Publisher: Pegasus Spiele
Age: 8+
Players: 1 – 6 players
MSRP: $49.99
Dorfromantik was such a delightful little tile-laying puzzle game that we declared it one of the best video games of 2021. Given its direct inspiration from tile-laying board game such as Carcassonne, it came as no surprise when Dorfromantik was adapted into an actual tile-laying board game. It even won the coveted Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award in 2023.
How well does this board game-inspired video game adapted into a board game play with families? Read on for our review of Dorfromantik: The Board Game!
Tile Together
Dorfromantik is a cooperative game where players take turns randomly drawing and placing a hexagonal tile that depicts trees, forests, buildings, or farm land, or the occasional river and railroad track. Each tile must connect to a previous tile, as players build out their pastoral map together. Otherwise, the only placement restrictions involve river and railroad tracks, which must connect to each other.
As with the video game, there’s no way to lose. The game ends when the players run out of regular landscape tiles. The goal is to score as many points as possible before that happens.
Most points are scored via the Task tiles. In the video game, random tiles in the stack would feature tasks that want a certain amount of objects on every connected region. For example, 20 houses, five tracks, or at least 600 trees. These tiles motivate players to create large connected areas of buildings, forests, etc, although some Tasks require a specific number that can’t be too large.
The board game keeps things a bit simpler. The first three tiles must be drawn from the separate Task pile. After that, players draw a new Task tile only once a previous one is completed (or discarded). Task requirements range from four to six and are tied to the number of connected tiles themselves, not the individual objects on the tiles (imagine counting every tiny tree – no thank you!).
The board game also utilizes several tiles with flags that provide extra points if that region is completely closed by the end of the game (just as in the video game).
Because of its easy, quick play style and uncompromising cooperative scoring, Dorfromantik: The Board Game is a great pick for more relaxing game nights. It’s also a particularly good game for younger children who are still learning proper gaming etiquette. Dorfromantik offers no chance of sore losing, and the completed maps at the end of each game are often an impressive sight to behold.
Legacy of Romantics
The game doesn’t end there, however. Dorfromantik: The Board Game borrows some fun elements from legacy and campaign games. In fact, the reason the board game box is so big is becasue it includes five sealed deck boxes, along with a large campaign pad featuring an overarching progression with achievements and scoring over many games.
Depending on how well they score, players fill in boxes along the campaign sheet, which in turn leads to unlocking those tantalizing deck boxes.
The deck boxes include new tiles with new scoring opportunities, as well as achievement cards. By fulfilling the new achievements (such as scoring 30+ points in forest tiles), we can unlock specific content in other boxes.
It’s a clever way of adapting the constant-unlocking of new content from the video game, while still mostly using the same tiles.
Smartly, it only takes a handful of games to unlock the first two or three boxes. Players feel an immediate sense of progression, and can start working toward specific achievement cards and unlockable tiles. We haven’t yet finished the campaign, but it looks like it could take well over a dozen games — and it’s super easy to reset everything back in the boxes (and the campaign pad includes over a dozen sheets).
With new tiles comes slightly more complexity, but parents could choose to back off on playing with the more advanced scoring tiles when playing with littles. So far, it hasn’t been an issue even when playing with my youngest. It’s a fun, relaxing game even with just the base game pieces, but the legacy content is what keeps me wanting to come back and finish it.
The Rating
Dorfromantik: The Board Game has an official recommended age rating of 8+, and even that feels a little high. I had fun games playing with my youngest child, age five, even while I bemoaned her ocassionally stubborn, reckless tile placement.
The Takeaway
For lovers of the solo indie game, Dorfromantik: The Board Game is an easy recommendation — especially if you’ve longed to share this chill tile-building experience with friends and family. The cozy cooperative game plays especially well with families of with younger and inexperienced players thanks to its quick and text-free gameplay.
Dorfromantik: The Board Game is available via Pegasus Spiele, Amazon, and other retailers. The video game is available digitally on PC (Steam, GOG) and Nintendo Switch.
