Niagara (board game)
Encyclopedia
Niagara is a German-style board game
designed by Thomas Liesching and published in 2004
by Zoch zum Spielen and Rio Grande Games
.
as a flap hanging over the box edge. The river is represented using clear plastic discs in a grooved surface, allowing board spaces to move downstream toward the waterfall.
Players collect gems along a river. Players move canoes to transport the gems, and can steal gems from other players' canoes. They may also influence the speed with which the board spaces move downstream. The first player to acquire four gems of one colour, or one of each of the five colours, or seven gems of any colour, is the winner. Although the game box states that gems closer to the waterfall are of higher value, the game treats all colours equally.
2005 game festival, Diamond Joe adds another canoe which is controlled indirectly by the players, and which participates in trades, generally bringing the harder-to-reach gems upstream.
and was one of the winners of the Mensa
Mind Games competition.
It received 2nd place in the Deutscher Spiele Preis
and 3rd in the Schweizer Spielepreis
for Family Games.
German-style board game
German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...
designed by Thomas Liesching and published in 2004
2004 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniature games, and table-top role-playing games published in 2004. For video and console games, see 2004 in video gaming.-Game awards given in 2004:...
by Zoch zum Spielen and Rio Grande Games
Rio Grande Games
Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games.-History:...
.
Gameplay
The game is played on a hinged board designed to sit atop the game box and represent Niagara FallsNiagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
as a flap hanging over the box edge. The river is represented using clear plastic discs in a grooved surface, allowing board spaces to move downstream toward the waterfall.
Players collect gems along a river. Players move canoes to transport the gems, and can steal gems from other players' canoes. They may also influence the speed with which the board spaces move downstream. The first player to acquire four gems of one colour, or one of each of the five colours, or seven gems of any colour, is the winner. Although the game box states that gems closer to the waterfall are of higher value, the game treats all colours equally.
Diamond Joe
Given away at the SpielSpiel
Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called Essen after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day game trade fair held in October at the Messe Essen exhibition centre in Essen...
2005 game festival, Diamond Joe adds another canoe which is controlled indirectly by the players, and which participates in trades, generally bringing the harder-to-reach gems upstream.
Spirits of Niagara
Released in 2006, Spirits of Niagara adds double-capacity canoes, pieces for a sixth player, additional paddle cards with new actions, and a whirlpool which pushes canoes downstream. It also adds two "spirits" of the river: the "Bathing Beaver", which resets the flow of the river to normal, and the "Hurried Elk", which allows a player to move their canoe faster if they reach the gems on the edge of the waterfall.Awards
In 2005 Niagara won the Spiel des JahresSpiel des Jahres
The Spiel des Jahres is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the stated purpose of rewarding excellence in game design, and promoting top-quality games in the German market. It is thought that the existence and popularity of the award is one of the major drivers of the quality...
and was one of the winners of the Mensa
Mensa International
Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test...
Mind Games competition.
It received 2nd place in the Deutscher Spiele Preis
Deutscher Spiele Preis
The Deutscher Spiele Preis is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine "Die Pöppel-Revue", which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals and game clubs. The results are announced every October at the Spiel game fair in Essen,...
and 3rd in the Schweizer Spielepreis
Schweizer Spielepreis
The Schweizer Spielepreis is a Swiss board game award, awarded since 2002 in three categories: Family games, Children's games and Strategy games...
for Family Games.
External links
- Niagara home page at Zoch zum Spielen