If you know me well, you'll know that I love mindfulness and tile-laying games. So I was super excited to play A gentle rain (which was a Christmas present from Dino-Girl and Sam Wise) as it combines the two!
After a gentle stroll, you take a seat by a picturesque lake as a gentle rain begins to fall. On the lake float beautiful flowers in a range of different colours...
After shuffling the 28 tiles together, create a stack and place a start tile. Then work your way down the stack, placing each tile drawn next to a tile already in play, ensuring to match the colours of all edges touching that tile. Each time you create a square of four matching tiles, a blossom opens between them, placing a wooden flower token matching a flower in the square. Get all eight blooms out in the fewest number of tiles to score the most points, but if not all of the flowers blossom that's ok too as you can always visit the lake again!
A gentle rain is created by Kevin Wilson and published by Mondo Games with artwork by Chris Bilheimer. The box and components are of excellent quality and everything fits neatly inside. I love that the cover of the rulebook reads "Take a deep breath and relax", as this sets the tone for the gameplay, especially combined with the first step of the rules: get comfortable.
The tagline reads "A contemplative solo or cooperative game to clear your mind". I wouldn't necessarily say that playing the game clears your mind, rather it puts you into a state of mindful ease and relaxation. You can play it solo, or with a friend, taking it in turns to lay a tile.
A gentle rain is a joy to play, and I certainly felt super relaxed after playing it, whilst still having been cognitively challenged. It's an easy-to-learn, pretty, and compact game that is easily portable. It's solid four out of six, as whilst I can see myself playing it often on days off, I don't think it's a game for everyone.
Your resident Word-nerd
Sueyzanne
Really want to try this one