goals and what they could be so there is no way of telling which ones you’ll draw, and it makes the game different on each playthrough. Farmin’ Solo

While Grandpa’s Goals will direct much of your focus, the rest of your time will be spent restoring the community centre. This is done by completing bundles. Each bundle requires specific resources from the various mini games on the board. The pantry pushes you to farm certain crops, the fish tank requires you to catch the right type of fish, the vault needs money, the boiler room will want something from the mine, and so on. Alternatively, the icons can negatively affect the game by introducing Joja tiles. These are tiles which reduce the usefulness of a particular location on the board whilst they are active. They can be removed as an end of turn effect by discarding 1 heart or 5 gold. If you have drawn a festival card during the season phase, it will have one single effect which is written on the card. That isn’t to say that you need to have played the video game before. You don’t have to have any idea what a Junimo or Joja cola is before you can enjoy this brilliant game. It is beautifully designed and can be appreciated with or without any prior knowledge of the Stardew Valley universe. Set Up First, place the board in the middle of the table and beside it the Stardew dice, animal dice and spouse pawn. Make sure that you leave plenty of space around the board. Shuffle the villagers, items, epic items, events, and mine events cards.

Graded Cards

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Isn’t Stardew a slow, chill farming social game?”. Yes, you’re right but the board game takes that and throws it on its head and makes it a race against time where you have to finish a certain amount of difficult tasks that take time and concentration to get done. I know that might put some people off, but this is no small game. The game takes up to 2 hours to complete and is constant planning and resource management but with a theme like this how can you hate that!

If you’ve never played the original video game then I would still say that this is perfect for you (and so would many others based on it constantly being sold out) and is a really fun game. The board game is co-op and is quite challenging too so don’t let the cutesy stylised art throw you off, this game will make you think and strategize to get to win. To complete the game, all 4 of Grandpa’s Goals must be completed and all 6 of the Community Centre rooms must be restored. The rooms are restored when donations of the items on the cards are made equal to the number of players. The room requirements start off hidden and are unveiled as you play. In 2016, Stardew Valley-the solo creation of indie designer ConcernedApe became one of the most successful games of its kind ever to hit consoles and introduced a generation of gamers to the joys of small-town communities and living off the land. Part of the challenge of Stardew Valley is looking for ways to use what you have. Instead of doggedly rolling dice to no avail each round, maybe a new friend could help you. Maybe next season you’ll get an upgrade to overcome the problem, or help you avoid the problem entirely.Stardew Valley is a surprisingly complex and heady game, given its theme, and the balance has been finely tuned. Yes, it can be frustrating to fail multiple times to catch a fish, but the game has taken this into account with its myriad of different powers, upgrades, rewards and items. I am a huge fan of Stardew Valley– the video game and was apprehensive about the concept of turning it into a board game. But, after playing, I can say that the board game is as good, if not better than the original video game. To collect from animals, players need to create buildings and buy animals. These actions can be taken at locations on the board and are likely to require players to work together to obtain what they need to be able to achieve their goal. The Boiler Room In the planning phase, players can trade resource tiles or item cards. Although players collectively share hearts and gold, a player’s inventory is theirs individually and can be filled. There is space for 6 resources, 2 items, and 2 upgrades. There is no limit to epic items, friends or kept event cards. A starting tool begins at level 0 and can be upgraded as an end of turn effect. As well as trading, the planning phase allows players to discuss their plans for their next turn. There are plenty of ways to spend actions on a turn in Stardew Valley, and Grandpa’s Goals direct the focus of a game. If you have a goal of raising animals, you’ll need to build a barn. This means you’ll be chopping wood and focusing on making money. If your goal is to restore the museum, you’ll want to visit the mine or forage for buried artifacts.

I’ll try and keep this review short and simple as there’s a lot to talk about and if I don’t contain myself then I’ll end up going forever! Farming On Steroids Stardew Valley: The Board Game has one crucial difference from the original. The video game was all about taking time to explore the world. You could dedicate hours to fishing at the lake and never worry about the mines or the community centre. But the board game is a tight race to the finish line and wasting time at the lake isn’t an option when there are animals to rear and crops to be harvested. I couldn’t help but mention the solo mode of Stardew Valley. It plays the exact same as the normal way to play but still makes it fun and at a good level of difficulty too. Who doesn’t just LOVE a good ol’ solo mode on a game too!? There are a ton of cards and tokens, each a reference to resources available in the video game. You can even marry your favourite villager if you can find the elusive mermaid pendant.

Puzzle Pieces

But is this difference bad? I appreciate that this is a surprisingly heavy game under the fluffy theme. It would have been easy to slap the Stardew brand on a Monopoly board and call it a day, but the developers challenged themselves with something more and the result is a lot of fun. Once decided, place your pawn on the location in which you want to start. During your action phase you will be able to move 1 space but no further. When all players have placed their pawn the action phase begins. Action Phase To obtain hearts, players must make friends with the other villagers in Town. Spend 1 action in Town to turn over a Villager card. Each Villager will tell you what types of gifts they love and hate by the left and right hand sides of their card.

Next, take a parsnip from the tile tray and place it on the field marked with the number “2” next to the cottage on the board. Congratulations – you have planted your first crop! Make sure that the crop tile down has the waterdrop on the bottom left facing upwards. This waterdrop tells players in which field the crop should first be planted. Crop tiles are double sided and start this way up.The actions available at each location are marked on the board. At the farm, a player can water crops or collect from animals. At the mountain, a player can explore the mine, buy buildings or go fishing at the lake. And so on. The actions you choose to take are likely to be targeted at completing either the 4 Grandpa’s Goals or the rooms within the Community Centre and will thus differ depending on which items are required. The best part of getting a new board game for me is opening the box and pushing out all the brand new pieces. If you’re like me, don’t fear because Stardew Valley gives you plenty of them! On your first playthrough, you will need to sort the pieces into the various trays and bags provided. Now you can start to set up the game. Rewards include stone, Bug Meat, Ore, Geodes, Items or Mine events. If the outcome is a monster the monster ability on the Mine level card is triggered. Mine levels are changed when staircases are used and a new Map Card is revealed. Ore can be opened by visiting Clint and a roll of the Stardew dice will determine what is inside.