Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Life in the village is hard – but life here also allows the inhabitants to grow and prosper as they please. One villager might want to become a friar.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Area Majority
Compete to have the strongest presence in areas that award control or points.
Contracts
Complete specific requirements to earn rewards, income, or victory points.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Worker Placement
Commit limited workers to action spaces before opponents occupy them.
Turn Order: Claim Action
Determine or change the order in which players take their turns.
Read the full game description
Life in the village is hard – but life here also allows the inhabitants to grow and prosper as they please. One villager might want to become a friar. Another might feel ambitious and strive for a career in public office. A third one might want to seek his luck in distant lands. Each player will take the reins of a family and have them find fame and glory in many different ways. There is one thing you must not forget, however: Time will not stop for anyone and with time people will vanish. Those who will find themselves immortalized in the village chronicles will bring honor to their family and be one step closer to victory. Village is a game full of tactical challenges. A smart and unique new action mechanism is responsible for keeping turns short and yet still tactically rich and full of difficult decisions. Also unique is the way this game deals with the delicate subject of death; as a natural and perpetual part of life in the village, thoughts of death will keep you focused on smart time-management. Paraphrased from Opinionated Gamer's review: Each player’s turn consists of taking a cube and then taking the action of the area they just took the cube from. The board has multiple different zones with specific attributes, a market, a travel zone, a crafting zone, a church, and a council house. Many of these offer multiple options, so even if you take a cube from the crafting area, you can get an ox, a horse, a cart, a plow, a scroll, or convert wheat to gold. Each zone is seeded with cubes of four colors plus black cubes which serve as curses, there are lots of turns per round. Some areas offer short-term scoring, others offer long-term scoring, and still others offer only end-game scoring. The round ends when there are no cubes at any location. The game ends when either the village chronicle or the anonymous graveyard is full.