
2024 · Industry / Manufacturing
River Valley Glassworks
Players are woodland entrepreneurs drafting shaped glass tiles from a shifting river display by playing a piece from their inventory into the river to reach adjacent tiles. Each river tile accepts only specific shapes and the river advances after each draft, cycling new options into play. Collected glass is stored in a personal shop grid where placement matters: completing rows and columns grants bonuses while accumulating too many of the same type can incur penalties. Planning drafts and managing inventory balance scoring against available shapes and timing.
- Players
- 1–5 best 2
- Playing time
- 25–45 min
- Age
- 8+
- Complexity
- 1.5 / 5
About the game
Expansions
See them in LudoyaPhotos from Ludoya tables
All photos in LudoyaWhere to buy it
Shop prices and second-hand copies, checked every day.
On Ludoya's tables
Full stats in Ludoya- 205
- Plays logged
- 172
- Players
- 18m 35s
- Average play
- 45
- In collections
- 10
- On wishlists
- 1
- Pre-ordered
7.5/10
from 16 Ludoya reviews
- Base -
$35 Source, new
Rules questions
Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.
Can I place pieces into the river and also draw from the lake on the same turn?
No — on your turn you must choose exactly one action: either a Place & Gather or a Draw; you cannot do both (Rulebook p.2).
If I place a piece on a river tile, which tile do I gather from?
Place 1 piece on a tile whose corner shape matches (or place 2 identical-shape pieces on any tile), then choose 1 adjacent river tile and gather all glass from that tile (the lake is not a river tile) (Rulebook p.2).
Do shapes or colors matter when placing/gathering and when adding to my glassworks?
Shapes matter for placing and gathering from the river, while colors matter when adding pieces to your glassworks — new colors go into the next empty column left-to-right and existing colors fill their matching column bottom-to-top (Rulebook pp.2–3).
What happens if I can’t fit a piece on my glassworks or my pan is full?
If a piece won’t fit because a column is full or you already have 7 colors, place it in overflow; when drawing from the lake, your pan can hold only 5 and any excess you choose goes to overflow (Rulebook pp.3–4).
How many pieces do I draw from the lake and do they go straight to my glassworks?
When you take a Draw action you choose 4 pieces and add them to your pan (not your glassworks); afterwards refill the lake to 5 from the bag, and remember your pan max is 5 with any overage to overflow (Rulebook p.3).
How does the game end, and what if I have fewer than 3 pieces in my pan at that moment?
When a player reaches or passes 17 on the inventory track they trigger the end; immediately any player with fewer than 3 pieces in their pan draws to 3, finish the current round so everyone has the same number of turns, then each player takes one final turn before final scoring (Rulebook p.4).
Free, on web, Android and iOS
Play River Valley Glassworks with Ludoya
- Keep it in your collectionTrack your copy and its expansions, lend it to friends, or put it on your wishlist and get told when the price drops.Add it to your collection
- Log every playScores, winners, timers and photos, then your stats: win rate, favourite player count, best score.Log a play
- Settle rules questionsAsk anything about the rules and get an answer from the rulebook, with the page to check it on.Ask the rules assistant
- Find people to play it withClubs, game nights and events near you that bring this game to the table.See events
Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.




































