Rio Grande Games has announced that the following games will be available this month or next (descriptions from the Rio Grande Web site):

Caesar & Cleopatra - 2 players; ages 10 and up; length: 30-40 minutes. In this, the third of a series of two-player games, Caesar and Cleopatra are locked in a struggle to determine the amount of independence Egypt will have. The decision lies in the hands of the powerful patricians. The players, as Caesar and Cleopatra, use their influence and special actions to win patricians to their side. When a vote of confidence is called, the player with the larger influence wins the voice of a patrician. Each voice brings one victory point. There are additional victory points for the majority in a patrician group, for the influence of a whole group and for a secret influence bonus. Whoever earns the most victory points chooses the fate of Egypt and wins the game.

Elfenland/Elfengold - 2-6 players; ages 10 and up; length: 60 minutes. In Elfenland, young elves have to pass a very special test before they are accepted as grown-ups. All elf girls and elf boys receive a map of Elfenland, and they have to visit as many famous towns in Elfenland as possible, using the common types of transportation: dragons, unicorns, giant pigs, elfcycles, troll wagons, magic clouds, ferries and rafts. These types of transportation, however, are available in limited numbers and can only be used in specific regions. Thus, an exciting race starts among the elves to find out who will make the best use of the available transportation. The one to visit the most towns will win the game.

Frank's Zoo - 4-7 players; ages 10 and up; length: 60 minutes. The cards in this game feature some very cute animals by Doris Matthäus. It's a trick-taking game played with changing partners over several hands. In each hand, the players try to be the first to get rid of all of their cards. Their scores are based on how early in the hand they get rid of all their cards and what cards they take in tricks.

T-Rex - 3-5 players; ages 10 and up; length: 45 minutes. Players are the researchers working feverishly to collect as many dinosaur eggs as possible to protect them from the meteors that are crashing into earth. On each turn, the players choose to play high cards to collect eggs or low cards to be able to direct future collecting efforts. The turns end with meteor strikes that destroy the very resources (cards) the players need to collect eggs. As some eggs are more valuable than others, the winner will be the player who collects the most points in dinosaur eggs in the 12 rounds of the game.

Andromeda - 2-6 players; ages 10 and up; length 60 minutes. The Planetary Union of the Andromeda galaxy wants wealthy traders from Earth to invest in their economy, but they want to limit those investments. To control such investments, they have allocated three orbiting economic centers above each of their most important planets for development by Earth interests. This keeps the strange Earthlings off their planets and also creates competition among the many Earth companies interested in such development. The Planetary Union hopes this competition will bring them even more money for these investments as the Earthlings compete for the best centers. To keep the Earthlings from conspiring amongst themselves to divide up the economic centers on their own with secret agreements, the Planetary Union requires that all trades be done under their watchful eyes. They also have spies probing for such secret negotiations and will eliminate traders who are caught in such activities.

El Grande Expansions - 2-5 players; ages 12 and up; length: 60-75 minutes. This product contains supplemental material for the El Grande game. To use this material, you must have a copy of El Grande. The material offers you three new ways to play the game. In Intrigue & the King, each player has 18 or 28 cards that replace the action cards from the basic game. Before the game begins, each player chooses 13 cards to be his action/priority deck for the game. The players use these cards instead of the action and priority cards in determining turn order and special actions. Grand Inquisitor & the Colonies adds four new regions, the Grand Inquisitor, and new action cards to support these additions. The new action cards are in two new stack, giving players seven options on each turn instead of the five from the basic game. By combining the two, you can play The King & the Colonies. In this game, you use the action/priority cards from Intrigue & the King, as well as the new regions, the Grand Inquisitor, and the new action cards supporting them from Grand Inquisitor & the Colonies.

Vino - 2-5 players; ages 10 and up; length: 60 minutes. This is a game where players acquire vineyards in 9 regions in Italy. Players choose from five kinds of grapes when they first start buying in a region, but not all grapes grow in all regions. The players then sell their wines by type, driving prices down for everyone. Players also have the opportunity to affect the price of the wines in other ways.

News Resources

Submission Guidelines
How to have your news considered for inclusion here.