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Game Info
Year
2017
Collection
Mechanic profile
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Vibe profile
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Description
Riverboat posits each player as the owner of a 19th century farm on the bank of the Mississippi River. You need to organize your workers to ensure that the fields are ordered according to their type and harvested when ready so that the goods can be shipped to New Orleans.
In more detail, the game lasts four rounds, and at the start of each round players draft phase cards until they're all distributed. The phases then take place in numerical order, with the player who chose a phase being the first one to act. In the first phase, players place their workers in the fields, with each player having the same distribution of colored field tiles, but a different random placement for each player. In phase two, players organize their crops, trying to group like types together, with some fields requiring two or three workers. In phase three, players harvest crops and load riverboats, with a dock needing to be filled with all the goods of a single type before it can be loaded. In phase four, the boats are launched and players can take special actions, with additional victory points possibly coming in phase five.
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Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 3
This page: 3
Sentiment:
pos 3 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–3 of 3
Video 5eEve2giSqI
Review at 0:03 sentiment: positive
video_pk 67618 · mention_pk 163770
Click to watch at 0:03 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- The Joker prediction offers a small push in a certain direction, making hands feel cool.
- Choosing when to use jokers for a wild card is a fun choice.
- The anteing system provides a fun, tense choice and a risk-reward element.
- Abilities and powers add extra flavor, make the game feel special, and provide variety.
- The cooperative deck building with limited communication and observation is smooth and well done.
- It's a small package, quick, and fun.
- Offers a cooperative or solo way to play poker.
Cons
- The anteing system can be inconsistent because players can only ante cards with hearts, and sometimes hands won't have many hearts or will be a different suit.
- The luck of the draw in poker can be exacerbated, leading to terrible hands regardless of effort, or the king's hands being very strong or weak.
- If poker doesn't appeal or card draw luck is annoying, this game might not be a winner.
Thematic elements
- Poker
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Ante system — Players can raise the ante by putting a face-down card with the joker prediction card. The number of antied cards determines damage dealt to river rats if the hand is won, or damage taken by players if the hand is lost.
- Cooperative deck building — Players add one card at a time to the collective hand, with limited communication, requiring players to pay attention to get a feel for what others are going for.
- cooperative play — Players work together to defeat two river rats by dealing them five damage each before the team takes five damage.
- Joker prediction — A card is flipped each round indicating a hand to aim for. Achieving this hand allows a joker to be flipped face-up, acting as a one-time wild card.
- limited communication — Players cannot discuss what's in their hand or why they are playing a specific card, but can observe others' actions and inferred intentions.
- player powers — Each player has an ace that makes them more powerful with a certain suit. Optional powers can be used when adding cards to the collective hand, such as increasing debt, messing with the shared market, or adding options.
- Poker — Players build the best poker hand possible to beat the river rats. If they beat them, players deal damage. If the river rats beat them, they deal damage back.
- River rat abilities — The river rats have abilities that players must deal with. Defeating the first river rat grants an ongoing bonus.
- shared market — Players draw cards from a face-up offer or the deck to add to the cooperative hand. The general market cards are visible to all players.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- And you're trying to build the best hand you can to try to beat the river rats.
- If you beat them, you deal damage. If they beat you, they deal damage back.
- And you're trying to defeat two of the river rats, dealing five damage to them before you as a team take five damage yourselves.
- It's a fun tense choice when you want to put these anties in and when you don't.
- All these things put together give a little extra flavor to the general poker you're playing.
- Make the game feel a bit more special and also give a lot of variety.
- It's just a feature of the game and it's a fast playing game to be aware of.
- They don't really take away the luck in poker.
- If you're paying attention, you can get a feel for what the other players are going for.
- I think the way that Riverettes does it with this shared market and abilities to give each other some ways to communicate without actually talking is really smooth and well done.
- So overall, if you like poker, if you want a cooperative or solo way to play it and you don't mind the randomness that is inherent to these kind of card games, I think Riverrats has a lot to recommend it.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video OYclnQU-oKI
Board Game Sanctuary Discussion at 51:12 sentiment: positive
video_pk 33570 · mention_pk 99825
Click to watch at 51:12 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- puzzling action sequencing
- retro bingo flavor
Cons
- older design that some may find dry
Thematic elements
- agriculture and river trade
- bingo-like resource drafting on a river map
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Bingo — players reveal actions by rotating a central device and choosing actions from a grid.
- bingo-style action selection — players reveal actions by rotating a central device and choosing actions from a grid.
- tile placement — place workers and harvest resources to fulfill objectives.
- tile/资源 placement — place workers and harvest resources to fulfill objectives.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- there's a wealth of replayability in this game box alone.
- Euro point salad puzzle
- I love Wingspan so much. I just love positive effects that you get when you trigger your tableau.
- The Gallerist... probably the one I've gravitated towards the most if I were to try aLacerda game.
- King Domino... that simple little mechanic of going, 'Oh, do I take a lesser powerful tile at the top or in order to pick first on the subsequent turn?'
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 9f-aWsP9-vM
The Dice Tower Top List at 7:31 sentiment: positive
video_pk 9061 · mention_pk 26738
Click to watch at 7:31 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- well-integrated drafting and phase mechanism
- clear interdependence between rounds that rewards planning
- light rule set that still allows deep strategic thinking
Cons
- some players may want more direct interaction or conflict
Thematic elements
- agriculture, shipping logistics, and market balancing
- 19th-century Mississippi river farms and shipping
- economic strategy with interwoven phase drafting and scoring
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- multiphase actions — phases include grouping workers, planting, harvesting, shipping, and scoring
- phase drafting — each round you draft one of five phases to lead; leaders gain a benefit
- scoring tension — you score points through multiple intertwined steps each round with drafting impact
- simultaneous play with drafting — actions are chosen in rounds with shared timing and rewards
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Players take on the role of farm managers who want to deliver the goods to the market stalls, local towns, and hopefully to the ports of Palma.
- the same basic mechanisms as Lacrania, just kind of turned up to 11 essentially.
- with the dice drafting mechanism, you're going to be drafting a die and taking out the inner and outer action.
- One of the key other points I really enjoy about this one is the help your neighbor.
- This is the engine building that I find so enjoyable.
- You're working towards gaining the most prestige before the arrival of the Napoleonic forces.
- The main mechanism in this one is kind of a common action selection.
- There will be more workshops opening up along the way as where players can play their cards.
- This is another Euro game that has some very intricate working cogs.
- Trade with a noble action, cascades into more options depending on which noble you trade with.
- Everything is tied together in interlocking cogs.
- I love planning everything out and cursing the other players when they foil my perfectly laid plans.
- It's a game of chains. I want to take this task because I think I can achieve it.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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Showing 1–3 of 3