Today, The United States Playing Card Company has announced its first-ever offering of light strategy board games: The Alpha and Exchange. These new games join the Games By Bicycle growing portfolio of titles – Tattoo Stories, It’s Blunderful, and Shuffle Grand Prix. Both games, The Alpha and Exchange will be available to consumers on June, 16th, 2020.

In The Alpha, players control a wolf pack, and they lead the wolves on a search for food. The Near Forest includes easier to catch, but lower value prey. The Far Forest has larger prey that is more difficult to attack, but if successful can result in a great reward. You will lead your wolves through four stages of the hunt which include the STALK where you send your wolves to hunt in various regions of the forest and outnumber rival packs to become dominant in the area. The CHASE where you roll the dice for the region to determine the success of the hunt. RESOLVE has you enter a conflict and decide whether to fight or share food with other packs in the region. Finally, ADVANCE where you can move your wolf on the food track to indicate the amount of food secured during the hunt. At the end of five rounds, the wolf pack with the most food will be declared The Alpha. 

The innovative prisoner’s dilemma mechanic of fighting or sharing food brings thrilling and heart-pumping excitement to The Alpha. The original art was hand-painted by a park ranger, bringing a beautiful authenticity to the flora and fauna represented in the game. This exciting light strategy game is for three to six players and is for ages 10 and up. The Alpha will be available on June 16th, 2020 with a suggested retail price of  $29.99.

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In Exchange, you are a securities trader competing for the highest net worth on Wall Street. Players will carefully plan their strategies over five rounds, trying to cash in big in a constantly changing market. The only thing harder than trying to predict the market is anticipating the actions of your opponents, sitting at the table with you. In the end, the player who corners the market and has the highest net-worth will win the game and the title of the best trader on the Exchange. 

The game lasts a total of five rounds and each round consists of three phases. Phase 1: Select a security; Phase 2: Buy or Sell; Phase 3: Influence the Market. If you really want to get ahead, you can pop the market bubble. If a security increases above the highest value or drops below the lowest value, the Market Bubble “pops” and the price of that security will flip to the other side of the board, resulting in a huge shift in price. The market is constantly changing so each player will need to manage their securities carefully if they want to come out on top in Exchange. Previously self-published, the game has been upgraded with completely new art and high-quality components that improve the game experience. Exchange is for three to six players and is for ages 10 and up. Available for the MSRP of $29.99, Exchange will also be available to consumers on June 16th, 2020.