If a resource is not listed, it is a liked gift. If the player is able to do so, they can gift them a resource to make a friend and earn heart tokens. A loved gift will earn 2 hearts whereas a liked gift will earn 1. If the current season matches the villager’s birthday, players can earn an extra bonus heart. If the mermaid’s pendant epic item is obtained players can marry a villager to give a bonus action during the action phase. There are plenty of ways to spend actions on a turn in Stardew Valley, and Grandpa’s Goals direct the focus of a game. If you have a goal of raising animals, you’ll need to build a barn. This means you’ll be chopping wood and focusing on making money. If your goal is to restore the museum, you’ll want to visit the mine or forage for buried artifacts. To obtain hearts, players must make friends with the other villagers in Town. Spend 1 action in Town to turn over a Villager card. Each Villager will tell you what types of gifts they love and hate by the left and right hand sides of their card.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Isn’t Stardew a slow, chill farming social game?”. Yes, you’re right but the board game takes that and throws it on its head and makes it a race against time where you have to finish a certain amount of difficult tasks that take time and concentration to get done. I know that might put some people off, but this is no small game. The game takes up to 2 hours to complete and is constant planning and resource management but with a theme like this how can you hate that! Five years later, without any real warning, ConcernedApe teams up with Cole Madeiros to make Stardew Valley: The Board Game. It sells out in less than 24 hours, leaving board gamers everywhere demanding a second edition. That edition is finally here, and while there’s no denying the original’s runaway success, is the board game as magical as its predecessor, and does it bring anything new to the franchise? Livin’ Off The Land I’ll try and keep this review short and simple as there’s a lot to talk about and if I don’t contain myself then I’ll end up going forever! Farming On SteroidsTo complete the game, all 4 of Grandpa’s Goals must be completed and all 6 of the Community Centre rooms must be restored. The rooms are restored when donations of the items on the cards are made equal to the number of players. The room requirements start off hidden and are unveiled as you play. Stardew Valley: The Board Game is a beautiful, brightly coloured game of farming and friendship. Players take on the roles of up to four farmers starting out in Stardew Valley-a small town of friendly residents and an abundance of natural resources. Once decided, place your pawn on the location in which you want to start. During your action phase you will be able to move 1 space but no further. When all players have placed their pawn the action phase begins. Action Phase

If you’re a fan of the original video game then you’ll be sure to love the board game too as it has all the charm and fun carried over and makes it all new again, so you get to experience all of it again like the first time playing. If you’ve never played the original video game then I would still say that this is perfect for you (and so would many others based on it constantly being sold out) and is a really fun game. The board game is co-op and is quite challenging too so don’t let the cutesy stylised art throw you off, this game will make you think and strategize to get to win.While Grandpa’s Goals will direct much of your focus, the rest of your time will be spent restoring the community centre. This is done by completing bundles. Each bundle requires specific resources from the various mini games on the board. The pantry pushes you to farm certain crops, the fish tank requires you to catch the right type of fish, the vault needs money, the boiler room will want something from the mine, and so on. I am a huge fan of Stardew Valley– the video game and was apprehensive about the concept of turning it into a board game. But, after playing, I can say that the board game is as good, if not better than the original video game. Stardew Valley: the board game is based off the massively popular video game Stardew Valley in which you play as a farmer trying to grow crops, make friends, and mine away till your hearts content. The board game is exactly the same, but all mashed together and then given an end goal to give it that board game magic! To complete the game Within the Community Centre are room specific. For example, to restore the fish tank players need to obtain certain types of fish which will require them to spend actions in one of three fishing areas. Some bundle cards require types of fish which can only be found at a specific location and players would then spend more actions in that location. Rolling the Stardew dice determines what combination of fish, trash or treasure chests can be caught.

Hearts can also be obtained by donating Artifacts or Minerals to the Museum run by Gunther. Filling the slots in the Museum can also earn up to 2 Epic Items. I’m a fan of the original, but I’m more of a board gamer than a video gamer, and Stardew Valley: The Board Game scratches a very specific itch. It’s a game for when you need to get away from the stress of daily life and challenge yourself with something different, something new. It’s a game for when you’re in dire need of a change…But is this difference bad? I appreciate that this is a surprisingly heavy game under the fluffy theme. It would have been easy to slap the Stardew brand on a Monopoly board and call it a day, but the developers challenged themselves with something more and the result is a lot of fun.

There are a ton of cards and tokens, each a reference to resources available in the video game. You can even marry your favourite villager if you can find the elusive mermaid pendant. To collect from animals, players need to create buildings and buy animals. These actions can be taken at locations on the board and are likely to require players to work together to obtain what they need to be able to achieve their goal. The Boiler RoomAnd sometimes, you’ll lose, but that’s okay, too. Firstly, because if you always won, it wouldn’t be much of a game, but also because the act of playing Stardew Valley is a win in and of itself. You may miss out on a bundle or two, but you’ll have fun trying to get there, and isn’t that what Stardew Valley has always been about? The best part of getting a new board game for me is opening the box and pushing out all the brand new pieces. If you’re like me, don’t fear because Stardew Valley gives you plenty of them! On your first playthrough, you will need to sort the pieces into the various trays and bags provided. Now you can start to set up the game. And the bundles all start facedown. To reveal them requires heart tokens which are gained from befriending villagers. A trip to Gus’ tavern lets you befriend a local by gifting them one of your resources. Each villager has certain items they love and others they hate.