Pyramid Review
Niagara
Published by Rio Grande Games
Designed by Thomas Liesching
Game board, 10 wooden canoes and 35 movement chits in five colors, "first player" life preserver, 12 clear plastic river disks, 40 gems in five colors, wooden cloud counter; full-color, boxed, for two to five players; $49.95
The settlers have arrived and are mesmerized by the sight . . . of precious gems. Oh, sure the falls at Niagara are nice, too, but there's money to be made out there and that means fighting the river.
The object of the game is to be the first to secure the right combination of gems: one of each of the five colors; four of a kind; or seven of any color.
Each player (two to five can play) gets two canoes and an identical hand of seven small paddle cards. The movement counters are numbered one to six, and the last has a cloud symbol on it. The position of "first player" (signified with a life preserver) is assigned to take the first turn. Everyone places a chit of choice from hand face-down on the board, and the first player reveals his. If it's a number counter, those are his "paddle points" -- the amount of effort his explorer is putting into fighting and searching the rapids. He must put as many of these to use as he can (you can't simply choose not to use points) on the field of play.
The board shows the section of the Niagara River just above its famous falls. It splits at the end, offering two ways to plummet to almost certain doom. . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: June 16, 2006
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