Everything in its Right (Tile) Place(ment)
The rainy season has begun here in New England. In the wetter weather, I tend to situate myself at the kitchen table with a cup of tea, from where I can watch the drizzle come down. My cat does the same from the other room, nestling herself in the space between the window and the sill, snoring like some dozing dragon on a hoard of cushions and blankets. I like these still moments, and when I make the time to appreciate them, I enjoy meditative activities that compliment the calm.
If I find myself on Cape, I'm likely to break out a puzzle. They're great pass-times, especially with loved ones, and once they're done you can pop them on your wall and feel proud of what you've accomplished together. However, if its just me and a cat, I like my puzzles with a little bit of tile placement, for quicker reps and different replayability.. Today's little exploration delves into a handful of games who we think would be pleasant company as the rain comes down, for one or more players.
Sometimes you need a quick reset, and for a game that lasts only fifteen minutes, A Gentle Rain is the perfect activity for just that. 1-2 players place their pond tiles, with the goal of making all eight kinds of flower bloom. The game is small enough to accompany those traveling light, with clean, friendly illustration and polished piece-tooling, making for a slight but intention filled experience.
Combining the best aspects of Lost Cities and Hanabi, Tranquility tasks it's player(s) with sequencing tiles to form a mountain that the hiker can safely ascend. Hand size and placement manipulation keep the puzzle energy going in the initial game, but Tranquility: The Ascent comes with a number of additional modes to keep the experience fresh over time. This game wont tell you why you're climbing the mountain in the first place, but hopefully you and your meeples will find Tranquility at the top!
Beacon Patrol is a map-making game, where tugboats explore an imaginary northern coastline. This is perhaps my favorite game of the bunch for the satisfaction I feel when completing a particularly well-arranged map, which is great because that's what the game cares about too. The game has an aesthetic schema that it uses to score your arrangement in the post-game, which makes for a game-as-art-as-game kind of experience, that I'm happy to say is a crowdpleaser (if you're not playing the solo mode.)
Drip
Players use their boats to expand the board with the tiles in their hands, creating landmasses and channels with buoys and lighthouses to rack up points With enough exploration (and rules approved tile-trading) players can create islands, which score even higher and look even cooler once you step away from your co-creation. The combination of hand management, movement, and aesthetic feel like they too have been expertly placed to combo with one another, and the expansions only add to the puzzly fun...
Drip Drop
Huh, I guess its about to come down then. Time to put the kettle on.
While we only covered three solo/co-op tile placement games today, this blog has covered Cascadia, and Sprawlopolis, in years past, and I highly encourage you to to read about them in our backlog. Do you already play any tile placement games, like Mists over Carcassone, or perhaps Castellion? Awesome! Let us know about your favorites next time you're in. We're always on the lookout for another cozy game to add to the rotation <3
Drip Drop Drip
Ben Doane has been a member of the Pandemonium Team since 2019, and has been playing wargames, rpgs, and tcgs since 2004 and earlier. When not blogging, Ben runs the wargames and mailing departments, and also puts together the store's newsletters. Her current favorite shoe is size 12 American.