In 2015, the Viticulture Essential Edition was released. In Viticulture, the players find themselves in the roles of people in rustic, pre-modern Tuscany who have inherited meagre vineyards. They have a few plots of land, an old crush pad, a tiny cellar, and three workers. They each have a dream of being the first to call their winery a true success.
The game is a vineyard-management game where players plant grapes, produce wine, and host tourists. Streamlined rules make it beginner-friendly yet strategic. It plays -6 players in 45-90 minutes, and it features 86 custom wooden tokens and 232 beautifully illustrated cards.
Viticulture Essential Edition includes the base game of Viticulture and a few of the most popular modules from the original Tuscany expansion. Including Mamas & Papas, Fields (previously known as Properties), expanded and revised Visitors, and Automa cards for a solo variant. Along with a few minor rule changes.
The board game has a solo mode that plays very well and makes learning the game in order to teach it to other players very easy. The solo mode is a race against the clock, rather than a race to beat your opponents to 20 points. So it does feel quite a bit different than playing with people, but it plays very smoothly and provides a fun, and tense, game session for when you don’t have other people to play with.
