Boonlake Game

Please come to Boon Lake and stay for a while.  There are opportunities to explore, breed cattle, develop land, and build to improve the lives of others in the community.  Through the region, a river rich with resources meanders and surrounds a variety of different terrains.  What adventures and new experiences will you have?  There are so many possibilities!

Boon Lake is an action-selection, card-driven, tile laying, area control and resource management game in which players compete to earn the most points over two rounds of play that are punctuated with four interim scoring breaks that take place half-way through and at the end of each round.  Players have boats that move down the river when they complete each turn.  Once a player passes one of the four river locks, game play stops for an interim scoring break.  Then the next sub-round begins with the next player in turn order.  After the completion of the fourth interim scoring, game end scoring begins and the person with the most points wins.   

The Action Board:

The first decision of a player’s turn is choosing an action to take from the action board.  Of the seven action strips, six have an icon that corresponds to the project cards and represent day, sunset or night with the other being “any time”. 

There are three parts to each action strip.  The left side:  Either play a matching time of day card or discard one to receive two coins.  One exception to this is the builder action, which gives the player 3 coins instead of playing or discarding a card.  The middle:  Carry out the main actions shown in the middle of the strip.  These choices are varied but here is a brief synopsis:

• The Builder tile lets you play any card or draw two.
• The Pioneer tile lets you place two building tiles and either place an inhabitant or upgrade one inhabitant to a house.
• The Settle tile lets you place an inhabitant or upgrade a presence on the board.
• The Cattle tile lets you place a pasture tile.
• The Hire tile lets you gain one inhabitant and place one building tile.
• The Progress tile lets you purchase a lever (special ability).
• With the Region Scoring tile, you select a bonus from one of the four regions to collect.

Finally, the right side of the action strip:  Except for the pioneering action in which only all other players take this action, the third section includes an action that everyone can choose to do.  This is usually an either/or choice.

To complete a turn, the player moves their boat along the river on the main board up to the number of spaces shown on the action board. All spaces provide coins, additional available inhabitants to use, production upgrades, victory points, vases, etc.  Finally, push the chosen action strip up and the next player takes their turn.  If the active player’s boat crossed one of the locks, interim scoring takes place before the next player’s turn.

Card Play:  There are 165 cards in the project deck, which increases randomness but also options and choices.  Playing cards costs different combinations and numbers of either or both coins, resources and sometimes vases in different numbers and amounts.  They also provide instant rewards, end-game points or game-time rewards or discounts.  Some cards provide both instant and end game rewards.  You can collect vases on the river or through card play.  The wood, loam, rock and steel resources are available on player boards.

Game End:

Once one player moves past the fourth lock on the river, and players have had the same number of turns, there is one last interim scoring before the final point tally.   Earn points for cards played and any specific game-end challenges.  Additional points are tallied for the number of levers each player has on their board as well as additional points for wooden houses, settlements and cattle that were removed from the third through fifth level of player boards. The player with the most points wins the game! 

This 40+-minute per player game is one of the best complex board games I have played.  There are so many ways to strategize and gain points through card play, development and upgrade placements on the main board, movement down the card and coin track on the main board as well as modernizing player boards with the use of levers.  Timing your use of resources to maximize points and resources gained during the game and using them toward end game points can be a balancing act that requires planning skills.  Of course, choosing which cards to play wisely is also strategic with the unknown variable of which cards will become accessible to you during the game.  One thing that I really enjoy is that even when it is another player’s turn, other players gain rewards too – so there is always something to do and to gain!  Learning the game can be a time investment but with manual references as well as widely available “how to play” videos on You Tube I was up and running quickly. So far, I have had several satisfying game play experiences!  For 1-4 players with estimated 160-minute game time.  A separate solo mode is included. ~ Marsha