Is Keyflower fun?

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[@KenDudd]

You made one major mistake in your negatives. You don't decide which winter tile to keep at the beginning of the game, you keep all three until the end and decide in the winter phase which ones to play. This means you can build a strategy around several of your tiles, and if it doesn't pay off (or your opponent is better) you can choose to play or discard certain tiles. There are no decisions that need to be made up front, the tiles help give you some direction. (Which I've found is actually better for new players).

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Yes! Major mistake. Curse my hubris for not carefully reviewing the rules (even as i suggest my viewers do!) But the spirit of the criticism remains: those tiles are effectively meaningless to new players. You might be told “this one gets you points for putting wood on it” but you’d still be largely mystified as to how to do that, even after a half hour teach.

[@KenDudd]

@@NightsAroundaTable But the point is, you don't make a decision about those tiles until the END of the game. At that point, you'll fully understand how to play and have built your villiage. So you will have a all the information you need in order to make a decision about which to keep.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

@@KenDudd But the whole idea of getting those tiles at the beginning of the game is to plan out your strategy from the start. It's like any game where you receive a secret goal card off the top.

[@DMExplains]

I found this one this year and it’s already climbed into my top 10. It’s a game I really get as well!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Humblebraaaaaag :) You slew me at it!

[@DMExplains]

@@NightsAroundaTable I am a little afraid to play my copy IRL because no one will want to play it with me anymore.

[@darrenh6169]

Fantastic game that plays well from 2 to 6 players. One error in your discussion at 4:20... When a tile is won, only the winning meeples go away - the losing meeples can be moved (as a group) to other tiles before the auction ends, or are returned to the owner at the end of the auction.

[@darrenh6169]

You state it correctly at 5:47!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Yes! It’s a rule i often flub when i’m playing.

[@RossArnoldSan]

You hit the nail on the head with Arnak, I wish there was more of a benefit to exploring!! That’s the part of the game that excites me, and I want to be able to focus on that but I cannot win that way - I find that you can only win if you focus on the research track (unless nobody focuses on it). Give me a point, or a resource or something when someone uses the location I discovered! Great video, I only played Keyflower once, and I really didn’t know how to play haha, I’ll have to give it another go on BGA!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks, Ross! i've been playing Arnak online for the past few weeks, and it's the one upgrade i'd like to see in the upcoming expansion.

[@ScytheNoire]

Wife and I love spreadsheets and find it fun to make and update them, so I think we'll have to try this game some day.

[@DMExplains]

I really like it!

[@darrenh6169]

Great job on the video. This is one of my favourite games (top 3 for sure). I would not introduce it to new gamers as (like you said) they might never come back to play any game after stumbling through this too early. A published variant is available that has all new player meeples stored in front of their huts instead of behind them so you can play without having to memorize everything. Of course, your starting meeples/drawn meeples stay behind and unknown until used. Definitely a fun game that I would play any time. Oh! And a storage system can be used to help alleviate the setup woes you mentioned. Keep up the great work!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks, Darren! Hit that alarm bell.. i have the storage system problem covered later in May.

[@shanerion]

I don’t know if I’d call it full rain man, but I definitely card count the meeples in this game. A semi-official variant has meeples that come back to at the end of the round going in front of your screen.

[@danulas]

I got this game a few weeks ago. I've played it 3 times and I can't stop thinking about it, but you're absolutely right about the winter tiles. I want to introduce this game to everyone I know and sometimes the best way to teach a game is to dive right in and start playing, but that's impossible without explaining what each of the winter tiles do.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Right, and it's annoying, because it's like - This one gives you points every barrel of goods you move onto it. - Goods? - Yeah - there are three types of goods: stone, wood, and coal. And the fourth kind is gold, which is wild. - Move? - Yeah... you have to move goods around by activating one of your (or another player's) wagon tiles. - Wagon tiles? - Yeah - they look like this. Sometimes they're in your farm. Or someone else's. Or in the middle of the table. And they also let you upgrade, depending on how many houses (arrows?) are on the tile. - Upgrade?. UGH. And on it goes.

[@danulas]

@@NightsAroundaTable Exactly!! It would be really nice if there was a recommended set-up for first time players.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

@@danulas Res Arcana and others do this nicely, by adding numbers to certain cards so that you can organize them into starting hands for your first, learning game.

[@JordanDavidCarr]

Great video. I laughed out loud twice at the end when you were talking about games making mechanics "kiss" and the part about "zombie hookers". I find these videos very interesting and just bought Race for the Galaxy because of your tutorial video. Keep up the good work!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks, Jordy! i'm planning to unbox the definitive zombie hookers game tonight on Twitch - Zombicide 2nd edition. Hope to see you there!

[@paulw2813]

Great explanation, Ryan! So funny that i came across this because I just played Keyflower - Farmers with a non gamer friend 3 days ago. I dragged her back to Keyflower (I taught her the base a few months ago.) and by the end she was so overwhelmed with decisions to make, she was begging for it to just end! Lol. She really tried hard to finish strong though. Trooper! Someday i hope to play it with someone who actually knows it (not that I do... lol). As for storage, Ive made some nice inserts for Base and Farmers. Ive uploaded them to BGG images if your interested. Thanks for the vids!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Yeah! Newbies do NOT dig this game. i'd love to see your storage solution! i've been trying to print an insert from Thingiverse but have had no end of issues with it. You'll see it all go down in that upcoming Bits, Please! episode. Link me to your pics!

[@KBrandes]

Keyflower is a top-notch game! Another great video Ryan!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks, Kim!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Also, welcome aboard! i keep trying to send you a private welcome message through Patreon, but the website says you're not a backer. Did you come to your senses?

[@KBrandes]

@@NightsAroundaTable it was a long time coming! Glad to be supporting you. Your videos are clever and funny, and besides you seem like a cool guy!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

@@KBrandes My careful ruse will dissolve when you finally peer behind the curtain! Hope to see you on the Discord server.

[@scottaldersey5115]

Just stumbled onto your channel and I just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying it. Impressive video quality, good insight and great energy. Coincidentally I played my first ever game of Keyflower last night and I agree with all your points. Have you tried it with the expansions?

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks so much, Scott! i've only played with The Farmers, and i haven't been able to rope anyone in to trying The Merchants with me, but i hear it's out of print anyway (i always have to consider the games i play in relation to whether i can/should talk about them on the channel). The Farmers has you considering the green space on your farm and the way your roads connect in a way that will remind you of Carcassonne, if you've played that?

[@twinkle04evr]

Fun to watch your video! Any newer game that you can compare to Keyflower? Thanks

[@NightsAroundaTable]

i was just thinking about Keyflower last week and how much i enjoy it, and how unique it is. i haven't played it, but i watched a video about Hamlet earlier today and it looked like some similar stuff was happening, except it has a communally built village, instead of a separate homestead for each player.

[@twinkle04evr]

Thank you, I will watch Hamlet :)

[@iceuni963]

4:24 I think you don't lose unsuccessfully bids at the end of the round, you take them back. rulebook p.7

[@lonewolfvc3575]

Yes, if you have not used them elsewhere you get them back at the end of season.

[@shanerion]

Hey, just wanted to point something out. You talked a lot at the beginning about new players needing to make a choice at the beginning of the game about which winter tiles to keep. That doesn’t happen. Take another look at the rulebook. Each player is just dealt a certain number of winter tiles at the beginning of the game. No need to choose some to keep, so no frontloaded choice problem.

[@noahgarcia8272]

Hey Ryan sorry for the off topic comment but are you going to do any catan anytime soon if so could you do seafarers I like the way you teach board games

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks for the request, Noah. i'll email the Catan people right now and see what's up.

[@R0land1199]

Great game! One of my favourites, and I agree that I haven’t seen anything else quite like it.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

i’m sure someone will pop in and “Um, actually” me on that.

[@TyvanTV]

Nope it ends too fast like Agricola.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

i recently played a 3p game online and it was mega zippy! Always leave em wanting more.

[@lastburning]

5:44 The game simply lets you use your losing bids for something else instead of having to wait for the next round. It's not that special imo. It makes the game less punishing.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Do you know of other games that do this?