Slowing Down to Enjoy the Scenery in Death Valley
Set out to experience a journey through beautiful landscapes and collect memories in a scrapbook with Death Valley.
Another new game! Death Valley arrived just as I was preparing to move onto an older game in my collection, yet it seemed like the perfect time to take it for a drive, if you’ll pardon the pun. Ha! I always enjoy the compact nature of these wallet-sized games and eagerly jumped into the rules. I wasn’t sure if this would be too light… But to the table!
Game Overview
Game Name: Death Valley
Publication Year: 2021
Designer: Kevin Ellenburg
Artist: Fachri Maulana
Publisher: Button Shy
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
With a small deck of cards, the goal is to complete a journey and save special memories in a scrapbook. But it’s not all so easy! Every card has a type of hazard icon and collecting 3 results in a cascade of effects. Yet with the right planning and luck, the journey can be a lovely one!
First Play
August 18, 2021
Complexity
1
Latest Play
August 18, 2021
Expansions
1
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
4
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
19
Game Area
26" x 18"
Low Score
9
Navigating the Rules
I personally have had some difficulty understanding these smaller rulebooks in the past for games like Sprawlopolis and Tussie Mussie. That’s likely mostly on me, though!
Yet I had to read through this small pamphlet a few times before everything clicked. And call me proofreader posh, but that last sentence under Hazard Match was… Bad.
Quips aside, I could see an interesting experience ahead with the way the journey might unfold with some luck.
I was already caught up in the beautiful card artwork, yet there was something more important to do…. Play!
Into the Scrapbook
The concept was excellent and simulated a trip out into the wilderness in many ways. Journey cards represented all of the experiences in a single top row.
However, if too many hazards of the same type were collected, those journey cards were in danger of being lost.
Each truly memorable scene had to be moved into the bottom row, or the scrapbook. How very clever!
This reminded me of all the car trips or nature hikes I went on. There were likely all sorts of possible memories, but only those that stood out the most were held onto.
A Lively Journey
Although I loved the concept and felt like the gorgeous cards were absolutely perfect, the gameplay fell flat for me. Flatter than a desert plateau, if I can make a bad joke!
Everything sounded lovely and challenging, for every card had its own special ability or scoring bonuses.
Yet I found myself going through the motions. There were interesting rounds when I forced the solo opponent to discard everything, but it boiled down to pure mechanics.
Maybe it simply wasn’t the sort of game for me, although I kept playing just to see if I might find some hidden fun!
Limiting the Hazards
Every card features a hazard icon in the upper left and a number to show how many of those cards are in the deck.
In this way, it can be easy to plan ahead and avoid busting with 3 of the same icons across the journey and scrapbook rows. Here, there would be too much heat to handle!
I think I liked the idea behind the game more than the actual play. It almost boiled down to the opposite of a set collection game, which didn’t quite click for me.
Maybe I’m simply not in the target audience, though. Not every game works for me, yet it can still be a great game!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-4
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Standard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 9-12, 19-8, 16-4, and 15-10 (3 Wins and 1 Loss)
Such a beautiful little game! I had a nice time reading the facts on the cards. There just didn’t seem to be a challenge. I may need to increase the difficulty level a bit, yet one condition simply involves forcing the solo opponent to bust more in order to win… That doesn’t feel particularly satisfying as a win condition for me. Again, I just might not be the right player to enjoy the game.
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
5
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
6
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
2
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
4
+ Pros (Positives)
- Each card is beautifully illustrated and includes an interesting fact about the depicted location or animal.
- With many different ways to score, building out the journey and scrapbook rows takes some strategic planning.
- Gameplay is quick with no downtime as cards are taken or given based on a clear set of criteria.
- Although the play area can spread out a bit, cards may be overlapped so only the important icons can be seen.
- The portability and compactness of the wallet-sized container is excellent and can also hold the expansion.
- All of the important information, mainly related to the icons and abilities, are easy to find or read on the cards.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The theme is wonderful and unique, yet it gets lost among the mechanics and isn’t as strong as it seems to be.
- Each round can feel repetitive since the goal of not busting or making the solo opponent bust takes precedent.
- It takes a short amount of time to recognize the best card to take based on the situation for a limited challenge.
- Adjusting the difficulty level isn’t quite ideal since one condition is purely based on the number of busts.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 67%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 10 points.
Win at least 1 game at the standard difficulty level.
Score at least 20 points.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played Death Valley? I was looking forward to having a little more of a connection to the journey, yet it was the icons and desire not to bust that took over. Are there any other games you feel you weren’t a part of the target audience for? I dislike harping on the negatives, so I hope there are those out there who are enjoying this game!
First and foremost: I have not played Death Valley nor do I own it.
Reading your conclusion of 49% really says it all. This kind of game might not be for you. It nice to see, however, that your giving it a fair treatment.
One sentence in your review sticks out to me, ” it boiled down to pure mechanics.”. And I think, taking your impresion of Sprawlopolis into account, that this is a mayor point (even it is was on half of a sentence). Both game are pure mechanics. A winnig city in Sprawlopolis can look ugly . There is no story, adventure or anything else, just the mechanics.
The ‘best’ description I can come up with: “People who enjoy these games, might also enjoy sorting Legos by color”.
Also: “Add the cop card of the deck the A.I. journey” is that even a valid sentence (might be in context of the game)?
Thanks for your comments! I get a lot more enjoyment about focusing on the positives of every game, and any disappointment is more geared towards myself. I’m sure nothing feels that objective here, although I’m glad to know it sounds like I’m trying to give it a fair shake!
Interesting that you point out my negative about just the mechanics… A lot of my negative impressions of games go back to my initial expectations. Did I set myself up for something deeper? I wonder. And this is why I typically don’t move games along immediately since there’s a chance it was just how I was feeling in the moment.
Hmm, I actually do enjoy sorting anything by color. Ha ha!
Finally, nope. That last sentence isn’t valid at all. I believe it’s meant to say, “Add the top card of the deck to the A.I.’s Journey.” I usually notice these things but hope I didn’t lean into that. The rules were a little difficult for me to grasp, although again, there’s a common denominator in all of these issues… And that would be me. Ha!
“Add the cop card of the deck the A.I. journey” is a typo that unfortunately wasn’t spotted by the team. I can guarantee you they are pissed off with it.
Call it a pet peeve in my book! I simply couldn’t get past that sentence until I read it a few times, somehow wondering if it might have been speaking about something other than the top card. Definitely not one of my reasons for not enjoying the game as much as I wish I had! Hopefully that’s something that’s already fixed for any possible future reprints!
I think that the smaller a game gets the harder it is to integrate theme with mechanics – because you don’t have room for the mechanics, and then an awkward cuss like me says “but I’m not making the decisions the way a desert tourist would, this is just a push-your-luck pattern-building game”.
Which of course it is, but the “just” is unfair of hypothetical-Roger: for some people a relatively simple game with an unintegrated thematic gloss is just fine, and they can enjoy the game while being reminded of the theme rather than treating it as an immersive experience.
Good points, Roger. It can be really difficult to fit a lot into a small game, and I don’t necessarily expect that. Maybe I did at the time, though, because my comments certainly seem to indicate that! Sometimes, I think I have trouble expressing exactly where my disappointment comes from for games that don’t work for me. I try to explain so that it might be helpful to others. You have a knack for making me want to revisit some not-so-great games for me simply to see them from another perspective. Thank you for that!