Hope Island

In Hope Island you lead a handful of survivors who wash up on what may be the last dry land. Guided by Hope the healer and five other distinct characters, you rebuild from ruins—raising homes and shared landmarks to turn a barren rock into a living city. Game play Each round one die color sets the tone for all players, then everyone calculates build power (die result, boosted by matching-color houses and reduced by specials; minimum 1). From a shared market you may take up to two buildings (houses or specials) and immediately place them on your personal grid: one tile per space, no building on ruins, and special buildings may not be orthogonally adjacent to other specials. When a special touches a contiguous group of enough houses, it forms a district—scoring that district and granting a choice of bonus (remove a ruin from your board or draw a new goal card). An optional mode adds asymmetry: each character has a simple, once-per-round special ability that nudges timing, dice, or placement. Goal & endgame The game ends when a player fills their board or when at least four building types are exhausted from the market. Final scoring totals district points, contiguous same-color building groups, completed goal cards, and bonus for any ruins removed from your board. Highest score wins; standard tiebreakers apply. —description from the publisher