Alderac Entertainment Group has announced two new board game releases for summer: Pagoda and Istanbul.
 
Pagoda, designed by Arve D. Fühler, casts players in the role of architects out to impress the Emperor of China by building the most extravagant pagodas possible in the short time before he visits.  In this fast-paced game of tactics for two players, architects use three dimensional towers to build up to six pagodas and score the most points.
 
The box contains 2 architect boards, 55 cards, 125 wooden columns, 12 wooden markers, 25 pagoda tiles, 2 50/100 point tokens, a game board, a starting player marker and a rulebook.
 
The game is for two players, ages 10 and up, and plays in 30- 45 minutes.  MSRP has not been announced.
 
Istanbul, designed by Rudiger Dorn (Goa, Traders of Genoa, Arkadia), is a resource management game where two to five players compete as merchants making deals in the bazaar district of Istanbul, then using their assistants to swiftly transport goods from the warehouses to their destinations and return for another load.  Each merchant has four assistants, who must be dropped off to perform actions, and picked up again to be reused.  The goal is to be the first to collect a certain number of rubies.
 
The box contains 16 place tiles, 5 wheelbarrows, 15 wheelbarrow extensions, 26 bonus cards, 16 mosque tiles, 10 demand tiles, coins, 5 merchants, 25 assistants, 5 family members, 20 good indicators, 4 mail indicators, 5 overviews, 32 rubies, 7 stickers, a governor, a smuggler, 2 six-sided dice, a starting player marker and a rulebook.
 
The game is for 2 – 5 players, ages 10 and up, and plays in 40 – 60 minutes.  MSRP has not been announced.