You don’t have to wait until Saturday to go to the Farmers Market anymore! Just crack open this family board game to fulfill all your market desires and build some practical thinking and math skills along the way!
Downtown Farmers Market is a tile placement game with a twist. Players blindly select 8 tiles to create a grid of rows and columns. The challenge is to place the tiles so they complement each other rather than cancel each other out. Players score points for each completed condition and lose points for incomplete conditions. Seven different types of challenges make for a wildly new experience each time you play. The possibilities for your own personal grid of conditions is endless!
The game is played in rounds and only 5 tiles are available to choose from each round. (A wrench, thrown right into the game!) The perfect card that would satisfy both your row and column condition might get taken by another player, leaving you with a card that causes you to lose points. The privilege of picking a tile first rotates every round so the advantages/disadvantages are spread evenly between all players and throughout the whole game.
On your turn, choose a tile that MUST be placed in your grid. Once a tile is placed, it can’t be moved. Once all players have had a turn, replenish the food tiles and begin a new round.
Once each player has completed their grid (chosen and placed 16 tiles) the game ends and score is calculated. Earn positive points (shown on the challenge tiles) for completed challenges and negative points for incomplete ones. The player with the most points wins!
Downtown Farmers Market is a delightfully simple and quick game to play. The mental work involved can be strenuous – there are constant opportunities for logical thinking, decision making, and problem solving, all fantastic skills to develop great thinkers and capable adults! A single tile could be placed in a variety of positions, but which is the best? If I place this tile here now, will I wish I hadn’t later? What is the probability of this one particular tile that I really need coming up again? This game has so much educational potential for learning real life skills through play and it’s FUN!
Thanks to Blue Orange Games for sharing with us!
