HexColony

Goal. Be the first to 10 victory points. Settlements are worth 1, cities 2, and the Longest Road and Largest Army cards are worth 2 each.

Setup. Everyone places a settlement and a road down the table, then back up again. Your second settlement pays out its surrounding tiles straight away, so pick it for what you need, not just for what looks pretty.

Each turn. Roll the dice. Every tile showing that number pays its owners — one card per settlement, two per city. Then build, buy, and trade as much as you like before ending your turn.

Rolling a 7. Nobody produces. Anyone holding more than 7 cards throws half away, then you move the robber onto a tile and steal a card from someone built on it. That tile pays nobody until the robber moves on.

Playing without the robber. The host can switch it off before the game starts. Then a 7 costs nobody their cards — there is no discard at all — and instead of moving the robber you simply take one card at random from any player you like. No tile is ever blocked.

Trading. Four of a kind gets you any one card from the bank. Standing on a generic port makes that three, and a matching two-for-one port makes it two. You can also offer a swap to the table on your own turn. At the bank you can put in a whole basket at once — six wood through a 2:1 port buys three cards, and they can be three different ones.

Building. On your turn everywhere you can afford to build lights up on its own — edges for roads, empty corners for settlements, and a gold ring around your own settlements that can become cities. Just tap the board. Costs are listed below, and how many pieces everyone has left is on their card under Players.

Development cards. Buy and play them from Cards. Knights move the robber and count toward Largest Army (three or more). There are also road building, year of plenty and monopoly cards, plus five hidden victory points. A card bought this turn can't be played until your next one.