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2013
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You find yourself in a dystopian cityscape with a few workers at your disposal to make your mark on the world. Like most people in dystopian fiction, your workers are oblivious to their situation. This world is all they've ever known, and you may use them at your whim.

The world as we know it has ended, and in its place the city of Euphoria has risen. Believing that a new world order is needed to prevent another apocalypse, the Euphorian elite erect high walls around their golden city and promote intellectual equality above all else. Gone are personal freedoms; gone is knowledge of the past. All that matters is the future.

The Euphorians aren’t alone. Outside the city are those who experienced the apocalypse firsthand—they have the memories and scars to prove it. These Wastelanders have cobbled together a society of historians and farmers among the forgotten scrap yards of the past.

There is more to the world than the surface of the earth. Deep underground lies the hidden city of Subterra, occupied by miners, mechanics, and revolutionaries. By keeping their workers in the dark, they’ve patched together a network of pipes and sewers, of steam and gears, of hidden passages and secret stairways.

In Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia, you lead a team of workers (dice) and recruits (cards) to claim ownership of the dystopian world. You will generate commodities, dig tunnels to infiltrate opposing areas, construct markets, collect artifacts, strengthen allegiances, and fulfill secret agendas.

Euphoria is a worker-placement game in which dice are your workers. The number on each die represents a worker's knowledge—that is, his level of awareness that he's in a dystopia. Worker knowledge enables various bonuses and impacts player interaction. If the collective knowledge of all of your available workers gets too high, one of them might desert you. You also have two elite recruit cards at your disposal; one has pledged allegiance to you, but the other needs some convincing. You can reveal and use the reticent recruit by reaching certain milestones in the game... or by letting other players unwittingly reach those milestones for you.

Your path to victory is paved with the sweat of your workers, the strength of your allegiances, and the tunnels you dig to infiltrate other areas of the world, but the destination is a land grab in the form of area control. You accomplish this by constructing markets that impose harsh restrictions of personal freedoms upon other players, changing the face of the game and opening new paths to victory. You can also focus on gathering artifacts from the old world, objects of leisure that are extremely rare in this utilitarian society. The dystopian elite covet these artifacts—especially matching pairs—and are willing to give you tracts of land in exchange for them.

Four distinct societies, each of them waiting for you to rewrite history. What are you willing to sacrifice to build a better dystopia?

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Year Published: 2013
Designers: Jamey Stegmaier
Publishers: Stonemaier Games
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Year Published: 2013
Designers: Jason Kotarski
Publishers: Dice Hate Me Studio
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Jamey Stegmaier
Publishers: Stonemaier Games
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Peter Hawes
Publishers: Kayal Games
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Ryan Laukat
Publishers: Red Raven Games
2013
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Best Family Game of 2013
Game description from the publisher:

Gear up for a thrilling adventure to recover a legendary flying machine buried deep in the ruins of an ancient desert city. You'll need to coordinate with your teammates and use every available resource if you hope to survive the scorching heat and relentless sandstorm. Find the flying machine and escape before you all become permanent artifacts of the forbidden desert!

In Forbidden Desert, a thematic sequel to Forbidden Island, players take on the roles of brave adventurers who must throw caution to the wind and survive both blistering heat and blustering sand in order to recover a legendary flying machine buried under an ancient desert city. While featuring cooperative gameplay similar to Forbidden Island, Forbidden Desert is a fresh, new game based around an innovative set of mechanisms such as an ever-shifting board, individual resource management, and a unique method for locating the flying machine parts.

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Year Published: 2013
Designers: Matt Leacock
Publishers: Gamewright
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Year Published: 2013
Designers: Antoine Bauza
Publishers: Repos Production
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Scott Nicholson
Publishers: Stronghold Games
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Aureliano Buonfino
Publishers: Cranio Creations
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Paolo Mori
Publishers: Hurrican
2013
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Best New Designer Nominee 2013
Early in the history of the United States, slavery was an institution that seemed unmovable but with efforts of men and women across the country, it was toppled. In Freedom: The Underground Railroad, players are working to build up the strength of the Abolitionist movement through the use of notable figures and pivotal events. By raising support for the cause and moving slaves to freedom in Canada, the minds of Americans can be changed and the institution of slavery can be brought down.

Freedom is a card-driven, cooperative game for one to four players in which the group is working for the abolitionist movement to help bring an end to slavery in the United States. The players use a combination of cards, which feature figures and events spanning from Early Independence until the Civil War, along with action tokens and the benefits of their role to impact the game.

Players need to strike the right balance between freeing slaves from plantations in the south and raising funds which are desperately needed to allow the group to continue their abolitionist activities as well as strengthen the cause.

The goal is not easy and in addition to people and events that can have a negative impact on the group's progress, there are also slave catchers roaming the board, reacting to the movements of the slaves on the board and hoping to catch the runaway slaves and send them back to the plantations.

Through careful planning and working together, the group might see an end to slavery in their time.

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Year Published: 2012
Designers: Brian Mayer
Publishers: Academy Games, Inc.
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Best New Designer Nominee 2013
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Cédrick Chaboussit
Publishers: Ludonaute
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Matthew Dunstan
Publishers: Days of Wonder
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Rustan Håkansson
Publishers: Lautapelit.fi
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Jamey Stegmaier
Publishers: Stonemaier Games
2013
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Scoundrels of Skullport adds new content for Lords of Waterdeep. It’s not one, but two, complete expansions: the sprawling dungeon of Undermountain and the criminal haven of Skullport.

Each thrilling location has unique characteristics and offers new play options, including new Lords, Buildings, Intrigue, and Quest cards.

Owners of Lords of Waterdeep can use one or both of these new subterranean locations to add depth to their game experience. There’s also a new faction, the Gray Hands, so now a sixth player can join in the fun!

The Undermountain Module

Undermountain is a vast and multileveled dungeon beneath Mount Waterdeep that once served the crazed wizard Halaster as a site for magical experiments. Now it is a labyrinthine maze with few refuges for weary adventurers.

The rumored wealth of Undermountain entices adventurers to brave the mysteries and monsters beneath the City of Splendors. The risks and the rewards are greater for undertaking Quests that require more Gold and Adventurers.

The Skullport Module

Skullport—also known as the Port of Shadow—is nestled in the heart of Undermountain, deep below the streets of Waterdeep. It is a haven for nefarious crimes, underhanded deals, and back-alley murders. Those who visit Skullport do so at their own peril, for around every corner are new ways to make people disappear.

The Skullport module includes a new resource: Corruption. Unlike Adventurers and Gold, having Corruption in your tavern penalizes you at the end of the game.

Each Corruption token in your Tavern at the end of the game is worth negative Victory Points. The exact negative value depends on how much Corruption has been collected throughout the game; the more corrupt you and your fellow Lords are, the more Corruption hurts your score.

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Year Published: 2013
Designers: Chris Dupuis
Publishers: Wizards of the Coast
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Year Published: 2013
Designers: Christopher Badell
Publishers: Greater Than Games, LLC
2013
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Best Strategy Game of 2013
In Russian Railroads, players compete in an exciting race to build the largest and most advanced railway network. In order to do so, the players appoint their workers to various important tasks.

The development of simple tracks will quickly bring the players to important places, while the modernization of their railway network will improve the efficiency of their machinery. Newer locomotives cover greater distances and factories churn out improved technology. Engineers, when used effectively, can be the extra boost that an empire needs to race past the competition.

There are many paths to victory: Who will ride into the future full steam ahead and who will be run off the rails? Whose empire will overcome the challenges ahead and emerge victorious?


Game Summary
Each player has their own board, with space for factories, and 3 rail tracks (to 3 different cities). On each track, use a track token to mark the progression of your rails (different colored marker for each type or rail). Some interesting twists:
- The different track types must be built in a specific order (black, gray, brown, natural, white). Later tracks may never be advanced further on the track than the earlier tracks.
- On each track, as the track head advances, you cross several thresholds that provide awards: the ability to start a new color of track, victory points, bonus tiles, etc.
- Each track line can have one (two for the first rail) engine(s) associated with it; the size of the loco(s) determines how far down the track you actually score VP.

The central board has (almost) all the locations for placing workers. Each location requires 1-3 workers (of one player; played all together). Players, who start the game with 5 workers (or 6 workers, in 2-3 player games), will take turns using a location. These provide a variety of abilities, for example:
- advance 1 or more track heads by 1-3 spaces
- acquire an engine or factory; engines are allocated to rail lines, while factories (the reverse side of the tile) are placed on your factory line.
- earn 2 coins
- take 2 temporary workers
- jump ahead in turn order
- acquire an engineer, which has a unique power and becomes a worker-placement location only for you

Each round ends when all players have passed on placing/using workers. Then, score VP for each track and factory line. On each track line, only spaces as far down the track as the loco level will score. Each track type scores VP for every space from its track head back to where the next color of track starts. Track types built earlier (e.g. black) score less/space than later tracks (e.g., white). On each factory line the position of the purple industry marker(s) show how many VP are scored.

After 7 rounds (or 6 rounds, in 2-3 player games), the game ends; most VP wins!

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Year Published: 2013
Designers: Helmut Ohley
Publishers: Hans im Glück
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Best Strategy Game Nominee of 2013
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Uwe Rosenberg
Publishers: Lookout Games
Year Published: 2012
Designers: Brian Mayer
Publishers: Academy Games, Inc.
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Stefan Feld
Publishers: Hans im Glück
Year Published: 2013
Designers: Cédrick Chaboussit
Publishers: Ludonaute
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390

In this show, we talk about Pay Dirt, Monsters and Maidens, Patchwork, Jochen der Rochen, Orleans, Power Grid “Deluxe”, Essen, and Royals. We have a Tale of Amazement, a Tale of Horror, A Board Game Magic Moment, legal advice, a look at games from our childhood, and more! We end the show talking about silly and awesome names that publishers give to board games.

In this show, we talk about Pay Dirt, Monsters and Maidens, Patchwork, Jochen der Rochen, Orleans, Power Grid “Deluxe”, Essen, and Royals. We have a Tale of Amazement, a Tale of Horror, A Board Game Magic Moment, legal advice, a look at games from our childhood, and more! We end the show talking about silly and awesome names that publishers give to board games.

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389

In this show, we take a look at the games: The Ancient World, Spike, Waggle Dance, Noble Treachery, Kerflip, and Fire Dragon.  We also answer a pile of questions, and end the show taking a look back five years ago - at the best games of 2010!

In this show, we take a look at the games: The Ancient World, Spike, Waggle Dance, Noble Treachery, Kerflip, and Fire Dragon.  We also answer a pile of questions, and end the show taking a look back five years ago - at the best games of 2010!

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388

DTD # 388 - Resolutions for 2015, and Kickstarter!

In this show, we welome the New Year, talk about holiday gaming and gifts received.  We take a look at Doodle Quest, Roll for the Galaxy, Temporum, Rattlebones, Zoneplex, and more!  Bill talks about conventions, Bryan about an older game, and we look at our gaming resolutions for 2015.  Finally, we introduce our 2015 Kickstarter!

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388

In this show, we welome the New Year, talk about holiday gaming and gifts received. We take a look at Doodle Quest, Roll for the Galaxy, Temporum, Rattlebones, Zoneplex, and more! Bill talks about conventions, Bryan about an older game, and we look at our gaming resolutions for 2015. Finally, we introduce our 2015 Kickstarter!

In this show, we welome the New Year, talk about holiday gaming and gifts received. We take a look at Doodle Quest, Roll for the Galaxy, Temporum, Rattlebones, Zoneplex, and more! Bill talks about conventions, Bryan about an older game, and we look at our gaming resolutions for 2015. Finally, we introduce our 2015 Kickstarter!

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