Cozying Up with Village Green, Petty Grudges and All
Design a delightful and peaceful scene in the town square and earn special awards from the picky committee in Village Green.
Time to shift into a cozy sort of season with my solo games for however long it lasts! I’ve been meaning to get back to some beautiful, calming experiences, and Village Green seemed like the right place to start. There is a bit of strategy involved in arranging a small grid and optimizing the awards, yet I love sitting back to admire the fantastic watercolor artwork!
Game Overview
Game Name: Village Green
Publication Year: 2020
Designer: Peer Sylvester
Artist: Joanna Rosa
Publisher: Osprey Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
The goal is to create a 3×3 grid to depict the scenery, with special awards for each row and column. It takes a bit of planning to impress the committee, and it certainly seems like other villages are sabotaging the cards with the randomness! It’s a wonderful and lovely experience, though.
First Play
June 8, 2021
Complexity
2
Latest Play
September 7, 2025
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
26
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
34
Game Area
24" x 16"
Low Score
11
All the Little Details
Usually after I finish each play, I take a moment to look closely at all of the cards and pick out my favorite scene in the grid. It’s actually hard to do… So many beautiful pieces!
Identifying the flower colors and types on the cards can be a little bit of a challenge at times, and I wish the iconography was a little clearer. But it’s not too bad most of the time.
For this play, I discovered a relaxing scene around the local pond. See the boat and heron partially hidden away?
I just love how detailed the artwork is! Look closer, and the boat is nestled beneath a willow tree, ready for an outing.
The Heart of Town
Whoops! I had a pretty good plan in mind during this play, but I backed myself into a corner with the central spot.
Each placed card must match the color, flower, or both of every adjacent card. With 3 different colors and 3 different flowers, only an empty area would fill this in… Not today!
Gameplay can feel frustrating at times with how luck-based a lot of the card draws are. At the same time, I like blaming the randomness on the petty grudges of my neighbors. Ha!
Matching up useful awards can also be difficult, and the highest scoring tier takes a lot of work to achieve.
Missed Opportunities
On the subject of meddling neighbors, there was obvious garden tampering in this realm. Just look at those bare spots! Poor Hither Saxcote didn’t stand a chance.
I thought it would be easy to match more yellow flowers, yet they were clearly used up earlier on. Even though the grid was incomplete, the scenes were simply beautiful!
Certain awards are a lot more versatile or valuable, but pulling the ideal ones doesn’t come along that often.
Although maybe I needed to concentrate… I managed to tie my lowest possible score ever. Well done, Hither Saxcote.
Filling In the Grid
With better choices, I slowly began to improve. Granted, this wasn’t a linear progression, thanks to all of the grudges!
The wrong cards showed up a lot, even after I used the one-time ability to replace the available cards of a certain type.
Awards were at the center of the better scores, and I found ways to ensure I earned a few victory points from all of them. Only a few times did I utterly fail… Hi, Alfred Rower.
Such a beautiful experience, though! The randomness didn’t bother me, as I felt like I was transported into this serene park-like setting. Exactly the kind of cozy I desired today!
Late Summer and Early Autumn Coziness
In general, I don’t do well with thematic or numerical challenges. Playing a game a certain number of times often feels exhausting to me, as my preferences shift a lot and I like the freedom to move on when I want to. Similarly, having a strict sort of theme to adhere to takes away that freedom of choice when my mind wanders. I just want to play my solo games!
But there are modified experiences that work for me. I’ve done multiple alphabetic challenges in the past, which were great! As summer has started to wind down, I realized that I kept putting off playing my cozy games. That’s been happening for most of the year, and suddenly, it felt right about time to move into a very impromptu cozy game challenge.
What exactly does that mean? Not much… I do best when I still leave myself a lot of freedom. I’m simply picking out solo games that feel like they give me a cozy vibe. Some are favorites, some have been nearly forgotten, and others might turn out to be good learning experiences. “That’s not a cozy game!” Ha! Yet I’m excited to relax with these lovely games again.
Session Overview
Play Number: 17-26
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 31, 23, 11, 15, 29, 22, 25, 23, 21, 31 (2 Wins, 8 Losses)
Not too shabby! I began and ended with my best scores. Still searching for 35 victory points, and it’s within reach! I don’t worry too much about my final scores, though. This is just a calm and relaxing sort of environment. I don’t invest much in terms of emotions, so even the worst outcomes result in me laughing and comically shaking my fist at the nebulous local villages who probably tampered with the committee. Ha! Very happy to call this one an enjoyable, cozy solo game.
%
20 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
3
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Every piece of artwork is stunning with delightful and relaxing details almost hidden away in the background.
- Understanding the rules is a straightforward process that only requires a quick refresher every now and then.
- Creating the grid is a neat little puzzle that may be steeped in luck, yet still has clever and meaningful decisions.
- Gameplay moves very quickly and doesn’t take long, often allowing for multiple plays to happen in a single session.
- Not too much thought is required to score moderately well, which complements the relaxed, cozy atmosphere.
- More experience leads to a greater understanding of the different awards, but the highest scoring tier is a challenge.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The iconography is a little hard to decipher at times, mostly with the yellow flowers, but also with the general shapes.
- Bad luck can easily spoil a play, so even the best-laid plans can lead to low scores when the awards don’t pan out.
- Although there is a way to mitigate a bad card draw, gameplay very much feels like it’s determined by the card order.
- As beautiful as the artwork is, the graphic design elements with the icon choices and placement detracts from it a bit.
Victory Conditions
Score 30+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 67%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 25 points.
Score at least 30 points.
Score at least 35 points.
Continue the Conversation
What is your favorite part of Village Green? Have you reached an excellent scoring tier, or are those petty grudges holding you back? Ha ha! I love how relaxing the setting is, but bad luck can be laughed away as the result of meddling villagers. The beautiful artwork always brings me back, and the gameplay continues to be very fun for me to puzzle through!
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