Afluentes (2011)

About this game

Afluentes is a card game about creating water streams from the underground to the sea within four steps/cards: 1- Groundwater; 2- water spring; 3- River; 4- Sea. It would be so simple, if not for the environmental problem (red) cards, put by other players in our game. They stop the water flowing until they are solved, which may be done by laying a solution (green) cards with an equal or higher number over it. Each player have their own deck of thirty seven cards (2022 rules). Every turn, a player starts with seven cards to use, and choose one of four helping cards: "Documentary", a player may begin a water stream using a water card number 2 or 3; "At Work", a player may draw one extra card; "Reforestation", a player may draw one discarded card; "Wastage", a player makes everybody, including him or herself, discard one to three cards. Afluentes means tributary rivers in portuguese, so when a player connects two water streams its points count double. Afluentes is a fast and light weight card game. It is a small print game available from Bico de Lacre, a publisher from Brazil.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 4.
• Rules load. At 2.2/5 this is a mid-weight game — expect a proper rules explanation before you start.
• Age. The publisher suggests 12 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.