First Blush... or Red, or White

Some time back, I wrote of Vinhos, a board game about wine making. At the time, I graded it a "provisional B." Since then, I regret to say, the game has sunk lower in my esteem. Despite the interesting subject matter and a number of clever mechanics, the game takes considerably longer to play than promised on the box. Plus, that number of clever mechanics don't really mesh well together, creating an overly complicated game that's rather difficult to play. I wanted the game to be better, I wanted to like it, but it's sadly just a bit much.

To the rescue comes Viticulture, by designers Jamey Stegmaier and Alan Stone. It's also about wine making, and tries to capture many of the same ideas: planting fields, harvesting and crushing grapes, aging wine before selling it, and more. But the ideas are presented in a considerably more compact and unified manner, with gameplay considerably more fast-paced than Vinhos.

Each round is divided into the four seasons of the year. Turn order in each season is decided in the spring, with different benefits granted for choosing to go later than your opponents. Later on, fall gives every player a bonus card to work with, from either of two decks loaded with powerful cheats around the game's standard rules. That leaves the bulk of the action for summer and winter, between which players must split their worker pieces as they choose from a limited number of action spaces. With limited chances to plant, harvest, fill orders, and more (and with bonuses for being the first player to do a certain thing!), competition is high. The sort of "indirect interaction" that's a hallmark of so many Euro games -- that constricting of opponents' abilities to do things -- is on full display here.

It took me a few plays to warm up to Viticulture. I at least liked it from the beginning, as a much more elegant take on the wine making theme. But it seemed initially that one particular strategic approach might be the clear "way to go," a suspicion somewhat underscored by a second playthrough. But after game three, when a completely different approach won decisively, it appears that there's a really solid game here. The power in those decks of cheating cards is perhaps a touch too swingy, with fair potential to draw something otherwise strong at the wrong time, but the overall result is pretty satisfying. It's also rather easy to explain for a worker placement game, and a bit quicker than most too. (Depending on the players, you could definitely finish in an hour or less.)

So where Vinhos has sat on my game shelf for many months now, Viticulture has popped up several times of late. I'd say it's at least a B+, and trending upward.