✨River of Gold✨
Designer⚙️: Keith Piggott
Artists🎨: Francesca Baerald
[ @officedoggames ] 2-4 players
Simplicity in games is something that I've been gravitating towards lately in my board games. That's not to say I don't enjoy the wonderful offerings that a good, complex game brings. When I talk about simplicity in this instance I'm speaking of ease of play/learning. River of Gold reignited this interest in me.
River of Gold is a gorgeous production, which at first glance of the board looks much more complicated than it is. On your turn you'll have a die that dictates where you can trade goods or how far you can move down the river. There are of course ways to mitigate this die, but this really helps to streamline your decisions during the game. With the option to be able to change course if need be.
Based on where you build things you'll go up on various tracks on the right side of the board which earn you victory points at the end of the game. There are also public goals everyone is racing towards. The game will end when the two stacks of buildings are gone, so you can if you want, rush the game along to hopefully cut off your opponents from gaining more.
What I love though is the way the buildings bring about a positive player interaction. If you land on a building someone else owns you both gain benefits from them. So a big part of the game is building up the resources and actions you can take. It's lovely.
River of Gold runs like a well oiled machine. It's a breeze to teach, has a perfect run time with 45 minutes to an hour, and is one of those games that gives you a great thinky feeling without ever overwhelming you with decisions. It feels like an old dear friend coming to visit and I suspect it will bring many fond memories to many tables.
