Fruit Roulette. Overview of the Board Game "Finca"

 Having played many board games, I want to stop at the board game "Finka". First of all, it is the high quality of printing, which definitely distinguishes most games made in Germany. And quite an interesting game mechanism, but more on that below.

 This is the fruit logistics of the island of Mallorca. Players have to move their farmers and collect fruits by moving on the wings of the windmill. Fruits - oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, olives, almonds - wooden chips painted in their colors.

 And the movement takes place as follows: the player starts walking and makes as many moves as there are farmers standing on his wing at the beginning of the move, and he takes as many fruits as there are farmers (including himself) standing on the wing he stood on at the end of the move. In this way, you can move your farmers and prevent other players from making the moves they want - because you can calculate which fruits the opponents are picking, which tiles are aimed at.

 After the player has the amount of fruit he needs, he can start transportation - for this, carts with donkeys are used, which the player takes from the center of the mill, each time crossing the border in the center (a line is drawn on the field). Each visa can carry only 6 fruits. During his turn, the player places the tile with the cart back to the center of the mill, and takes a tile from the playing field with fruits on it.

 The player must put as many fruits as are drawn on the tile back into the pot. If the stack of tiles on the field ends, then a finca tile with the image of some fruit is drawn. It is awarded to the player whose collected tiles have the most images of this fruit - this gives an additional 5 points to the final score, and the empty area is placed as a hacienda. The game continues until all the haciendas are displayed.

 You can also get a bonus tile during the game - the player who first collected tiles with numbers from 1 to 6 gets 7 bonus points. The second - 6 points, the third - 5, the fourth - 4. You can also use special chips during your turn - round tiles in the amount of 4 pieces. What they provide:

• a chip with the image of a donkey and the number 10 - you can transport 10 fruits at a time (an ordinary donkey carries only 6);
• a chip with the image of the wings of the mill and a crossed-out donkey - you can move your farmer to any of the wings of the mill, but you do not get a visa with a donkey (this tile is usually used in the case when you urgently need some fruit, and it is not possible to take it using simple moves, or when many farmers have gathered on one of the wings, and standing up you can take a lot of fruit);
• a chip with the image of two wings of a mill and a farmer - you can go as a farmer twice in a row (or as different farmers);
• a chip with the number -1 - you can reduce the cost of transported fruit by 1 fruit (this tile is used when there is not enough fruit to take a tile, for example - a tile costs 2 oranges and 2 almonds, and the player has only 2 oranges and 1 almond - we use the -1 chip, take a tile, and give the bank 1 fruit less, this chip can also be used to take 7 fruits instead of 6.

 Separately, I will talk about a very nice nuance of the game. In the case when it happens that one of the types of fruit runs out, and the player does not have enough of this fruit after the end of the turn, the market for this fruit collapses. In this case, all players return to the bank all the chips of this fruit accumulated at the moment, and after that the player takes the appropriate amount of fruit into the piggy bank. The same thing happens with carts. If a player needs to take a cart with a donkey after his turn, and it is not at the mill, then the freight market collapses, and all players return all donkeys (except special chips) to the center of the mill, and after that the player takes the cart assigned to him. Moreover, when both the fruit market and transportation collapse, the player who collapsed and who needs to take the missing fruits or carts, also on a general basis, first returns the fruits or carts to the bank, and then takes what is due.

 In the total number of fruit tiles, there are some that do not have a fruit image, but have question marks and the cost of the tile for transportation. This means that in order to take this tile, you need to return to the bank any fruits in the amount indicated on the tile. The plus of collecting such tiles is that you can quickly collect tiles from 1 to 6 and pick up a +7 bonus card; it is not necessary to collect certain fruits - any belri and carts, carts, carts... The minus of collecting such tiles is that they do not participate in the drawing of finca tiles, which can significantly affect the result - because when counting, sometimes you can win with an advantage of only 1 - 2 points.

 After the fruit tiles have run out and all haciendas have been placed (4 for 2 players, 5 for 3 players, 6 for 4 players), the game ends and points are counted. The sum of all fruit tiles, finca tiles, bonus tiles, special chips (if any) are considered. Fruits left by the players do not take part in the account and are returned to the bank.

 The player with the most points wins.

 The game attracts primarily with its unpredictability. If 4 people are playing, it can be problematic to plan your next move - the situation at the mill can change a lot in a round. Well, and, of course, excitement in the pursuit of fruit and the necessary tiles. For me personally, in this particular game, victory is especially desirable.