Welcome to The River!

Join me as we embark on a thrilling adventure, where we’ll each create our very own settlements. The ultimate challenge is to outshine our opponents by constructing a bigger and more vibrant community. As we explore new territories, our workers will play a vital role in establishing these settlements. Every decision we make will have a profound impact on the outcome of this journey. So, who among us will prove to be the master strategist?

First Things First: Setting Up

Let’s kick off this epic game by placing the game board right in the middle of our play area. Now, each of us needs to gather pioneers, a boat, and a river board that share the same color. Arrange your river board and boat in front of you, with the boat facing upward. We’ll start with four pioneers on the boat, while the fifth one goes to the pioneer place located on the right side of the river board.

Once the setup is complete, it’s time to jump into the gameplay! Let me walk you through the steps.

First, let’s talk about the Terrain Tiles. They are shuffled and placed face down on the board. The number of Terrain Tiles used is equal to the number of players, plus one. These tiles are then placed on the board, face up.

Next, we have the Building cards. They are shuffled and put on the island located on the right side of the board. Each space on the island gets one Building Card.

Now, let’s place the resources on the islands. The resources go on the corresponding spots marked on the board. The quantity of resources depends on the number of players participating.

Lastly, we have the bonus tokens. These tokens are gathered and divided into two piles. The zero tokens form a pile on the right side, while the rest are arranged in descending order on the left pile.

With everything set up, it’s time to determine the first player. This player is chosen randomly and given the Starter Player marker. And just like that, we’re ready to begin the game!

GAMEPLAY

When we start our turn, we all get to pick a Terrain Tile. It’s like choosing our own special starting point on the island. The player to the right of the First Player goes first, and then we go in a circle clockwise. I get to pick one tile and put it at the beginning of my River Board. After that, we draw enough tiles to cover the rest of the island spots, based on how many players there are.

Now, during my turn, I can trade some of my resources for food. All I have to do is put three resources in the supply and I can get one food. That helps me keep my pioneers fed, because they’re the ones doing all the work! Once I have my food, I can place one of my pioneers on a space on the board. But here’s the cool part – each space has a special action that I have to do. Some spaces only let me have one pioneer, but others let me have as many as I want. The only thing is, I can’t put a pioneer on a space if I can’t do the action for that space.

When it comes to exploring a new frontier, there are several important actions that I need to take into account. I can claim a terrain tile, build a structure, reserve a building, produce resources, swap terrain tiles, or grab the starter player marker. It’s crucial for me to complete all of these actions in order to move my pioneer to this location.

Once all of my pioneer boats are empty, it’s time for the round to come to an end. But before we can start a new round, we need to remove any remaining terrain tiles and replace them with new ones. The buildings already constructed should stay where they are, but we can fill any empty spaces with new building cards. Each player will then bring their pioneers back to their boats, and the player who started the round will kick off the next one. We’ll keep playing like this until someone collects five Bonus Tokens or gathers twelve terrain tiles.

GAME OVER

Hey there! I’m Ellie, and I live in beautiful Northeast Tennessee. I wanted to talk to you about this exciting game I’ve been playing called (Game Name). It’s super fun and I can’t wait to share the details with you.

Okay, so here’s how it works. The aim of the game is to be the best settlement builder. The game ends once a player has placed five Bonus Tokens on their River Board, or if they manage to obtain 12 Terrain Tiles. Once this happens, we finish the current round and then move on to the final Cleanup Phase.

After that, it’s time to tally up the scores! Points are earned in various ways. You’ll get one point for every three resources of any type you’ve collected. Then, if you have matching Terrain Tiles in any columns, you’ll earn two points for each column with two matching Tiles, and a whopping six points for each column with three matching Tiles.

Plus, don’t forget about the Meadow Tiles! They have their own points printed on them, so make sure you keep an eye out for those. Once all the points are added up, the player with the highest score wins the game!

I absolutely love playing this game and being part of the fantastic community surrounding it. Why not give it a try yourself? I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Thanks for listening, and have a great day!