New Game Round-up: Power Grid Moves to India and Australia, Friese Returns to Landlording & Rats May (or May Not) Be Inside Your Walls

In the game, one player is the Giver and starts the round with the dice cup and a single die, which shows one rat on one face, two rats on another face, and no rats on the remaining four faces. The Giver places the die in the cup, shakes the cup, places it face down, then peeks inside. He then claims to hear no rats behind the walls or some number of rats. If he says no rats and the next player – the Receiver – believes him, the Receiver becomes the new Giver, adds a die to the cup, and the game continues; if the Receiver doesn't believe him, then he lifts the cup. If no rats are present, the Receiver loses one "brain" scoring token to the Giver; clearly he's touched in the head if he's hearing rats where none exist. If rats are present, however, then the Giver loses two brains, giving one of them to the Receiver. The Caller's an even worse case!

If the Giver claims that rats are present, he must pay one brain, then the Receiver taking the cup can call him (with penalties going one way or the other) or he can believe the Giver, handing over one brain to the Giver as the sanity cost of accepting such nonsense. The Receiver can then either pass the cup along to the next person or he can add a die to the cup, shake all the dice, and make another claim about the number of mice in the walls, with this number being at least one larger than the previous number. In this case, the Receiver becomes the Giver, and the round continues as before.

Once one player has lost all of his brains, the game ends, and the player with the most brains wins.

Power Grid: Australia/Indian Subcontinent is a pair of expansions for Power Grid!

• Australia does not have a single connected power network. Only in the populated regions, mainly in the south east, are several cities connected to each other. Because of this, players may connect to any city for a connection cost that's generally higher than normal. Australia does not use uranium for its power production, but it does mine huge amounts of the material to sell to other countries. This offers a completely new game element, even for experienced Power Grid players!

• The Indian Subcontinent is always in danger of suffering huge power outages if the players increase their networks too quickly. Additionally, the players must buy their resources on a limited resource market, which does not always guarantee enough resources for all players.

In Friese's Landlord you are all ruthless landlords trying to earn as much money as you can. All sorts of tenants move into your houses: the family, a man with a dog, sometimes even odd ones. All tenants dream of getting a premium apartment, but most often you offer them low rent flats. But beware of squatters! With the help of various action cards you try to get essential advantages or defend yourself against mean attacks, at the expense of your fellow players if necessary – or even the poor tenants. In the end, the player who squeezes the most money out of his tenants still wins!

Friese's Landlord includes 120 full-colored cards with new tenants, brand-new coins and a fully updated rules sheet.