5 of the coolest designer board games to play at Tabletop Cafe

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Afshan Ahmed rounds up five of the coolest designer board games available to play at Tabletop Cafe.

• These games and more are available at Back To Games in Abu Dhabi (www.backtogames.com) and Book World by Kinokuniya in Dubai Mall. (uae.kinokuniya.com)

Dead of Winter

Dh259

Released in 2014, this strategy game requires players to work together to ensure the survival of the world. Designed by Jonathan Gilmour and Isaac Vega for Plaid Hat Games, Dead of Winter is set in a post-apocalyptic colony that is terrorised by zombies. Players assume the role of colony leaders fighting for their lives. The game, for two to five players, can last for about two hours.

Dominion

Dh195

In this fast-paced, medieval-themed, deck-building card game, designed by Donald Vaccarino and published by Rio Grande Games, each player gets a deck of cards that are used to perform actions that accumulate points towards earning ultimate victory. The game, which was released in 2008, has won several awards. Up to six people can play.

www.riograndegames.com/Game/278-Dominion

Five Tribes

Dh259

Designed by Bruno Cathala, Five Tribes builds on a long tradition of games that feature wooden “meeples” (small figures used as the players’ tokens in a board game). The game, for two to four players, falls in the “work-placement” genre and requires players to manoeuvre the meeples through villages, markets, oases and sacred places, while summoning djinns that can help displace the other tribes and ultimately take control of the Sultanate.

Codenames

Dh86

In this popular party game, players are divided into teams with two rival spymasters who know the secret identities of 25 agents. Teams compete to make contact with all their agents using one-word clues, supplied by the spymasters, which hint at multiple words on the board. The game, which works best with between two and eight players, was nominated for the 2016 SXSW Tabletop Game of the Year award.

Machi Koro

From Dh85

Players are tasked with developing their cities, with the aim of completing all of the landmarks faster than their rivals. Each player rolls a dice and then takes action corresponding to the number and the wealth they have. For two to four players.