Review of Valparaiso

 I'm back with a box of colorful cubes, cards and coin tokens. From the euro, that is. This time an unremarkable one, about which no one says much. Maybe they are hiding something, trying to prevent such a great game from being played by tabletop players all over the world? Let's figure it out.

 At first glance, everything looks quite ordinary. The Chilean port city of Valparaiso is the port to give the name to another box of euros about how some men try to sell the more expensive gray cubes for the maximum number of pesos to other men who trade orange cubes. But what are they hiding? The secret to chili and fiery gameplay?

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?

 Two-sided playing field for 2-3 and 4-5 players. The sides differ in the number of villages on the island and slots for trade dice.

 Tablets for players to stockpile resources and plan their actions using cards.

 A pile of cardboard tokens that includes coins, trading tokens, and the first player's marker.

 A pile of wood, consisting of meeples, houses and player ships, as well as resource cubes of three types.

 An hourglass is especially for narrow-minded people who can't figure out what they want to do and thus annoy others. Mechanically not used in the game, except for the above purpose.

 Action Cards: Five decks of 8 cards for each player and a small neutral deck that can be purchased during the game.

GAME PROCESS

 Valparaiso is pretty much standard Euro, where you exchange resources for points, but with little interesting chips. Games without them are usually so unremarkable that they don't even reach the top seven on BGG. In the analyzed box, the rating is almost exactly 7, this is not a very high indicator, and further I will explain why the game is not accepted by the community. But now we will consider the features of the gameplay, and there are two of them that stand out:

 1. Programming of processes per round. From the start of the game, everyone has a hand of 8 action cards. You place four of them into special slots on your tablet at the start of the round and do them in the order listed, one at a time, when it's your turn to walk.

 Moreover, the sequence can be broken by paying a certain amount of coins. And they are important because at the end of the game they change 20 to 1 for victory points. Therefore, every 1-2 is given for small actions and their adjustments can affect the final score, which here is quite small. Conditionally 30 points are scored.

 There is also an additional mayor slot where you can lay out a card, but for this extra action you pay 5 pesos, so you have to think about whether it is worth the drain of invested resources.

 As the game progresses, players will be able to use resources to purchase additional action cards in their mini-deck that are more effective and, among other things, that bring victory points. They play in the same way and give either similar actions or significantly improved direct ones.

 In this point of originality, I will note an unusual and interesting way of obtaining these new cards. Each player has a ship token in port that can be loaded with goods (three types). All enhanced action cards are located in one of three sea zones where you need to swim and ship certain resources there, after which the chosen card is added to your deck. At the same time, the deck of new actions is divided by strength, and you have to pay gold for more powerful cards, and in a cunning way.

 2. But the second item is an unusual feature of Valparaiso. Several villages and intermediate points between them are depicted on the playing field. In the villages, you can carry out trade operations according to the original scheme.

 By playing the trade action card, you activate all your merchants in the villages and they bring you profit. How many little men are in the village, so many times you trade there for one action. In addition to the question "what will I get in the village?" is solved in an original way: in each location there is a set of dies, in which today's losers are indicated. For example, in one move you get red cubes, and if you come to another, you will get the opportunity to buy more cubes, but for coins, and in the third you can exchange resources for points, etc.

 All of these opportunity tiles are circulated daily in the villages and trade opportunities vary each round.

 Another trick is that if you want to trade in the village, you need to get to it with a special traffic card. And the further you move, the more expensive it is, while passing through intermediate points, you will need to pay the owner of this point.

 Yes, you can still build your own houses in intermediate points and villages: the former will allow you to collect tribute from those passing by, and the latter will increase trade activities in a specific village.

 Here, in fact, are all the unique features of the game. We shake the deck a little with new action cards, wander around the villages and exchange red and white cubes for coins and victory glasses. In the end, we consider who bought the cards more expensively and collected more money in order to merge all this into the software at the exchange rate.

IMPRESSION

 Very flat. Valparaiso presents itself as a normal Euro, with interesting mechanics of markets and buying action cards. But as a result, everything flows into flat, some ... same-type, or something, body movements. The original mechanics even capture your attention for a while, because everything here is not the same as in ordinary Euros. However, gradually the process turns into monotony and the realization that you are not doing anything original.

 For example, the ability to change the sequence of programmed actions for money initially seems like a good game feature, for example, you can skillfully adapt to the actions of your opponents. But as a result, it turns out to be a completely useless stray, which works not that several times per party for everyone, but once for several parties. After all, if you plan correctly, then you never need to change the sequence, and even situations when it may be necessary to overtake an opponent are very rare, or rather, do not actually occur at all.

 But this is a minor minus, okay. And here is a plus from the same opera: the mayor's action slot, which can be used for 5 coins - this simple chip works as it should. Want some extra action? Please: pay money and do more. Nothing special, but cool. You have to consider whether you need this extra action or it is better to save your finances.

 The same sailing on a loaded ship according to maps is done interestingly, but no more. It doesn't feel like a separate mechanic, it's just another way to make the game different from everyone else. Why? For the player in the process, this means nothing, a small chip that does not affect the general perception in any way and does not stand out in the brain as a noticeable feature of the game. Well, yes, to get an enhanced action, you must first spend four basic actions: get goods, load on a ship, swim in the right direction, buy a card.

 Does it feel like an adventure, a gameplay feature? No, just a series of intermediate body movements for the purpose of buying a card approximately the same as the one you have in your hands.

 The same with trade in villages. The idea of sending your traders deep into the island, finding the right treaty tiles with the right effect, waypoints where you can set up a checkpoint that charges a fee - all great. It sounds

 In fact, it turns out like a ship - a bunch of left-wing actions for the same thing that we have seen in other crowds. We spent a movement card, then a construction card to set up our house, then used a trade card - three actions in all - just to get a couple of goods cubes.

 It is because of these contrived actions, which lead to rather ordinary and unimpressive results, that the general feeling of monotony of the process is created. The player works-works, accumulates-collects these few resources, then loads, floats, unloads the mined, and as a result receives a card, the same as his starters, but with the possibility of purchasing some additional tree.

 And while this whole routine process is going on, victory points are collected, and the game ends very quickly. You managed to buy a trio of cards, once or twice to merge goods for software — and here is the final tally. Oh_oh

 The interaction in the game is carried out at the level of blocking transitions from village to village with your houses and charging for passage, but this is not enough to talk about any competition on the field, in principle. Therefore, the players here are quite independent from each other and adjust each of their engines, if it can be called that separately. I'd even go so far as to say that this minimal interaction hinders the jostling, as the constant hand-to-hand exchange of coins becomes tiresome after only a couple of rounds.

 Someone built a house at the crossroads. And now every other player, passing through this path, must give 2 coins to the owner. So everyone started trading in one village - and everyone who does an action there must give a coin to everyone who has their little man/house in that settlement. And so every turn! If you want to show someone by example what fiddling is like in board games, sit down to play five in Valparaiso.

 This is the general impression. But the box is not without advantages. Yes, the overkill with intermediate actions is felt, but these walking around the island and setting up the construction of houses in the villages were declared as a board chip. Loading the ship with goods and storing in the port what will still be needed on land is also fun. The development of all these mechanics by the authors is visible. No matter how you play, the time of the game is at your disposal — only 20 minutes per person — but you should always ask yourself one question.

 Why, when there are a lot of more playable analogues? For the sake of special game chips? There are two of them and they work not only in the plus, but also in the minus (fiddling and monotony of the process), creating for the player not only a unique experience (although it is worth admitting, it is unique), but also problems.

 So, as a result, I can advise you to familiarize yourself with this example of the board game industry if possible - to see how else you can implement the mechanics - but this box will not fit as a permanent or even more so the main dish for an experienced board game player. Too monotonous and less enjoyable than draining.