A Friendly Stroll Through Maple Valley and the Great Feast
Set out across beautiful nature trails to collect cozy resources to craft favors, earn patches, and make friends in Maple Valley.
Time for another trek into a cozy world! Maple Valley was pretty obvious as my next solo game. This one is all about traveling along paths and making friends with all sorts of animals. Adorable! It had been a little while since I last set out to collect resources to craft things like snacks and storybooks, and I eagerly returned to this colorful area nestled in the forest!
Game Overview
Game Name: Maple Valley
Publication Year: 2023
Designer: Roberta Taylor
Artist: Shawna J.C. Tenney
Publisher: KTBG
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Over the course of 5 rounds, friends help travel to all of the different parts of the valley. Resources are used to craft favors, while patches can be collected. As more friends are made, each round offers even more to see! There is a very calm atmosphere in this summery journey through nature.
First Play
February 24, 2024
Complexity
2
Latest Play
September 24, 2025
Expansions
1
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
4
Play Time
30 Minutes
High Score
101
Game Area
40" x 26"
Low Score
63
Beautiful Artwork
Not surprisingly, the illustrations are fantastic! There are all sorts of items to potentially craft, many of which offer special bonuses when paired together. So many synergies!
Patches are a little less artistic, yet are still fantastic with their unique emblems and abilities. These can be quite helpful at different times, and I love the stitching design!
Festivities are, unfortunately, not part of the solo mode. Yet I still like to tuck a card to add a little flavor to a play.
Behold, the Great Feast! I liked having a little purpose for the favors I was putting together for the whole village.
Into the Wilderness
So cute! This happy porcupine took a stroll through the entire region, following different kinds of paths. The movement rules are pretty clear, and one can go far.
It’s a case of utilizing friends and maps to travel along the trails that lead to the ideal locations. Foraging for resources is often very useful early on, but reaching the bluffs is fun!
A lot of gameplay felt a bit… Deterministic? There weren’t a lot of risks, but just a lot of route planning.
It was still excellent with smooth mechanics, yet I didn’t feel like I had a lot to do beyond matching the right icons.
Making All the Friends
The first round starts with just 2 friends, which equate to turns. It’s important to constantly make more friends by trading in bugs, flowers, and rocks. Very cute art again!
There are duplicate friends in the deck, although it can be helpful to focus on a few specific ones. Being able to do more and more every round offers more powerful actions.
I enjoyed finding ways to ensure these friends helped out each round. I felt clever when I made the best combinations!
Alas, gameplay felt rather repetitive pretty quickly without anything other than scoring tiers to aspire towards.
Is That a Porcupine?
Hello, friend! On his journey around the valley, my little porcupine made a lot of unique friends. This was a fun encounter, but I had to check on the species classification.
Hedgehog… Porcupine… They both had some awesome hairstyles. Ha ha! This Calico Critter family is one of the more unique, and I simply love their appearance. Too cute!
However, there was only room on this map for a single animal, and this baby hedgehog was happy to step aside.
I loved crafting the various favors, and imagined what this Great Feast would be like with everything I brought along.
How Does It Compare to Creature Comforts?
An interesting thing I’ve noticed about this game is how often it’s compared to Creature Comforts. This makes a lot of sense! It’s just neat that a lot of new players don’t seem to come to this one right away, but compare it to the earlier title.
From my plays of the solo mode, I slightly prefer Creature Comforts. I love the partial information and the risks that must be taken when placing workers. In this one, it’s more about plotting the ideal routes without any chance of not having anything work out. Only the slow market churn takes away cards, and that’s pretty easy to plan for. Not a lot of… Tension?
And I know that sounds completely strange in a post talking about how focused I am on cozy games! However, I felt like the core idea of a challenge was missing. I like a lot of solo games about scoring well, but this one didn’t quite work out for me. That’s just a reflection of my current tastes, though, and I still think both games offer some of the coziest settings!
Pure Delight
Don’t think this festivity was anything less than fantastic, because I had a little bit of everything to contribute!
Dandelion tea and fruit punch ensured everyone was properly hydrated with some delicious choices. Entertainment came from marionettes and a storybook.
Just so happy and cheerful! I felt a bit guilty that gameplay fell a little short for me, although I still loved the experience.
There is a real sense of coziness, and that’s likely the perfect reason to play. I also think the solo mode might be a little too relaxed for me to consistently play… But that’s just me!
All the Snacks!
Perhaps the Great Feast took place in this game world, but did the Calico Critters get to attend? No, so they improvised.
Welcome to another tiny festivity, brought to you by some very resourceful hedgehogs! They served up snacks after earning a relevant patch for cookin’ by the campfire.
Not entirely sure how honey, berries, and lettuce work when heated over a fire… But they assured me, they knew what they were doing. They had a patch, for crying out loud. Ha!
This was a lovely game to return to, and I had fun. It might be time to call this Great Feast over for me, though.
Session Overview
Play Number: 3 & 4
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 71 & 95 (2 Losses)
Not quite good enough! Actually, the higher scoring tiers seem to be quite difficult, and I felt a little hung up on making the most optimal choices rather than focusing on the cozy fun. I loved the single page rules reference, although I was initially confused about why I could play more than a single card per round… I figured it out eventually! Definitely a beautiful and enjoyable sort of game, yet one I don’t know if I plan to continue playing.
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
6
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the artwork is excellent at conveying a cheerful, cozy, and celebratory atmosphere across the whole play area.
- Resource icons are different and can be seen from afar, both on the board and on the individual cards.
- Friends provide unique benefits that may not always be available, but finding the optimal paths can be interesting.
- Outposts are randomized during setup, adding a nice bit of variety to a couple of major areas of the map.
- The back page of the rulebook includes most of the important rules, which helps speed up setup and gameplay.
- Gameplay can move along at a very fast pace, particularly during the early rounds when there are limited friend cards.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Most choices are clear from the start of each round, making the solo mode focused on pure route optimization.
- Favors are often intertwined with bonuses, so scoring well can come down to luck, even after drawing many cards.
- Cards are arranged around the board rather than on it, which adds a fair amount of additional table space.
- There isn’t really a sense of tension in the solo mode, so it feels very cozy, but lacks a challenge beyond a high score.
Victory Conditions
Score 120+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 75%
Goals and Milestones
Craft at least 10 favors.
Score at least 100 points.
Collect 4 patches.
Score at least 110 points.
Continue the Conversation
What is your favorite part of Maple Valley? Is there a favor or patch you particularly enjoy? Don’t get me wrong: I loved my handful of plays! The solo mode just feels like it misses the mark a bit for me… And I’ll be the first to say I have some very eclectic preferences that change all the time. I had a great time admiring the artwork and hanging out with hedgehogs!
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