Game Review: Oregon

By Greg Schloesser
June 6, 2008

Publisher: Hans im Glück / Rio Grande Games
Designers: Åse & Henrik Berg
Players: 2-4
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Rules Language: German / English

Oregon was released at the Spiel game convention in Essen in 2007, and frankly, it didn’t grab my attention. Reaction to the game from the few folks with whom I spoke was mixed. I knew the game was being released in the United States by Rio Grande Games, so I decided not to strain my already burgeoning luggage further and passed on purchasing a copy until I returned home.

Much to my surprise, Oregon, designed by newcomers Åse and Henrik Berg, has become one of my favorites from the 2007 Essen crop. It is easy enough for families and non-hardcore gamers to grasp and play competitively, yet offers enough challenge and decisions to keep hobbyists interested and engaged. While one’s choices may seem limited at times, in reality there is ample room for clever moves by properly managing one’s cards and taking advantage of an ever-changing board.

Geometric Wonderland

Set in the “rush to the west” era of the mid-1800s, Oregon challenges players to populate the vast land with settlers and communities, hoping to take advantage of the growing towns and abundant reserves of gold and coal waiting to be mined in the surrounding mountains.

The game uses two decks of cards – building cards and landscape cards – and is played on a board overlaid by a 10 x 15 grid, which separates the land into twenty-five sections containing six squares each whereupon tiles and farmers can be placed. Players will play farmers and buildings onto these squares, scoring points by placing buildings next to their farmers and vice-versa.

The building cards depict the various buildings – post office, harbor, church, mines, etc. – while the landscape cards depict one of five different symbols – wagon, eagle, campfire, settlers or buffalo. Players will have a hand of four cards, and on each turn may play any two, then refill their hand. The five landscape types are listed along both the top and side of the board, and when playing two landscape cards, the player places a farmer onto one of the twelve unoccupied spaces that make up the two sections at the crossroads of these two landscape types. (If the landscape types are identical, then that landscape’s row and column meet in only one section, which means there’s only six possible placements – assuming all the squares are unoccupied.)

If a player plays a building card, he also plays a landscape card, then places a matching building tile onto any section in the row or column matching that landscape symbol.

When placing a farmer, a player will immediately score points based on the adjacent building or buildings. Points generally range from 1–4, depending upon the type of building, while in the case of the church, a player can score up to 8 depending upon how many other farmers are adjacent to it. Coal and gold mines work a bit differently, allowing the player to take a face-down token of the appropriate type; the value of these tokens range from 1–3 for coal and 3–5 for gold. Placing a building works similarly, but every player who has farmers adjacent to the building earns points. Thus, care must be exercised to make sure opponents don’t score more points than you!

Each player possesses a “joker” and “extra turn” token. The joker can be used as any landscape card, while the extra turn token allows the player to immediately take another turn before drawing replacement cards. Once used, these tokens are inverted and cannot be used again until they are restored. To restore these tokens, a player must place a farmer next to appropriate building (or vice versa): a warehouse for the joker, and a train station for the extra turn token. These buildings yield only one point, but being able to restore the special tokens is invaluable. This is one of the keys to the game, as having the joker and extra turn tokens at one’s disposal increases your placement flexibility and allows you to take two turns in succession, thereby increasing the scoring opportunities.

Another scoring opportunity is to arrange a group of three adjacent farmers, which earns the player five points. This is an easily overlooked rule, but is worth remembering as the points can be significant.

The game ends at the conclusion of the round when a player places his final farmer, or after a pre-determined number of building types are depleted. Players then reveal and add the value of their coal and gold tiles to their victory points, and the player with the greatest total is victorious. The game generally takes less than an hour to play to completion.

Happy Homesteader

When learning the game, my first thought was that the placement opportunities would be quite limited. In truth, however, there is quite a bit of flexibility here. Possessing four cards allows for considerable latitude, and the presence of the joker expands one’s options further. It is critical to keep the joker and extra turn tokens activated, so placing next to the appropriate buildings to reactivate them is an important move. The game also allows for some advance planning, placing farmers or buildings on one turn in order to take advantage of these placements on a subsequent turn. Of course, wily opponents will likely spot these moves and, if possible, take advantage of them.

It is also wise to place farmers in a fashion that will earn you points on your opponents’ turns. Remember, when a building is placed, it scores points for ALL players who have farmers adjacent to it. Thus, it can be wise to place farmers near your opponents’ farmers in order to take advantage of subsequent building placements.

Oregon is a fine light- to middleweight game that offers players an abundance of significant choices and strategies. While the card draw does play a role, players can usually find enough options to overcome any “luck of the draw” problems. I’m happy to make the journey to the vast wilderness of 19th century Oregon any time!

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Comments:

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We play it quite a lot here in AZ. I really enjoy it every time. Posted by Matthew Frederick on Jun 6, 2008 at 05:14 PM | #

Glad to see this one getting some love.  Too many dismiss this as a pure luckfest, but it hits the light and/or intro game spot quite well. Posted by Scott Russell on Jun 7, 2008 at 06:57 AM | #

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