Lion Rampant Imports brings several Zoch (Zoch-Verlagg) games to the North American market. The one we were able to demo was Dreams (available now, $46), a game that’s as beautiful as Dixit and plays like A Fake Artist Goes to New York. In Dreams, the players are deities creating constellations in the night sky, based on a common image that is known to all players, save one. While the group places gem-like stars in the night sky, the one who doesn’t know exactly what they’re creating is trying to remain undetected throughout the game. Once all stars are placed, the single player tries to determine which of four images was being recreated while the others try to guess which one of the players didn’t know.
02 Mar
Posted by Rob Kalajian as Card Games, Classic Board Games, Modern Board Games
Lion Rampant Imports is a game distributor out of Ontario, Canada. I stopped by their booth to check out a bunch of new games from companies that didn’t have any other representation at Toy Fair, and what I found excited me.
Trakkx – Ages 8+
A combination Rummikub and Qwirkle, TrakkX has players try to rid their hands of tiles by playing sets of numbers in sequential order, or playing the same number in all the available colors. There’s also special tiles that let you swap tiles or have another player draw 3 tiles.
Mangrovia and Safranito – Ages 10 +
In Mangrovia players are trying to place huts in the best locations. A role-selection game, there’s variable paths to victory. The board is gorgeous, and the gameplay is on the lighter, gamer fare. A good looking family game for those looking for a bit more meat in their games, but nothing super heavy.
Safranito was an awesome looking dexterity game where players are competing to create recipes using the required spices. To do so you have to toss your coins on the board and land on the spices you need. Of course you can knock your opponent’s pieces around, too! The first person to cook 3 meals wins.
Bandu – Ages 8+
It was hard to contain my excitement when I saw a new version of Bandu being put out by Zoch Games. Klaus Zoch, having recently reaquired the rights to his game, has put out this new edition of the classic building game with 5 different ways to play, and excellent looking gems to replace the beans most people remember when playing Bandu/Bausack. The pieces of excellent quality, and it seems no shortcuts were taken in this most-welcome new release.
Beasty Bar – Ages 8+
A cute little card game where players are trying to get their animals into a party. The animals line up, but only the first two in line will get into the party. Of course every animal played has special rules on how it effects the line. My favorite was the drunk skunk with the bubbles coming out of his backside.