Walking in Burano Review
Advert: this game was gifted by EmperorS4, this has not affected our opinion.
It is oh so tempting to get excited by the shiny and new titles being released every year. This makes it all too easy to overlook some of the evergreen board games that have lasted the test of time. Those games you see online and think “I would like to play that one day”. It might even get onto a wishlist somewhere, but never quite fall into the shopping basket, usurped by something else when budget realities kick in. Walking in Burano has always been one of those games for me. It has always looked interesting, but since its release six years ago, I had not purchased it or played it.
This year that all changed, when I saw it sitting on a shelf at my friends house in the Netherlands. We got it to the table and I enjoyed both of my two plays of it. Returning home to the UK, I decided to finally check out on it… but it was sold out everywhere! So, I reached out to the publisher and they kindly sent me a copy so that I could play it more and share my thoughts with you…
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Setup
Setup largely involves shuffling cards and distributing them as per the rulebook. You’ll have a shared market of cards, groups of scoring cards known as tourists and residents, and a pile of money. Some of the setup changes with player counts. But once you’ve sorted some cards into piles you will be ready to go fairly quickly.
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Gameplay
Like most games, the aim of Walking in Burano is to have the most points at the end of the game! The game is played over a series of rounds. Taking it in turns to be first player, each round players will draft cards from the shared market. This will be columns of three cards and on your turn you can take one, two or three cards to your hand from the same column and taking two, one or no coins respectively. You can then choose to play one, two or three cards to your array, paying one, three or five cards accordingly.
There are some placement rules: colours of houses have to match vertically and a house cannot be placed beside one of the same colour. You can break these placement rules by forgoing a token worth three victory points. Some placement rules however, such as having to build from the street level up, are always mandatory, but you are issued with two scaffolding cards to help with your erections.
Whenever you complete one of your buildings, by building all three levels you can then attract a tourist or a resident to your street. Tourists will score points for certain items in that particular building, such as three points for cats, whereas residents score you points across cards in your street, such as Santa Claus who grants points for chimneys on the buildings – obviously!
A hand limit of just three cards and 6 coins at the end of your turns also must be obeyed.
The game ends when one player has completed five buildings in their array in front of them. Scores are then tallied and a winner declared to a cheerful fanfare or in the absence of that a chirrup of groans from the other players!
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What it’s like
Walking in Burano offers a lovely amount to think about in a really accessible package. The teach is quite straightforward as is the end game scoring. Gameplay is smooth and generally gentile.
Drafting cards is interesting as you can only take the middle card in the display if you also take a street or a roof card, which makes them quite hard to access. I enjoy the balance of picking more cards equalling less coins and vice versa, as it really adds to the drafting experience. There are opportunities to draft cards that would be beneficial to other players, however the tight hand limit naturally restricts that, as it is more likely to have a negative effect on your own game. You might still take a card you don’t want, especially towards the end of the game though!
There is a natural race that the game instils as you want to complete each building quicker than your opponent. This is to ensure you get the best tourist or resident card to yield the most points from your street. These are limited and if you see an opponent gathering competing icons you have to race for them. Equally though, you need to find the right cards to maximise those points too.
Games of Walking in Burano are generally quite close and so you need to balance this rushing for cards with optimising point scoring. It’s a delightful tightrope of decisions without ever being too taxing.
I’ve enjoyed it at all player counts and the age rating of ten plus feels about right. Younger players could fathom it, but are less likely to be competitive.
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Table Presence
There is something charming about the artwork which is complemented by the pastel palette. The tourists and resident cards really remind me of the characters that would pop up at the bottom of the screen in video games and give some in-game instructions or tips.
It looks good on the table and I like the overall aesthetic. I like the slightly lustre finish of the coins and tokens that give them a shimmering lift.
The rulebook is solid and covered everything I needed it to, but it was a bit tricky going back and referencing it on later plays as I found the structure a touch muddily. Player aids are included and these help with endgame scoring reminders. However, I think they could be massively improved by referencing how many cards and coins you take and also how many coins it costs to lay cards, as well as card hand and coin limits.
The little cat first player token is a bit unsteady too, but that is a pernickety comment really!
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Final thoughts on Walking in Burano
I’m really glad I got the chance to play Walking in Burano as it positioned itself just outside the shopping basket for so long. The tight gameplay and the race for point scoring objectives is a lovely way to get the brain whirring at just the right level. Nothing to cause neuro numbness, but not devoid of decision making.
The drafting is clever with the card vs coin quandary, giving that mechanic of the game an interesting refresh. Add to this, the constant feeling of racing your opponents, and Walking in Burano gets all the more enjoyable.
In synopsis, if like me, you’ve been putting off trying Walking in Burano, don’t pass up the chance to play it if the opportunity arises!
Key Facts
Number of players: 2 to 4
Board Game Review Recommended Age: 10+
Publisher’s Recommended Age: 10+
Playing Time: 40 minutes
Setting Up and Take Down Time: 2 minutes
Designers: Wei-Min Ling
Publisher: AEG / Emperors4
RRP: £22.99
Summary
Walking in Burano is as joyful to play as the colour palette it adopts. It’s a lovely card game to play with family and friends.
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Artwork and Components
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Complexity
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Instructions
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Interaction
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Value for Money
Overall
Pros
- Works well at all player counts
- Lovely colour palette
- Fun drafting twist linked with income
- Tight efficiency decisions
- Santa Claus is on one of the cards
Cons
- The player aids lack of useful information
- Currently tricky to find in the UK
- I can imagine some thinking it lasts just a fraction too long
- Could’ve accommodated a fifth player
Need more games?
If you already own Walking in Burano and enjoy it, or are looking for other inspiration, you might also like these similar games:
- Cat Lady
- Santa Monica
- Hens
- Calico
Buy Walking in Burano
If you want to buy Walking in Burano after reading our review click on one of our affiliate links below (note there has been no affiliate links until this point)
Reviewer’s Note
For clarity: we don’t get paid for our reviews. However, we were kindly gifted this game by EmperorS4. We have tried not to let this affect our review in any way.
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