River Valley Glassworks: a Cozy Family Game
Today we take a look at River Valley Glassworks from Allplay. This gem of a game was designed by Adam Hill (Motor City), Ben Pinchback (Three Sisters), and Matt Riddle and illustrated by Andrew Bosley (Everdell). In River Valley Glassworks players are collecting glass pieces from a river in order to have the best collection of glass.
Setup
This game is designed for 8+ so the setup is fairly easy to accomplish. The game comes with a lake tile and 6 river tiles. To get them set up one of the players shuffles up the river tiles and connects them to the lake tile one behind the other creating a river that ends in a lake. There is a small deign feature on each of the double sided river tiles, one or two rocks in the river that indicate how many random pieces of glass get put on each tile. There is a bag that that all the glass pieces get put into between 120 and 132 will be in the bag depending on how many player are playing. They are various shapes and one of 8 colors (9 colors if there are 5 players). After the tiles are setup and the starting glass is setup each player takes a player board and inventory marker (to track how many glass pieces they have collected). The players boards are all the same except the darling art on them.
To finish setup there are five random pieces of glass placed on the lake tile and 3 random pieces placed on each players satchel marker. No the players are ready to start the game and the player who last saw a river takes the first player marker and starts the game.
Game Play
Playing River Valley Glassworks couldn't be easier. Scoring is a little trick but still not very complex at all. When the game was set up there were 6 river tiles placed in a row leading to the lake tile. Each of the river tiles has a white outline of a shape that corresponds to the shapes of the glass pieces. A player on their turn plays a glass piece from their satchel tile on to a river tile that has a matching shape to the piece they choose from the satchel. Then the player takes all the glass pieces from one of the adjacent tiles.
Playing River Valley Glassworks couldn't be easier.
The glass pieces a player acquired from the river tiles are then placed on that players player board. Players will create columns of the same color starting from the left and working right. There is space for 7 different colors on each player board. But wait didn't I say there was 8 or 9 colors? That is right, so players need to be strategic in what they pick up. The glass pieces that don't fit because a player doesn't have room in a column or they have 7 colors and they picked up an 8th those end up in the overflow section on the player board. These overflow pieces are negative points at the end of the game.
Scoring is a little tricky but really easy after you figure it out the first time. Players count the two highest columns and count the points under the highest piece from each of those columns. If there is a tie then use the column that is further left. Then players will score the rows. Starting from the top and working down player will score each row for how far it goes to the right. The rows only score if they are unbroken left to right. For example if you have in row 2 a piece in the first second and fourth column then you will score points only for the first and second column. Do this for each row as long as they have a piece in the first column. Then subtract 3 points for each of the pieces in the overflow area.
Thoughts
We love this game. Its a perfect family weight game. My 5 year old understands it and is starting to pick up on some light strategy in the game. The game can offer higher levels of strategy especially if you were to get the "and other Sundries" expansion for it which offers new rules and ways to play River Valley Glassworks. This light weight game plays fairly quick making it a great apéritif to a great game night. I love that the glass pieces have shape and color and that they are used in different ways through the game. Its a smart design choice. The decision making space is limited however in this case it adds to the fun and flow of the game.
River Valley Glasworks is a darling game that is perfect for the family and works well for a game night. We have been playing it a lot before school, after school and at the bar for game night. This game is versatile especially if you pick up the mini expansion for the game that adds six new ways to play the game. There is a deluxe version of the game available with the playmat and upgraded components. I recommend adding the cozy River Valley Glassworks to your collection.
Players: 1-5
Year Published: 2024
Recommended Ages: 8+
Time to Play: 25 minutes
Bert's Tabletop games was provided a review copy of River Valley Glassworks by Allplay. The game depicted here is a retail copy of the game.
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