New Game Round-up: Purple Brain Creations Prepares Hares, Tortoises, Wolves, Ants and a Giant WAT-AAH! to the Face

The Empire of the Moon faces many threats. The Rift has reopened, providing passage for the creatures that have lurked in Shadow for millennia. But the danger also comes from within as the Emperor, son of the Moon, is getting old, and his formerly loyal lords are now trying to seize power. In order to do this, they make their appeal to the warriors known as ninjas, adepts of the way of Shinobi. The clans are finally prepared for war!

As a lord with a thirst for power, in Shinobi WAT-AAH! you plan to place your honorable posterior on the imperial throne. In order to do this, you will appeal to the large clans of ninjas, who will enable you to impose your military strength upon your enemies. To put it simply, your goal is to put a big WAT-AAH! in your enemies' faces!

Shinobi WAT-AAH! includes two game modes:

• Grasshopper Mode lets you get started right away in the art of Shinobi with short games.
• Grand Master Mode trains you over the course of three rounds, leading up to a most surprising final confrontation!

At the start of a race, each player secretly bets on two of four animals: turtle, rabbit, sheep, and duck. One animal is chosen at random for each player, then after receiving a hand of six cards, each player places one of his cards face-down (possibly the same animal) as an additional bet. Players then take turns laying down 1-4 cards, with all cards needing to show the same animal, then refilling the hand to five cards. As soon as seven total cards have been played or four cards of any one animal, the animals move (maybe).

Each animal has a distinct characteristic that players can use to their advantage. The turtle always moves one space, but it moves two if four of its cards were played. The rabbit always moves two spaces — unless four cards are played and it's at the head of the pack, in which case it sleeps and doesn't move. The duck moves as many spaces as the number of cards played. The sheep moves one more space than the number of cards played — but if it reaches grass, it stops moving for the round. (The track consists of eleven road cards, two covered with grass.)

After the animals move, players start a new round of card-playing. A round ends when three of the four animals reach the goal, after which each player scores points based on the ranking of the animals and how he bet. After three rounds, the player with the most points wins.

Little Red Riding Hood and the family of pigs are living peacefully in the village – but one day, a hungry wolf appears who would dearly love to eat someone. Red and the pigs are in danger of being eaten! Rather than surrender to the plate, though, they decide to trap the wolf and shoo him from the village. Can they drive the wolf away – or will they all be eaten?

In Eat Me, If You Can, the wolf player tries to eat one of the other players to score points while the players, being prey, score by trapping the wolf. In each round, one player is the wolf and the other players are given Little Red Riding Hood (worth 3 points), Mother Pig (2 points), or a little piggy (1 point). Each non-wolf player then secretly chooses one of two cards in hand: Will the player sleep and rest, hoping not to be disturbed by the wolf? Or will the player set up a trap, thinking that the wolf will be coming for her? Once the players lay down their cards, the wolf chooses one of the players. If this player went to sleep, the wolf takes points from this player equal to the value of her character; if she set up a trap, on the other hand, she takes points from the wolf. Everyone else who rested this round scores points from the bank for their character — but only if they got their beauty sleep!

Whoever lost points that round becomes the wolf for the next round and hands out the character cards to players as she wishes. As soon as a player has ten or more points, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.