Catch and Sell Fish, Be the Best Architect, Build the Moon's Capital, and Expand Your Museum

I have a bittersweet relationship with tile-laying games. I love the puzzle aspect and tactile experience of them, but I rarely do well playing them. Regardless, there's something that draws me to them. Perhaps I crave improving my puzzle-solving skills, or maybe I'm just fascinated by all the differently themed games that incorporate tile-laying as a core mechanism.

With this on my mind, I wanted to share a few upcoming releases that feature tile-laying and are available for retail pre-order.

• Public Market is a 2-4 player, fish market-themed, tile-laying, engine-building game that plays in 45-90 minutes from Talon Strikes Studios and Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, and Shawn Stankewich — the design team behind Point Salad.

Public Market, which originally launched as a Kickstarter campaign in February 2020, is all about catching fish, storing them in your ice box, and selling them to complete contracts as briefly described below by the publisher:

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Head out to sea and fish to fulfill contracts in order to gain points and emerge as the winner in this tile-laying, engine-building game.

In Public Market, players bid on and draft tiles to play into an ice chest. Once the ice chest is full, players can go to the market to sell their latest catch based on the current market values and to complete contract goals. They then get a new ice chest and go back out on the open water to fulfill new contracts. Play continues until the ocean bag is empty.

• Bärenpark and Gizmos designer Phil Walker-Harding's Neoville is a new city-building game for 2-4 players that plays in 30-45 minutes from Blue Orange Games.

From the brief description below and the fact that I've enjoyed all the Walker-Harding games that I've played, I'm excited to play Neoville and see how many harmony points my city can score:

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Neoville is looking for architects to build a city that is a combination of human habitation and the natural world. Are you up to the challenge?

Position tiles strategically to build skyscrapers and utilities in your 4×4 city. Skyscrapers will be worth harmony points at the end of the game based on their value and district size. Utilities will be worth harmony points when their position in the city fits their own requirements. However, skyscrapers or utilities that do not meet their requirements will count as negative points! Who will design the most harmonious city with nature?

• Perhaps you're looking for city-building on the moon, though. In that case, be sure to check out LUNA Capital from Jose Ramón Palacios and Devir Games. Palacios and Devir paired up to release La Viña, a fun, small box, wine-themed, set-collection game back in 2019, so I suspect I'll enjoy LUNA Capital, too.

In LUNA Capital, which plays in about 45 minutes, 1-4 players compete to build the best lunar settlement in hopes that it becomes the capital of the moon. In more detail from the publisher:

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The dream of maintaining human life on the surface of the moon has now come true. The project to build cities on Earth's beloved satellite is under way. Things are moving full speed ahead, and the possibilities are enormous because this is 1977, the year when lunar living becomes reality. The most enterprising companies have decided to sponsor teams of scientists, builders, publicists, and freelance nightlife entertainers to set out to construct the best client base in the galaxy. On top of this out of the world chance, the Lunar Colonization Authority shall assign the capital of the Moon to the best of the projects that are presented, making the chance for an even juicier reward!

In LUNA Capital, the players must optimally manage the elements of the game to build the best possible lunar settlement and to make it worthy of becoming the capital of the entire off-planet colony. They will have a series of construction cards in a common "market", and each of the players shall be tied to a number of project tiles. Players take turns drawing cards and the tiles that accompany them, then place them in their personal playing area. The cards must be laid out in a maximum of three lines and must be placed so that they are always in ascending numerical value. Once the card has been placed, the tiles are then put on the spaces for them on the cards, in an attempt to group together the various projects in the most efficient way possible.

The tiles show what projects are available, all of which are essential for the construction of the city worthy of the term. They include oxygen collectors, greenhouses, residential complexes and (of extreme importance) sales offices to sell apartments with the best views in the galaxy. Each of these categories scores according to how they are arranged within the personal area of each player. Whoever is able to best take advantage of their arrangement and placement shall become the mayor of LUNA Capital.

• Curators, from designers Tove Jomer, Pablo Jomer, and Jacob Westerlund and publisher Worldshapers, is another new, interesting sounding, tile-laying game that plays in 45-75 minutes, but in this case, 1-4 players compete to expand and collect interesting objects for their museums as summarized below:

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In Curators, your job is to expand the museum and its collection. With help from your employees, you will build new wings and collect objects to put on display in the museum.

The employees are represented by five chips that are used to determine what different actions you may take in the game. Select your action from the face-up chips, then flip the chip over to show you have used it. This will reveal a different action on the other side that you can use at a later time. That said, if you ever have two of the same action available on your turn, you may choose to double up. This means that on a single turn you can flip two chips and do double the amount of work.

During play, you acquire loan contracts for famous objects, like the dice tower of a Roman soldier or the skull of the neanderthal man, from other museums. To score the points for these objects, you need to complete a ''Tetris''-like puzzle of color and space matching.

When the game ends, only one museum will stand as the victor and take home the "Museum of the Year Award".