Vendor: MJ Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 9.95

Sultans of Karaya will feel familiar to fans of Werewolf/Mafia in that players each have a secret role and (most of them) belong to one of two teams, each team having a specific way to win the game. The two teams are:

• Sultan and Guards (Loyalists) – to win, they must eliminate all the Assassins and have no more than two Slaves still in play, or the Sultan must survive for a round after being revealed.
• Assassins and Slaves (Rebels) – to win, they must kill the Sultan or have three Slaves seated adjacently with their identities revealed, in which case a slave revolution brings down the Sultan.

The number of role cards in play equals one more than the number of players, with exactly one Sultan, as many Guards as Assassins (with at least one in play), and at least three Slaves in the mix. Zero to four neutral characters will also be in play, each unique and each with the ability to win with one team or the other. The Slave Driver, for example, wins with the Rebels if face-down when the round ends and wins with the Loyalists if face-up, while the Fortune Teller must correctly predict the winning team.

At the start of the game, each player secretly receives one role card, with one card placed face-down in the middle of the table. On a turn, a player can peek at another player's role card, switch/hide (if your role is face-down, switch cards with another player or the spare role card; if face-up, make other players hide their eyes, then secretly switch with any other face-down role card), or use a character action: Guards can detain other players, forcing them to lose their turn; Slaves try to bring about a revolution; Assassins can eliminate any player at the risk of a Guard intervening and killing them instead.

The neutral characters have more complex actions. The Belly Dancer, for example, neutralizes adjacent Guards, preventing them from detaining others or warding off assassination – but only if she's revealed. (If she's revealed and using her powers, she's working for a Rebel win; otherwise she can stay hidden and score if the Loyalists win.) The Vizier can force another player to reveal himself and use his special action.

Players on the winning team score one or two points depending on whether they were face-up – that is, working publicly for the cause – or face-down. At the end of a round, redeal all the role cards. The player with the most points after five rounds wins the game.

Vendor: Asmodee
Type: Board Games
Price: 12.95

Insidious Sevens is a trick-taking game in which players predict how many tricks they will win each round. The deck consists of 40 cards, numbered 0-7 in five colors, with the colors ranked on the cards: purple (high), blue, green, yellow, red (low). Note that all 7s are higher than any 6, which are each higher than any 5, and so on.

At the start of a round, each player is dealt seven cards. Players pass 0-3 cards to their left or right neighbor depending on the round number. Players then predict the number of tricks they'll take by choosing a card in their hand and simultaneously revealing them. The player with the highest bid becomes start player for the round, and the color of that player's card indicates the trump suit for that round. These bidding cards are then returned to the players' hands.

The start player for a trick lays down a card, and each player must follow the lead by playing a card of the same color or number. If this isn't possible, they can play any card. The highest trump card played (if any) wins the trick; otherwise the highest card played that followed the lead (including number!) wins the trick. After seven tricks, the round ends. Making one's bid nets two points plus the number of tricks bid, while missing results in a loss of one point for every under- or over-trick. The player with the highest score after seven rounds wins.

An optional rule forbids the bids from summing to seven. If this occurs, the player with the highest bid scores one point, then the bid cards are set aside and players rebid from the cards remaining in hand. This process can repeat until the total of bids made does not equal seven.