The Canonical List of Free Print-and-Play Games A-D
Donald Seagraves
United States
Copperas Cove
Texas
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The 'list' is a work in progress -- it is my goal that every single game that is freely available on the internet will be listed here. A lofty goal, to be sure, but a noble one....
Since there are literally hundreds of free games available on the internet, I've decided to break the list into alphabetical chunks.
The format I'm using is pretty simple -- name, designer, publisher, status (free, shareware, demo, etc.), a short summary, and the website where it is available.
All summaries are either taken directly from the designer's/publisher's website, from the rules, or from the BGG entry. Any references to 'me' or 'I' refer to the designer, not yours truly...
Feel free to add to the list, but please only add games that have been released to the public by their designer or publisher -- don't add games that could be made for free using details and rules found on the internet but are actually commercially-published games. Also, please don't add public domain games such as chess, backgammon, poker, etc -- this would make the list unwieldy, to say the least.
Also, if you have played any of these games, please leave your comments.
A version of this list is also available at:
http://www.runestoneit.com/~dseagraves/canonical_list.html
http://www.runestoneit.com/~dseagraves/list_a.html
http://www.runestoneit.com/~dseagraves/list_b.html
http://www.runestoneit.com/~dseagraves/list_c.html
http://www.runestoneit.com/~dseagraves/list_d.html
Links to the other Canonical Lists of Free Print-and-Play Games:
0-9: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listi...
E-H: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listi...
I-L: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listi...
M-P: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listi...
Q-T: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listi...
U-Z: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listi...
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Kai Bettzieche
Germany
Ladenburg
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In this little tactical wargame dice are used as playing pieces, representing resources, troops and damagecounters. With 36 dice per player, lots of dice will be involved in this game.
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Steve Dell
England
London
Enfield
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From the rules: "Chevauchee (translated: 'War Ride') is a simple card-based medieval battle game for 2 players. Players draw cards from several decks to form a Base Force made up of Household units, Commanders, Tactics Cards, Mercenaries, Levies, and Weapons and Equipment. Players can then allocate funds from the war chest to get additional Mercenaries, Levy, or Weapons and Equipment to customize their armies further. Players then proceed to deploy for two combats, the Van, which is an abbreviated engagement, and the Main, which is the heart of the game. Victory goes to the side that sweeps the battlefield of all opposing units by the end of any Main Combat Round (not Van)."
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Steve Sisk
United States
Rochester
New York
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Print and play abstract strategy game developed by my brother. Very simple to put a set together, use a chess board and any 36 two sided pieces (I have colored stickers on poker chips).
Rules are here.
From the game page:
Each player has 18 two-sided pieces that move in stacks of three or less on an 8x8 square grid.
The idea is to absorb your opponent's pieces into your own by surrounding them with at least 1 more piece value (so a 2 piece stack would be absorbed if surrounded by 2, 2 piece stacks, or a 3 piece stack and a 1 piece stack). When you absorb the pieces, you turn them over to your color and add them to the capturing stacks.
The first person to reduce their opponent to 3 pieces or less wins. In developing the game it has become a balanced and subtle game; very simple to learn, but potentially complex in strategy.
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Donald Seagraves
United States
Copperas Cove
Texas
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BrickQuest
Designer: Peter Guenther
Free
BrickQuest is a game of small-scale fantasy combat similar to HeroQuest, Warhammer Quest, or MageKnight Dungeons. It requires at least two players to play and can be played easily by four to six players.
One player takes on the role of the BrickMaster. His job is to create, using construction blocks, a variety of dungeon rooms in which the game will take place, and creatures to inhabit them. Ideally these rooms will be modular so they can be added to the table one at a time as players enter them or get sight of them.
The remaining players will play heroic characters who enter the dungeon in pursuit of gold and glory.
Since BrickQuest is a boardgame, it uses a higher level of abstraction than roleplaying games. Rather than trying to capture all the nuances of fantasy combat, it uses simplified rules for quick and balanced play.
http://www.brickquest.com/brickquest/
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Donald Seagraves
United States
Copperas Cove
Texas
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BrikWars
Designer: Mike Rayhawk
Free
BrikWars is a miniatures wargame, which means that players pit miniature models of military units in simulated combat against each other. Much like chess, except a lot funnier.
Unlike more serious wargames, BrikWars is intended for battles between toys, and especially plastic building bricks and other construction toys. The BrikWars rules let players take turns moving toy troops and toy vehicles through toy terrain to attack one another with toy weapons and die horrifying toy deaths.
The game places no limits on what kinds of units and terrain can be constructed, or on what types of toys can be used, although the brick construction toys produced by The LEGO® Company are an overwhelming favorite.
http://www.brikwars.com/
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Julio Trois
Brazil
Porto Alegre - Brazil
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Cisplatina - Board Game
Designer: Julio Trois
Publisher: TroisStudio
http://troisstudio.blogspot.com
Print & Play
In 1822 Brazil had become independent of the Kingdom of Portugal, but in 1825 the United Provinces of the River Plate challenged the new Empire, supporting the separatist movement of the Province of Cisplatina. Dom Pedro I do not hesitate and sent his powerful navy to defeat the rebels and faced his first War on the Continent! During three years, the armed forces of the two most powerful South American countries met in the War of Cisplatina!
"Cisplatina" is a board game for 2-3 players created by Julio Trois, whose theme is the War of Independence of the Uruguay. For 10 rounds, the armies of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguayan rebels waging battles for control of the Uruguayan territory.
"Cisplatina" is a tactical game, where military strategy is very important. Each player must organize his troops, composed of tiles of infantry, cavalry, artillery and ships. The movement is point to point, and the clashes follow the style of the best wargames, using dices and tables, for the resolution of battles.
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Sergey Dembitskyi
Ukraine
Kiev
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At its core, "The Age of Sovereigns" is a military strategy, but the game is not limited strictly to combating. An important part of gameplay is the construction of buildings (common and special buildings, 26 total). Due to these constructions players can multiply their wealth and / or fame, along with the development of the army.
The game is divided into various stages. In the era of "Kingdoms Rising" players gradually get bonuses specific to the kingdom. In the era of the "End of Times" all events are resolved. These two steps constitute the main part of the game, when the players give a variety of orders and fight. In the era of "Destiny" victory points and fines are scored.
The dice are not used during the battles, so the game is not that much random 
The game has low downtime and relatively short playing time (30 minutes per player).
GAME COMPONENTS (For Two Players):
A. PnP files include:
1) 3 sovereign cards for each player;
2) 5 destiny cards;
3) 40 combat cards;
4) 8 kingdom bonus cards;
5) 14 End of Times cards;
6) 2 sets of 10 order tokens for each kingdom;
7) 2 sets of 33 building tokens for each kingdom;
8) 2 sets of 15 army unit tokens for each kingdom;
9) 2 sets of 2 (Barbarians) and 3 (Paladins) special army unit tokens for each kingdom;
10) 5 rebellion tokens;
11) other tokens: 6 revolutionary tokens, 9 plague tokens, 1 glory token, 2 Great Conqueror tokens; 6 defend token.
12) 1 playfield for two players.
B. Components NOT Provided (May be Taken From Other Games):
Tokens to represent gold talents. Besides, it is preferable to substitute the tokens of common and special army units by the miniatures from other games (we use Risk: Godstorm).
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Donald Seagraves
United States
Copperas Cove
Texas
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Cuban Missile Crisis - 1962
Designer: Brandon Gajda
Free
In Washington, after midnight on the morning of October 29th, President Kennedy faced his advisors. He had reached a decision. His look was unknown by the men seated around him, but would have been easily recognized by the sailors who served on a torpedo boat in the Pacific. 'Contact Atlanta Command. Execute Operation Scabbards in 24 hours. If we have to fight, then we will choose the time and the place.'
The United States was going to war!
http://axisandallies.metalsaber.com/CubaMain.htm
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Donald Seagraves
United States
Copperas Cove
Texas
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Alphabet Runner
Designer: Rasib Khan
Publisher: Alphabet Runner Ltd.
Commercial/Free for personal use only
From the 'Press Releases' forum on BGG:
It’s more than just a game – it’s a battle of wits where imaginations are fired and words are the weapons of choice.
recommended age 4+
The alphabet cards are available in upper and lower case Alphabet to download and print out. (recommended paper 260gm photo paper). The cards can be used to play snap, pairs and various other games or create your own card games yet remain educational.
The word game: recommended age 8+
Play one on one by dealing five cards each, choose one of the four colours Green, Red, Blue, or Yellow as your player colour. Using the alphabet letters on your 5 cards plus any other letters matching your player colour, create and memorize or write down the longest word possible. Simple!!!
Play without the board using just the cards: Home, Train, Plane, Airport, park etc.
Free Educational cards and game for personal use only.
http://www.alphabetrunner.com/without_flash/index_wflash.htm...
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Julio Trois
Brazil
Porto Alegre - Brazil
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Air Combat - Card Game
Designer: Julio Trois
Publisher: TroisStudio
http://troisstudio.blogspot.com
Language: English and Portuguese
Free
Air Combat is a card game for 2 players to simulate an air war.
The game consists in the administration of cards representing the combat aircraft from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, France, United Kingdom and the United States, and special cards, aiming to conquer territories located in Brazil northeast.
The game takes place is a hypothetical future when the Brazilian government announced the discovery of the largest underground reservoir of fresh water on earth, prompting the country to war.
The game puts in conflict 2 coalitions, one composed of the United States, United Kingdom and Argentina and another in Brazil, France and Chile.
Each player aims to conquer the territories described in the Objective Card, every round a territory is disputed by the 2 coalitions.
The 2 players have 6 cards representing aircraft squadrons (each card has a strike force) and special cards, and must use 5 cards to form a fighting force to overcome the opponent, through winning the disputed territory.
The mecanic is simple and dynamic, providing games fast and very strategic.
The game is Print & Play, and have 54 cards.
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Donald Seagraves
United States
Copperas Cove
Texas
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Canvas Eagles
Designer: Eric Hotz
Free
Sweep the skies free of the dreaded Fokker scourge!
Lead the Flying Circus in a Jabo over the Allied trenches!!
Canvas Eagles is a multi-player air combat game set in the time of World War One 1914-1918. Canvas Eagles provides the details of aerial combat: how the aircraft fly, and how they fight. Players then choose their aircraft and fight out their encounters using 1/72nd or 1/144th scale model aircraft.
http://www.generalissue.com/canvas.html
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King of All Simians — Not a Mere Diplomat
United States
Wilmington
North Carolina
Listen, this is no set of rules. I'm not tellin' you what to do, all I'm saying is I'm bringin' up three things that are, like, so important to the whole world, I don't happen to find much importance in.
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In The Big Time!, players take the roles of theater owners in Chicago during the Golden Age of vaudeville, from about 1905 to about 1915. The object is to make your theater the most spectacular in the city by booking the greatest and most diverse roster of acts that you can find (and afford!).
In each of four turns, players bid on the right to select acts first and place those acts in their theaters. After your theaters are booked, you tally up scores to see who was the most successful. Good shows will drive up the reputation of your theater and influence the popularity of the types of acts that you book, but a flop can always set you back!
A fresh theme with dozens of authentic vaudeville acts, terrific illustrations by the inimitable Adam Koford, and some new ideas in bidding mechanics add up to Big Time fun!
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P.D. Magnus
United States
Albany
New York
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The '''Decktet''' is a 36-card deck of cards in 6 suits. Each suit has 10 cards, because most of the cards are double-suited. Most of the cards also employ the pairing of suits thematically, providing a tarot-style name and illustration. The game system is released under an open license.
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14.
Board Game: Druid
[Average Rating:7.64 Unranked]
Donald Seagraves
United States
Copperas Cove
Texas
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Druid
Designer: Cameron Browne
Free
From the BGG entry:
Two sects of Druids want to build a monument on the same sacred site, however there is some conflict. The followers of Horizontus believe that the monument should track the sun from the East horizon to the West horizon to worship the passing days, while the followers of Verticalus believe that the monument should track the sun from the North to the South to worship the passing seasons.
On a square board players take turns placing cubes (sarsens) which may be played on the ground or on any piece of your color, and (3x1) rectangles (lintels) which can be placed in such a way that they are support by two blocks of your color. The simplest configuration therefore resembles a mini Stone Henge (hence the name).
The space in between can be empty or occupied by a piece of either color.
One player is attempting to connect the top and bottom of the board and the other player the left and right edges. Connectivity is judges as seen from above so that higher pieces can cut the connection of lower ones.
The game has several variants including a version played on a hex grid (also playable by three) and both the hexagonal and square versions have a 'Druid's Walk' variation in which an additional piece represents a druid out for a stroll.
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Emmanuel Aquin
Canada
Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Quebec
And D-Day Dice, too!
I'm an "A"vatar.
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My little baby!
This started out as a variant of Zombie in my Pocket, but became big enough, and different enough, to warrant its own entry on the BGG.
It's a solitaire (mostly) game about paratroopers sent during the night of June 5th, 1944, to prepare the Allied landings.
Driven by Event cards, and using a tile placement mechanic, this game includes many scenarios and campaigns to spice things up. There are rules for multiplayer games, and many scenarios are designed for 2 players (confrontational or coop).
As of this writing, 1 expansion is out, with 2 more to follow.
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Robert Carroll
United States
Lawrence
Kansas
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From the Rules:
All Time Championship Soccer lets you can relive the excitement, passion, glory and defeat of taking a national team through the World Cup. Choose from 64 national teams, representing that country’s best team ever to play in the World Cup. Each team is statistically generated to match its performance in the World Cup. Attempts, shots on goal, defenses, strategy, formations, yellow and red cards, corner kicks, penalty kicks, free kicks, injuries, key players, offside traps, marking players, long ball tactics, counter attacks, packed in defenses, home field advantage, hand balls, disallowed goals, bad calls by referees, penalty shootouts and sudden death are all present for you to maneuver through group play and the knock-out rounds with the hopes and dreams of making it ultimately to the Finals. All Time Championship Soccer is a strategic level game that still lets you make game changing decisions by selecting from 9 different formations, 3 distinctive strategies, and 7 unique tactics—all while allowing play of several games in a matter of minutes. Each game only takes 5-15 minutes to play, allowing you to play an entire tournament in a few hours. There are 6 levels of play: Basic, Advanced, Premier League, Tournament, Solo and Quick Play. However, each level is relatively easy to grasp and you should be playing a game within minutes of reading these rules.
Resolve the age old question of whether Brazil 1970 is the greatest team of all time. Rematch Germany 1954 against Hungary 1954 and try to recreate the “Miracle of Bern.” See if you can do the impossible—taking Dutch East Indies 1938 from qualification to the Finals!
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Simon Hunt
United Kingdom
Manchester
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From the BGG entry (edited):
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Astromachia is a starship combat simulation boardgame for two or more players.
Astromachia is distinguished from other games in this genre by three features: fast, highly interactive play; realistic Newtonian movement; and a strong sense of three-dimensionality.
Players alternate taking very simple actions, such as maneuvering, angling shields, or firing a weapon. This prevents long waits for a chance to do something.
Movement follows Newton's laws of motion. A ship doesn't always move in the direction it is facing. Furthermore, if a ship gets going too fast in one direction, it has to turn around and fire its engines to slow down.
Astromachia is fully three-dimensional. Ships can fly at different altitudes, and can move up or down as easily as moving north, south, east, or west. (These directions are with reference to the local star system, not to a planet.) A ship can have any of 24 different orientations, and is damaged differently depending on whether the damage is coming from the fore, aft, port, starboard, dorsal, or ventral side.
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The game includes 10 different ship designs - ranging from fighters to leviathans, 5 scenarios and ship design rules.
The rules are available under the BGG "files" section, and the playing pieces and board are scanned images in the "images" section. Alternative play aids and a ship design aid are also available from the files section.
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Robert Carroll
United States
Lawrence
Kansas
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From the Rules:
"Have you ever wanted to build a basketball dynasty to rival that of Wooden’s legendary UCLA teams? How about experiencing the thrill of recruiting, developing and a starting a team of Champions? What about trying to improve a run-of-the-mill team into a tournament team, all while trying to keep your job? You can do all of these things a more in Basketball Dynasty—in under an hour.
Basketball Dynasty is a game about recruiting and developing college basketball players, while trying to qualify for the tournament and win a championship. Each player acts as the head coach of a college basketball team and has 12 years to win as many games, go to as many tournaments and win as many championships as possible. As the coach, you determine who to recruit (do you want solid season performers or the star who can win in the big game), who to develop, who to start and bench, and what style of team do you want (e.g., a group of 'team players' or bunch of talented 'individuals' who happened to play on the same team)."
Components:
1 Six-Sided Die
1 Rules Book
1 School Rating Chart
1 Coach Record Sheet
14 School Roster Boards
25 Red Chips
150 Blue Chips
168 Player Counters (General Supply)
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Dylan Green
United States
Wyoming
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Deadly Harmony is a game that attempts to capture the spirit of old Shaw Bros. Kung-Fu movies and the fighting games of the early 90's (Street Fighter, Samurai Shodown, et al). Players keep hands of cards, and play them simultaneously. These cards are balanced in Rock-Paper-Scissors fashion so that in the midst of combat the psychological heart of the game unfolds; the player must outwit their opponent, by looking for tells, bluffing, and knowing their adversary better than he knows himself.
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Donald Seagraves
United States
Copperas Cove
Texas
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Alien City
Designer: Michael Schoessow
Free
You Need:
Portions of a piecepack and some Ice House pyramids as follows:
* 20 piecepack tiles, consisting of any five of each suit (5 red, 5 blue, 5 green, 5 black).
* 24 piecepack tokens (6 each of red, blue, green, and black).
* 4 piecepack dice.
* 14 large Ice House pyramids, 5 red, 5 blue, and 4 green.
* 6 small Ice House pyramids, 3 red and 3 blue.
Alien City is a game that is set in the far future and concerns the building of a city on a newly colonized world. Society in this distant time is divided into four powerful guilds. These are the Energy Guild (symbolized by a red sun), the Synthesis Guild (symbolized by a blue fountain), the Control Guild (the most powerful guild of all, symbolized by a green crown), and the Builder's Guild (symbolized by a black tool---yes, that's how tools look in the far future).
Cities in this future contain two types of structures; towers and domes. Towers are owned by the various guilds. These are the power plants (energy), factories (synthesis), and government facilities (control). Domes are smaller structures used to house the citizens. As with the towers, domes are always associated with a particular guild. Both towers and domes are color-coded to identify guild affiliation; red for energy, blue for synthesis, green for control, and black for builders.
Each of the guilds wants their towers positioned close to the towers and domes of other guilds (their customers) and far away from their own other towers (to avoid competing with other towers of their own guild). Location, location, location! Some things never change, even in the distant future.
The Builder's Guild is unique because there are no Builder's Guild towers, i.e., no black towers. Instead, the Builders are compensated for their efforts by being given the profits of some of the other guild's towers that the Builders choose as they construct the city.
The players in this game are competing builders working to construct the city. At the same time they are choosing towers for themselves that they hope will be profitable with lots of close customers and little competition. The choices must be made with care because each builder may only choose three.
Red, blue, and green large Ice House pyramids are used for the towers, and piecepack tokens with the suit side up represent red, blue, green, and black domes. The land area of the city is defined by a 4X5 array of piecepack tiles, suit side up, with each tile representing four building sites. The game-play consists of the players alternating turns, placing a tower or dome each turn until either all available towers and domes have been placed or until there are no legal construction sites remaining within the city. Then scores are determined based upon the relative positions of the towers and domes.
http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/AlienCity
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21.
Board Game: Akron
[Average Rating:7.17 Overall Rank:4025]
Donald Seagraves
United States
Copperas Cove
Texas
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Akron
Designer: Cameron Browne
Free
Akron is a new connection game played with marbles on a square grid.
Two players, Black and White, strive to connect their edges of the board with pieces of their colour. Each turn a piece can be played at any empty board point, or a piece already on the board can be moved to any connected empty point.
Most games in the connection family, such as the classics Hex and Y, tend to be hexagonal in nature to avoid problems with deadlocks in the plane. Akron solves this problem by letting players stack pieces over enemy blocks. In fact, stacked connections cut any connections they pass over, making upward growth a very strong play.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/cyberite/akron/akron-1.htm
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22.
Board Game: Creepers
[Average Rating:7.14 Unranked]
Marek Szumny
Poland
Wrocław / Głubczyce
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Logical strategy board game for two players. They take roles of totally bored gardeners, who are fooling around with a small chemist's kit in an old, godforsaken garden. However, that play quickly turns into a competition about who is going to grow more mutated creeper and overwhelm the opponent with it. Only one of them can win. Is it going to be you?
Players aim for reaching a certain amount of points though expansion of their own creeper and blocking their opponent. Points are earned through placing creepers on point-marked tiles or by doing certain actions on the board.
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23.
Board Game: Bypass
[Average Rating:7.12 Unranked]
Raymond Gallardo
Canada
Montreal
Quebec
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Bypass is a connection game for 2-6 players. On their turn, players build paths and walls. These paths eventually form a network that spans across the board. At the end of the game, three routes are scored, which usually consists of paths from more than one player. Players score one point for each path they own along each route. The player with the highest score wins.
The twist in this game is that players may change paths into walls and walls into paths.
To assemble the print-and-play version, simply print the board, insert it into a plastic sheet protector, and use dry erase markers to draw paths and walls. Alternatively, print one of the other boards, which have smaller dimensions but larger hexes, and use Settlers of Catan roads as paths and small counters as walls.
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The Great City of Andalanshar, capital of the nation of Andal, ruled by the great potentate and council of Andals, but controlled by the 6 great guilds. Now the great potentate has died and the council members are all vying to gain control of the city. To do this they must gain the support of the people and the guilds...
City of Guilds is a board game for 1-4 players, where the players try to gain control of the city by gaining influence in the various districts of the city. They do this by assuming the roles of 1 of the 6 great guilds and by playing action cards.
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Dan Foster
United States
St. Paul
Minnesota
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Convocation,
The first release from Tendonitis Games. Designed by Patrick Leder, free pdf download (though you can purchase a pre printed/cut copy for only $5.00 plus shipping).
The game plays fairly quickly and is easy to pick up. Players match symbols on cards, trying to get the fewest symbols in their hand at the end of each round, the lowest number scores a point. When someone reaches the set number of points they win.
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Lerum
What a lot of work you put in to produce these geeklists!
RESPECT
Zaragoza
Zaragoza
http://gratis.labsk.net
Greenwood
South Carolina
Nothing to print except the rules, so maybe not technically print and play.
Las Vegas
Nevada
Reno
Nevada
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/1567