Vendor: Gryphon Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 27.95

Take It Easy is a staff favorite and an excellent and accessible game for all levels of players. This is a new edition of the out-of-print favorite, a true multi-player solitaire game in which each player individually completes a hexagon-shaped board with spots for 19 hexagon tiles.

The box comes with materials for six players, but there's no limit to number of players if you've got enough sets on hand which makes it an excellent choice for game nights, families and parties (Take It Easy has been played by over 250 gamers simultaneously at the renowned Gathering of Friends annual gaming event!).

One person (the caller, who may also play) randomly draws one of 27 tiles featuring colored/numbered pipes crossing in three directions. Each player then places a tile on his hexagonal board, with the goal of connecting the colored lines edge to edge. Placement continues and increasingly tough choices ensue until the hexes are filled, and scoring is calculated by multiplying the number on the tile with the number of tiles in the completed line. As accessible as Bingo, but with color, strategy and a lot more fun!

Game Components:

• 6 colorful Game Boards
• 6 identical sets of 27 Hexagonal Tiles
• 1 Rule Booklet

Vendor: HUCH! & friends
Type: Board Games
Price: 46.95

Kamisado Max features the same goal as Kamisado — be the first to move one of your octagonal "dragon" towers to the opposite side of the board — but the game board is now 10x10 (instead of 8x8) with new movement rules.

In general, the towers move in lines, either straight forward or diagonally forward. The twist is that you must move the tower of the color matching the space on which the opponent moved on her previous turn. As the game progresses, you'll find that the routes you want to use are blocked by enemy towers — and sometimes your own! If you can't move, your opponent moves again immediately, moving the tower matching the color of the space occupied by the stymied tower.

Vendor: Burley Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 31.95

This game takes "Take it Easy!" as a basis and adds three new elements. First of all the tiles are octagonal, with four scoring lines running through them. Secondly, the center of the tiles are either silver or gold giving you additional bonus points once you score a colored line where all the tile centers are silver or gold (9/10 bonus points per tile). Finally, when you complete a colored line, you might be able to put a rocket ship of the corresponding color on the tile you just placed. These rockets are available from the start of the game on numbered circles on the individual playing boards. At the end of the game you will receive bonus points for the highest empty space that has no rocket ships lower than it.

Vendor: Burley Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 57.95

Take it to the Limit is an advanced version of Take it Easy!. Compared to the original game the boards are bigger in terms of the number of hexagonal spaces. There are 64 tiles in each set, with four different colors running in each direction. These tiles are subdivided evenly into ‘moon’ tiles and ‘sun’ tiles. There are also a number of Gold and Silver bonus tiles. If you complete scoring rows in all three directions through these tiles, then you can also add the bonus values to your total!

The individual playing boards are double-sided, so you can choose to play on the challenging ‘Nexus’ board (45 minutes), or on the stylish Orchid board for a quicker and distinctly different game (25 minutes).

When playing on the Nexus board, all 64 tiles are used. You can enhance your score by skillful use of the Gold and Silver bonus tiles and by cunningly interlacing ‘sunrays’ and ‘moonbeams’ with your other scoring rows. If it all seems to be going desperately wrong, you can dispose of unwanted tiles by placing them in your ‘Scrap Yard’. But beware - an ‘untidy’ scrapyard can cost you penalty points!

When playing on the Orchid board, choose either the ‘sun’ or ‘moon’ tiles. The special orchid symbols allow you to set aside unwanted tiles, with an option to increase your score by relocating them at the end of the game.

Vendor: FoxMind
Type: Board Games
Price: 39.95

Just as the Four in a Square suggests, you want to be the first player to form a square with four balls of your color.

On a turn, you place a ball of your color in an empty spot, then slide a board tile to try to get four of your color in a square. That's it!

Kamisado is a game of pure skill and strategy! There are no dice, cards or any other chance element. It’s just you against your opponent! The aim in each round is to be the first to get an octagonal ‘dragon tower’ to the opposite side of the board, by moving the towers in straight lines, either forwards or diagonally forwards. It sounds easy doesn’t it, but the twist is that you can only move a tower if its colour matches the colour of the square that your opponent last moved to. Also, you will find that the routes you want to use are blocked by enemy towers (and sometimes your own!). As the game unfolds, your towers will be promoted to ‘Sumos’, and will have the ability to push your opponent's pieces backwards, earning you extra turns. The situations continue to become more complex and challenging, until one player accumulates the required winning total and can be declared a ‘Kamisado Grand Master’ - until the next game!

Vendor: Gryphon Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 25.95

It's really difficult to succinctly describe this game -- so take a look at the pictures! Take It Easy is a true multi-player solitaire in which each player individually completes a hexagon-shaped board with spots for 19 hexagon tiles. There's no limit to number of players if you've got enough sets on hand. One person (the caller) draws a tile randomly and tells the others which of the 27 tiles featuring colored/numbered lines crossing in three directions, with numbers from 1 to 9, it is. "The 9-8-7," for example. Each player then chooses which empty spot on his own board he'll play the 9-8-7. This is repeated until the boards are filled.

The idea is to complete same-numbered lines across your board. Scoring is calculated by multiplying the number on the tile with the number of tiles in the completed line. A complete column of three 9s is worth 27, for example... but a lot of players will hope for five 9s to fill the big column down the middle.

Take It Easy is often compared to Bingo because of the familiar pattern of a number being called and then everybody looking at their cards to play it, and then scoring if a line is completed. But that's as far as the comparison goes. Bingo is sheer luck; Take It Easy is a game of skill.