In Journey to Willamette Valley, each player controls their own wagon trying to make it to Oregon. Players start with a wagon full of healthy family members and hope to make it all the way to Oregon with the same family members.
Players start by selecting a wagon and loading it with their four family members which have 5 health points. They start with two supplies of meat. At the end of every turn, players have to feed their family or they starve and lose health points. Players also start the game with one pistol which can help them hunt for more meat. Players are given two tiles to use at the start of their turn and will draw back up after placing.
The game board is a 12×4 grid. The game will start with one tile per player in the first column, where it conventionally says start. At the start of their turn, players place tiles which include forts, towns, rivers, etc. These will make up the journey to Willamette Valley. There are also roads on the tiles, but players do not have to connect the roads when initially placing the tile. However, if the roads are connected players can move along the road for free action on their turn. Players cannot start placing tiles into the next column until the previous column has at least two tiles.
After placing their tile(s), the player draws a calamity card. Most of these cards are not in favor of the player and will list a way to avoid them by the end of the turn. However, some happen immediately and cannot be avoided. If you are lucky, it may be something to benefit your journey.
After drawing their calamity card, the player can perform three actions. These actions will depend on what type of tile the player’s wagon is on or moves to. Players can move their wagon to tiles that are not connected by roads, hunt if their wagon is on a hunting tile, buy supplies if their wagon is on a fort or town tile and sell supplies if their wagon is on a town tile. There are also winter tiles. If a wagon moves onto a winter tile at all during its movement, the family freezes and they suffer a health point unless the wagon contains winter clothes. Players can also pick up hitchhikers from towns. These hitchhikers only have one health point but can bring in more money if they are dropped off safely to Willamette Valley. If a family member dies along the way, their headstone is placed on the tile in which they died.
The end of a game is triggered once a wagon moves to Willamette Valley or there are no more tiles to play. The round is completed so that all players have equal turns. Players then receive money for family members, hitchhikers, etc. Then, they lose money if they did not reach Oregon. The loss depends on how far away their wagon is from Oregon. Then players lose money for funeral expenses if they have any dead family members. This amount varies depending on how far away the headstone is from Willamette Valley.
COMPONENTS
I have no complaints here at all, the boards are well made and heavy, I think they will stand up to many plays, the artwork is good and text is very easy to read on all cards.
Final Thoughts
Fun and easy to learn, but don’t let that fool you, there is a lot of strategies here, you will need to think about your tile placement and if it will help you, hurt your opponent, there is a bit of “Take That” involved here too, as if one player is ahead, the other players will want to “gang” up on them and throw down some blocks to impede their progress. So keep that in mind if you tend not to like those types of games. Also, keep in mind there is a very heavy dose of luck involved here, like your at the mercy of your tiles, and of the course the dreaded calamity card, If you draw a bad card early, it could be hard for you to even stay in the game.
This is a great game for the whole family, it would make a great addition to your game shelf, as the holidays are coming up, A great family game that all will enjoy, even if they have never played the classic computer game or not.
For more information head over to the Games Adult Play Website
Oregon Trail Journey to Willamette Valley is available exclusively at Target stores and Target.com.
A big thank you to Games Adults Play for sending over the review copy, this had no effect on the outcome of the review.
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