Ravensburger Minecraft Builders & Biomes Farmer's Market Expansion Pack - Strategy Board Game for Kids Age 10 Years Up (Requires Base Game)

It adds a lot to the game and makes it more interesting

This is a very enjoyable game for a family to play. You don't need to be into Minecraft at all, but obviously if the children are, it increases their enjoyment.You take turns to complete different actions each go, like moving, building or fighting monsters. Every game plays out differently.There are a number of expansion packs available which build on the core game, introducing new cards and rules.Highly recommended.

I’m a massive board game fan and when I saw the original game I thought it was ideal for my 7yr old son who is Minecraft mad. I bought it not having great expectations but was pleasantly surprised with the base game.I love the 3D block where u take blocks to build certain structures in the game. The colours tie into the actual game; brown for wood, black for obsidian and greens are emeralds (wild). It also serves as the timer for the game as each complete level is removed it ends the current round. I thought this adds a few layers of strategy as you can stop other players getting the blocks they need and control when you score the round.There are two main strategies; collecting items and fighting the mobs for points or taking blocks to buy matching structures then lay them next to each other. My lad favours fighting the mobs and has won a few games that way. Not taking blocks slows the game down allowing him to fight more of them. This is a risky strategy though. You have a pile of tools/weapons that are shuffled in with three poisoned potatoes. You choose three face down and add the hearts together to see how much damage you cause. The potatoes cause zero damage. I like how some of the tools have special powers like the pickaxe allows you to take an extra block and the bow allows you to draw an extra card when fighting. The golden hoe gives you extra points each time it’s drawn. Defeating the mobs either give you a one off bonus action or bonus points for collecting certain biomes or structures. Very clever.The main game is exploring the world, revealing biomes with structures on, taking blocks and buying them, placing them on your 3x3 player mat. You have to play them adjacent and each biome/ type of structure scores differently. You are allowed to build on top of old tiles, undoing a mistake or to change the type of feature your collecting. At the end of the round you choose the most (usually biggest scoring) tiles to score. The forests are the cheapest and score 3pt each where mountains score 6pts but usually cost more blocks to buy. The more expensive tiles always add immediate bonus points however. The game adds depth to the strategy aspect because when you choose the tiles to take your looking at what decoration (Rd 2) and structure (rd 3) is on them also. A good player will plan for these in advance.The base game alone is 5/5 for me. Ties well to the computer game with matching art, blocks and square look. Components are good quality and lots of replay ability because of the deep piles of biome cards that are shuffled into a 4x4 grid.I bought the expansion hoping it would make a great game even greater. The components are the same quality and you get more skins with references / rules in multiple languages. The main addition introduces a new type of structure called farms that are worth minimum points in the last round but allow you to grow crops when you place them on your mat and at the end of each scoring round. This looks and feels cool albeit your placing 1-3 yellow blocks on the space.The farmers market introduces a small variety of special items players can buy using a new action on their turn to sell their crops. The items provide mainly passive powers that alter certain actions. Some give end game points based on certain factors. The more powerful cards cost more crops and you can only buy one item per turn. There are three tiers of items (x, a, b). Each deck of items are shuffled and placed on the board in their respective space. There are more items than spaces meaning some will not appear in every game. X items appear from the start of the game, the A items are flipped and available at the end of round A and same for the B’s.Some of the items themselves are gamechanging. One costs 6 crops but gives the player an extra action every turn!!! Another allows the player to move as many spaces as they want or take an extra block each time they mine. Once bought they remain a constant passive bonus for the rest of the game. The items do add fun but if you don’t collect the fields you will find other players accelerating past you (quite literally) in points as they acquire more and more of these powers. They are only balanced by the farms being worth minimum points in rd 3 and once the items have been bought the crops are worthless.If what I’ve described sounds fun to you then I recommend the expansion but it’s not a must need buy. It does change the game quite a bit. It certainly makes you re think ending the round because when the new items come out it will be the next player who gets first pick of the bunch. Saying that my partner got the beacon (extra action item) and I still managed to beat her by 5 pts by maintaining a good working base game strategy.I’d give the expansion 4/5. I would happily play base game without so it’s not important to have but it does create some fun, eyebrow raising moments!

Made Grandson very happy.Affordable little toy

Son enjoys. Not too complex - adds an extra element to the game.

This expansion adds greater depth with the addition of vegetable farming, to use as currency at the farmers' market. The items available for purchase can really enhance your strategy, for example if you like attacking mobs, there are items allowing the use if an additional weapon, or removing a rotten potato from your selection. Other items boost XP collection. The expansion adds interest without much additional complexity, I would definitely recommend it alongside the main game.