Walnut Grove: A Little House on the Prairie Sort of Game
Build up a small farm near a bustling town to make the most of each season and survive the winters in Walnut Grove.
Yeehaw! Maybe that wasn’t exactly the most accurate noise, but it was the sound that was all over the place at my solo table as I brought out Walnut Grove. This was another recent board game swap find! It utilizes some slightly dated design choices, yet it also presents a very clear resource optimization puzzle. Off to try my luck at homesteading!
Game Overview
Game Name: Walnut Grove
Publication Year: 2011
Designers: Paul Laane & Touko Tahkokallio
Artist: Klemens Franz
Publisher: Lookout Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Seasons pass as a farm takes shape around the town. Over 8 years, decisions must be made about how to expand and what resources to collect. It may seem pretty easy, yet the town phase with all of the different shops creates plenty of difficult choices. Plus, it offers easy-to-understand rules!
First Play
November 24, 2024
Complexity
3
Latest Play
November 24, 2024
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
30 Minutes
High Score
21
Game Area
26" x 22"
Low Score
19
On the Prairie
How lovely! I was happy to see some very basic wooden pawns and cubes as I stepped back in time with this one.
The rulebook was about 4 pages long, and I was worried I missed something. Nope: Just very straightforward! There are different mechanics, but nothing overly complex.
Tiles offered new ways to expand my farm, and it was surprising to see how different these could be.
Additional workers helped harvest more, but they needed food and lodging. My first attempt wasn’t all that bad. Very quick and neat to go through the seasons!
Into the Town Square
Spring, summer, and winter were some of the quickest seasons. There were important choices, but I only had to do a single action with tiles or cubes. Easy to remember!
Autumn was a little more complex with visiting a single spot in town. I had to plan this carefully to hire someone, construct something, or sell resources for valuable coins.
This was cool! I liked the viewpoint of the town and how movement was a lot more strategic than I first thought.
With this open information, a lot of turns can be planned in advance, although I liked the simplicity of these spaces.
Hidden Vaults
Since setup was pretty simple, I set out to play again in a matter of minutes. I struggled a little bit with wood, thanks to a limited number of forest tile options.
I would have been very proud of this if I had only worked in an improvement tile! Just one wasted move early on.
Collecting coins looked like my specialty… These are all drawn from a bag, and can have values from 0 to 2. I did pretty well with the ones I ended up with in my barns.
You want to tell me I wasn’t immediately robbed? Who builds “vaults” in the middle of nowhere?! Ha ha!
So Many Dairy Cows
Harvesting from these tiles was actually a great system! Larger connected areas resulted in more resources, but storage capacity was limited by the spaces and barns.
With only a few workers, too, many years resulted in only 2 harvested resources. I needed lots just for survival… No neighborly help tiles for me, thank you very much!
Maybe my only question was around these dairy fields… Did I really need that many cows? My goodness. Ha ha!
Another pleasant addition to my collection that shows how simple can lead to excellent game experiences.
Taking Away the “Over” in Overwhelmed
From my own observations lately, the board game hobby tends to lean in the direction of being overwhelmed. Too many choices of what to buy, lengthy setup processes, complicated rules to learn, huge play spaces, endless components, and disorganized inserts all contribute to a feeling of almost not wanting to do anything sometimes.
Luckily, there are ways to become simply… Whelmed? Ha ha! This game feels like one that does that very well. It was easy to get to my table and I was surprised by how easy that process was, especially compared to some newer arrivals.
I love this hobby and the way it keeps evolving, and that overwhelming feeling can lead to some amazing game experiences! But when I’m in the mood for a game that doesn’t ask too much of me, it’s nice to find the ones that are a couple of steps above lightweight. Discovering this one was so much fun! Glad I picked up a copy when I could!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 & 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 21, 19 (2 Losses)
My scores weren’t too terrible, considering I wasn’t far from the victory threshold for this first outing. I had a lot of fun planning my journey through town and which buildings I visited! To do well, I’ll have to focus on the most optimal choices when it comes to resources. That may feel a little more like a solvable puzzle, but seeing as how I haven’t come close to piecing it together, there are many plays of this one ahead. Very excited to have a copy!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
4
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the rules are very straightforward and become intuitive during the first play with minimal rulebook checks.
- Seasons mark the sequence of play and keep everything moving along quickly and smoothly.
- Choosing which tiles to add to the farm is integral to gameplay, yet these are rarely obvious or simple choices.
- It’s possible to plan ahead for food and wood requirements, which can help inform other building decisions.
- Improvement tiles are randomized during setup, allowing for a slightly different sort of experience each time.
- Scoring well is not something that happens by accident and working towards this is a fun solo goal.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The stone and dairy resource colors are rather similar and can easily be mistaken during the first few plays.
- Farmers and laborers are pretty large and can make seeing the spaces on fields a little difficult at times.
- Variety is rather limited and gameplay can get quite repetitive in many senses, especially the overall progress.
- There seems to be a general gameplay puzzle that could be solved with enough experience and play.
Victory Conditions
Score 25+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 50%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 20 points.
Score at least 25 points.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Walnut Grove? Are there any other solo games you enjoy that distill down mechanics and might seem too simple? The resource optimization puzzle here works amazingly well, and I had a great time seeing everything come together! Sometimes, it’s nice to play some older games to appreciate the core fun of making choices!
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