Finca
Mallorca. Island of the wind.
A place of golden beaches and a light-blue sea. The almond harvest is at hand. In addition, juicy oranges, lemons, and figs are ready to be picked and taken to the market. Olive trees bewitch the country with their curled branches and sumptuous vineyards invite passers-by to walk among their warm earth. In the midst of this landscape, your centuries-old natural stone farmhouse provides a home and supports your large windmill: your Finca.
Listen to the wind, which propels your windmill! Then take in the course of the yearly harvest the sweetest and most valuable fruits from the land. Load them on your old donkey cart and travel around the island, selling them everywhere. If you manage this quickly, you will be soon be the richest farmer on the island.
User Reviews (4)
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Finca has 2 to 4 players taking turns collecting different types of fruit and delivering them to the towns of the island of Mallorca represented on the gameboard. For each delivery made, players collect tiles with victory points on them…most points at the end wins the game.
I’m not really sure when this game takes place, but you are delivering fruit on a donkey cart, so we will assume it takes place in the distant past or that Mallorca is a poor backwater place…
GAMEPLAY
Finca is a pickup and deliver game with a few really neat features. Foremost of which is the movement and fruit collection system for your farmers. Players begin the game by placing their farmer pawns onto one of several different windmill blades laid out in a circle. A picture of one of the 6 different fruits appears on each blade. Movement is determined by the number of pawns on the blade. If there are 3 pawns on the blade, you move 3 spaces this turn. As pawns move onto and off of the blades, the number of spaces each pawn can move will change constantly throughout the game. As you move around the windmill blades, you will also collect donkey cart tokens which are needed to deliver fruit to the towns.
The fruit you collect is determined by the number of pawns on the particular blade you end your turn on. If there is a picture of oranges on the blade you land on and there are a total of 4 pawns on the blade, you collect 4 oranges!
The goal is to collect the type and number of fruit that matches the exposed tiles on each town. Once you have the correct matching fruit, you load them onto your donkey cart and deliver them to the town to collect the tile.
There are bonus points that can be earned by collecting sets as well as bonus points for having the most of certain types of fruits.
The number of fruit is limited as is the number of donkey carts, so if the supply of one of them runs out, then everybody has to give their supply back to the central pool, which is a nice way to stop people from hoarding any one type of item.
You have to be aware what fruits the other players are collecting as you play. If you wait too long, one of the other players may deliver the same fruit you are collecting to one of the towns, leaving you stuck holding a bunch of fruit that no town wants.
SUMMARY
The components of the game are great. Instead of the traditional wooden cubes that seems so common in games, Finca has these fantastic wooden fruit pieces in the shape and color of the fruit they represent. It really helps sell the theme of the game. People just want to play the game when they see all these cool fruit pieces laid out.
Finca is a nice light game that I find works well for most gamers and works especially well in introducing new gamers to the hobby. It sits alongside Ticket to Ride in my collection for that purpose.
This is a fruity game, where the goal is harvesting the most points by the end of game. Pun intended….
Before the game really starts each player places in turn one of his workers on the rondel wheel, taking the fruit signified on the tile he sets it on. When all workers are placed the game can start. In his round the player may choose to either move one of his workers, deliver goods to a region on the board, or use a special action tile. Moving one of your workers makes you collect fruit from the main supply. You move from the tile where your worker is, as many steps as there are workers. So if there are three workers, in either color, you move three spaces. Then you take the number of fruits as workers existing on the tile you land. So if there are two workers, in either color, you take two of that fruit. There are two points on the rondel wheel that will supply you with a donkey cart. When you pass those points, you take in a donkey cart as well as the fruit you land on. If the general supply is exhausted all fruit of that type have to be returned before the active player can take in his share. This also goes for the carts.
When you are ready to deliver fruit to one of the areas, you will need the proper fruit and a cart. The topmost tile in each area signifies what is needed. You might be expected to deliver one of each to one tile, two types to another, and the all in the same type to another. Some tiles show a question mark as the fruit. That means that you can choose which ONE fruit you would like to deliver. In all you can deliver nine fruits with one cart. That means you for example can deliver to 4 oranges to one tile, 4 almonds to another, and 1 fig to a third. When you have picked up all your tiles, the next in those markets are flipped over and ready for delivery.
You third option is using a special tile. It can give you advantage on moving on the rondel wheel, or deliver more fruits one time. When you have used it, the special tile is out of the game.
So now, you only need to score the most points by hauling in the best markets to deliver to. There are VP for being the first to have tiles ranging from 1-6, as well, which will help. Depending on how many players there are, the game ends when a number of the markets are emptied.
I love this game! It is easy to pull out to newbies and non-gamers, easy to learn and easy to teach. There is a special charm, to, I feel over the components, that make it fun to play.
Hello my little Merchants and Merchettes,
Today, we are going to be contemplating yet another Euro game centered on the theme “Merchants in the Mediterranean.” This theme is usually just pasted onto a set of mechanisms, and Finca does not completely blow that cliche out of the water. However, what sets Finca apart is its re-playability as a 2-player game…it excels with two. It also contains a pretty high level of interactivity for games in this genre.
How do you play?
Finca was my first experience with the Rondel mechanism. Each player has two workers on a windmill (a circle with fruit on each blade). There is also a map with various locations to sell your fruit once you have collected the correct combination. On your turn you can…Harvest from the Rondel, make a delivery to a particular region, or use one of your 4 bonus tiles. The fruit harvest is by far the most interesting mechanism, as you move one of your farmers exactly as many spaces as their are farmers on your current tile. The tile you land on provides a particular fruit in the amount of farmers on that tile. So, you are constantly weighing how much fruit you want versus the number of spaces you are giving to opponents. This is particularly tactical in a 2-player game.
The rest of the game is pretty straightforward and smooth in its implementation. In each region, there are several chits with a combination of fruit and the victory points if you earn it by collecting those fruits from the Rondel. you also have 4 single-use tiles you can use on your turn where you can…move a farmer to and blade on the Rondel, make two farmer moves in a row, make a 10-fruit delivery, and a one fruit discount on a delivery.
I almost forgot to mention the Donkeys! In order to make a delivery, you need a donkey. You collect a donkey every time you pass one of the two donkeys on the Rondel…creating yet another interesting decision point every time you decide to harvest. Fantastic!
What do I think?
Finca is a fantastic introductory Euro…especially if you have not played a game with a Rondel. Even though it is good with any number of the 2-4 player range… it is EXCELLENT as a 2-player game. Usually 2-4 player games are not really good with 2….but that is not the case with Finca.
I’m not certain this game would work with Ameritrash lovers. However, it can be played in 45 minutes, and is more interactive than 75% of all other Euros as you play “tug of war” on that Rondel. It’s also pretty gratifying to swoop in and take a chit you know someone else is saving up for.
All in all, I highly recommend this for people looking for another family weight Euro game, or a great game for 2 players (great for couples). It might even appeal to non-Euro gamers due to the interactivity that can really get tactical on the Rondel. It’s out of print right now, but if you can find a copy at a reasonable price… get one!
Bought this game as an introduction to strategy gaming for my 8 and 11 year old daughters. It worked perfectly. There is a fair amount of strategy to keep gamers interested, and the fruit pieces are gorgeous! The pieces really make the game for the children, they are bright, fun and very unique.
The play strategy is really individual and never conflicting, yet all moves affect other players. If you have any aspirations of starting out your children as gamers or like to play games as a family, this game is perfect for that.