Gold West Review: build a mining empire

A turn in Gold West is swift and simple:

In Phase 1, you need to activate your Supply Track, which is basically choosing one of the 4 areas that have at least one resource, and move them “upwards”, always leaving at least one in each space you pass.

It's as if your bag had a hole in it: you carry the resources, but always leave something along the way. This is the mancala mechanic.

The resources that surpass the Supply Area will be the ones you can use this turn. Any unused resource will be lost.

The available resources are:

Stone and wood are used to build camps and/or settlements. Copper, silver and gold, or metals, have 3 usages: investments, offices in Boomtown or sold on shippings.

In Phase 2 it is time to use metals. As previously mentioned, there are 3 different ways to do that. Obviously, you should choose the one that gives you the most points.

In investments, you just need to have the right metals and “buy” an investment card to earn any bonus from it. In fact, the game rewards the first investors with bonus tokens.

At Boomtown Offices, you need the 2 indicated metals to place an influence token in one of the offices. They usually award points at the end of the game based on your other accomplishments.

If you choose Shipping, that is, to use your stagecoach to sell metals, simply have your stagecoach advance a number of spaces according to the number of sold metals. The shipping tracks have bonuses for those who arrive first.

Lastly, in Phase 3, it's time to build or loot. It's simple: one stone or piece of wood builds a camp. A stone + wood pair allows you to build a settlement. Settlements can grant extra points at the end of the game if you have influence in Boomtown offices, and they also serve as a tiebreaker. So, a camp is good, but a settlement is better!

When you build something, place your camp token on the board. If you're building a settlement, just use a camp token and an influence token underneath. In both cases, after building it, just mine/explore the mining token, collecting any resources available.

If you have no resources — neither stone nor wood — the only option is to loot. Place a camp token in the Wanted section. This will immediately lose you 1 point, and more points at the end of the game. Then, choose a location to loot - and then mine/explore it.

Any tokens mined will go to that specific player board, allowing everyone to visualize who's ahead of the mining race.

When you receive your resources, choose which space in the Supply Track to store them. Each space yields a different score. The lower you place them, the more points you earn, but it will take longer for those resources to become available for use. Choose wisely!

This is a turn of Gold West!

Ending the Game

The game continues until all players have used all of their Camps. When the last Camp is placed, each player has one final turn, where only Phase 1 - Activating Supply Tracks - is performed, and they use their metals for the last time.

When the last player has finished their final turn, the game ends and scoring begins:

The player with the most points is the winner. In the event of a tie, the player with the fewest Camps in the Wanted section wins. If the players are still tied, whoever has the most resources in the Supply Track wins. If the tie still persists, a rematch is in order!

Gold West is about choices — and strategic ones at that, since you must consider immediate and future gains at the same time. This will dictate where you'll build, your influence and, consequently, your final score.

The first choice is which Supply Track you'll activate. This will determine what will be available during the turn, and remember that any unused resource will be discarded. If you don't have stone or wood, you won't build anything and will be penalized, being forced to loot — which causes you to lose points and even more at the end of the game, depending on how many times you looted. Be thoughtful to avoid this.

When building, always prefer to place new ones next to your existing ones, as this grants you bonus points at the end of the game. And whenever possible, place settlements instead of camps: they help you gain more influence, make you advance faster, and also serve as a tiebreaker.

Regarding metals, choices are also difficult: invest or influence an office in Boomtown — both can only be done once per turn. The third option is to use your stagecoach and shipping to sell your metals. This is a good way to “unload” any unused resource.

In Gold West, all choices have an immediate impact and consequences at the end of the game. Always keep this in mind.

Use your strategy, manage your resources wisely, and win in Gold West!

Unboxing:

Rules:

Gameplay:

If you are looking for a game without language dependence, iconic, simple to explain, but highly strategic and thematic, Gold West is that game!

Gold West will stimulate logical mathematical reasoning at all times in children, since all actions involve some calculations, even if small ones; your child, during play, will need to add and subtract all the time.

Managing resources is also very important, because if you do something wrong, you will lose resources or score very few points. It is good to always reflect on this with your child after each action. That way, every turn will be a learning experience. Take advantage of this!

Decision-making will also be present: show that each decision has a consequence, even if negative, which is another opportunity to make them think before acting, or at least, recognize missed opportunities and lessons learned.

Gold West also introduces us to a history lesson, since it is based on a real-world time. It is worth talking about this with the children, explaining what the “Gold Rush” was.

Pedagogically, Gold West stimulates management, strategy, decision-making, logical mathematical reasoning, gives us historical concepts and, on top of that, it is entertaining!

I recommend Gold West for your collection!