Valdora – Gorgeous Medieval-Themed Pickup-and-Deliver Game with Books!

Hidden far away from our time lies a valley of unimaginable riches, where gold, silver, and precious jewels lie strewn along the roads, seemingly just waiting for you to scoop them into your rucksacks so you can fulfill commissions for wealthy patrons. The name of this wondrous place is Valdora.

Valdora is a pickup-and-deliver game with straightforward rules, a beautiful board and bits, and a unique “book” mechanism. While play is simple and shouldn’t cause much analysis paralysis (there’s only 5 possible actions you can take each turn), strategy, timing and efficiency will determine the winner.

Your commissions, should you choose to buy them, require you to find and deliver specific gemstones to your patrons. You’ll need to purchase the right equipment (rucksacks, cart and/or horse) to carry the gems you need. The four outer cities of Valdora host the commission books and equipment catalogs you’ll buy from. Silver can be had from any of the three silver mines. Gold and gems are strewn along the roads for easy pickup – if you have the appropriate equipment in which to transport them.

The medieval theme, gorgeous artwork, lovely board and bits and unique book mechanisms set Valdora apart from most pickup-and-deliver games which usually involve trains. The books are my favorite bits. The four wooden book covers each hold a stack of cards whose artwork depict the pages of the book. As long as you load each book with all of the pages upright, turning the cards simulates turning the pages of a book. It’s very cool.

Valdora supports 3 to 5 players ages 10 and up and plays in about 60 minutes. With the expansion, Valdora Extra, 2 can play.

Here Be Books & Games has a copy of Valdora in their Demo Game Library. Drop by and we’ll teach you how to play this beautiful, fun and strategic game.

 

Copyright © 2013-2015 by Tina G. McDuffie. All rights reserved.