New Game Round-up: St. Petersburg and Romans Return, Cats Take to the Roof & Players Make Maps Match in Akrotiri

You've not only heard of secret temples hidden around the island of Thera, but you actually have maps that tell you their locations. In order to fund your excavation, you will have to ship resources found on surrounding islands back to the resource-poor island of Thera.

In Akrotiri – which is the dig site on the island of Thera – players place land tiles in order to make the board match the maps that they have in hand. Players earn points by excavating bigger temples and by excavating temples that are further away from Thera. Secret goal cards keep everyone guessing who the victor is until the end!

Akrotiri — part of the Z-Man Games two-player collection — combines tile placement, hand management, and pick-up and delivery.

It's night, and you — a clever cat living on rooftops high above the busy city — have a mission. Your lofty goal is simple: Become the town's "Top Cat". Stealthily moving from roof to roof, stake out as many shelters as you can, connecting with your cat buddies and collecting tribute fish from your fellow felines. With fish, you get valuable cans; collect the most cans and you become Top Cat!

To win Hot Tin Roof, you've got to navigate the right paths, avoid the dangers of the city streets below, and dodge the fishy demands of your hungry rivals. Every game involves different paths to victory, so you better be nimble and quick, curious and catty...and, oh, so clever! After all, just being furry won't make you the best cat on a hot tin roof.

Romans Go Home! is a fun, fast and fighty card game in which the players are Caledonian clans competing to capture the largest and most valuable Roman forts along Hadrian's Wall.

The game is played over three turns. Each turn, a face-up randomized row of six Roman Fort cards is dealt. Each player draws from her own deck of warrior cards, then programs six card plays in advance each turn. The warrior cards each have a battle strength value and a special text effects. Each round, players reveal one of their programmed warrior cards, resolve effects, and see which player has won the fort card for the round. The winning player discards her face-up warrior cards, while the other players retain theirs. Fort cards also have text effects, which are resolved when the fort is won. Players must anticipate their opponent's choices to succeed.