For Caribbean, it looks like dominos would be the spine. For two or four players. All fours card game from Trinidad. Bunch of dudo, what you know as liar's dice, first morning. That's the one South American element. Mancala in there. Some ludi I suppose. Dominos for hero. Limited themed prizes, although lots of drinks. Drinkin' Dragons can be bent toward Caribbean - look at the themed characters. Sailboat mystery. Aqualin as a mystery game, and somebody out there is going to suggest Reef. Tobago begs to have a role. Some Caribbean music here and there.
 
 

Africa and Middle East theme? I'm listening anyway.

What would just Africa be like? Mancala would obviously be the spine. Mancala is not exactly a game, but a family of similar games, not just two rows. Yoté and fanorona get a lot of respect at Oak Games. Did you know that Jenga comes from Africa? I tend to forget Dara, which functions like nine men's morris but has the same equipment (?) as yoté. Seega from Egypt. We'll bend the rules and include that African musicians game from Reiner Knizia.

Middle East would involve the ancient Royal Game of Ur. Backgammon. Have you seen one of those Syrian backgammon boards? Mancala. Carrom came from India but is played by at least Gulf Arabs. Alquerque/El Kirkat ~ comes from Egypt, but I don't know if it's played in the Middle East. I'm happy to bend the rules and include Through The Desert from Reiner Knizia. The Iraqi ring game mahabis doesn't quite belong at an Oak Games tournament.
 

Part of the story of chess was in the Middle East ("shah mat"). I always liked that the powerful queen was called a vizier (advisor) instead.

There are three arguments in favour of combining Africa with the Middle East. 1) It adds body, more games, different types 2) Places like Egypt are in both Africa and the Middle East 3) Mancala is closely associated with Africa, but the Middle East has a strong claim to it.
 
 
 
 

Why bother with themes? Well, reasons, which I can't necessarily explain. There's the whole prizes angle. It also has a way of pulling in games that I wouldn't normally bother with, like cards and dominos, Japanese Oink games, table hockey, Go. That adds colour. Having said that, a themeless event is good too.
 
 
 
 

Spacy science fiction theme? No. That's somebody else's project. Would tie in nicely with a books prize. And fantasy? Getting away from abstract games :-(  Did you know that Tak came from a fantasy novel?
 
 
 
 

Ocean theme? No, but worth mentioning. It would wind up being ocean and islands.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

There is a long list of games. So how many games would a participant play?

We're talking games played for the team. Three game encounters per half day. One or so for the last morning. So thirteen game encounters. The number of types of games played by a participant would be, oh I don't know, ten. The number of games a participant could prepare for before the tournament is nine - note the last morning activities.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is big. What about a scaled down version of an Oak Games tournament, closer to the original vision? Four teams of five or six, straightforward playing tabletop games for the team over one day. How would the schedule and players work? The prizes situation would be different. Strictly OG games is an option, ~ sixteen game types (not those hunt games, for the record).

Say goodbye to certain games with larger player counts.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I could think of a neat set of games for a scaled-down Oak Games tournament with an African theme. African and OG games, slight majority OG, some overlap, some neither. A given team would play four mancalas, and there would be five games with a checkers look: choko, yoté x 2, dara, seega. Two or so fanoronas. Jenga. Roll and move Hyena is unfortunately a no, even as a demonstration game. A tailored set of OG games, plus a surprise or two, trivia. It's like getting the right ingredients for a recipe. That Reiner Knizia game would be part of the prize package.
 
 

Let's consider a scaled-down Oak Games tournament with a European theme. A lot of games and countries. Maybe split into two events. The whole team playing five GIPF games at once! Malefiz, likely not for points.
 
 

Billiards/pool/snooker? I don't know.

U.S.A.. Poker, for a scary amount of points. Tak, Shobu, Boop, the old Camelot. Can't Stop. Sabotage can make its case. Something physical. Cornhole seems most thematic, but pool is better.