affect the play or the outcome of the game. They patiently wait to enter play and wreak their terrible havoc.
Using their abilities wisely is one of the many keys to victory. There is also a small expansion included which adds 3 more Overlords,
a yellow die and some tiles. Dark Minions is a fantasy dice game for 3-5 players.

9/22/11:

Ninjato now available 

In 12th century Japan, the Minamoto and Taira clans vie for power while retired Emperor
Go-Shirakawa plays his rivals against one another. One of the three factions will triumph
to impose the coming social order. In the shadow of these elite powers, a few ninja scheme
to exploit the chaos. Daring raids, skill mastery, and subtle intrigue are essential to establishing one’s honor. When the new era dawns,
one ninja will flourish as the Ninjato, the Invisible Sword of the ruling family. In the role of a master ninja, each player practices in the dojo,
learns esoteric skills from the sensei, raids clan-controlled houses to steal fabulous treasure, influences envoys, spreads rumors in the pavilion,
and ultimately tries to become the most legendary ninja of the age. Edited by Z-Man games, Ninjato is a 2 to 4 players game designed for 13 years old and up.
The game is played in 60 minutes.

9/22/11:

Ares Project : a Z-Man new release 

Earth has been devastated by thousands of years of human exploitation. The salvation of mankind lies millions of miles away, in the Martian tundra.
Four factions fight for the future : Terrans, Kahoum, Colossus and Xenos. They each have the desire to save the world.
Four unique sides in fast-paced, card-driven action. Build your forces, upgrade them with advances technologies, and lauche them into battle.
Edited by Z-Man games, Ares Project is a 2 to 4 players game designed for 13 years old and up. The game is played in 45-90 minutes.

9/22/11:

Ora et Labora - Released at Essen 2011

Ever since Agricola and Le Havre, every new Uwe Rosenberg release has been highly expected. This fall, be ready for real gaming ! Ora et Labora  will transport you to Medieval Europe where you will discover monastic economy subtlety. In this development game, the main idea is that each player is in charge of a diocese that acquires land and constructs buildings, little enterprises that will gain resources and profit. Featuring two game modes (France or Ireland) with rich mechanisms – including the ingenious production wheel – Ora et Labora offers rules for a short and long version, from 1 to 4 players. Since both variants feature different buildings and ressources, replay value is extremely high. Ora et Labora will be available mid-October, at Essen.

9/20/11:

Win 3 Z-Man games on the Facebook fan page!

Z-Man Games is entering the social network world with his own Facebook fan page. For the occasion, become a fan of Z-Man Games Facebook page and get the chance to win 3 games of your choice from the Z-Man collection. To participate, you only have to Like the Fan page by September 30th and tell us your 3 favorite Z-Man games.

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Pandemic - Compatibility Packs.