One of the first novels to be read in my time as a child was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, set in the second half of the nineteenth century, on the banks of the Mississippi River, on which flowed the large steamers, those with giant wheels that acted as traction.
This is a boat race, playable from 2 to 6 players, for half an hour of abundant play, along the Mississippi River, with the obligation to collect pretty bridesmaids during the journey and ferry them on arrival first, using the coal available.
A game dedicated to the general public, one of the rules is also the possibility of making room for oneself, forcing opponents to go off course.
Nice and crackling, it finds fertile ground in the groups caciaroni for merry raids on the river.
MATERIALS
In the box, of standard size, there are 19 shaped planks that will be used for the progressive construction of the course of the river.
All the planks contain a hexagonal grid and allow the interlocking with continuation in three directions: forward, left and right.
There is a starting bridge, with the five possible starting stalls indicated, and a finishing bridge, with the three mooring piers.
In the river planks there may be some islets and on some of them is represented a pier, with adjoining buildings with red or blue roofs.
Among the indicated planks we also have 6 special ones, which increase the difficulty of the game.
Each player is equipped with a plastic steamboat, those with the side wheels: in the housing of the wheels will be placed 2 hexagonal prisms, with the numbers from 1 to 6, one with the red numbers, representing the speed, to be placed on the left, and the other with the black numbers, representing the load of coal, to be placed on the right.
We also have two other two-dimensional cardboard representations of the boats: a small one to be inserted in the dashboard of the order of duty and a larger one, suitable to accommodate 2 bridesmaids who will be to ferry on arrival.
The bridesmaids, very nice, are white plastic silhouettes, nicely finished.
They finish the equipment with the dashboard of the turn order and a ruler to establish the turn order.
One of the most attractive aspects of the game is the scenic impact, given by the river that gradually reveals its path, the boats on the river and the bridesmaids waiting on the docks or already positioned on the boat: all very nice to see.
THE RULES
As already mentioned, the game is a race, so the aim is simply to get first, but having on board the two bridesmaids.
The starting bridge of the river is positioned in the middle of the table and the other planks are stacked face down: one of them is immediately fished to build the first piece of river.
The order of play is randomly established, which allows you to define the starting box, on which each will place his boat, putting the speed to 1 and the coal to 6.
At his turn, the player is allowed, as the first action, to vary the speed of the boat, increasing or decreasing by 1.
Any further increase or decrease will consume one unit of coal.
Then the boat must move exactly the number of squares defined by the speed wheel, possibly making a turn before, after or during the movement.
Each additional turn consumes one unit of coal.
When the coal units run out, the corresponding wheel is removed from the boat: it will no longer be possible to carry out actions that cost coal.
As soon as the boat reaches the first square of the next river dashboard, after its movement, another river dashboard is drawn and is added to the path in the position indicated by the dice that is thrown: straight, left or right.
If a coloured construction with a wharf is represented on the new bridge, a number of bridesmaids are placed on that wharf depending on the number of players.
In the case in which a boat goes to paddle another boat, we have two cases: if the speed of the boat is sufficient to move the boat encountered (1 point speed) and to make a further step to replace it, the boat encountered is moved to one of the adjacent boxes, in the possible three directions forward.
If, on the other hand, you get to cozzare with a boat without sufficient speed, your boat stops at the previous box and loses all the accumulated speed: it will restart at the next turn from speed 1.
The same thing happens if you go to run aground on a bank of the river or on one side of the river.
To be able to accommodate a bridesmaid on your boat you need to get to the pier where she is, with a speed of 1 (remember that the variation of speed is allowed only at the beginning of the movement).
It is necessary to carry exactly two bridesmaids during the game.
At the end of the first turn, the order of the game is re-established on the basis of the order of the boats in relation to the course of the river: if the river is turning, the ruler will be placed at the turning angle of the river to determine which boat is further ahead.
In the event of a tie, the order of the aligned boats does not vary.
As the boats leave the previous boards, so as not to occupy too much space on the table, you can remove them from the game.
The game ends when all the players reach the arrival: when a boat reaches a docking pier it is eliminated from the game, to allow those who arrive afterwards to access it.
The final order of arrival determines the ranking and of course the winner.
In the game there are boards that allow you to recover the coal used or have debris that slow down the speed or dry where you can get stuck.
There is also the possibility to use the Black Rose, that is the black boat, which will always be governed by the last in the ranking, but, despite being equipped with unlimited coal, can not use more than one in turn.
COMPANIES
The game is really simple to learn, but allows a fair strategic depth, in the use of the change of speed and trajectories to follow, considering that the river, especially if you play in many, will be quite crowded.
Even the wise use of coal allows you to get out of unpleasant situations or accommodate bridesmaids with more aggressive docking strategies.
But above all, it helps in sudden accelerations or steering that can open up effective trajectories, especially when you have to go through bottlenecks imposed by the presence of the islets.
The games with a high number of players (4 or 5) are more fun, because they enhance the highly interactive nature of the game, which is expressed not only in occupying before the others a favorable trajectory or in welcoming first the bridesmaids on the track, but in the ability to spur opponents, sending them off course.
But there is also the random aspect, dictated by the presence of the die that decides how the river will continue.
In fact, since the person who will place the new card is the player further ahead, it is possible that the river will develop very far from where his boat is, both as a position and as a direction of travel.
This random aspect, although it may seem too penalizing for those who lead the race, is still a way to balance any benefits too marked.
Of course, you don't have to be angry if the card with the moorings is placed in the farthest direction...
A very playful game, where teasing is the order of the day and where even children can have fun, although on the box campsites a good 10 +, perhaps a bit 'excessive.
After all, if the game won the Spiel des Jahres, even if it happened more than twenty years ago, there is definitely a reason: fun game to be dusted off.