Walking in Burano: A Lovely Stroll Through a Neighborhood
Build a delightfully colorful street of buildings with special features to attract tourists and inhabitants in Walking in Burano.
With thousands of solo games coming out every year, it’s impossible to keep up with them all! It often takes me a few years to find some gems, and I had a feeling that was what I would find with Walking in Burano. The wonderful artwork and relaxing theme seemed to call to me, and after far too long sitting on a shelf, it was time to start building!
Game Overview
Game Name: Walking in Burano
Publication Year: 2018
Designer: Wei-Min Ling
Artist: Maisherly
Publishers: Alderac Entertainment Group and EmperorS4
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Charming 3-story buildings are available to buy from a market. All floors are designed to be the same color, while various characters may be used for scoring. Little details and interesting choices offer many ways to put together a small neighborhood of 5 buildings… Complete with cats!
First Play
May 31, 2023
Complexity
2
Latest Play
October 7, 2024
Expansions
1
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
8
Play Time
15 Minutes
High Score
83
Game Area
26" x 18"
Low Score
48
Shiny Coins
Although I’m using an abacus to start tracking coins and money, only 6 coins may be stored between turns here. Luckily, these cardboard ones boast shiny surfaces!
It might not be as clear here, yet they shimmer a bit like silver and gold. Nothing too wild, but enough to add something to the table presence. Lovely little surprise!
The artwork is relaxing and breezy, as evidenced by the box artwork. Maybe the only thing missing are more cats.
I continue to enjoy a lot of lighter, quicker solo games these days, and I had a feeling this was just what I wanted!
All Kinds of People
A completed building has all 3 floors filled in from the market. As soon as this happens, an available character is placed underneath it to act as a final scoring condition.
Tourists look at the completed house they stop in front of, while inhabitants are a little more versatile.
With the solo mode, a character is discarded at the end of each round. That might not sound like a lot, yet it acts as a timer and also takes away scoring opportunities.
I made some blunders early on by discarding tourists who would have been worth more later on. Must pay attention!
Neighborhood Fun
My first play was wonderful! I did very well with different shops and managed to generate 10 or more victory points from each tourist and inhabitant. Not bad at all!
Unfortunately, the 3rd floor selection was quite limited and I couldn’t come across another blue section. Luckily, there are tokens to allow some rules to be broken.
It cost me a little bit, but I figure I’ll just tell the zoning committee that yellow is the sun reflecting off the roof!
How lovely is this scene? It was nice to take a moment to admire the simple and colorful joy present in the houses.
The Little Details
On these rather small cards, I had a little trouble picking out a few of the details. It wasn’t the end of the world, although I nearly missed a few victory points!
Most importantly, though, this was a very fun experience. Everything was pretty relaxed, especially since I had the chance to always place a mismatched floor. No worries!
It all came down to the end, too. I wasn’t left with extra coins, and the last character card was often the one I took.
Some of the tourists seemed to be the best options, yet I soon saw the different strategies to utilize the inhabitants.
Can There Ever Be Too Many Relaxing Games?
No. Ha ha! I do recall a time when I started to pick up everything that fit into this category, though, and I quickly found that I had too many. Having plenty of relaxing and calming solo games is excellent, yet it’s important to space them out. At least for me, I often mix in some heavier games with more tension to break things up most of the time.
However, I can also cycle through a bunch of lighter games quickly when I want to play a lot without needing to dedicate a ton of time to learning new rules. It’s fun to discover new games, but I don’t always have the time to spend hours working through new rules and components. Sometimes, it’s just nice to relax with a new game and play it.
Looking at my collection, I may have leaned a little too heavily into picking up more relaxing games. Yet that kind of speaks to what’s working for me: I don’t feel overwhelmed by them, and most of them are in smaller boxes… Much easier to store than some of the larger, more complex games that I have yet to play. One day, I’ll dive into those!
A Busy Neighborhood
I loved how all of the cards slotted next to each other so nicely. Different buildings certainly stood out, but the connected street and canal provided a foundation.
This was so pleasant! I know I mentioned it a few times, but there was something so lovely about the experience.
Plenty of choices popped up in the market, where the rightmost cards cycled out each round. I managed to line up some matching floors here and there. Very fun!
The rulebook was only there for a quick reminder and scoring example. I thought gameplay flowed smoothly.
Santa Claus is in Town
I had a little laugh over the appearance of Santa, who could live in the neighborhood to award victory points for chimneys. Ha ha! I didn’t maximize scoring, though.
Still, it was fun to add him and imagine him taking a little vacation in this rather temperate spot. No snow here!
There were certainly some repeat characters I used, but it all depended on the floors I chose. Sometimes, I made my choices based on inhabitants I wanted to pick up.
Only the red and blue curtains threw me off, as I couldn’t quite put them together. That’s the next challenge!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-4
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 73, 79, 67, 76 (4 Losses)
So close to hitting my scoring threshold for a victory! Just not quite, which wasn’t a problem. I liked how close these plays felt in terms of scoring. My final play was quite nice with this orange building and tourist who was looking for cats… That resulted in 14 victory points right there! I’m always surprised when a great game sits on my shelf for so long, yet it was wonderful to discover this solo mode. I absolutely love having this in my collection to play again!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
6
Quality
Components & Rules
7
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
9
+ Pros (Positives)
- Play time is very smooth with minimal tension and a generally relaxing, pleasant sort of atmosphere.
- All of the cards meld together nicely to form beautiful, colorful neighborhoods that always connect in some way.
- Different scoring conditions mean that there are almost always choices among the tourists and inhabitants.
- Regulatory tokens may be spent to break some of the placement rules, so it’s very hard to not be able to build.
- Each round involves picking up a mixture of 3 things between buildings and coins, which is easy to keep track of.
- No strategy seems to be dominant since the floors offer a wide variety of features and options from play to play.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The small cards help save table space, but there are a lot of details that are a little hard to see from afar.
- Card quality is rather disappointing and a very slight warp ensures that the buildings don’t align perfectly.
- Figuring out the most valuable characters can take a little extra time to do a lot of different calculations.
- Although the market cycles through, there isn’t any way to refresh it if the desired color floor doesn’t come out.
Victory Conditions
Score 80+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 70 points.
Win at least 1 game with 4 unused regulatory tokens.
Score at least 80 points.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played the solo mode for Walking in Burano? What are some of the things you enjoy about the game? All of the colors brought this little neighborhood to life, and I had a wonderful time trying out different ways to score. There is still a challenge ahead, though! I’m glad I finally got this one off of my shelf to discover how much fun it is!
Hmm I might have to find this one. Thanks for highlighting it.
You’re very welcome, and thanks for stopping by! It’s a little older, yet this was one of the more pleasant new games I’ve tried out lately. Feels like the perfect decision space for a 10 minute play time. Hope you enjoy it if you check it out!