 ROMA – Struggle for Rome´s garbageSteffen Brückner2-4 players 8 years and up 45-60 minutesRome – center of the civilized world and democracy. At least in times of the ancient world. At that time Rome already was the site of numerous events and gatherings where people met to attend performances at the Circus Maximus, for instance, or at the Colosseum or the Odeon. Like nowadays, even then there used to be a lot of garbage of all kinds. In “ROMA” players organize the dispose of garbage by playing garbage collector cards in order to meet the disposal demands of a display of event locations. This card game is centered on the mechanism of recruiting and playing garbage collector cards. Each of these cards is good for disposing certain kinds of garbage and thus helps to meet the demands of the more or less lucrative request cards. These cards demand certain kinds of disposal. The players gain victory points from these request cards. Special abilities of some garbage collector cards are useful to increase the profits and to clean up particularly effectively. Players may assemble their own display of exclusive demand cards which denies access to other players. The game ends after all requests have been met. During our game rounds the test players were impressed with ROMA by its easily accessible but tantalizing mechanism. |
 Steam Noir: RevolutionDaniel Danzer3-5 players 12 years and up 45 minutes”Steam Noir: Revolution” is an inventive card game asking the players to support different fractions (e. g. Steam Robots, the Calendrical Order or Students) with their subversive endeavors against the ruling authorities. Each player secretly wants to lead a different fraction to victory – and everybody knows their own fraction only, of course. The players play cards simultaneously in order to collect points. This is achieved by specific support and weakening of fractions. There is a sneaky split object of the game: you can try to advance your own fraction without gaining too much attention or you may try to support the authorities to keep control. If the latter works, the weakest fraction of the revolutionaries wins. Bluff, deception, misinformation and secret or open deals are not only allowed, but explicitly intended. The game play offers not only shattering effects but some potential to annoy your fellow players as well. Because of its short duration of about 45 minutes it calls for an immediate revenge. The jury liked especially the way “Steam Noir: Revolution refreshes well know game mechanics by adding inventive new ingredients and thus was pleased to acquire its many new facets. |
 RothenbergPhil Walker-Harding2-4 players 8 years and up 30 minutesBy placing tiles, the players receive goods and at the same time influence the market for selling goods. The players try to gain victory points by choosing the best moment for selling their goods. The game board shows a grid of 5 x 5 squares, depicting goods and markets. These can also be found in varying combinations on the tiles of which each player holds two. During their turn, the active player places one of their tiles onto the game board respectively onto the tiles already lying on the game board. If they cover any goods icons while doing so they receive these goods. Instead of placing a new tile, the active player may sell all goods they currently own. The number of victory points for each sold kind of goods is calculated by multiplying the sold number of cubes of that good by the number of open markets. Victory points are recorded at once on the scoring track. The game ends as soon as the last tile is drawn from the draw pile and the players sell their remaining goods one final time. |
