YORKTON – Niagara is rather different from most games played by our ‘Meeple Guild’ group and then reviewed.
To start with while new to our table, Niagara from designer Thomas Liesching, artist Victor Boden, and publisher Zoch Verlag is not new – well it was new to our table – but it was released initially in 2004.
That the game is still in print says something about it before you even cut the cellophane on the box. By the way the box art is eye-catching on this one. You will notice it on a store shelf.
Now Niagara is something of what this writer at least is terming a ‘gimmick’ game – others include the recently reviewed Bloomchasers and the soon to be reviewed Cocoons. They are games that do something a bit unusual in terms of the play space of the game.
In Niagara the board ends up being 3D as it folds out over the two halves of game box so that the river – central to the game – has the look of having an actual waterfall at its end.
The centre of the board in contoured to be the river, into which you place a series of clear plastic discs which represent the flowing water as they are moved down river after every player’s turn. The game plays three-to-five players, and in this one more players increase the opportunity for player interaction – there are opportunities to ‘steal’ from opponents something not all players will like.
Each player has two canoes – nice wooden ones – that you put into the moving waters and head out in search of gems. You gather a gem and head home against the flow before you crash over the falls.
How far you move on the river is determined from selecting a card that allows moving one-to-six spaces. You must play each one at some point, and then they replenish. This is the heart of a rather straight forward game – making the best decision of which movement card to use when.
There are five caches of different coloured gems along the river – two dangerously close to the falls. You win if you collect one of each colour, or four of one colour, or seven random gems. Multiple win conditions are always a positive.
Oh yes once you have a gem remember it can be stolen. The more canoes on the river the more chance for pilfering. In a five player game you can have 10 canoes in the water at any one time.
Players must have a canoe in the water. If both go over the falls it costs a gem to ‘buy’ one back.
Overall the components here are excellent, and the river flow mechanic is neat, and works nicely without being fidgety.
However, at our table where it was all guys the youngest flirting with 40, Niagara didn’t capture our interest as deeply.
But, this one still gets a huge recommendation – only with the caveat it seems to our group is skews toward being a game ideal for younger players.
The game box suggests a game for eight-plus years and if you have a family in the eight – 14 range and you like family game night then Niagara should be on the seek out list – you can find it at www.zoch-verlag.com.
The game has won awards suggesting the same thing – multiple awards actually – including:
2008 Årets Spel Best Family Game Winner
2006 Golden Geek Best Kids' Board Game Nominee
2006 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee
2005 Spiel des Jahres Winner
2005 Spiel des Jahres Nominee
2005 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee
2005 Mensa Select Winner
2005 Japan Boardgame Prize Best Foreign Game for Beginners
2005 Deutscher Spiele Preis Best Family/Adult Game 2nd Place
