New Game Round-up: Ravensburger - Foxy Card-Playing, Crafty City-Running, Sneaky Dungeon-Crawling & Inexplicable Frog-Tapping

In more detail, the deck contains 104 number cards (1-13 x8) and five joker cards. Each player starts with a hand of 13 cards, and six cards are laid face-up next to the deck. On a turn, a player lays down one or more cards of the same value, adding jokers if desired; if she already has cards on the table, she lays these cards so that previously played cards are still visible. If any opponent has most recently played the same number of cards and those cards are of a lower value, then the active player "abluxxes" those opponents — that is, the active player can take the abluxxed cards into her hand and the opponent then draws the same number of cards, either from the display or the deck; if she doesn't take these cards in hand, then the opponent either returns these cards to his hand or discards them and draws that many cards. Refill the display only after someone finishes drawing cards. (Jokers can be played on their own, and they are considered to be higher than all values.)

As soon as the deck runs out of cards or a player has no cards in hand, the game ends immediately, even if the player would normally abluxx an opponent. Each player scores one point for each card on the table in front of him, then loses one point for each card in hand. Whoever has the highest score wins. If players wish, they can play multiple rounds and sum their scores over the rounds to determine a winner.

Cartagena takes as its theme the famous 1672 pirate-led jailbreak from the fortress of Cartagena. Each player has a group of six pirates, and you want to be the first to have all six escape through the tortuous underground passage that connects the fortress to the port, where a sloop is waiting for them.

To move a pirate, you need to play a card from your hand. Each card bears one of six symbols (dagger, pirate hat, etc.), and when you play a card, you move one of your pirates forward to the matching symbol in the tunnel, leapfrogging over matching symbols where another pirate already stands. The only way to get more cards, however, is to move backwards; more specifically, you move one of your pirates backwards to the first space that holds one or two pirates, drawing one or two cards after doing so. Each turn, you take 1-3 actions, whether moving forward or backward or both.

When you move a pirate to the end of the track, it jumps on the sloop where it must await the other pirates in its crew. With every step toward victory, though, you have fewer and fewer pirates to move each turn, possibly locking you in to actions you don't want, so be sure to plan ahead and not leave yourself empty-handed!