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I saw MANY of these being played at WBC (see below). Of the bunch listed here, I like the looks of ROMA and FJORDS. I don't have much more experience with the others as I didn't have enough time to try everything.

I didn't see the KING ARTHUR game by Knizia or the Dragonriders game, but I'm intrigued by the description that Jay Tummelson gives below.

Rio Grande Games News

The past few weeks were busy ones for us. We did have some shipping delays, which caused some scheduled July releases to slide into early August, but those games have now all beeen shipped and should appear in stores this week.

We released (or re-released) Tikal, Torres, That's Life (the multi-lingual version of Verflixxt!), Fjords, Tichu, Tamsk, Palazzo, Trans America, Niagara, Australia, and Carcassonne: King & Scout, and the following games from Queen Games: Lucky Loop, Indus, Rat Hot, Turbo Taxi, Roma, Architekton, and Inka.

After the surge in the last few weeks, we will take a short breather, but expect to release the following games in September: Bausack, Sac Noir, Alhambra, and Alhambra: the Vizor's Favor (the first Alhambra expansion).

In October, we will release Dragonriders, Oltre Mare, Metro, Clans, El Grande, Goa, Power Grid maps for France and Italy, Carcassonne: the River II, and several other games to be announced in the near future.

As mentioned in our previous newsletters, we have acquired a small supply of Power Grid replacement decks for you completists out there. These decks have have the new version of power plant 29. We will offer them at the conventions we
visit this summer, as long as the supply lasts. They can be obtained by donating $5.00 to Heifer International (www.heifer.org). We will collect the donations and send all monies collected (we keep no portion of the $5.00) to Heifer so they can send animals to needing families around the world. At Gulf Games and World Boardgame Championships, you donated $240, enough (with a little added on our own) to send enough to Heifer for a llama and a goat. We will also have them at Gencon, and CHITAG.

Tikal
Each player is the director of an expedition intent on exploring Tikal in search of the secret paths that lead to the temples and precious treasures that have remained hidden for over 1000 years. A player receives points during four scoring rounds for eac h recovered treasure and for each temple that he controls. But, both temples and treasures can change hands. The expedition that earns the most points exploring Tikal wins the game.
$44.95; RIO132; 6 per case; 2-4 players, aged 10 +; length 75-90 minutes; authors: Kramer & Kiesling.

Torres
A series of devastating tornadoes in the recent war has left all the king's castles in ruin. His sons will rebuild his castles and he promises the throne to the one who can rebuild the tallest and largest castles. Two or more princes may work together on a castle. The king will tour the castles to judge the progress of each son. After his the third tour, he will choose his successor.
$44.95; RIO133; 6 per case; 2-4 players, aged 12 +; length: 60 minutes; authors: Kramer & Kiesling.


Oltre Mare
The Mediterranean Sea is the lifeline for merchants living in the lands on its shores. In Oltre Mare, players represent competing merchant families plying their trade throughout the region. As the players move their ships from port to port, they try to loand and deliver large cargos of the seven major trading goods of the day: spices, silk, silver, sugar, wine, wood, and corn. With experience, each has learned what the market limit for each good is, and will try to fill his ship with just this much of each cargo type to gain the most from his investments. Of course, players must always be on the lookout for pirates, who will board careless ships, stealing both cargos and reputations. The most successful player will earn the most money - you are merchants, after all), and win the game!
$39.95; RIO275; 6 per case; 2-5 players, aged 10 +; length: 60 minutes; author: Emanuele Ornella.

Dragonriders
Climb aboard your trusty steed and lift off for the race of your life! The players race their dragons on a course in a deep and winding canyon. You have some magic to use to aid your cause, or hinder your opponents, but the real test is your skill at maneuvering your dragon through the course to reach the finish line ahead of the others. Players choose their speeds on each round secretly, but then must move at that speed, even if other dragons or canyon walls are in the way.
The movement system gives players more maneuverability at lower speeds than at higher, so you cannot turn your dragon on a dime unless you are going very slowly - an important consideration in those hairpin turns!
The track is made of two-sided tiles, so players can design their own races and change them every race to keep things fun and exciting!

$49.95; RIO276; 2-6 players, aged 10 +; length: 60 minutes; authors: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede & Jean de Poel.


Gracias & King Arthur Card Game
I am working now with Ravensburger to produce multilingual version of these two games.

Gracias is a collecting card game from Richard Borg and Alan Moon. In this game, players try to collect as many cards from each color as possible, but not the most. When scoring, the players with the most cards in a color get no point for the color. So, finally, a game where fisrt loser is the winner!

King Arthur is a three tiered card game from Reiner Knizia. Players start with knights and can draw a new knight card each turn. They then send their knights out to challenge enemies of King Arthur: dragons, enemy knights, monsters, and evil beings, which are each worth 1-5 victory points. Later, players can convert sets of these victory points to adventures cards, worth even more!

Jay M Tummelson
Rio Grande Games
www.riograndegames.com
PO Box 45715
Rio Rancho, NM 87174