/pic443834.jpg)
Hidden far away from our time lies a valley of unimaginable riches. Drawn by the lure of gold, silver, and precious jewels, adventurers from all over the world soon find their way there. While some of them still carefully choose commissions and provisions, others quickly rush off to bring valuable gems back to their patrons. But those who wish for fame and fortune will have to be cleverer than their opponents!
Contents: 1 game board, 78 gemstones, 4 books, 111 cards, 1 craftsman board, 59 tiles, 30 coins, 5 pawns, 1 bag, rules
The Gold Trilogy
Part two of "The Gold Trilogy" (besides The Golden City and Felinia)
Awards
Empfehlungsliste "Spiel des Jahres" 2009
Familijna gra roku 2009 Magazynu Świat Gier Planszowych (Best Family Game 2009)
Deutscher Spielepreis, 6th place
Årets spel 2009 Sweden, Nominee
Gameflash Nuremberg 2009
Pfefferkuchel 2009, 2nd place
XVth ludopathic 2009, Top Three
Rosenheimer Spielefrühling 2009, Top Five
Gra Numeru Magazynu Świat Gier Planszowych 10/09
Best Family Strategy Game, GAMES Magazine, 2011
Game by Game 2011, Recommendation
Game by Game 2010, Recommendation
- Table presence is fantastic and visually striking
- Vibrant components and high production values (printed meeples, camp tokens) enhance the experience
- Push-your-luck movement adds tension and engagement without overcomplicating the rules
- Journal puzzle offers a satisfying, relaxing puzzle as you align tokens for scoring
- Accessible and lightweight, making it approachable for casual players
- Not deeply strategic; some players may crave greater depth or longer play sessions
- At two players, the game felt relatively open with less token competition and interaction
- May benefit from higher player counts or the monsoon variant to increase interaction
- Array
- exploration journaling of species in a vivid natural landscape
- journal-based puzzle with a decorative, nature-focused aesthetic
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Camp tokens and area majority — Completing a journal row places a camp that improves movement efficiency and contributes to area majority scoring across the board's quadrants.
- end game bonuses — The game ends when a player fills their journal, after which endgame scoring tallies species majorities, quadrant influence, and any leftover power berries.
- Endgame trigger and scoring — The game ends when a player fills their journal, after which endgame scoring tallies species majorities, quadrant influence, and any leftover power berries.
- Movement — Players may move up to three spaces on a board each turn, navigating a grid to reveal and collect tokens as they pass over them.
- Pattern/row and diagonal scoring — Species tokens are used to score rows and diagonals; scoring can be either 1 point per token if all tokens are different, or 2 points per token if all tokens are the same, encouraging either diversity or uniformity in your journal.
- Power berries movement boost — Power berries provide a one-time movement boost, enabling players to push further on future turns and potentially alter row development.
- Token collection on stop — When you stop on a space, you must take the token there and add it to your journal, driving your scoring setup.
- Token Pairing — Weather tokens are flexible and can act as wilds, and they can influence adjacency scoring or shift the endgame scoring for each species.
- Weather tokens as wilds — Weather tokens are flexible and can act as wilds, and they can influence adjacency scoring or shift the endgame scoring for each species.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The table presence here is fantastic.
- This game is vibrant and eye-catching.
- Kalora delivers a beautiful, if lightweight game experience.
- It's not deeply strategic, but it looks great, plays smoothly, and offers a relaxing puzzle.
- I also liked the push your luck aspect of movement.