Page 4 - Spielbox Special 2022 - English

Current. Fall Preview 2022
Golden Fall Days Beckoning
IAbacusspiele
n In the trick-taking game St. Patrick, the German version of Salvage, re-
leased last year by London based pub- lishing house La Mame Games, players try to protect themselves with mighty relics from venomous snakebites. In ac- cordance with the classical principle of following suit, they usually try to avoid
having all black as well as two seven cards in their tricks, as each of those lose them one or three life points, respectively.
But they can still be saved if enough relics are collected in a preceding special round. That special round is quite something: Players may take as many
relics as they like, but if that empties the supply entirely, then every- one loses life points equal to the number of relics they took—and the distribution gets repeated. So be too brazen and you’ll get punished, particularly in the light of having only 20 life points to start with. A certain degree of caution is
advisable.
The option “Great Sacrifice” corre-
sponds to a clean sweep in German Ramschskat: Allow yourself to get bitten by all the snakes and be the only one who neither wins nor loses any life points, while all others lose three. The game ends as soon as at least one player runs out of life points. (cc/cs)
QAlley Cat Games uite a marketing coup: Fabio Lopi-
ano and Nestore Man- gone have come up with a game about the Germans’ most sacred object: the Autobahn. Well, that is surely go- ing to be a smash hit in one of the world’s biggest board game markets!
It’s announced by the
publishers as an expert
game and not actually
about the experience of
driving without a speed limit; instead, two to four managers of the Autobahn GmbH of the Federal Republic (or in the early phase of the game, civil servants in the corresponding department of the Federal Ministry of Transport) get busy planning the motorway network after World War II and up until the present day, divided into three eras. A nice de- tail: The highways in the east can only be expanded after Unification in 1990. The goal is to promote your employees to the most lucrative posts. Plus to deliver goods to neighboring countries. To expand the service station system can also prove lu- crative.
In your turn, you play one of your hand cards into an action slot. For example, to build a section of highway. The card color indicates which federal road is extend-
ed. Orange stands for the A3, for example. In conclusion, one of your own employees is placed into the office of the corresponding color, which becomes important at the end of an era as well as the end of the game.
Instead of building new roads, you can widen them to several lanes, establish a service area, load a truck or un- lock an upgrade. At the
end of era III—in 2020 in terms of theme and after 90 to 120 minutes in terms of playing time—you check which of- fices your employees occupy to earn points for supplied neighboring countries, service stations or your remaining assets. Auto- bahn will be delivered to Kickstarter back- ers from November, but there are supposed to be copies available in Essen. (ab/cs)
DAmigo
esigners Wolfgang Kramer and Chris- tian Stöhr have teamed up for the
chili sauce card game Sauscharf (Super Hot). The duo makes two to four players, over ten years of age, cook for about half an hour. There are chili cards numbered from one to thirteen, some of which are laid out on a track at the start of the game. From then on, players bid for the
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Photos: Abacusspiele, Alley Cat Games