River of Gold Review: Rokugan in 60 Minutes

[@bradymccann]

A triple seal 8.5 made me rewind and watch the whole video 😆

[@jonazo7188]

Lmao, I do the same thing!

[@RazBaz07]

Just did this! 😂

[@Luizvolpi]

Same😂

[@JayBee10]

A friend of mine got this on a whim a few weeks ago around the time it released, and I’m so thankful he did. It’s been a hit with our group, and I even got to teach it to a couple of groups at the Dice Tower Retreat. 8.5 / 10 for me as well!

[@Mdoherty1687]

I have really enjoyed this game. Played it multiple times with my wife and on BGA as well. It’s remarkable how varied games can play out. Some games players will be “Build, Build, Build” and other games money might be sparse so everyone is focusing on deliveries. Works remarkably well at 2 players.

[@jayray1714]

Bought this after watching Dice Tower's playthrough awhile ago. Fantastic game. A lot of fun. Hoping the designer expands on the mechanics in the future.

[@Norm-R]

This is one I've played about a half dozen times now and its great. Everyone always says the same thing Tom said that it looks big and complex, but then they play and it really isn't. I do agree with Chris that I could figure out some way to either let people mulligan the starting cards or maybe draw 3, keep 2.

[@jonathanmasters5442]

Played a number of times now ( and big fan of the LOT5R setting ) but only at 2 players so far. Only complaint is the massive koku tokens ( already replaced) , given that there is a player limit of 25 !

[@btbrewer25]

Really loving this one. Picked it up at GenCon and finally played it last weekend. It's staying on our table because we keep wanting to play it again. We play at 2 player FWIW.

[@gailwondowski3207]

I completely ignored this at GenCon because it looked way too heavy for my tastes. I’m excited to try this one now! Thanks for the review!

[@Rhino1186]

I wasn't too interested in this one initially just by the look of it, but played it on BGA at 2 and 4 players and enjoyed it quite a bit. Now it's on the wishlist. Really enjoyed adding the asymmetric player powers.

[@PatrickBrophy]

When you showed the game on one of the GenCon daily vlogs, I was interested. It was already on BGA, which was nice to play it ahead of time. The game is really good and I'll be getting it soon. The BGA implementation is good, but a little too awkward as the board is way too big to see everything without needing to scroll the entire time. And I was even trying to play it over two ultrawide 34" monitors. A rare time that playing it analog is going to be a better way to play always for my group and myself.

[@carrickrichards2457]

Beautiful game! Thanks for the clear and concise review, I found it very helpful.

[@ameraceffj]

The board reminds me of Broadhorns. Does anybody know if there are any similarities between the 2 games?

[@RickKoeppen]

Wow I feel terrible, I had skipped over this one without realizing it is associated with one of my favorite IPs. THANK YOU For putting Rokugan in the title otherwise I would never have known.

[@josephmenchey2871]

I have played a few times and thoroughly enjoy it. It is probably in my top 5 new to me games this year.

[@chestersleezer8821]

Found out about this game from the Dice Tower Best Games of 2024 and so went to the FLGS and pick it up today. Also I like the Legend of the Five Rings setting. Though surprise that only 4 out of the 8/9 Clans are in it so maybe in the future we will be seeing the Dragon Clan along with the other missing Clans. Easy to learn game but with more depth than you would think.

[@jacobjslee]

14:24 Chris' point in the final thoughts section is a big one for me. I used to buy every hot game that came my way. I'm so glad I've discerned what I look for in games and what to watch out for. What Wendy said in the final thoughts about player powers pointing you in a direction . . . I could be totally wrong about the game, but I'm sure that part is another red flag this one's not for me.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

The player powers are barely a variant in the game - just simply don't use them, hell I barely use them, they really aren't a major deal.

[@TpDgreat]

yeah this is a hard pass, its too light and too chill for me, the game just gives u every resources go here get resources go there get this. reminds me of flamecraft hype,Flamecraft went from top 60+ i think on BGG now its on 377 XD. flamecraft is too light theres no challenge it gives u everything its too generous imo. The art cuteness is the main selling point and when people realize that it will go straight to collecting dust :)

[@npckse8508]

@@TpDgreat Yeah no. Its not easy to get resources, everything costs and landing on another players building gives them stuff. It may not be Lacerda weight, but it is a solid, fun, midweight game with a lot going. It is absolutely nothing like Flamecraft.

[@TpDgreat]

@@npckse8508 yeah very different game,i was just comparing it to flamecraft hype or maybe Canvas where they overhyped it bcuz of the art, both of those games got to top 100 i think it was 60+ and didnt even last for a year on that position now theyre in 500+. i just dont want this game to suffer the same thing where people overhyped it maybe bcuz of the shiny board, the rokugan universe art or something :) i want this to be like clank! when it comes to rating its stood the test of time :)

[@npckse8508]

@@TpDgreat That is fair and to be fair in turn, I, like many snagged the deluxe edition of Flamecraft, only to immediately sell it as the game that was there wasn't for me. I enjoyed my play of this and it arrives today and we will play it again tonight. Perhaps it will hold up and perhaps not.

[@Septembersmith9633]

Awe yeah I'm gonna lead the crab clan!! I hate mornings but monopolize the silk sheets so I can sleep in past noon!

[@Sprock49]

Thanks guys! I'm convinced

[@robinett74]

I wonder if this game was made to be expanded. Like I bet that they could add at least some more customers and patrons. Customers and buildings seem to be the main thing that up the replayability

[@crosscutgames]

One that I past on at GEN CON and now have regrets! Wish I would have picked it up.

[@EllieAmos-h3q]

It's quite a fun game. I love the interaction as well.

[@edwindrood2816]

L5R is such a great setting

[@Sparticuse]

It's mind-boggling that there are only something like 3 board games in the setting (Ninja, Battle for Rokugan, River of Gold).

[@adilgeresu2296]

@@Sparticuse to be fair I’d say the theme doesn’t really exist in any of those as the lore is so rich and hard to express in simpler mechanisms. Only the card games really brought it to life. In board game format they’d need to do a dune or TI4 style game to convey it.

[@peteshirey9816]

L5R is amazing and the game looks great. I can't wait to play my copy also if you're not Crab Clan you're doing it wrong!

[@mikintosh6111]

This is a really fun game. Glad i picked it up, but it commited this sin o of having a bad insert that dorsnt hold the stuff well. Gotta chuck it and teplace with plastix bags unfortunately.

[@peterolaerts8026]

How is this compared with IKI?

[@JLH111176]

Sounds to me like the set up time, and then the clean-up time takes almost as long as the game. The 1 hour includes those ?

[@videogamegirl81]

Set up is easy peasy. 5 minutes tops

[@thedicetower]

Over an hour with set-up and tear down, bit as said above, not too bad. First game will be longer as you're figuring out level 1 vs level 2 tiles, starter tiles, etc, but you can divide the set-up nicely among players.

[@charlietwoteas3676]

Played this at a con over the weekend. Really nice interactive euro, had a good time.

[@olanmills64]

I'm glad I played this on BGA. I saw a demo at UKGE (but I didn't play it), and then it quickly sold out at Gen Con, and that along with (I admit, lol) the shiny board made me want to get it. However, I'm really glad I played it on BGA before PAX West where it was easily available. The game is fun, but doesn't stand out to me, and I just don't feel that excited about it. On the plus side, it's pretty easy to learn and play, and there is some player interaction. However, for me, even though the river element seems unique-ish at first, I don't really feel like overall the game is that different and exciting.

[@Poiuytrew.Q]

5:01 Blue person?? Looks Teal to me. And there is a different color on the board that looks more blue.

[@videogamegirl81]

There’s a teal and a navy

[@MathMagicianSam]

I was in that first game Wendy mentioned. Was a good time

[@silvermcdaid]

Great game so far i give it a 9. Beautiful looking game with quick turns but such great decisions to make. Best at 3-4 players.

[@dddmmm21]

It would be a 7 for me, good but not a quite distinguishable euro game. Felt the AP was strong on this one, since you can change the dice value.

[@notsaved]

sounds like it plays really well but wow does it look dry - ships on a track, and lot more tracks, and numbers and symbols on tiles and cards, was hoping for a bit more thematic support

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I think with most games this year you'd best get used to dryness. Many euro game designs fail to adhere to theme lately.

[@notsaved]

@@TheBrokenMeeple I'd just play Hansa Teutonica again...

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

@@notsaved Ewwwww.... 😂

[@lystic9392]

Had a good feeling about this one.

[@jonazo7188]

TOM YOU HAVE A TATTOO??

[@forisrex]

iirc he has one on both arms. a few of dice tower crew got them as part of their yearly kickstarter stretch goals

[@gbdomingo]

my question is similar to someone below: if its so good, why not 9 or 10?

[@randybieri]

Seemed like a lot of raving about the game to understand why the scores were all coming in below 9.0 🤔 I get 8.5 is still high, but I wasn’t clear on what was getting dinged by some of the people to bring it down to that point .

[@randybieri]

The only ding I would give it is the insert. It’s a beautiful gold color, which makes me want to keep it, but it does a really bad job of holding the components sadly.

[@Sparticuse]

Keep in mind the way Dice Tower weights scores, a 7 means something like "I think this is a good game and would tell people to play it" and 8 is "I think this is a great game" with 9 and 10 reserved for favorites of their genre and of all time, respectively.

[@thedicetower]

Great games usually start for me at 8.5. A 9 is AMAZING ABOVE ALL ELSE. Games can move in that.