Lunch time solo

Lunch this week is ​The Crows of Coppershell Bay by Paul Stapleton.  It’s a small tin-sized solo game but don’t let this fool you as inside the tin is a whole lot of game.   The game is set in the world of Pauper’s ladder which, in case you’re not familiar, is a rather fun, colourful,  narrative adventure game which can also be played solo, though not for lunch!  In The Crows of Coppershell Bay you revisit the world of Brighthelm. Somewhat foolishly though, you’ve borrowed gems from the local gang of crows and now they want them back with interest! You’ve got three days to pay them, and that’s the game, spend three days doing what you can to earn enough gems to spare your skin. 

How it plays

As I said at the beginning there is literally a whole lot of game in the tin; a choice of different characters to play, locations to visit and cards to help the story unfold. Set up takes longer than you think given the size of the tin!

Once ready, time becomes the resource you use to visit the various locations attempting to get yourself gems.  Doing an action there, hopefully, gives you something you can turn into gems –  go fishing, catch fish, sell fish for gems. Each action you take costs time meaning days turn into night and so on. Once you’ve used up all your time it’s the end of the game and you better have the crows gems by then.  One of the aspects that makes this game stand out is the depth to the cards, locations allow you to do a myriad of things for example visit the beach and you can either beachcomb or go fishing, and two of the locations are basically mini-games.  Going to the carnival,  you play carnival type mini games – pest racing anyone?  Go to the Mine and there are a series of side quests to help you garner the riches you need.  

Achieving all these things is mainly done by drawing story cards. If you have played Pauper’s ladder you’ll know how much such decks make the game, with their bright, quirky artwork. Here, like everything else in this game, they pack in a whole load of information; providing text for the side quest stories and utilising their corners to reward you for actions like fishing or foraging.  Be careful though as exhausting the deck  has consequences.  After three days, if you have the gems go see the crows but be warned there is a sting in the tail (or should that be a peck) and you might not yet achieve your goal. 

Good for lunch?

That’s a tricky one to answer, I mean it’s a small tin so it’s portable and should therefore be perfect for that lunch break gaming itch. However it does need a fair bit of space, as you can see it only just about fits on the lunch time gaming mat and unlike some games I’ve reviewed there is a particular set up needed. The game also states it plays in around 10 – 30 minutes which again makes it sound ideal for lunch, but even with all these ticks, I still find it difficult to say this a good lunchtime game. That’s because it deserves more than a quick lunch time gaming itch.  The game is an absolute joy and a blast to play. Each time I have played it this week I have got lost in the adventure and lunchtime has flown by. It’s time like this when I am glad I work from home most days so an extended lunch period can go unnoticed! So maybe not a lunchtime game but as a small box game, I haven’t played many better than this. 

This week’s lunch is inspired by a gaming friend who wanted to know if they should get hold of ‘A gentle rain’.  It’s a game by Kevin Wilson that first came out in 2021 but was out of print until recently.   A gentle rain is a game that encourages  you to be mediative, both the box and instructions shout out at you to ‘Take a deep breath and relax’, suggesting that you play the game along with some relaxing music.  The game itself it is a tiling laying game where you are creating a lake and trying to get flowers to  bloom. 

How it plays 

The small box contains 28 tiles and 8 wooden tiles. Set up is simple; place the 8 lilles nearby then shuffle the tiles and place them in a stack. Turn over the first tile and place it in the middle  of your playing area.  From there, the gameplay of A Gentle Rain is straightforward yet deeply engaging. You continue to draw tiles and try to place them  adjacent to existing ones. This involves matching the lily patterns on the sides of the tiles as exemplified below:

As the lake build ups you have more sides of lilies to match. If you can’t place then you have to discard but if you complete a square of four matching lilies on the corners, you can then place a blooming lily token  in the centre. 

You keep going until you either run or out tiles or you’ve managed to place all 8 lily tokens.  You then score

Good for lunch? 
It’s a tiny box and few pieces so with this portability and quick setup time it’s perfect especially since the game it encouraging you to relax, which you really should be during lunch.  The simplistic artwork is both beautiful and helps create the theme of a gentle rain falling on a lake. The one downside I have is that in the limited space of my work desk I can’t always expand the lake as I want. However, it is actually a game that is always on my desk as a go to, I think because of the simplicity of the mechanics, and the fact that when you are concentrating on finding the best spot to place a tile you do forgot about much else. I am not claiming it helps you achieve meditative states but there is a definite relaxing quality the game brings.    The randomness of tile draws bring an element of unpredictability and ensures that no two games are alike.  That and the challenge of creating the perfect lake keeps the game interesting and replayable.  Given its simplicity, short set up and playing time (around 15 minutes) it is easy to see why this game became popular amongst solo gamers so my advice to my friend is grab a copy before it sells out again!.