Find Tranquility in A Gentle Rain

This tile placement game from designer Kevin Wilson and artist Chris Bilheinmer presents a Zen gaming experience.

Gameplay

A Gentle Rain is a game for 1-6 players where the play never changes, but the layout always will. Play begins with all the Lake tiles shuffled and placed face-down, with the top tile drawn and placed in the center of the table.

Each x-shaped tile will have one of eight different lilies on it, with two of the same lilies never existing on the same tile. The object is to match up the flowers in such a way that the x-shapes create a circle in the center of at least four tiles. When this occurs, players will take one of the lily tokens that matches the completed flowers around the circle and place it in the open space. Play continues until all of the blossom tokens have been placed or the tiles run out. The score is determined by adding up the number of blossom tokens in play, plus any remaining tiles if all eight blossom tokens have been played. The highest achievable score is 21 points.

Photo provided by the publisher

Review

A Gentle Rain is a scenic, serene gaming experience. The instructions even outline that this is a game where keeping score is not necessary to enjoy it. 

The game is designed for solo play in mind, but up to 6 players can be accommodated. This switch from a solo to cooperative affair can present two different aspects of the game. In the solo mode, it’s often a challenge of one’s mind, deciding where connections and enclosures should be made. It becomes a game of optimization (should one care about achieving a perfect score of 21 points). Within a group, while there is discussion, other players will have a different outlook on what’s out and the best place to play the tile they have. 

No matter the play count, the vivid artwork on both the tiles and blossom tiles will stand out. Some of the blossom tiles do suffer from the same color of their tile counterparts due to the difference in the materials, so it can be hard to differentiate some of them when placing them in a circle according to the rules. 

And make no doubt, placement of those blossom tokens can be pivotal to success. There are times when a circle is completed, only for all the lilies that could fill that spot having already been used. 

A Gentle Rain is the perfect warm up to the start of an intimate game night or a great game to relax to for solo gamers and couples after a long day of non-gaming activities. It’s enough of a puzzle for people to return to, and enough of a chill distraction that helps calm the nerves.

Pros: Eye-catching art, chill puzzler with low stakes

Cons: Blossom tiles are sometimes hard to differentiate