NARABI
In Narabi, players are dealt 3-4 cards at the start of the round, with those cards bearing either a blank or a number from 0 to 9. Each card is sleeved, and within the sleeve on its back is a rule explaining how this card can be swapped with another card: swap it with a red card, a card with an even number, a card with a higher number, and so on. You can look at all the rules on cards in front of you, but you cannot communicate to others what those rules are. You cannot change the order of cards in front of you.
On a turn, a player must swap one of their cards (following that card’s rule) with another player’s card, then someone records that move on a chart. Blanks are considered to be 0 and an even number for the purpose of swaps. When one of your cards is swapped, you can look at the rule on the card you receive. You can suggest moves to others or ask questions of them, and they can respond with “yes” or “no” answers as long as they don’t identify the rule on any of their cards.
If you place all the numbers in numerical order (disregarding blanks) in either clockwise or counterclockwise order before you would need to make a 25th move, you all win the game. Your team’s score is “Great”, “Good”, “Horrible”, etc. based on how many moves it took you to win. If you don’t win, then you must all be worse than horrible, which is very bad indeed.
In the game’s expert mode, you cannot speak at all and you cannot undo a player’s swap on your next turn.
JOURNEY: WRATH OF DEMONS
In Journey: Wrath of Demons, a cooperative miniatures board game based on a classic Chinese novel, four Pilgrims band together to search ancient China for the Sutras, sacred scriptures that will bring salvation to a world overrun with Demons. After fighting different Bull Demon minions, the climax of the game is the battle against the Bull Demon King. Game cards and custom dice combine for fast, tense action and critical choices enhance the Pilgrims’ skills during the game.
Journey is designed for 1 to 4 players, each controlling one of the four Pilgrims: Tripitaka, Monkey, Monk Sha and Cho Hakkai. The game’s AI controls the Demons and other creatures. Diverse playing styles are possible, with a strong emphasis on cooperation because the players win or lose as a team. Each game will take 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the quest and the style you play.
The core game comes with ~10 quests, each with different goals and unique rules. Do you ruthlessly hack and slash, killing all demons in the Pilgrims’ path? Or take a more virtuous path, cleansing the demons’ souls, saving villagers and collecting good karma. Your decisions affect the Pilgrims’ abilities, skills and equipment. Killing demons may be quick but can you risk accumulating that bad karma? Side quests may enhance your Pilgrims’ skill and karma, but with more demons spawning, can you afford to spend that time?
Solo play is almost identical to multi-player games. Instead of multiple players controlling 1 or 2 pilgrims each, 1 player will control all four Pilgrims. There are no other changes to the game.
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