BGG | The Hotness

  Brass: Birmingham is an economic strategy game sequel to Martin Wallace' 2007 masterpiece, Brass. Birmingham tells the story of competing entrepreneurs in Birmingham during the industrial revolution, between the years of 1770-1870. As in its predecessor, you must develop, build, and establish your industries and network, in an effort to exploit low or high market demands. Each round, players take turns according to the turn order track, receiving two actions to perform any of the following actions (found in the original game): 1) Build - Pay required resources and place an industry tile.2) Network - Add a rail / canal link, expanding your network.3) Develop - Increase the VP value of an industry.4) Sell - Sell your cotton, manufactured goods and pottery.5) Loan - Take a £30 loan and reduce your income. Brass: Birmingham also features a new sixth action: 6) Scout - Discard three cards and take a wild location and wild industry card. (This action replaces Double Action Build in original Brass.) The game is played over two halves: the canal era (years 1770-1830) and the rail era (years 1830-1870). To win the game, score the most VPs. VPs are counted at the end of each half for the canals, rails and established (flipped) industry tiles. Birmingham features dynamic scoring canals/rails. Instead of each flipped industry tile giving a static 1 VP to all connected canals and rails, many industries give 0 or even 2 VPs. This provides players with the opportunity to score much higher value canals in the first era, and creates interesting strategy with industry placement. Iron, coal, and cotton are three industries which appear in both the original Brass as well as in Brass: Birmingham. New "Sell" system Brewing has become a fundamental part of the culture in Birmingham. You must now sell your product through traders located around the edges of the board. Each of these traders is looking for a specific type of good each game. To sell cotton, pottery, or manufactured goods to these traders, you must also "grease the wheels of industry" by consuming beer. For example, a level 1 cotton mill requires one beer to flip. As an incentive to sell early, the first player to sell to a trader receives free beer. Birmingham features three all-new industry types: Brewery - Produces precious beer barrels required to sell goods. Manufactured goods - Function like cotton, but features eight levels. Each level of manufactured goods provides unique rewards, rather than just escalating in VPs, making it a more versatile (yet potentially more difficult) path vs cotton. Pottery - These behemoths of Birmingham offer huge VPs, but at a huge cost and need to plan. Increased Coal and Iron Market size - The price of coal and iron can now go up to £8 per cube, and it's not uncommon. Brass: Birmingham is a sequel to Brass. It offers a very different story arc and experience from its predecessor.

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In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a eurogame for 1-4 players, you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. The game draws inspiration from current or emerging technologies and efforts in space exploration. Players will explore nearby planets and their moons by launching probes from Earth while taking advantage of ever-shifting planetary positions. Decide whether to land on their surface to collect valuable samples, or stay in orbit for a broader survey. Additionally, by directing your telescopes to gaze into distant star systems, you may detect traces of alien signals or undiscovered exoplanets, and collect promising data to examine and study back home. Back on Earth, you can invest in upgrading your equipment so you can analyze incoming data more efficiently, boost your telescope signal capacity, or increase your supply of resources—all to expand the scope of your search that could lead to a discovery of extraterrestrial life forms. You will also make use of over 200 cards to aid your efforts or focus your research in a particular direction for additional bonuses and rewards. Each card has unique effects and illustrations and depicts real-life technologies, projects, and discoveries (like the ISS, Large Hadron Collider, Perseverance rover, Voyager probe, and many more). Finding traces of extraterrestrial life is only a matter of time—utilize the resources you have at your disposal strategically and you may well end up being the one to make the biggest scientific contribution towards advancing our understanding of alien life within our galaxy.

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Magical Athlete is a racing game of pure chaos! Roll a die and move your racer that many spaces. But! All of the racers have wacky, game-breaking abilities. Compete over four races and whoever has the most points wins! A Japanese cult classic, that uses many traditional game mechanics - like roll & move or losing a turn Updated with new racer powers and rules by Richard Garfield You'll feel like you built a powerful team of racers that let you skip over the spaces occupied by other players or can reroll their die, but what's this - your opponent has a character that always gets to move 5!? Contents: 1 double sided race track36 wooden racers36 racer cards6 dice4  1st place trophies4 2nd place trophies9 three point stars

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Powerful Spirits have existed on this isolated island for time immemorial. They are both part of the natural world and - at the same time - something beyond nature. Native Islanders, known as the Dahan, have learned how to co-exist with the spirits, but with a healthy dose of fear and reverence. However, now, the island has been "discovered" by invaders from a far-off land. These would-be colonists are taking over the land and upsetting the natural balance, destroying the presence of Spirits as they go. As Spirits, you must grow in power and work together to drive the invaders from your island... before it’s too late!

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In Ark Nova, you will plan and design a modern, scientifically managed zoo. With the ultimate goal of owning the most successful zoological establishment, you will build enclosures, accommodate animals, and support conservation projects all over the world. Specialists and unique buildings will help you in achieving this goal. Each player has a set of five action cards to manage their gameplay, and the power of an action is determined by the slot the card currently occupies. The cards in question are: CARDS: Allows you to gain new zoo cards (animals, sponsors, and conservation project cards). BUILD: Allows you to build standard or special enclosures, kiosks, and pavilions. ANIMALS: Allows you to accommodate animals in your zoo. ASSOCIATION: Allows your association workers to carry out different tasks. SPONSORS: Allows you to play a sponsor card in your zoo or to raise money. 255 cards featuring animals, specialists, special enclosures, and conservation projects, each with a special ability, are at the heart of Ark Nova. Use them to increase the appeal and scientific reputation of your zoo and collect conservation points.

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In Dune: Imperium Uprising, you want to continue to balance military might with political intrigue, wielding new tools in pursuit of victory. Spies will shore up your plans, vital contracts will expand your resources, or you can learn the ways of the Fremen and ride mighty sandworms into battle! Dune: Imperium Uprising is a standalone spinoff to Dune: Imperium that expands on that game's blend of deck-building and worker placement, while introducing a new six-player mode that pits two teams against one other in the biggest struggle yet. The Dune: Imperium expansions Rise of Ix and Immortality work with Uprising, as do almost all of the cards from the base game, and elements of Uprising can be used with Dune: Imperium. The choices are yours. The Imperium awaits!

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You've wanted it for years. Container is BACK! Build factories, produce containers, set prices, negotiate with your rivals, and sail across the sea to trade. Obviously, buy low, sell high. But, can you make it happen? Container is an extremely coveted game. Long out of print, and selling for hundreds on the secondary market, the new version is here and more affordable than ever. But, it's not just affordable. It's the definitive Container experience. With modern production, beautiful components, and delightful artwork that a game of this caliber deserves, it's poised to become your favorite game (before you've ever even played it).

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This item is a pre-order item with an expected release date of Q4 2026 Orders containing a pre-order items WILL NOT SHIP until the final pre-order item is able to be shipped. Dates and product details are subject to change as new information from the manufacturer is updated. Listen up, I'm absolutely fizzing about this one. The Old King's Crown is a phenomenal board game that absolutely deserves your attention. This is the type of rare box that is able to induce that kind of bounding enthusiasm the excitement that gets you day dreaming about when you're able to get it to the table, that promise that shivers through you as each rule rattles with possibility. And not just the rules, but the presentation too!" - Shut Up and Sit Down The Old King’s Crown is a game of card-driven conquest, where you play as heirs to a vacant throne, vying for control of an ancient, overgrown kingdom. Wield unique abilities and leverage your followers’ traits to best outwit your opponents across a map that stretches from the teetering heights of the castle to the dappled light of the necropolis. As leader of your faction you will be staking claims with Heralds openly as well as positioning your forces in secret, hoping to claim the locations that fit your designs. However, keep an eye on your rivals, as they too have agents and agendas, poised to undo your best laid plans. Royalty, rebels or ruses. What crown will you wear? In The Old King's Crown, players move their Herald to locations, hoping to claim them. Then simultaneously players play cards from their hand, facedown to regions of the board. These are then revealed and resolved. Winning these clashes will result in different rewards that further their position and grant them the game's primary goal, influence. The player with the most influence by the end of a set number of rounds will be declared the winner. What We're Saying We're big fans of Root's asymmetry, Inis' art styling, and the bluffing mechanics of Dune; Old King's Crown somehow combines all three into a package that is fairly accessible given just how big it is. That doesn't mean the gameplay is easy or by any means simple, but it does mean it's intuitive and won't send people used to more medium weight games running for the door when you bring this box out.  We're really excited for Old King's Crown and we're expecting to see this on the Hotness list more and more as the initial Kickstarter run is supported by a mass-market printing hitting in Spring. This game will be hitting your table often, and if the secondary market is any indicator it's going to be highly sought after for years to come. 

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This item is a pre-order item with an expected release date of 08/28/2026 Orders containing a pre-order items WILL NOT SHIP until the final pre-order item is able to be shipped. Dates and product details are subject to change as new information from the manufacturer is updated. Wingspan Pocket distills the Wingspan experience down to a lighter, shorter, card-driven game that has each player activate a single row of cards on each of their turns. The cards are all double sided: a food side and a bird side. Bird powers are primarily indicated by icons instead of text, and they include a new type of power, ongoing (green) benefits. Everyone receives a player aid with all the icons clearly explained. Wingspan Pocket is designed to be accessible to novice players yet also compelling for more experienced gamers. This is a standalone game in a small box, not an expansion (the birds in it are not compatible with Wingspan). Wingspan Pocket features birds from around the world.

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This item is a pre-order item with an expected release date of Q1 2027 Orders containing a pre-order items WILL NOT SHIP until the final pre-order item is able to be shipped. Dates and product details are subject to change as new information from the manufacturer is updated. Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game is an epic adventure game mixed with euro elements, set in 15th-century Medieval Bohemia. Over the course of several in-game days and nights, players will try to leave their mark, whether by helping the local nobility, making important connections, fighting enemies, or stealing everything from tiny items to horses. While the game is competitive, it doesn’t pit players against one another, but instead allows them to succeed through their own achievements. It uses a deck-building system and emphasizes player freedom, creating narratives through its mechanics. The starting setup may provide some direction, but the game’s open-world nature encourages players to pursue their own goals and shape their stories as they wish. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game, iconic designers Tomáš Holek and Vlaada Chvátil join forces for the first time to bring Warhorse Studios' award-winning Kingdom Come: Deliverance video game to the tabletop in an epic official adaptation.

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This item is a pre-order item with an expected release date of 08/28/2026 Orders containing a pre-order items WILL NOT SHIP until the final pre-order item is able to be shipped. Dates and product details are subject to change as new information from the manufacturer is updated. Duel of Meloch is a standalone game that combines mechanisms from two existing games, Scythe and Expeditions, into a 45-minute head-to-head clash. One player uses Scythe rules and components (including a new faction and player mat); the other player uses Expedition rules and components (including a new mech, character, and companion). As long as you know one of those games and your opponent knows the other, you can play Duel of Meloch, and you don’t need anything other than Duel of Meloch to play this game. The duel takes place in a tight space on a new double-sided map—only 10 locations and 2 lakes—in a race to 4 stars on a new double-sided Triumph Track, so every turn is crucial. The devious Meloch keeps the game close by giving a small boost to your opponent every time you place a star. All existing Scythe factions, player mats, encounter cards, and factory cards are compatible with Duel of Meloch, as are all existing Expeditions mechs, characters, companions, and discovery cards (items, meteorites, and half of the quests). Likewise, the components in Duel of Meloch are compatible with Scythe and Expeditions: For Scythe, 3 new Factory cards, 6 new encounter cards, a completely new set of 60 combat cards; for Expeditions, 30 new discovery cards (items, quests, and meteorites).

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This item is a pre-order item with an expected release date of 08/01/2026 Orders containing a pre-order items WILL NOT SHIP until the final pre-order item is able to be shipped. Dates and product details are subject to change as new information from the manufacturer is updated. Québec puts you at the head of a powerful family determined to leave its mark by building the city of Québec. Across four centuries, you'll construct prestigious buildings and landmarks - but construction alone isn't enough. You must also gain influence within religion, politics, commerce, and culture while competing to shape the city in your colors. As players build and help construct La Citadelle, they place workers across five influence zones. At the end of each century, players score for their workers. Majorities trigger cascading effects, moving workers into the next zone to score again - creating powerful ripple effects. Balancing influence and construction is key. After four centuries, the family with the most points wins.

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This item is a pre-order item with an expected release date of Q4 2026 Orders containing a pre-order items WILL NOT SHIP until the final pre-order item is able to be shipped. Dates and product details are subject to change as new information from the manufacturer is updated. Welcome back to Parks, where every trail leads to new marvels, every stream runs with new life, every sun sets over a new memory, and every mountain looms with new possibility as you explore the stunning beauty and wild wonders as you venture through the national parks of Europe.Over the course of three rounds (called Seasons), Parks Europe will challenge your hiking skills in new ways, enticing you to hook into the Via Ferrata along the Trail, collecting resources and fatigue along the way - visiting Parks or stopping off at the Chalet to rest and take in the wonder. Explore new systems for taking Photos, expand your experience on the trail by supporting Conservation Projects, and enjoy in hike bonuses from a new set collecting element with Park Cards.At the end of the third Season, the hike (and the game) is over! Count up your points and see who had the greatest experience visiting the natural beauty of Europe from the shores of the Wadden Sea to the Dolomiti cliffs.Grab your pack and lace up your boots. The trail awaits!

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This item is a pre-order item with an expected release date of 09/22/2026 Orders containing a pre-order items WILL NOT SHIP until the final pre-order item is able to be shipped. Dates and product details are subject to change as new information from the manufacturer is updated. Every year, millions of salivating crustaceans from all over the world tune in for the wildest showdown on the planet! Five of the most legendary CRAB RAGE! teams will compete for the ultimate crown of decapod glory: THE GOLDEN CLAW. CRAB RAGE! is a quick, cut-throat, zany area control game. Use your pent-up rage to perform devastating actions and execute stylish signature moves. Build, break, and leverage alliances in a fierce tug-of-war for control. Keep the action fresh and the crowd hyped to become the most adored crab crew this side of the archipelago. Snip snap. It's rage time!

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  Revenant is a standalone, competitive worker placement game of shifting allegiances, set in the Voidfall universe. Players take on the role of rival admirals coordinating the defense of a fleeing starfleet, and competing to earn influence with the factions that stand to survive the journey. Across four rounds, players assign crew to ships throughout the fleet, from which they will fight corrupted ships, explore planets in search of resources, upgrade their ship and crew, deploy new vessels, and more. Each ship is affiliated with one of the Great Houses, and each time you assign crew there, you gain influence with that House. The journey won’t be an easy one. The Voidborn’s corrupted forces will continuously attack the fleet, dealing damage to various ships at the end of every round. You can take your part in protecting the fleet by destroying enemy ships, repairing friendly vessels or maneuvering them to safe areas, or ultimately activating the Revenant’s hyperdrive to jump to a safer sector. Regardless of your efforts, there will be casualties - you have to make sure that the Houses you have influence in are protected above others. Revenant spices up the resource management and engine-building of a mid-weight euro with dynamic tactical challenges, constant player interaction, and shifting allegiances.

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