Rawhide!

For 2-4 cowboys

Components:

• Game board – shows a map with towns and railyards. The land around the towns is broken into 40 territories, irregularly shaped but with straight edges. Some territories include springs.
• Fence markers
• Water counters
• Grass counters
• Cow markers
• Cattle drive cards – show starting town, destination railyard, and price of cattle
• One herd marker and five gate markers in each player’s color

Play:

Deal each player three cattle drive cards. Whoever most recently ate beef goes first. Place one grass counter on each spring space.

On a turn, players may take any two of the following actions, or take one action twice:

• Build – place one fence marker along one edge of a territory. When a player builds a fence such that it creates an enclosed area of the map, the player may replace one of the fences along the edge with a gate token. If a new fence simultaneously encloses two areas, only one gate may be played (in either area). Enclosed areas that include more than one territory may be subdivided later. Map edges count toward enclosing a territory.

• Bloom – add two grass counters to two territories on the map. Grass can be added to a spring territory or adjacent to existing grass. Each territory can only contain one grass counter.

• Launch – play a cattle drive card. Place your herd marker at the starting city. Take the number of cows indicated. Add two grass counters and three water counters to your herd. Draw a new card.

• Drive – move your herd marker to an adjacent territory. You may not cross fences. You may pass through your own gates freely. If you wish to pass through an opponent’s gate, you must ask permission. If refused, you may move in another direction, and you get two additional actions this turn.

If you enter a territory with a spring, restore your water counters up to three. Otherwise, discard a water counter. If you have none left, discard a grass or cow.

If you enter a territory containing a grass counter, add it to your herd. Otherwise, discard a grass counter. If you have none, discard a cow.

If all your cows die, discard the cattle drive card and remove the herd token from the board.

If your herd reaches your destination, sell your remaining cows for the price indicated on the card.

First player to $1000 wins the game.

Teddy Bear Rescue Squad

Poor Jack has been stuck in his box, but worse, someone has booby trapped his box, if he springs before the toys can get to him, he will die! The Teddy Bear Rescue Squad is not without squabbling however, and cooperation can be a challenge.

Players: 4
Time: 20 minutes

Materials:

• Board: 3x3 board with each tile subdivided into 4 colors. Columns labeled 1, 2 or 3 and rows marked A, B, or C. The colors on each tile are red, green, blue and yellow.
• Dice: column die (either column 1, 2 or 3) row die (A, B, or C) and color die (Red, Green, Blue, or Yellow).
• Carousel: The spinning wheel that all players will occupy has four teddy bears on four corners, as it rotates a different bear is on a different color. The carousel may move along a column, along a row, or rotate.

Objective:

You want your teddy bear to be on the same tile and color as Jack

Setup:

Place carousel in center tile. Then randomly place Jack on any other tile. Roll a color, a column and a row to place Jack on his start.

Play:

Play starts with the last player who has seen a live Bear (tv counts). Play moves clockwise. A player asks permission to roll one of the dice, (column, row, or color) if a player Denies then the denying player must turn the crank on Jack’s box. If the player is not denied, they roll the die and move to the location shown.

Denial:

Each player may only deny three times in total.

Rules for Jack’s Box:

The Jack in the Box is set to spring at any number of cranks between 1-12, the box itself is randomly set. (For emulation roll a d12 and jot down any number rolled, if the number repeats, BOING, and Jack is lost).

Winning/Losing:

Only one player wins, when they have their bear on top of Jack, however everyone loses if Jack isn’t rescued. (Even though the whole team loses, the person who sprung the box is the REAL loser!)

Artifacts of the Dark Jungle

Deep in the jungles of the East Indies is a land full of ancient mysticism & magic unknown to the rest of the world. For the enterprising archaeologist, there are great treasures to be found. But alongside those treasures are traps designed to keep those treasures right where they are.

*You’re both an archaeologist & on the special council responsible for granting permission to dig. *

Components

• 1 Spring Loaded Claw Crane Machine
• 9 Artifact Figurines (1 each of idol, staff, knife, covenant, diamond eye, mask, ashes, peace pipe, tablet)
• 54 Treasure Figurines
• 36 Trap Figurines
• 114 "Gold" Coins (30 "12"s, 24 "8"s, 32 "4"s & 28 "1"s)
• 9 Artifact Cards (1 to match each artifact figurine)
• 6 "Permission Granted" Cards
• 6 "Permission Denied" Cards

Objective

Have the most gold once the last artifact is uncovered.

Setup

Give each player 1 "Permission Granted" card, 1 "Permission Denied" card, & 10 gold. Mix all the figurines inside the machine.

Gameplay

On your turn, ask permission to dig & if granted permission, dig.

Asking Permission

State how many times (up to 3) you'd like to dig. Council may confer. Each player (you too!) chooses a permission card & places it face down. Reveal cards.

Tie or better = permission granted.

If granted permission, you must dig.

Digging

Dig by operating the machine once for each time you requested.

What you might find:

• Traps

  Traps are small figurines & can easily hide among treasure & artifacts. If you collect a trap, you lose 10 gold & everything you found this turn. Artifacts are returned. Treasures/traps are discarded.

• Treasure

  For each treasure collected, gain 12 gold. If 1 player other than yourself granted permission to dig (or 2 in a 5-6 person game), divide the gold evenly among those that granted permission. Otherwise, keep it all.

• Artifacts

  Artifacts are not worth gold, but help in other ways. Example: the staff helps you avoid traps. Set a value for each artifact found. Other players may buy it from you at that value. If >1 wish to buy, they bid. Highest bid wins. You get the value you set. Anything over that is divided among the other players. If nobody buys, you must pay the value you stated, divided among the other players. Artifacts go into effect immediately and stay in effect until the game ends.

Game End

When the last artifact is found, the current turn is finished, & players count their gold. The player with the most wins!

“May I come in?”

5 Players

You are trapped in a haunted town. Every night the dead will rise and kill everything in their way. The houses in town can shelter you from the nightly horrors but you can enter them only if you have a key or if someone let you in. Will you be able to survive this nightmare? Did I mention one of your buddies could be a vampire?

Set Up:

• Five toy crossbow, each spring-loaded with 1 arrow.
• Ten Role cards, 8 humans and 2 vampires.
• Thirty Key cards, 6 different colors, 5 of each color.
• Six House tokens, 1 of each color.

Each player receives 1 crossbow, 1 random Role card and 5 random Key cards.

All cards are kept in secret.

Objective:

• At least one human survives past night 5 (Human Victory)
• Everyone alive is a vampire (Vampire Victory)
• Everyone is dead (No Victory).

Day:

• Discussion.
• Each player place a Key card face down.
• Reveal.
• Players who placed a Key card that matches an existing house is considered “inside the house”.
• Players who are not in a house could still enter a house by asking people in that house “May I come in?”. People inside the house could respond by: o Let him/her in. (majority decision, a tie means no) o Do not let him/her in. o Shoot him/her with a crossbow (individual decision).
• When either all players are inside a house or players outside the house have exhausted their options, the day is over. All players outside are dead.

Night:

• Everyone put their hands on the table and close their eyes.
• Vampires open their eyes.
• If a vampire is in the same house as other humans, that vampire may choose to convert a human by tapping that person’s hand. That player will open his eyes and acknowledge the vampires, he is now a vampire.
• Night is over after 1 minute.

Additional Rules:

• If a house is not occupied during the night, that house disappears and cannot be used for rest of the game.
• You may use the crossbow to shoot someone when
  - You are in the same house as your target.
  - Your target is asking to enter your house.
• When a player is killed by crossbow he must reveal whether or not he is a vampire.

Tactical Frienemies

A game of negotiation, wheeling & dealing, backstabbing, & blowing stuff up. A game for 3-5 players.

Setup:

Each player is given a section of game board. The board is the traditional small hex wargame-style board, with a twist. It's a half inch thick, and each hex has a cover over an empty well. Each player is also given a set number of spring-loaded landmines to put in their wells without their opponents seeing. All of the wells are then covered, so each player knows only where their own landmines are planted. The sections of the game board are then linked together. Each player is dealt an "Objective Card" which gives that players victory conditions, which are kept secret. Each player is given an army of pieces that function like other wargames. Each player is also dealt 3 "Permission Cards". These come in 3 types - Approve, Deny, and Backstab. Players earn more Permission Cards when they defeat enemy units.

Gameplay:

For the most part, the game plays like a standard wargame, with the different units having different movement, range, attack, and defense. The difference is that when you want to move into an opponent's area of the board you have to ask that player's permission to enter. That player can either "approve" or "deny" your request - however they must place a "Permission Card" from their hand face-down in front of them and then verbally approve or deny you. If they approve you, you move onto the requested hex and then they reveal the card. If it's an "Approve" card, nothing happens. If it is a "Backstab" card, you must push down on the selected hex to determine if a landmine was buried there. If it is, the spring will activate blowing up your units. Any other hex that these units land in are also blown up. If they verbally deny you, you have 2 options. You can choose not to enter and nothing happens. Or you can choose to enter anyways, in which case you can must push down on the hex to determine if a landmine is present. This mechanic will lead to alliances, truces, and deals being made and broken - all of which are encouraged as part of the game.

End of Game:

This continues until one player has successfully met the victory conditions on their "Objective Card", thus immediately winning the game.