New Game Round-up: Karesansui Rocks, Sharks Attack in RYŪ & Tasty Minstrel Buys City Hall

In a galaxy far far away, there is a planetary system composed of a great big sun and nine minor planets, four of which have been developed as mercantile planets more or less under the control of politicians and guilds. On each of these planets are a merchant guild, a guild of smugglers, a bazaar and the galactic government, and players can take special actions on each of these planets.

In RYŪ, a game of negotiation, bluffing and dice-drafting, players each represent one of the other five planets in this star system, with each planet having a different type of humanoid – such as sharks, amazons and meka goblins – and its own unique influences. These planets are open to prospecting, and with the proper financing players will be able to dig the resources they need to build their own RYŪ, a mother ship composed of "Rare Metal", "Memory Stone", and "Amber Magic". Players will need to cooperate with one another to raise the necessary resources, but they must also work for themselves in order to maintain an advantage over other players. Once assembled, the RYŪ comes to life as a living spaceship, and its owner wins the game.

As Grade Two monastery initiates in Karesansui – the cutthroat game of Zen gardening – it will be your great honor to tend the Masters' rock gardens. Each morning the Grade Ones arrive with rocks they've gathered, then haul away the rocks that you don't need anymore – but there aren't enough Grade One initiates to go around, so there will be competition for the best selection of rocks. The Grade Ones will give their new rocks to whoever gives them the fewest old rocks to haul away.

Keep in mind while creating your garden, however, that certain combinations of rocks must be avoided! Every afternoon, the Feng Shui Masters come by to check your work. You'll receive demerits for any forbidden combinations – but you'll also receive demerits for your laziness if you don't add new stones each day, so you must find a balance.

The Masters' final evaluation will come with no advance warning. The Initiate who has the fewest demerits will advance to Grade Three, while the one with the most demerits will be kicked down to Grade One, joining the others in the daily search for new rocks...

As for why I published this on BGG News, Falch had posted on the Up Front KS page that he was preparing a statement, and I thought something like that deserved to be seen by as many people as possible, so I offered to publish the statement. Effectively his statement – labeled as an article on BGGN and not that different from a opinion column by a politician or businessperson in a newspaper – is a promise to people, and we'll all see how it holds up in the months ahead. If the KS campaign blows up, then Falch (and Valley and Radiant) will have defaced themselves in a highly public manner; if not, then there's still the underlying lawsuits that will be resolved in time one way or another.