Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 53.95

The king of Utopia has invited princes of the greatest civilizations of antiquity to come and live within the walls of his city, welcoming in doing so, the architectural wealth of their far-away cities. As the King’s Minister, your Sovereign has given you the mission to welcome and accompany these princes and princesses who will present themselves at the gates of the city. Every development added to the city made by your guests increases your prestige.

Online play

• Jeux sur un Plateau (turn-based)

Components:
40 Monument Figures: 8 for each of the 5 civilizations (Mayan, Persian, Egyptian, Greek and Chinese)
4 Wonder Figures
5 Minister Figures: 1 of each color (used for Score Track)
200 Prince Tokens: 40 of each color
40 Bases
10 Privilege tokens: 8 of each color. 2 per color
40 Guest tokens: 2 per civilization for each of the four islands on the board
50 Action Cards: 10 for each civilization
5 Rule Summary Cards: 1 per player
1 Bag

Basic Game play:

Turn order (after the first player) is derived from who has the highest score on the perimtere score track yet has not had a turn. Each game turn is broken down into three phases:
Phase 1: Welcoming the Princes
Phase 2: Development of the City
Phase 3: Calculation of Prestige Points

Phase 1: Welcoming the Princes

In the first phase, Guest tokens are placed on the board near ship icons but corresponding to the symbol on each token. These guest tokens are then replaced with Prince tokens that is their own color, or of the same civilization as the chosen Guest or in any District of the island indicated by the Guest or any combination of these. This is repeated three times until all Guest tokens have been removed from the board. While this is happening, players may Build a Wonder or Take Control of a District.

At any point during their turn, if a player has one prince of each of the 5 civilizations on one island (regardless of which Districts they are in), he may immediately construct a Wonder and receives 6 Prestige Points. There may only be one Wonder per island and a player does not have to construct Wonders.

At any point during their turn, if a player possesses 3 princes of the same civilization in the same District, and that District is not already controlled by another player, he may decide to take control of the District by placing a Monument on that District. There can only be one Monument per District, and this space, once acquired, cannot be retaken. For taking control of a District the player gains Prestige Points during Phase 3: Calculation of Prestige Points. Also, if the District belongs to an island where a Wonder has been constructed, the owner of the Wonder immediately scores the number of Prestige Points indicated on the District.

Phase 2: Development of the City

Each player receives 5 Action cards and discards based on their score in the score track. The person in the lead discards two cards, the last player doesn't discard any and all other players discard one. Four types of actions are possible and occur multiple times in a player's turn:

1) Move one or two princes:

If a player decides to move two princes with a single action card, these two princes must be within the same District and make the same movement.

LAND MOVEMENT: By discarding an action card, a player may move one or two princes of that civilization to an adjacent District (Districts are separated by alleys or bridges).

SEA MOVEMENT: By discarding an action card, a player may move one or two princes of that civilization from one maritime District (showing a ship) to another maritime District. These two Districts must be in the same maritime sector or in two adjacent maritime sectors. (The division of the maritime sectors is indicated by the dotted lines originating from the 3 lighthouses of the city).

2) Add a prince:

By discarding an Action Card, a player may place a prince in a District occupied by a Monument of that civilization.

3) Remove a Prince:

If the player possesses a prince in a District occupied by a Monument of that civilization, regardless of the player who controls the District, that player may, with an Action Card of that civilization, remove the Prince from the board. For this action the player immediately gains 2 Prestige Points. Th e player’s Minister figure is moved up two places on the Score Track.

or 4) Influence the King (altering the Prestige Scale):

If the player possesses a prince in a District occupied by a Monument of that civilization, regardless of the player who controls the District, that player may, with an Action Card of that civilization, remove the Prince from the board. For this action the player immediately gains 2 Prestige Points. The player’s Minister figure is moved up two places on the Score Track.

The value of each civilization, indicated on the Prestige Scale, determines the point value of the districts controlled by each player at the end of the turn. By discarding an Action Card, a player may increase the value of a civilization by 1. The Value figure of the civilization changes places with the figure directly above it. With two Action cards, a player may reduce the value of a civilization to 1. All the other figures are moved up accordingly. At the end of their turn a player can only have a maximum of 5 Action Cards.

Phase 3: Calculation of Prestige Points

Once all the players have carried out their actions, the points for the round are calculated. Each player, in turn order, gains points for each District that they control. The value of each civilization is indicated on the Prestige Scale. The players’ Minister figures are moved up the Score Track.

If one or more players have reached at least 50 Prestige Points at the end of this phase, the game ends. The player with the most points wins.

Vendor: Matagot
Type: Board Games
Price: 41.95

Each player in Korrigans has two korrigans (a.k.a. fairies or spirits) and must use them to move about the landscape, claim animal tokens in order to access other parts of the land, and eventually find the pot of gold that will become visible once the rainbow's location is revealed.

In more detail, players take their first two turns to place their korrigans on the game board; with each korrigan you place, you look at the tokens in that location and keep one of them. These tokens show either gold (which possibly gives you points at the end of the game) or an animal (which allows you to pass through gates that bear that animal to reach a different landscape). From the third turn on, players use their animal tokens to move their korrigans and pick up more tokens. The final player in each round draws a rainbow token from a bag and places it in one of the rows or columns on the board; this means that the pot of gold won't appear in this row or column in the final part of the game.

Once the gold is finally placed on the game board, players have a final round in which they try to reach the pot with their korrigans. If a player reaches the pot with one korrigan, he scores points equal to the gold he's collected; and if he reaches the pot with both korrigans, he scores his gold plus five points. Whoever has the highest score wins!

Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 54.95

In this game, you play a powerful lord and his faithful companion engaged in a fight for influence throughout time. The game proceeds simultaneously over three different periods. You start the game in the Middle Ages, on the first of the three game boards (that of the commanderies). With 4 action cards in hand per turn, you have seven turns in which to develop your domains by building various types of military, religious, and civil buildings. Depending on their size, certain buildings are moved in time, which means that they are transferred to the same place on the priories board (Renaissance period) and on the brotherhoods board (modern period), in ruins for military and religious buildings (castles, abbeys…).

Thanks to the watch makers' invention, and with enough money, you can make your two adventurer pawns travel in time… Because if the construction of certain buildings can be profitable, taking over domains on the various boards is essential, since it will allow you to earn bonuses on the 4th and 7th turns and to move ahead of your opponents.

Playing with time is not without consequences, and it can produce surprising results! To give just one example, an abbey created on the priories board could be destroyed by a castle built later in the game in the same place but on the commanderies board, and then moved to the other board… The abbey finally never existed!

On the 4th and 7th turns, each controlled domain generates profits for the players depending on the board. On the the commanderies board, a player who controls a domain militarily, i.e. the one with the biggest military building, will receive the value of the civil buildings in this domain in profits. On the priories board, it is the religious control that will be taken into account. On the brotherhoods board, the players who have best populated the civil buildings and restored the ruins will secure the best profits.

The possibility of destroying and regrouping buildings to unite or divide domains provides a strong and permanent level of interaction between the players.

A winner of the 2006 Concours International de Créateurs de Jeux de Société.