I don’t have many board games in my collection that are purely solo. In fact, the closest before picking up A Gentle Rain was Onirim. That game technically can be played with two people but it really is a solo game. I have a lot of games that can be played solo, but only two truly solo games.

I have held off on getting many purely solo games. While I find it fun to play games while streaming, I generally want to share the games that I love with other people. Solo gaming can do that if you literally share the whole game with someone so they can play it, But it gives a different experience, one that isn’t shared. And that keeps me from buying many of them. But the small game, A Gentle Rain, looked too interesting, so I picked it up, which you can read about in my latest Point or Order.

A Gentle Rain

The Game

This game is extremely simple. You have a stack of tiles and you flip them over one at a time. You lay them out on the table matching sides of flowers. Eventually in your pond you get so you have four in a square. Then you place one of the matching flower discs on that corner and continue. Your goal is to get all 8 discs out, but that is easier said than done. All the flowers on the sides must match, so will you get the right tile to be able to place and complete a square. Thus far my best is seven, twice, and worst is four.

What I Don’t Like

There are two things that stand out as things people might not like. Firstly, is this a game or an activity. Well, all games are activities, so is this a game? I would say yes, but it isn’t a game like we think of when we think of bigger games. That actually leads into the second thing, the amount of luck. When I think of a big game, I want some luck, but some choice. This gives you some choice, but it’s mainly luck. Do you flip the right tile at the right time? I can see people calling this an activity because of that.

What I Like

Personally, it doesn’t bother me either way if it’s an activity or a game. A Gentle Rain is a very relaxing and fun time. It gives me just enough of that itch for playing something that I really enjoy it. It is like Onirim but easier to get to the table in terms of how I feel when I play it. I don’t think either offers me massive amounts of choices, but there is just enough that keeps it interesting.

The game is also very fast. It says it plays in 15 minutes, I think that might be long. I believe that my one play, most recent, probably took 10 minutes, and this a great thing. I like that it goes fast because there are two types of solo games I want. Sometimes I want a big experience, but more often than not, I want a solo game that fills in 10-15 minutes of time. That game I can play when I want to clear my head for just a little bit, and A Gentle Rain gives me that option.

And while I do call this game simple and lucky, there are some choices. You don’t complete a square of four cards all that often. So you need to plan or think about how you are putting out tiles to create options for yourself. Now, you don’t use most of them, but you can at least try. I feel like there is a little bit to think about, but because it is solo there is no pressure on you to think about it. That, again, goes back to that mind clearing sort of experience for the game that I really like.

Final Thoughts

This game, I don’t think it’ll be for everyone. I like it, but for a lot of gamers, it is going to be too simple. For non-gamers, they are going to look at it and wonder why you’d want to play solo. However, if you are like me and playing a game helps stretch your brain in a different way and reset kind of what you are doing or how you are thinking, A Gentle Rain is really interesting.

Like I said, Onirim gives me a bit of the same feel, but A Gentle Rain is simpler and faster. With Onirim there is a lot of shuffling, which I don’t mind, but adds to the time. A Gentle Rain doesn’t have that, you grab a tile and get going. Now the one advantage Onirim does have is play size, as A Gentle Rain grows some. All of that said, I might prefer A Gentle Rain to Onirim which is saying something as Onirim has generally been in my Top 50 games.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: D+
Casual Grade: B-

So, I am updating how I do this grading at the end. I have always strived to put it in such a way that people can see if it works for them. That’s been an overall grade, the gamer grade, and casual grade. The only change is it now doesn’t have that overall grade, it has “My Grade” instead. Generally the “Overall Grade” has been my grade, but acting like that was a balance of both the gamer and casual grade didn’t work that well. Just a small tweak, but should make things clearer.

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