Canyon

Canyon board, early in the race

Canyon is a game by Frederick Herschler. Before SeattleCosmicGameNight20030830, I had heard people praise this game but didn't know much about it. Kisa described it to us as "a race game powered by Oh_Hell?". That turned out to be pretty accurate. The first half of each round is a trick-taking game in which the points you make are equal to the tricks you take (apologies to the Beatles), plus a bonus if you take the exact number of tricks you bid for. In the second half of each round, players move their canoes forward on the board's river by a number of squares equal to the points they scored that turn. There is an exception to this movement rule: on the rapids (the lighter area in the upper left of the board in the photo above), you can only move a number of squares equal to your bonus that turn. If you don't take exactly the number of tricks you bid for while on the rapids, you score nothing and your canoe moves one square closer to the waterfall at the top of the board. If you plunge over the waterfall, you must restart your movement at the beginning of the rapids on the next round.

A good game. Neither the racing mechanic nor the Oh_Hell? mechanic is original in itself, but melded they form a straightforward yet compelling game.

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

BoardgameGeek page for Canyon

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