Rift Valley Reserve is a highly interactive drawing game set in the Great Rift Valley, Uganda, in which players are competing to draw the most lucrative tourist walking trails.
On a turn, each player simultaneously takes one action on the board in front of them before passing the board to the player on their left. The actions are: drawing a stop, drawing a trail, and building a camping lodge. In order to draw a trail, the player must draw either a straight line or a line with a single 90 degree bend in it between two of their own stops.
The end of the game is triggered by the requisite number of boards being filled with camping lodges. Points are awarded for each area that a player's trails go through, animals that can be seen from their trails, and building camping lodges next to stops. Points are lost for any stops that are not connected at the end of the game. The player with the highest total points across all the boards wins.
Rift Valley Reserve is a highly tactical, no luck, game that offers much strategic depth whilst using a very simple ruleset meaning the game appeals to gamers and families alike. Try to score the most points while blocking off your opponents; no crossing, branching or using of other players' infrastructure is allowed.