Trouble in Widget Ridge: Defeating Loose Mechanical Bison
Connect interesting and whimsical objects to craft the best kind of invention to defeat Lord Covington in Widget Ridge.
The steampunk genre hasn’t always been one I’ve been strongly drawn to, yet I’ve played some fun solo steampunk games lately! Widget Ridge is one that I’ve enjoyed with my husband on a few occasions. At last, it seemed like the right time to take on the solo mode and see what it might be like to create these strange contraptions on my own!
Game Overview
Game Name: Widget Ridge
Publication Year: 2019
Designer: Ian Taylor
Artist: Matt Burton
Publisher: Furious Tree Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Different parts offer all sorts of abilities, both when initially played and when connected to a full construct. It’s important to manage spending in the market against the random actions of Lord Covington and his mechanical bison on the road to collecting a certain amount of spark!
First Play
May 16, 2023
Complexity
2
Latest Play
May 16, 2023
Expansions
4
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
15 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
28" x 20"
Low Score
N/A
Trouble with Text
Although the cards are a little busy, only the flavor text and copyright information is difficult to read. But the rulebook is another story, and I was left a little lost.
The font weight is different, and the text is riddled with typos. This photo shows the different way the text is presented on opposite pages. Very hard to read from afar.
Understanding all of the rules, particularly for solo, meant I had to flip around to various sections all the time.
I’ve seen worse rulebooks, yet from a learning perspective, this is a lighter game with convoluted rules.
Battling the Boss
The solo mode involves battling Lord Covington in a pair of phases. Based on the starting cards, which are numbered, a specific action will be taken.
I like this simple process, yet the text is unnecessarily small. Luckily, I had this as close to me as possible during play to find out what Lord Covington was up to.
This is a very neat idea around building a steampunk invention that can be altered as needed. Alas…
I was simply racing to get ahead in spark, and hoping that cards 2-7 didn’t show up all at once early on.
Awesome Combinations
So many different cards! There are duplicates, yet the idea is to put together an augment, device, and accessory to create a full construct that offers a powerful ability.
Icons on the sides of cards indicate whether they can connect or not, which is an important consideration.
However, gold must be spent to purchase these cards from the market, and each one offers a bonus for playing it.
In this way, it’s not only about creating a full construct, but figuring out how these play abilities might be useful and worth the investment in gold.
Spark Tracker Cards
A rather interesting aspect of gameplay is tracking spark, which is the equivalent of victory points. No track is in sight, though: It’s all about overlapping cards!
These rotate and align in different ways to track anything from 0 to 120 spark. Although a little fiddly, it’s kind of neat and fits right in with the steampunk theme.
For the solo mode, the mechanical bison must be defeated before moving onto battling Lord Covington himself.
By the way, he’s a mechanical statue that was switched on too early and is destroying the market square… The usual!
The Importance of a Clear Rulebook
Although the game suffered from some gameplay issues for me, one of the biggest stumbling blocks was my initial peruse through the rules. Even with my past multiplayer experience, nothing felt as clear as it could be.
If Lord Covington was going to clear out the market every round, why was I replacing a purchased card only to immediately discard it? Maybe this was a way to encourage buying fewer cards, but it was an odd order of operations to draw a card, discard everything in the market, and then draw all new cards. It all felt… Excessive? Out of order?
The rules for melting cards and keeping them separate are all over the rulebook, often with little pieces of information in unexpected places. Some rules appear near the setup instructions, and I had to keep flipping all over to try to answer any questions that popped up during gameplay. Not the end of the world, yet a clear rulebook is quite important.
Playing solo, I don’t have anyone at the table to figure out alternate interpretations. I don’t always get the rules correct, after all! For popular games, this is often accomplished with an online search. Yet solo games with small audiences are hard to find answers for, and I don’t always have the luxury to wait days or weeks for a ruling in the middle of play.
A better rulebook would make the game better for me, although I don’t know if it would save the solo mode. Maybe it works nicely enough, and might even improve with expansions, yet my first impressions were not very positive.
My First Construct
It took a little while to get things rolling as I moved through my starting deck, but I eventually put together a fantastic invention… Basic, yet rather hilarious!
Meet my foot-powered cargo rocket on wheels. That’s right: Those gears are powered by foot and the wheels just make it all the easier to take off and land.
Apparently, it might be great for delivering cakes. Ha ha! More importantly, though, is the full construct ability.
I could discard a card to force Lord Covington to discard a card or I could melt a market card to gain spark. Neat!
Another Great Idea
Alas, that first play was too difficult for my little cargo rocket. Mechanical bison don’t play nicely at all!
I tried again, this time creating a battery-powered portal manipulator with cooling vents. Absolutely sensible!
Note, though, that I wasn’t locked into this full construct for the entire play. I could swap out parts during my turn and continue buying new cards from the market to use.
This was the sort of invention that generated spark, yet it wasn’t enough. The mechanical bison won again as I kept muddling through the rules some more.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 2 Losses
I loved the idea of crafting inventions and connecting cards in different ways, but the solo mode was so very mechanical. Most of the initial phase was just racing to get enough spark to knock out the mechanical bison by not buying too many cards from the market. The rules questions and difficult rulebook layout made me struggle some more, unfortunately. There is a wonderful idea here, yet the solo mode isn’t one I expect to play again.
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
6
Originality
Design & Theme
6
Quality
Components & Rules
4
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
5
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the cards feature fun flavor text and combine to make some hilarious full constructs out of various parts.
- There is a robust story behind this world that is further built on in expansions that are compatible with solo.
- Play time moves along quickly with a simple sequence of play and practically no downtime between rounds.
- Creating a full construct for the first time is very fun and exciting when it can be activated during each turn.
- The ability to update and change inventions is quite interesting and makes each market card interesting.
- Despite there being duplicates of many cards, the base game offers a wide selection of unique cards to discover.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The rulebook is hard to understand with important sections split up and fonts that are sometimes hard to read.
- Clearing out the market each turn acts as a timer of sorts, yet the solo mode doesn’t feel very compelling.
- Losing spark so quickly with the order of the solo opponent’s cards can be disastrous with no mitigation.
- Although the inventions can be very different, there are specific cards needed to do well in the solo mode.
Victory Conditions
Score 100+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 0%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game against Lord Covington.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Widget Ridge? Are there any other solo steampunk games you enjoy playing? This is a fun little game, particularly with 2 players, yet I don’t feel like there is enough for me to return to the solo mode. The inventions are excellent, though, and I love the idea! I suppose the battery of the battery-powered element just ran out for me.
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