New Game Round-up: Escape the Goblins, Direct the Dwarves, and Commandeer a Crew

When the young Princess Irene noticed her special golden thread led straight into the goblin kingdom under the mountain, she did not hesitate, but followed it at once. There in the dark she discovered her friend, the miner boy Curdie, who had been trapped while searching for clues to the goblins' evil plans. Now together, they must make a daring escape. Can you retrace Irene's steps through the dark maze of caverns, using only her special golden thread as your guide?

In the tile-laying game The Princess and the Goblin, you explore the goblin's vast underground cave network in search of clues. When you think you've discovered enough clues to save the kingdom, flip all of the tiles of your escape path in the correct order to find your way home. You win if you can escape the mountain and find more clues than any of your opponents, but take care the goblins don't catch you!

Jamaica: The Crew is a set of characters, each with a special power, that add flavor to the game without any big changes in the rules. The characters may be hired when you're able to pay for the fee of a harbor, and they are "loaded" like any other resource, following the same rules.

You might find it enticing to add several characters to your boat — especially since most of them earn you additional gold at the end of the game — but with fewer holds dedicated to the regular resources, navigation becomes more dicey.