New Game Round-up: Tokyo Game Market — Slap Microorganisms, Ride the Subways, and Be Fair to Your Brothers

In Zogen, a.k.a. ゾーゲン, the player researchers want to rid themselves of their microorganism cards as quickly as they can, but they can do so only by observing the current lab environment and watching the one thing that changes, then "recording" it by playing their card.

In more detail, each player starts with a hand of sixteen cards, with each card showing 0-4 types of microorganisms, which are named "Maru", "Tsuki", "Yama", and "Siri". The start player for the round places one of their cards face up on the table, then everyone plays at once, trying to lay down a card that differs from the initial card by exactly one microorganism, whether one more or one less.

Thus, if a card shows "Maru" and "Tsuki", you can lay down a card that shows either "Maru" or "Tsuki" or a card that shows "Maru" and "Tsuki" along with one of the previously missing microorganisms. You must say the name of the microorganism that is added or removed when you play a card, then everyone must match the card that you just played.

When a player has only three cards in hand, the round ends and players score points based on their rank in terms of how many cards they hold. Whoever has the most points after you've played the agreed-upon number of rounds wins.

In MetroX, players create subway networks by filling in the station spaces on their individual game sheets. Using the numbers revealed by the cards, all players fill up their subway map with ◯s in the station spaces. However, the number of times they can add stations to each line is limited, so they have to make tough choices. Players can score many points by getting their star bonuses in stations with many intersecting routes. Players also get bonuses by being the first to complete routes. Try to fill in all your stations to minimize the penalties and achieve a high score!

In more detail, each player has their own sheet of paper, with all players using either the Tokyo or Osaka map. Each sheet shows an interwoven subway system, with the system consisting of many subway lines; each line has a name, a number of indicator boxes, a number of empty station boxes on the subway route, and two bonuses. On a turn, a player reveals the top indicator card from the deck of twenty cards, then each player individually and simultaneously chooses a subway line, then does something depending on which type of card is revealed:

• If a number is revealed, the player writes the number in one of that line's indicator boxes, then draws a ◯ in each box in the line starting with the closest empty box, stopping when they've reached the end of the line, reached an already filled-in space, or drawn the indicated number of ◯s.
• If a circled number is revealed, the player does what is described above, but they can skip over already filled-in spaces instead of stopping.
• If a star is revealed, the player draws a star in one of that line's indicator boxes, then in the closest empty space on that line they write a number equal to double the number of lines that pass through that station box.
• If a circle is revealed, the player writes nothing in an indicator box and draws a ◯ in any empty station box.

At the end of a turn, if a player has finished a subway line by reaching the final space, they announce this to all players, then score the larger of the two bonuses for this line; all other players cross out the large bonus and can score the small bonus for themselves if they complete this line later. Multiple players can score a line's bonus on the same turn. If the indicator card has a shuffle icon on it, shuffle all of the indicator cards together before the next turn.

Once all the indicator boxes are filled, the game ends. Players tally their points scored for completing lines and for writing numbers in boxes, then lose points based on the number of empty spaces that remain on their sheet. Whoever has the highest score wins!

At the end of the century, we brothers are suffering from food shortages and have decided to live by eating only sweets — but sweets are limited as well, so let's make the best of it by going halfsies. Can we do that? With me possibly getting slightly more than half? After all, when the mountain of sweets has run out, whoever has the most sweets wins!

Players start with a deck of 76 cards, with the values ranging from 0-8, along with a few 11s, and with the numbers 2-4 appearing most frequently. Shuffle the deck, then place ten cards on the bottom of the deck at a 90º angle from the other cards.

For the first turn, the active player ("elder brother") reveals the top card to all players, then takes that card in hand along with three other cards. The elder brother then splits the cards into two face-down piles, offering one pile to a younger brother (the player on the left) and keeping the other pile. If younger brother accepts the split, the elder brother places their cards aside in a scoring pile, then the younger brother takes their pile into their hand, draws cards to fill their hand to four, then becomes the elder brother and offers a split with the brother on their left.

If the younger brother doesn't accept the split, then reveal the cards in the two piles. If the elder brother kept the larger share for himself, then you get to split that elder brother's share in half, discarding the larger half (if you can't split it evenly) to punish him for being unfair. If the elder brother's share was only a single card, then discard that card.

If, however, the elder brother had split the pile evenly or favored the younger brother, then the younger brother's pile is split in half or discarded as punishment as described above. The elder brother keeps their share, then retains their role as elder brother, with the next player in clockwise order taking the role of younger brother. The elder brother reveals the top card, etc.

When you start drawing from the ten cards that had been turned 90º, continue play until the player to the right of the first elder brother has either received a share in the role of elder brother, or doubted what was given to them, then resolved that situation. Everyone then tallies their points to see who collected the most sweets!