Niagara (board game)

Niagara is a German-style board game designed by Thomas Liesching and published in 2004 by Zoch Verlag and Rio Grande Games. It is set on the Niagara River above the falls, where players steer small canoes out from the safe shore to collect gems of five colours from the bays, and then paddle back against the current. The board is built around a hinged flap that hangs over the edge of the game box to represent the waterfall, and clear plastic discs in a grooved surface carry the river spaces slowly downstream, so gems and canoes drift toward the drop as the game goes on. Each player holds the same set of paddle cards, which decide how far a canoe can move and how the river flows, and a canoe that is swept over the edge is lost. Gems can also be stolen from other players' canoes. The first player to gather four gems of one colour, one gem of each of the five colours, or seven gems of any colour wins. The game won the 2005 Spiel des Jahres and was among the winners of the Mensa Mind Games competition, and it has two expansions, Diamond Joe and Spirits of Niagara.