Game Arrivals: Week of April 23rd – 27th

Santa Maria is a streamlined euro-game of medium complexity, featuring elements of dice drafting and strategic engine building.  The game is low on luck and has little direct player conflict. 

At the dawn of the Sixteenth Century, colonists are flocking to the New World. Each player will lead a colony, producing resources needed to expand the colony, form shipping routes, send out conquistadors to acquire gold, and increase their religious power to recruit and train new monks. After 3 game rounds, each of which represents a year, the player whose colony is the happiest (whomever has scored the most happiness points) is declared the winner.

 

In the game, you expand your colony by placing polyominoes with buildings on your colony board. Dice (representing migrant workers) are used to activate buildings; each die activates a complete row or column of buildings in your colony. The buildings are activated in order (left to right / top to bottom), then the die is placed on the last activated building to block this space. It is therefore crucial where you put new buildings in your colony, and in which order you use the dice.

Pulsar 2849Czech Games Edition

New from Czech Games Edition and also receiving the Dice Tower Seal of Excellence is Pulsar 2849.

Sundae Split Foxtrot Games/Renegade Games

Sundae Split is a set collection of split-and-choose card game for 2 to 5 players.

In Sundae Split, players try to build the best ice cream sundae from the ingredients at hand. Get just the right mix of toppings and flavors, but avoid the vegetables. At the end, each sundae will be scored and the player who made the best sundae wins the game.

One player splits ingredients into piles, and the other players take turns choosing one. As the splitter, you get the last pile. You’ll have to be clever and a little sneaky to get the ingredients you want. Collect the best mix of toppings and flavors to make the most valuable ice cream sundae and win the game.