Viticulture Essential Edition
A worker placement game with class, Viticulture is all about growing grapes and making wine. Its a calm, calculating game that requires plenty of planning. It's a quality board game too, as you would expect from Stonemaier Games.
Viticulture: A Quick Summary
Score:
8/10
Number of Players:
1-6
Time to Play:
60 mins
This is a game that naturally lends itself to a quiet evening with a glass of wine, talking of past holidays to Italy and how good it would be to go again. It's satisfying to play, works the mind in just the right way and is competitive without being bullish. A good addition to your shelf.
What we loved:
It's relaxing but still a mental challenge
The theme and artwork are lovely
The gameplay is simple to understand, which means you can focus on playing the game, not learning it
Every game will be different - which means this has a long life span in your game collection
What could be improved:
Player interaction is subtle rather than obvious versus play
It's very thematic - which might not be for some
Viticulture: Vinum Facere
Viticulture is a game all about building a vineyard and making wine. From Stonemaier Games, Viticulture is a classic worker placement game in which players need to place workers, grow vines, take wine orders and then fulfil them to make money and score points. The player who wins is the one who reaches the end of the score track first. It's a simple premise, a comfy, lovely theme and production quality is as good as you would expect from Stonemaier.
How to play Viticulture:
Players start with a vineyard board, which details their farm, areas to place buildings and fields to plant vines. At the beginning of the game, they must choose their parents from the deck at random, and then take their starting bonus from the result on the cards. This might be extra money, or a starting building to help boost the beginning of their wine production. Once players are set up and good to go, then they must take their turn.
Each player begins with standard labourers and a meeple depicting them. Actions are taken in seasons, and players must balance how many workers to play in Spring or Autumn to increase their production most efficiently. For example, they might place a worker on the circle that provides grape cards, allowing them to then take an action, planting a field with those grapes. If a player places too many workers too early in the year, then they won't be able to harvest or unlock new workers later in the phase.
Players take it in turns to place a worker, and only one worker can be placed on each action, so calculating what your opponents may want to do next, and what your next action must be, is crucial if you're going to run a smooth operation. Your big worker meeple, which represents you, can be placed on a circle already occupied, which can get you out of jail from time to time! Grape cards, building on the farm and planting fields all happen in the first phase of the round. Getting orders for wine and harvesting fields of grapes happens in the second phase, along with getting cards for different characters, such as wine experts who can add bonuses to your wine production and increase your points and money each turn.
Players must also build on their farm, for instance, adding extra cellars to age their wine in, or a windmill to help with irrigation. They can also gain extra workers, unlocking more actions per round and therefore increasing the chances of producing wine.
Wine comes in white, red, rosé and champagne - rosé and champagne require blending your white and red grapes, taking extra turns and are therefore orders that increase your income and provide more points than standard red or white orders. Players need to decide on their strategy, whether they go for regular, small standard orders or build up for the big wins. It depends on the wine cards they draw and whether their characters can help speed up the process. Play continues until one player reaches the end of the player track and wins!
A competitive but cosy game
Viticulture is a competitive game, but without creating obnoxious rivalry. You always have to keep one eye on your opponents to ensure you don't let them get too far ahead on the points track, or take the actions you really need before you can place your worker. Each turn, each player places a marker on an initiative track, taking a bonus for that turn and also setting which order they go in. The better the bonus, the more likely you are to go last and miss out on the actions you wanted to take.
It's a clever mechanic, because there is a fair exchange in value between going first with no bonus, or last with a big boost, and you'll be constantly weighing up the options every time you place a worker. This makes for a great mental challenge, as you strategise and quietly compete throughout the game. Fulfilling a wine order is really satisfying because it is the culmination of lots of other micro actions leading to the big payoff. The whole time you're playing, you're immersed in the theme and the setting, which is relaxed, laid-back rural Italy. It takes the edge off the competitive elements and makes the game a pleasant, cosy challenge.
Why is this Viticulture: The Essential Edition?
Viticulture was originally released as a solus game and then over time, Stonemaier Games added multiple expansions to add more characters, extra boards and more cards. This edition is a re-release that adds in a number of elements from the Tuscany expansion, including an extended board, more bonuses and ways to achieve end-of-game points.
Viticulture Essential Edition is a great value for a game that's already combined with an expansion and will be played over and over.
Viticulture Essential Edition: The pros and cons in detail
What we liked:
Viticulture is a lovely playing experience, the quality of the components is good, and the little wooden meeples are fun (they have jaunty hats). The artwork on the cards is really in keeping with the theme, and there is a gentle humour that runs through the whole game.
Learning to play the game takes a while, because, as with many worker placement games, there are lots of actions and understanding the benefits of each over the course of the game takes a few playthroughs. But the game isn't a frustrating one to learn; it's simple, and that means you can concentrate on the details rather than the basics. You will want to play again, though, and maybe straight away, because the pay-off from making wine is so satisfying and racking up points makes all the planning and strategising worthwhile. One great thing about Viticulture is the variety of the games; it seems no two games are alike, and there isn't a dominant way to play that smashes everyone else out of the game. This means everyone is in with a chance of winning regardless of strategy.
What we would improve:
Player interaction in Viticulture is subtle. You are competing in every action of every turn, and watching someone else complete a wine order and move up the track is a great incentive to push to complete orders too. But this isn't in your face competing, you're not directly interacting all the time like you might in other games like Civilisation or Risk, it's a completely different type of game, and is the better for it. Viticulture is also a game about making wine, and it completely owns that theme - so if you're not into that, then this game may not be for you.
Viticulture Essential Edition: A summary
Viticulture: Essential Edition is a challenging, competitive game wrapped in a cosy, enjoyable theme. The gameplay is fun, achieving points is rewarding, and you will be planning heavily in every game. No two games are the same, which means Viticulture will see lots of time on the gaming table. We strongly recommend adding this game to your collection.
Expansions and Related Games
Expansions
There are a few expansions for Viticulture that aren't included in the Essentials edition. The Moors Expansion adds 40 new visitor character cards to help unlock wine and vineyard bonuses. Visit from the Rhine valley provides new summer and winter cards to provide players with more ways of running their business. There are also extra boards, world expansions and more.
Other Games You May Like
Food Chain Magnate
If you're looking for a heavy economic game, more detailed and with more moving parts than Viticulture, then take a look at Food Chain Magnate. This isn't for the faint of heart or new board gamers, as it's a longer play. But the gameplay is good, the theme is fun, and it has the same satisfying payoff when you make a profit and serve customers.
Viticulture Essential Edition: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Viticulture and Viticulture Essential Edition?
Viticulture was the original game released by Stonemaier Games. It was followed up by several expansions, including the Tuscany expansion, which added a new extended game board, extra cards and new gameplay mechanics. The Viticulture Essential Edition box includes most of the Tuscany Expansion to provide an updated game with all the new rules and components.
Is Viticulture a hard game?
Viticulture may take a few plays to understand how the different rules and actions interlink, and how to create strategies to make the most money from wine orders. Once you are comfortable, you have learned, however, you will find it a simple game that allows you to focus on winning, rather than remembering how to play. It isn't immediately easy, but overall it isn't a hard game.
What is the best expansion for Viticulture?
If you have bought the original version of Viticulture, then the Tuscany Essential Edition is the best expansion for Viticulture. If you have Viticulture Essential Edition, then unless you really want to add more cards to the game, everything you need is in the box already.
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