Oregon

During the 1800s, the American west enticed many a settler and adventurer.  The opportunity for land and riches had many leaving their homes, packing up the Conestoga Wagon and heading into the wild frontier.  The journey west was difficult and dangerous, for many the reward was worth the risk.

Oregon starts as players have reached their new homes and look out over the potential the land holds.  They will build new buildings and put down their roots in this new land. Will they be successful or with the wilds prove to rough?  Your journey is done, but in "Oregon" the adventure has just begun.


Components / Set-up

 One thing I associated with the Hans im Gluck games I own is quality.  Oregon is no exception to the rule; the meeples, cards, tokens and even the artwork on the back of the board shows that this is a company that cares about the products they release. 

The board is divided into a grid and shows a map of what Oregon may have looked like in 1846 with lakes, forests, rocky hills, and railroad tracks.  The columns and rows of the grid each have a symbol that corresponds with the 50 landscape cards.  You have wagon, buffalo, settler, eagle, and campfire.

The cards are very small but I like the linen finish.  These cards are shuffled and three are dealt to each player.  The rest are placed face-down next to the game board. 

There are 21 building cards, 3 each of the post office, harbor, church, coal pit, gold mine, warehouse, and train station.  These should be shuffled and each player is given one.  The rest are placed face-down next to the board.  There are also 28 building tiles for each of the different types of buildings.  These are sorted by building type and placed in 7 stacks, face-up, next to the board. 

There are 60 farmer meeples in each of the four player colors.  Each player takes their 15. One is placed on the 0 space of the scoring track.


The gold and coal tiles are double-sided with coal or gold on one side.  The coal has either a value 1, 2, or 3 on the back and the gold has either a value 3, 4 or 5 on the back.  These are shuffled in their respective tiles and placed next to the board. 

Each player than takes one of the extra turn token and a joker token and places them active side up in front of them. 

There are seven start tiles, one for each building type.  These are shuffled and each player draws one and places it face up in front of them.  The rest of the start tiles are placed back in the box.

Goal of the Game

As players gaze over rich farmlands, mines, lakes and rivers of Oregon, they will build ports, churches, post offices, and train stations.  But they must choose the best places to farm and the right time to build, scoring the most points, for planning is necessary to win Oregon.

The First Game Round

Players should choose a starting player who places his start tile on any space on the board board that matches the background color of the tile.  The other players do the same with their start tile.  After this first round play continues in clockwise order.

Playing the Game

On a player's turn, he does the following in the order shown:

1.  Play Cards:  the player plays 2 cards from his hand and either places one of his farmers or a building on an empty space on the game board.

2.  Score:  next, there is usually a scoring opportunity

3.  Use Extra Turn:  if a player's extra turn token is on the active side they may execute a "Play Cards" and "Score" a second time

4.  Draw Cards:  finally, the player draws cards to return his hand size to 4

1.  Play Cards

On a player's turn, they must play 2 cards.  After playing 2 cards, the player then either places one of his farmers on an empty space on the game board or takes one building tile and places it on an empty space, on the board, with the appropriate background color. 

Place Farmer

When you play two landscape cards, you must place a farmer.  The symbols on the landscape cards correspond to the symbols along the top and left sides of the game board.  The two cards played represent a row and column on the game board.  The player chooses which card represents the column and which one represents the row.  The area on the game board represented by the crossing of the row and column is where the player may place their farmer.

Each area has 6 spaces and the player may place his farmer in any empty space of the 6.  If the space already has a farmer or a building they may not place the farmer.

The player may place their farmer on any empty space in the selected area except water spaces.  The player then places the used landscape cards face up on a discard pile next to the landscape card supply. 

Place a Building

When the player plays 1 landscape card and 1 building card, he must place a building tile on the game board.  The landscape card determines in which row or column the building must be placed.  The picture on the board will match the card.  The player may place the building tile on any space in the row or any space in the column.  The building card played indicates which building he plays.  He takes the corresponding building tile and places it on any empty space with a suitable background color in the indicated row or column.  The player places the used landscape card face up on a discard pile next t the landscape card supply and the used building card face up on a discard pile next to the building card supply. 

These rules must be followed:

• The player may only choose a building which is still available.
• The player must always place the building tile on an empty space with the suitable background color.
• The player may only place a harbor adjacent (diagonally or orthogonally) to a water space

The Joker Token:  if the player's joker token is active (active side up), the player may use the joker instead of playing 1 landscape card, whether he plans to place a farmer or a building.

He plays 1 landscape card to place a farmer or 1 building card to place a building. using the joker to represent the landscape card of his choice in either case.  Once used, he turns his joker token over to the inactive side.

2.  Score

Depending on whether the player placed a farmer or a building he scores as follows:

Farmer scoring 

If the player placed a farmer the player earns points, coal tiles, or gold tiles for all the buildings adjacent to the farmer (orthogonal or diagonal).  In addition, the player may be allowed to activate his joker or extra turn tokens. 

For placing the farmer adjacent to a building the player earns:

• Post Office:  the player earns 3 points
• Harbor:  the player earns 4 points
• Church:  the player earns 1 point for each farmer (all colors) adjacent to the church (max 8 points, min. 1 point)
• Coal Mine:  the player earns 1 coal tile
• Gold Mine:  the player earns 1 gold tile
• Warehouse:  the player earns 1 point and may activate his joker token
• Train Station:  the player earns 1 point and may activate his extra turn token

The player immediately records any points earned by moving his scoring marker along the scoring track.  The player takes the earned gold tiles and coal tiles and examines them secretly and places them face down in his play area.

Group Scoring

A player earns 5 points whenever he creates a new group of 3 farmers.  They must be connected either horizontally or vertically (diagonally does not count).  If the player later expands a group that was already scored, he earns no extra points.  If a player places a farmer which connects one or more groups, one or more of which had already scored, he earns no extra points.

Building Scoring (all players may score)

If the player placed a building, all players with farmers adjacent to the building  the building earns points, coal tiles, or gold tiles, depending on the building placed.  In addition, they may also be allowed to activate their extra turn tokens or joker tokens.

• Post Office:  the player earns 3 points for each of his farmers next to the building
• Harbor:  the player earns 4 points for each of his farmers next to the building
• Church:  the player earns 1 point for each farmer (all colors) adjacent to the church
• Coal Mine:  the player earns 1 coal tile for each of his farmers next to the building
• Gold Mine:  the player earns 1 gold tile for each of his farmers next to the building
• Ware House:  the player earns 1 point for each of his farmers next to the building and may activate his joker token
• Train Station:  the player earns 1 point for each of his farmers next to the building and may activate his extra turn token

3.  Use Extra Turn

If the player's extra turn token is lying active side up in his play area, he may now execute steps 1.  Play cards and 2. Score again.  He immediately turns his extra turn token over to the inactive side and plays two cards.  After placing a farmer or building based on the cards played, the player scores for the placed farmer or building, earn points, coal tiles, gold tiles and possibly activating extra turn tokens for himself or another player.  Then he goes to step 4.  Draw cards.  The player may not use two Extra turn during one turn.

4.  Draw Cards

At the end of his turn, the player restores his hand to 4 cards as follows.

• The player may choose freely to draw from the landscape and building card decks.
• However, he must always choose such that he has after drawing at least 1 building card and at least 1 landscape card.

If the player draws a building card, or if a player has a building card in his hand for which all building tile have been used, he may discard the useless building card a draw another.  If either the supply of the stacks is exhausted, shuffle the discards for the exhausted stack and replace as the new supply stack. 

One the player has returned his hand to 4 cards, his turn ends and play passes to the player on his left.

Game End

The game ends when either of the following occur:

• When a player places his last farmer on the board
• Depending on the number of players:
• 2 Players:  as soon as 2 kinds of building tiles are exhausted
• 3 Players: as soon as 3 kinds of building tiles are exhausted, or 
• 4 players:  as soon as 4 kinds of building tiles are exhausted

The round is played to the end, such that each player has played the same number of turns.  The player to the right of the starting layer always has the last turn.

Now, the players turn over their gold and coal tiles.  Each adds his together and moves his scoring marker accordingly on the scoring track.  The player with the most points is the winner.

If there is a tie for most points, the player among them who has the most farmers on the board is the winner.  If there is still a tie for most, those tied rejoice in their shared victory. 

My Thoughts

Oregon was one of the first hobby games we purchased and playing it feels like putting on your favorite pair of sneakers or hooded sweatshirt.  It's not a game you play everyday, but it's a comfortable fit and an old friend you go back to time and time again. 

Oregon's rules are simple - place a farmer or a building depending on your cards, score points if possible and draw back up to four cards - but the strategy is much deeper.  Using your joker and extra turn tokens, careful hand management, and adept placement of your farmers will be your measure of victory. 

In Oregon you earn victory points for placement of both your farmers and buildings.  This adds a bit of a twist not found in similar games.  Once placed, the worker or building will not move for the rest of the game, but they can keep earning points for both you and your fellow players.   Even if it earns no points when first added, a building or farmer can start earning in later turns. 

The locations of the buildings and farmers are also a crucial aspect of strategy.  Since groupings of three farmers of the same color earn bonus points, awareness of where you and your opponents are placing the farmers is key.  Don't miss out on an opportunity, but be sure to block if you can.  Study the board for the best location to place a building to maximize your points.

Points earned from the buildings are also interesting.  Some buildings earn a player very few points, such as the train station but at the same time enable the player to get back their extra turn marker.  The Harbor, for example, earns a player 4 points but can be difficult to place, and can't earn points on all sides; since it must be near water.  The hidden scoring from the coal and gold mines keeps players guessing in a close game and gives hope to players who may be behind on the score track but have a lot of tokens.

Some players may be turned off by the lack of theme in Oregon.   But the mechanics are solid and they do correlate well with what little theme is in the game.  Luck is a factor in the game and pure strategists may be annoyed when they aren't getting the exact combinations of cards they want.

Don't be afraid to throw away cards you don't want for one turn.  That mine doing nothing in the corner this turn can actually turn out to be the difference in winning or losing at the end of the game.  Plus careful use of you cards in combination of your joker can help you get the combination you want, even if it takes a turn or two.

The quality of the components are amazing.  Even the box is great.  I love the outline drawings on the insert.  I wish the box was smaller since there is a lot of empty space.  Unfortunately the board wouldn't fit if it was.  The artwork on both sides of the board is beautiful.  The back is the same picture found on the box, just in sepia tones.  The gird and artwork on the front offers players a  variety of choices for placing farmers and buildings.  I don't believe the game as ever looked the same at the end even when you are limited by where you can place particular buildings.  Careful study of the game board shows a lot of flexibility for building and farmer placement that may not be evident at first glance. 

It's a quick game to set-up and play, which means it's great for a week night gaming session,  or when you want something light or even a little heavier.  The rules are simple enough but the strategy deep enough to appeal to a variety of gamers and a great addition to many a collection. 

Quick Stats:

Designers:  Henrik Berg, Åse Berg
Artist: Franz Vohwinkel
Players: 2-4
Publishers: Hans im Glück Verlags-GmbH, Lautapelit.fi,Rio Grande Games
Time: 45 minutes
Ages: 10 and up
Mechanics: Tile Placement, Area Control / Area Influence

Photo Credits:  from www.boardgamegeek.com: Carl Anderson (carl67lp), Ted Alspach (toulouse)(2), Rik Van Horn (Rokkr) (2), Gary James (garyjames), Robert Zurfluh (Noaceyet), Raiko Puust (binraix), Gary James (garyjames), Rik Van Horn (Rokkr)(2), Bruce Murphy (thepackrat), ♪ Isaäc Bickërstaff ♫ (Verkisto), Bruce Murphy

(thepackrat), James Fehr (fehrmeister), Bruce Murphy (thepackrat), Olav F. (olavf)

Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures with us!