In the game Paddy, players work to change the landscape by building terraces of rice paddies high in the mountains of southeast Asia. During the game, you must decide which type of tile to add to your paddy and whether to place it on the day or night side of the board. Every time you add a new tile, the paddy grows and changes to fit the flow of water, getting the land ready for your species to do well. While you work with the other players to shape a landscape of terraces and water channels, you also compete to get the best pastures for your species. Every choice you make affects how the paddy grows and how its fields get water. The winner is the person with the most points after four full cycles of play. Paddy is the fourth game in the “Natural Wonders” series, which also includes Coral, Islet, and Gold Nugget.

To get the game ready, place the board on the table and put the 56 paddy tiles near the board. Each player gets 4 event cards, looks at them, and chooses two different cards to keep for the whole game.

The game is played over 4 rounds, and each round has three phases: Sowing, Growing, and Harvesting.

Sowing: First, shuffle the Paddy deck and remove the top card from the deck. Then, deal each player 2 cards. Next, shuffle the Day/Night deck and deal each player 2 cards. The player with the highest score becomes the start player for the round.

Growing: Each player takes a turn that consists of four steps.

Place a paddy: You play one paddy card and one day/night card from your hand. You must place the tile so that at least one part of it is on the correct day or night side of the board. You can place the tile on top of other tiles, but all parts of the new tile must be supported underneath. You are allowed to cover your own animals (and then move them to the new tile), but you cannot cover animals belonging to your opponents. You cannot cover a waterfall, nor can you place a tile next to a waterfall. You also cannot create a terrace that contains two waterfalls. Terraces are defined as areas of connected tile spaces that are all at the same level.

Place Animals: You can place animals from your supply or move them from other plots. However, when you place animals, you can never tie the highest number of animals that any other player has on that specific terrace. You can also remove animals from the board and return them to your supply, as long as you still respect the rule about never tying for the most animals.

Place Waterfall: You can place a waterfall at the edge of a plot that is level 4 or higher. You can only place a waterfall on a terrace that does not already have one.

Draw cards: Draw 1 card from the paddy deck and 1 card from the day/night deck.

Continue this process until no one has any paddy cards left in their hand.

Harvesting: Now, you score each terrace based on three different criteria:

1. Profile: For each terrace, the player with the most animals on it scores points equal to the number of plots multiplied by the level of the terrace.
2. Irrigation: For each terrace, the player with the most animals on it scores ten points for each waterfall that flows onto it, as long as the terrace itself does not have a waterfall flowing out. Water from a waterfall can travel across multiple terraces until it finds a terrace where it will score.
3. Highest terrace: The player (or players) who have the majority of animals on a terrace that is the highest level in the game scores 5 points. Each player can only score this bonus once per harvesting phase.

   Repeat this entire process for four rounds. The player with the highest score at the end of the fourth round wins the game.

   

   My thoughts on the game

   Paddy is the fourth game in the “Natural Wonders” series, which includes Coral, Islet, and Gold Nugget. I have enjoyed the other three games in the past, and I was definitely interested in seeing the next game in the series. Paddy is a tactical abstract game where you need a bit of luck in the card draw to help you conquer the game.

   You will start out with two cards of each type in your hand, and you have to make the best play you can from that choice. All three of the tile types can be useful at the right time—you just have to figure out when that right time is! Also, although you only get two special action cards, these can also be used for maximal effect at the most opportune times.

   There is a fine challenge in determining the optimal place to put your tile as well as where to place or move your animals. The rule that you can never tie for the lead in animals does lead to some interesting strategic plays, and lots of energy can be spent trying to figure out how to jump into the lead in an area.

   

   The rules are otherwise quite simple, and a few example plays during setup is generally all I need to do to teach the game. The game itself, however, is a bit long—we definitely have been taking all of the recommended 40 minutes to play the game. There is a lot of thinking going on as players try to put the tiles and animals in the best places.

   The wooden components are great, but I do have some reservations about the cards. I can definitely see what the publishers were wanting to do with the card backs, but they can be a bit confusing at times, especially the back of the day/night card. Adding a border around the edge would definitely clear that up. Also, I am not sure if the player aid cards are misprinted—my game has the same information on both sides (the actions available on your turn), and I think it would have been more valuable to have a recap of scoring on one side of the card.

   Paddy can be a tense game as there are constant battles for area control and waterfall control. While some of the game can be predictable and expected, the huge special actions mean that nothing is really safe so long as players still have special actions to use. I have been on both ends—good and bad—of a devastating special action. As long as you are not bothered by these wild swings of fortune, you will likely find Paddy an interesting spatial puzzle game.

   Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

   • I love it!
   • I like it.
   • Neutral. Dale Y
   • Not for me…