Elfinwerks has two games arriving in stores this week: Ristorante Italia and 011.
From Elfinwerks:
It’s time for YOU to put on your chef’s hat and mix up the ultimate Italian meal with Ristorante Italia! You are the manager and head chef of a new Italian restaurant, hoping to make your mark on the culinary world. Your ultimate goal is to wow the critics with the greatest Italian meal you can create. But, you must balance your creative drive with the economic realities of keeping your restaurant profitable. Focus too much on making the perfect meal and you won’t have the funds you need. But concentrate on growing your business and you won’t have the artistic feast the critics demand!
The game is played over four “seasons.” In each season, you will have six actions to improve your restaurant and your menu. You can learn new recipes, take a cooking class to improve your skills, go shopping for essential ingredients, or even add dining rooms for extra income. At season’s end, if you have collected the right ingredients you can prepare new dishes, just in time to impress the critics.
At the end of the game, you must prepare a single meal—the best you can put together—to complete in the national cooking competition. The best chef will earn the coveted “Golden Spoon!”
The winner will be the player who has created the best menu. You can earn bonuses from the critics, by growing your cooking skill, and by matching the perfect wine to each dish. The player with the highest score wins the game!
Elfinwerks other title of interest – and it does sound interesting yet a bit out there – is 011.
But the lost book hints of a way to halt the prophecy: if someone can compose “The Song of Making” and find the only person who can play it on the “Inscrutable Organ of Eternity”—a mysterious pipe organ hidden somewhere in Turin—the final battle of the gods can be delayed for another age!
But who is this Chosen One who alone can play the song, and where is the mysterious organ?
Now Captain Snowy, the Princess Lilja, the brilliant inventor Pählson, the detective Koleberg, the charming Lady Lewis, Professor Johnsson, the unforeseeable Mr. Vidal, and the phantasmagoric Doctor Vikstrom are in a race to choose the world’s destiny. But one of these eight has been swayed by the spirit of Fenrir, casting aside the future of humanity for the promise of immortality! The battle for the final truth has begun!
011 is an investigative adventure for 3–6 players. But remember: even though the heroes all have the same objective, this is not a cooperative game!
Defeat can be for all, but victory will only be for one!
To win the game, you must gather the pages of the Song of Making and deliver the Chosen One to the Organ of Eternity (or to the spirit of Fenrir!). You begin with only a small amount of information. Using the eight characters, you must scour the city of Turin for clues to the location of the Organ and the identity of the Chosen One—a task that that will require you to share information with your rivals!
Each round of play opens with an auction for turn order. Your position in the order determines how you are affected by the event card draw, and which characters you will be able to use during the round. Selecting a character gives you access to his or her special ability, and allows you to move through the streets of the city to seek clues. The unique Action Gear system determines the distance your character can move, what mode of transportation you have available, and what action you may take to further your investigation.
You have only 11 rounds to discover the truth and prevent the coming apocalypse.
Locate the Organ, identify the Chosen One, and compose the Song of Making, and victory can be yours. Fail, and all of humanity will suffer the final conflict of the gods!
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