Drifting Down the River Mild and a Calm Sort of Puzzle
Expand the land and waterways to make homes for different animals and fish in the quietly colorful world of River Mild.
Lighter games seem to have flown onto my shelves over the last year or so, but not all of them have been played. This has led to a lot of wallet-sized games that aren’t exactly compact anymore. What a stack! I eagerly took out River Mild for the first time, which is an adapted version of the original River Wild without the wild color scheme. Ha ha!
Game Overview
Game Name: River Mild
Publication Year: 2023
Designer: Steven Aramini
Artist: Milan Zivkovic
Publisher: Button Shy
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
The goal is to expand the river, creating islands along the way filled with animals and scoring goals. Splits in the waterways allow for more protected lands to appear, while hills help provide additional borders. And look closely… A few leaping fish can be most helpful for scoring!
First Play
November 1, 2024
Complexity
2
Latest Play
November 1, 2024
Expansions
1
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
4
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
33
Game Area
18" x 26"
Low Score
6
A Meandering River
During my first play, my mind did not want to piece together the different options! I failed to complete a few protected lands upstream, missing lots of victory points.
I wasn’t quite prepared for the table space, either, and the increasing size of the river kept adding choices.
Compared to the original version, though, I definitely liked this color scheme! It felt cute and cozy with plenty of cheery animals to spot on land… And in the river itself!
With a pretty embarrassing score that didn’t even reach into the double digits, I was ready to try again.
Protected Lands
Maybe it was obvious from the start, but I guess I didn’t piece together that the main objective was to close off these islands, or protected lands, for higher scoring.
Something made me think this was about tracing a path down the river, which was absolutely not right!
The choice of which card to place next had some strategies behind it. I could plan ahead in some ways, although this line of thinking dipped into the sort of puzzle I don’t like.
There are some mechanics or abstract spatial elements that don’t make sense to me, so I tend to steer clear.
Tiny Rulebook Images
Although I appreciate the small rulebook booklets from the publisher, almost all of them feel like they could use another panel to completely explain everything.
I struggled with the scoring because the example images were so tiny. It was really hard to understand if a scoring goal had been met, let alone if there was a fish nearby.
It’s easy enough to check forums and download the rules for a larger format, but I prefer a quick learning process.
Overall, though, this one made sense in a lot of ways… But part of me still wonders if I placed my cards correctly!
Getting the Hang of It
I played a few more times, getting steadily better at closing off protected lands and setting up scoring opportunities. Yet my scores were still pretty terrible…
There are some lessons to learn in terms of planning card placements, but I didn’t really connect with the puzzle.
This felt like a solo game I would only play to reach a high scoring tier, and that would be it. With so many games to choose from, though, I felt like I saw all I could see.
Definitely a lovely little puzzle for those who enjoy the mechanics, though! This copy will find a new home soon.
The Value in Finding Your Own Enjoyment
The board game wheel of emotions shall return soon! Yet I wanted to touch on the ideas of joy and fun here, where my rating indicates that I didn’t experience too much of those. That’s still a lesson, though, as it’s important for me to look at my reasons for not finding the joy in some games. Being able to articulate some of that is very helpful to me!
In a nutshell, my brain simply doesn’t do well with parsing too much information in puzzles. If I want to do this, but can’t do it because of A, B, and C, I hesitate. Figuring out my next best move feels confusing, often because I sometimes cycle back to my original decision that isn’t possible. This usually comes out the most with abstract spatial puzzles.
So it might seem silly for me to still try them out from time to time, but it’s a low-stakes test to see if my preferences have changed. You’ll often see this happen with smaller, lower-priced games… Easy enough to play a few times and then pass the game along to someone who will hopefully enjoy it more than me! And that’s a fun element of the hobby.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-4
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
Outcome: 6, 33, 28, 22 (4 Losses)
I still had some pretty neat rivers! It was just too much for my brain to parse continuing the river and closing off the little islands. Animals didn’t end up where I wanted them to, and scoring goals gave me some trouble. The fish helped and I saw how those could be extremely useful… But this will be all for me! I don’t have any hard feelings towards the game, as I can see what it was going for. Just not something that aligns with what I enjoy. No problem!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
6
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
3
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
4
+ Pros (Positives)
- Compared to the original version, this features very calm and beautiful colors with adorable animals.
- Play time moves along pretty quickly without too many decisions to make with the handful of cards available.
- Being able to enclose a protected land is quite satisfying when it works out, especially with a nearby fish.
- There are many different ways the river can split and converge for a relatively unique appearance each play.
- Reaching the highest scoring tier requires a bit of luck and a lot of experience, which can be fun to work towards.
- Animals and scoring iconography are quite large on the cards themselves and are easy to spot from far away.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The amount of required table space is a bit more than one might expect from such a small number of cards.
- Understanding the puzzle and being able to see scoring opportunities requires a fair amount of mental planning.
- Some ambiguities exist in the rulebook, while the tiny scoring examples are extremely difficult to see.
- Maintaining the placement rules and creating protected lands leads to fairly limited scoring opportunities.
Victory Conditions
Score 40+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 0%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 40 points.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of River Mild? Have you managed an especially high score with your protected lands? I still had a good time at least giving this one a chance, although it may mean that I’ll stick with existing wallet games that I already enjoy. My journey downstream may have been a little short, but I learned more about the games I prefer!
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