by Bobby Warren
I liked this game from the time I first played it, but I don't think it was a stellar choice for the Spiel des Jahres. I have The Spirits of Niagara expansion and have never played using it.
The goal of the game is to collect gems down the river and fight the current to bring them back to starting point. There are different winning conditions, either collect four gems of the same color, five different color gems, or seven total gems.
The players have seven cards in their starting hand: one cloud and a cards numbered one through six.
To move the boats, the players play one of their movement cards face down and then are revealed and the players take turns moving both of their canoes the number of spaces equal to the card played. A gem can be loaded onto a canoe before or after moving the canoe, and it takes two movement points. When a player plays a cloud they move river speed track up or down one space. The cards are discarded won't be used again until all seven cards have been played, when they will all be available again.
If a player's canoe ends on a space with another player's canoe they can steal the gem from that player.
After all the players have moved, the river is moved. It moves a number of spaces equal to the lowest number card played by the players and between minus one and plus two spaces.
It plays three to five players, and the expansion adds a sixth player.
Last week's selection
Yes, I am a weenie.
I might have chosen Small World as the game of the week and it did get played. But I didn't and I won't count it as one of the chosen ones. :)
Games played last week
• Can't Stop
• Finstere Flure
• Knights
• Quarriors w/Quarmageddon, & Rise of the Demons x3
• Small World w/Be Not Afraid..., Cursed!, & the Grand Dames of Small World
• Snow Tails
• Würfel Bohnanza x3