Board Games master thread

[Randomex]

$10.97 ($4.97 + $6 shipping - currently $18.77 on Amazon) for Illusion:
https://www.gamenerdz.com/illusion
Simple game that revolves around trying to correctly assess what percentage of the color in an image is a given color.
(More images on Amazon.)

A new game based on Illusion is coming soon. It will be cooperative rather than competitive, and
the players will be able to bet for extra points according to how confident they are in their lineup.
Someone has made a play-in-browser version of the idea with no scoring or (for now?) built-in end:
https://colorascension.captainsprojects.com/howtoplay.html

[Randomex]

Online game store GameNerdz is having their semi-annual one-day megasale tomorrow.
The way this will work is that for the first 36 minutes of each hour from 12 PM CST to 5 PM CST,
an item will be added to the sale every 4 minutes. The sale will last until midday of March 1st.
I've looked over the list of games (or rather, what people's best guesses are at the games, since they give
clues rather than announcing the list outright) for some that might be of interest to a more casual audience.
Here they are in order of the times they will be added:
12:16 (CST) - Fit to Print (10+, anthropomorphic animal newspapers, timed tile-selecting and -arranging)
12:32 (CST) - Foundations of Metropolis (8-10+, buying and placing Tetris-like tiles)
2:00 (CST) - Apiary (12-14+, anthropomorphic bees in space, numerous mechanisms)
2:16 (CST) - Green Team Wins (8-10+, try-to-match-the-group's-answers party game [requires writing] ) [6 players per copy, or use substitute materials]
4:00 (CST) - Zoo Vadis (10+, semi-anthropomorphic zoo animals, negotiation - recommended to have 4 or more players)
4:16 (CST) - Mycelia [Ravensburger, 2023] (8-9+, anthropomorphic mushrooms, deck-building)

While the sale is live, it will be here: https://www.gamenerdz.com/nerdzday
They note that "We've done our best this year to bring in larger quantities so they don't sell out in seconds."
However, to shorten your checkout time for a better shot at getting an item, you can do the following:
1. Create an account.
2. Enable holds for your account here. (Also, this allows for shipping all items together.)
3. Check out with a credit card and check "Save this card for future transactions."
(To generate a transaction, you can make an order for anything marked as a pre-order and then cancel it.)

[Randomex]

Online game store GameNerdz is having their semi-annual one-day megasale tomorrow.
[...]

If you're up for something more complicated, $20 (+$6 shipping) is a great price for Praga Caput Regni.

[Randomex]

Numerous PC versions of board games are currently on sale on Steam. Someone's made a list here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Boardgamedeals/comments/1jc4l7g/steamus_deal_spring_sale_wingspan_terraforming/

[Randomex]

Amazon.de has the current edition of the Carcassonne Big Box in German for €27.89 + shipping:
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09NLQC6G1

The English rules are downloadable here:
https://cdn.svc.asmodee.net/production-zman/uploads/2024/10/Carcassonne-Big-Box-Rulebook.pdf

==========================

Amazon:

Hold Your Ground $6.84 (price-matching Target)
Move around with cards, trying to have majority in spaces when fights happen to remove enemy pieces.
Also, parts of the board are occasionally blasted off using a (non-electric, I think) mechanical gadget,
scattering any pieces there into other spaces or removing them from play. Last player with pieces left
on the board wins. (Not a deck-building game, despite the description.) Don't throw out the punchboard.

Riftforce $8
2-player card game. Fantasy-themed. Draft factions with different abilities, then use them to control a small battlefield.
There's a hand/deck-management aspect; cards in play are used by discarding a card matching their faction or number.
Earn points by destroying enemy cards or by being unopposed in an area.

Giant Guess Who $12.22
Oversized Guess Who (as posted to DDMS).

Trekking the National Parks (3rd edition) $34.95
I don't know much about this, but judging by another game of theirs that I have, their work is good.

==========================

Target:

Hold Your Ground $6.84
See above.

Scram! $3.99
Kind of like Rat-a-Tat Cat and Skyjo, but team-based and with various effects on the cards. 3, 4, or 6 players.

Decrypto $14.69
Team-based word game. Requires writing. Give words to your teammates that they must correctly associate
with particular words, but keep the other team from guessing which word they're associated with. That might
sound next to impossible, but your teammates know the actual target words while the other team do not and
can only try to get a sense of them from the words that have been associated with them in previous rounds.

[Randomex]

On sale at Amazon - Mycelia $21.98 (45% off)

A deck-building game is one in which each player has their own deck of cards that they go through
over and over and which they can modify during the game, mostly by adding better cards to it.
In this game, each player has their own grid-board with pieces on it that they must try to remove. In addition to giving you currency
with which to buy better cards, cards can remove pieces from the board outright (often based on what color space they are on or near)
or move pieces around, which helps because there is a space that removes any pieces that move into it.
Suggested for approximately ages 8 and up.

(The platform, which requires assembly, isn't really necessary. The 1-player mode may be a bit too easy.)

[Randomex]

Dorfromantik: The Board Game [...]

Currently on sale here for $11.24 plus shipping (probably about $10):
https://pegasusna.com/products/family-games/16708/dorfromantik-the-boardgame?c=575

Edit: This price will expire around 12 PM Central on Sunday.

Not really suited for more than 3 players, perhaps not even more than 2.

They're changing which games are more discounted each day, so the
Japan-inspired sequel may have a similar price sometime this week.

[Randomex]

First Contact - Amazon, $14.99 ("50% off")

Not Shabbos/Y"T friendly. A communication game with a theme of human-alien contact in ancient Egypt.
There are 2 groups of players, humans and aliens. These are not teams; rather, the most successful player in each group wins.
(In the 2-player variant, the players win or lose together.) The aliens have a list of symbols that mean particular concepts, which
the humans are unaware of. On a human's turn, they designate a number of cards in a public grid on the table and the aliens
respond with the symbol corresponding to the concept that (as far as they can tell) is what those cards have in common.
On an alien's turn, they make a request of the humans by presenting them with symbols and each human designates a card
that they are giving in response. If the alien gets a card that they need (based on a Codenames-like grid image), that's good
for their score and the score of the humans who gave it to them.

[Randomex]

Dorfromantik: The Board Game [...]

Currently on sale here for $11.24 plus shipping (probably about $10):

[...]

They're changing which games are more discounted each day, so the
Japan-inspired sequel may have a similar price sometime this week.

Indeed, Dorfromantik: Sakura is on sale today (until 12 Central Time on the 9th) for about the same price.
(Also, the heavier strategy game Carnegie.)

[Randomex]

Available until 12 PM Central time tomorrow (or possibly until the end of the day):
Istanbul: Big Box - $16.24 + $11.xx shipping (by itself)
Bonfire - $16.25 + $11.xx shipping (by itself)
Istanbul is of moderate complexity; Bonfire is significantly more complex, judging by the weight votes on BGG
(Catan's average is about 2.3/5, Istanbul, about 2.6, and Bonfire, about 3.6.)

[yfr bachur]

Available until 12 PM Central time tomorrow (or possibly until the end of the day):
Istanbul: Big Box - $16.24 + $11.xx shipping (by itself)
Bonfire - $16.25 + $11.xx shipping (by itself)
Istanbul is of moderate complexity; Bonfire is significantly more complex, judging by the weight votes on BGG
(Catan's average is about 2.3/5, Istanbul, about 2.6, and Bonfire, about 3.6.)

Istanbul was quite common in our rotation, (until we decided the theme of buying and selling was totatly not shabbos appropriate) very good game.

[Randomex]

Available until 12 PM Central time tomorrow [...]

(I just missed the edit window...)
Istanbul-BB sold out. Having looked into Bonfire, I think I can
safely say it's outside the average person's realm of interest.