Nosferatu is a group game for 5 to 8 players in the same sort of category as Resistance, Avalon and Werewolf.

One player is Nosferatu’s help Renfield and the other players are vampire hunters.  Well, all apart from one who is actually Nosferatu.  The vampire hunters are trying to kill Nosferatu before the game ends; however, if they stake a legitimate vampire hunter (who is not Nosferatu) then they lose.  So, the vampire hunters have to work out which if them is Nosferatu.

The Renfield player hands out the cards that say who is Nosferatu and who is not so Renfield knows Nosferatu’s identity.  Rather than just leaving it down to talking, the players have cards they must play too.

At the start of a round, each player (except Renfield) draws 2 library cards into their hand.  They then discard 1 from their hand (face-up) and give 1 card from their hand to Renfield (face-down).   Then, they reveal a clock card (the clock deck consists of one night card per player plus one dawn card).  If the clock card is dawn, this phase ends so some players may miss their chance to draw cards. Read the rest of this entry »

30 Carats is a game of trading but with an interesting twist.  Each player starts with one of each gem (one colour for each player) and some gold.  The winner is the player with the highest value of gems and gold at the end of the game.

The values of each type of colour gem are determined by cards which range from +30 to -30 each.  However, at the start of the game, each player only knows the value of one of the colours of gems because each player is given one value card each (and that’s the value of the gem colour that matches their player screen).  Gold nuggets are always worth +10 each.

Players takes turns and the game lasts 3 rounds.  On a player’s turn, they will offer a mix of gems and/or gold and the other players will bid some of their gems/gold in return.  If the player accepts one of these offers, the two players swap their offered gems/gold.  However, before the current player makes their offer, they reveal a transaction card which gives them some rules as to what the offer must contain and also whether the other player’s bids will be made simultaneously or sequentially.  The rules are things like using specific gem colours, or mixtures.

If the current player does not want (or is unable) to swap with another player, they can swap their offer with the bank.  The bank is a bag that is filled with some gems and gold at the start of the game.  The player pays a few gold nuggets to do this and draws items blindly from the bag so they receive the same number that they put in.  (In anything other than a 3-player game, a player can also pay gold to look at another player’s value card.) Read the rest of this entry »