A Mississippi farming game where you draft phases, organize your crops and load riverboats bound for New Orleans.
Riverboat (2017) puts you on a 19th century farm on the banks of the Mississippi, with a plan to ship your goods to New Orleans. The game lasts four rounds. At the start of each round you draft phase cards, and each phase then plays out in numerical order, with whoever picked that phase acting first. You place workers on fields (everyone has the same colored tiles, but each in a different random layout), group like crops together, then harvest and load riverboats at the docks. It is a drafting and set collection game with hex tiles and a nice rhythm of planning around what your rivals take. Two to four players, around an hour and a half.
Who it's for
You enjoy mid-weight euro games with puzzly personal boards and a drafting layer that keeps rivals relevant.
Not for you ifβ¦
You want lots of direct conflict or a light, quick game. Riverboat is a planner's game.
Vibe's take
Orderly and clever. You are puzzling over your own hex fields while keeping an eye on which phase your rivals have grabbed.
older than 54% of games
collected more than 58% of games
Best with 4 Β· publisher: 10+
longer than 77% of games Β· typical 30β90 min
Takes some learning Β· 3.0 out of 5 Β· heavier than 82%
Most people rate it similarly
Playable without the language