Jaipur creator heads down The River with worker- and tile-placement game out this November

Jaipur creator Sébastien Pauchon has surfaced with his latest project, a fast-flowing combination of worker- and tile-placement called The River.

Pauchon, who also co-designed Jamaica, teamed up with first-time designer Ismaël Perrin to craft the standalone board game due out from Ticket to Ride studio Days of Wonder this November following a pre-release at Essen the month before.

The River sees players exploring the titular stretch of water, collecting resources to build up their settlement and outdo their rival villages.

The gameplay twist is that workers will settle down during the course of the game, meaning that players have a tighter selection of options towards the end of each playthrough, making each decision more important as time goes on.

Pauchon and Perrin are aiming their game at a family-friendly audience, with a single playthrough taking half an hour to 45 minutes with two to four people. The box will cost €40 (£36) when it docks later in the year.

“Ismaël's starting idea was a worker-placement mechanic in which you have fewer and fewer workers as the game progresses,” Pauchon explained. “Then I brought the river into the project, and the two elements instantly clicked, leading rather smoothly to tile placement.

“We are quite happy with the result: a very accessible and fast-paced worker-placement game for players of any level, yet with enough decision-making to make each turn suspenseful and interesting.