Warning! To be
successful at playing the Viticulture World expansion, you must possess two things. First, you must be an experienced, passionate
Viticulture player. Second, you must
enjoy cooperative games where everyone works together for a common purpose!
This expansion to Viticulture includes a new game board, 20
new Mamas and Pappas cards (now referred to as red and blue cards), and 7
unique continent card decks. The
continent cards represent different continents and dictate the narrative, added
bonuses, and rules for the game. Also
included are innovation tiles, which provide opportunities to enhance gameplay
by allowing every worker to access actions, and rectangular tiles that add new
opportunities during those actions. There are three seasons in this game and
six rounds. In spring, a new event card from the chosen continent deck is drawn,
innovation tiles are drawn, and wake-up positions are chosen. During the summer
season, there are eight different actions to choose from, and fall is just a
transition to winter with a benefit provided to everyone. Winter provides eight more action spaces, and
once all workers are used or each player passes from winter, a new round
begins.
Points are awarded in the same ways as Viticulture, except influence points are awarded differently on the continent action cards and through worker action on the main board during winter. Working together throughout this game is crucial to balance everyone’s resources with actions the group chooses to take. The game ends at the end of year 6 with a check to see whether everyone has met or exceeded 25 victory points and whether the influence token has reached the 10th space of the influence track. If these conditions are not met, everyone loses. With six different continent card groups and increasing levels of difficulty included, there is a challenge for even the best-prepared and motivated group. This expansion transforms Viticulture into one of the most challenging games that I have played thus far! For 1-6 players with a 75–95-minute play time. Requires the Viticulture game to play and accommodates the Moor Visitors, Tuscany, and Visit from the Rhine Valley expansions. - - Marsha