In the card game Belle of the Ball, players take on the roles of party hosts, seeking the best mix of guests to make their gala the greatest by the end of the night. In order to ensure that they stay one step ahead of the other hosts, players will have to carefully watch the growing line of guests at the door, inviting those in that seem to share passions with partygoers already inside, all the while handing out their precious stash of Regrets to those who should seek refuge elsewhere. Of course, other hosts may find it advantageous to invite a rejected guest inside just to collect their accumulated Regrets for later use.
Hosts may also choose to ignore the competition for guests and instead try to earn the favor of the Belle of the Ball herself, whose charms can make or break any party.
• Publisher Dan Verssen Games is bringing its own Cthulhu game to the table from designer Ian Richard with The Cards of Cthulhu. (KS link) The BGG description is somewhat less than informative right now:
It's for 1 to 4 players, has a playing time of 20-30 minutes, and is considerd a low complexity card game.
Each game plays in only 20 to 30 minutes!
The Cards of Cthulhu is a great game for any gamer ages 12 and older. It doesn't matter if you are a rookie investigator or a battle-hardened investigator that has devoted your life to fighting the Great Cthulhu. Each game ends with you saving the world, or dooming us all to eternal torment, in 30 to 45 minutes for solo games, and 60 to 90 minutes for multiplayer games.
• Russian publisher Hobby World showed off Konstantin Seleznev's Septikon: Uranium Wars at Spiel 2012, but the English-language release of the game has been a long time coming, with a Kickstarter campaign now in progress ahead of an anticipated May 2014 release date. (KS link) What's the game about?
There is not enough uranium for everyone, however, so the players fight brutal battles with other explorers over every asteroid. By using diverse offensive and defensive measures and a loyal crew of clones, a player must not only protect his own ship and goods but also send waves of attackers towards his opponent. Send him down in flames and get his valuable uranium!
In the game of Rasputin, all players share the same target, but this is not a cooperative game and your opponents will prove to be an even greater threat than Rasputin's personal guards.
Each player starts with a matching deck of fifty cards from which he must chose the twenty-five cards he will use in the game. Your cards determine which abilities you have available to you at any given moment, as well as your strength in individual combat against Rasputin and other players. Success in the game relies on your ability to balance the cards in your hand versus the board positions of yourself, your opponents, the guards and Rasputin.
When it's your turn, you can move any player's messenger, and so long as you don't move yourself, you maintain control of the die and the board. As you press on, however, chances are that you will run into trouble and have to pass the die. Will you use the power of the message you carry to keep going, or should you use it to stop someone else from reaching the King before you? Delivering messages unused pays you the most gold, so it will always be a tough decision either way. If you are ready to become the Captain of the messengers and win the most gold, then grab a scroll and get going!
• Crootle, a quick-playing color-matching game in which players try to connect corners of a shared playing field, is the first release from World Village Games, LLC. (KS link)