{"title":"Staff Picks!","description":"\u003cp\u003eCheck out some of Challenges Recommended Picks by our team!\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"188275765","title":"Takenoko","description":"\u003cp\u003eA long time ago at the Japanese Imperial court, the Chinese Emperor offered a giant panda bear as a symbol of peace to the Japanese Emperor. Since then, the Japanese Emperor has entrusted his court members (the players) with the difficult task of caring for the animal by tending to his bamboo garden.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eTakenoko\u003c\/em\u003e, the players will cultivate land plots, irrigate them, and grow one of the three species of bamboo (Green, Yellow, and Pink) with the help of the Imperial gardener to maintain this bamboo garden. They will have to bear with the immoderate hunger of this sacred animal for the juicy and tender bamboo. The player who manages his land plots best, growing the most bamboo while feeding the delicate appetite of the panda, will win the game.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Challenges Games and Comics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44667899936939,"sku":"7QRRDWAHA6C7T","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/6236\/7403\/files\/1400145028.jpg?v=1730758404"},{"product_id":"373788044","title":"Tsuro","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the publisher:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA beautiful and beautifully simple game of laying a tile before your own token to continue its path on each turn. The goal is to keep your token on the board longer than anyone else's, but as the board fills up this becomes harder because there are fewer empty spaces left... and another player's tile may also extend your own path in a direction you'd rather not go. Easy to introduce to new players, Tsuro lasts a mere 15 minutes and actually does work for any number from 2 to 8.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTheme:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTsuro has an Asian spiritual theme - the lines representing the \"many roads that lead to divine wisdom\", and the game as a whole representing \"the classic quest for enlightenment\".\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis theme is very light and the game essentially plays as an abstract.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGameplay:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe game consists of tiles with twisting lines on them, a 6x6 grid on which to lay these tiles and a token for each player. Each player has a hand of tiles. On your turn you do two things: place a tile from your hand onto the board next to your token and move your token as far as it can go along the line it is currently on, until it is stopped by an empty space with no tile in (yet), the edge of the board or colliding with another player's token. If your token reaches the edge of the board or collides with another player's token, you are out of the game. The aim of the game is to be the last player left with a token on the board. Strategy therefore consists of trying to drive your opponents either into each other or off the board whilst extending your own route in directions that will make it difficult for your opponents to do the same.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOther notes:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTsuro was originally patented by McMurchie in 1979 under the name Squiggle Game, but was apparently not published at that time. Somewhat similar to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/boardgamegeek.com\/boardgame\/559\/metro\"\u003eMetro\u003c\/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/boardgamegeek.com\/boardgame\/10486\/spaghetti-junction\"\u003eSpaghetti Junction\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Calliope Games","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44667905015979,"sku":"F8D8MA4C5C35T","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/6236\/7403\/files\/2873720570.jpg?v=1730758570"},{"product_id":"roll-for-it-purple-edition-roll-it-match-it-score-it","title":"Roll For It (Purple Edition) - Roll it! Match It! Score it!","description":"","brand":"Calliope Games","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45442415296683,"sku":null,"price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/6236\/7403\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_ed7a24c7-0b97-4924-9f41-981189b3460c.jpg?v=1779039835"},{"product_id":"roll-for-it-red-edition-roll-it-match-it-score-it","title":"Roll For It (Red Edition) - Roll it! Match It! Score it!","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRoll For It!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a casual, family-friendly dice and card game. Each player starts the game with six dice of a single color, and three target cards are laid face-up on the table. Players take turns doing the following: On a turn, a player rolls all of her dice not already on cards, then places any dice that match the targets on the corresponding cards. (Alternatively, before taking her turn, a player can first choose to reclaim all of her dice from all cards.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf the player now fulfills the target with her dice – e.g., a pair of 3s, a quartet of 6s, or a specific combination of numbers – she claims the card, takes back her dice (and returns any other dice on the card to their owner), then places a new card on the table. Each card is worth a certain number of points. The first player to earn forty or more points wins!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are two sets of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRoll For It!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eavailable -- the red set comes with translucent dice and the purple set comes with pearl dice. There are no duplicate cards between the sets. Each set allows play for 2-4 players, but when they are combined, up to eight players can compete in the same game of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRoll For It!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Calliope Games","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45442416017579,"sku":null,"price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/6236\/7403\/files\/pic1638562.webp?v=1766174301"}],"url":"https:\/\/challengesgames.com\/collections\/staff-picks.oembed","provider":"Challenges Games \u0026 Comics Int'l, Inc.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}