A Gentle Rain review— Peaceful breaths and pretty flowers

Take a deep breath, grab a cup of tea or cocoa, and head for the lake to wash your cares away with this calming mini game.  Sit and witness the rare event of special flowers blossoming as you place tiles to form the surface of the lake right in front of you.  These unique lilies only bloom in the rain, so make the best of a soggy situation and toss this tiny travel-ready game in your backpack and go alone or with friends. Go out or stay in – just get to the lake while a gentle rain is falling!

 Everything about this game is cute and comforting.  I can play it by myself as well as with one or two others, inside as well as outdoors.  A Gentle Rain is easy to get the hang of and is soothing like working a puzzle or playing solitaire.  With these sorts of games I require a bit of flat space in front of me so I can freely place tiles wherever I find the best matches and allow for a bit of sprawl.  I need at least the space of a dinner place setting before me, and I can play on any kind of table, T.V. tray, or even on a yoga mat.

The perfect size to throw in a tote bag, A Gentle Rain is a great “just in case” activity when I have a moment to recharge, or want a quick and easy game to share with a friend.  The rules are few and keeping score is simple,  making it easy to get started on your own or to teach others to play.  Even if I don’t actually go anywhere with the game, I know I will be transported to the lake, where I am an explorer on the lookout for the colorful flowers that bloom only in the rain.  Luckily for me, a light shower is just beginning to fall!

Get the most out of your experience by taking the invitation to play seriously by showing up in comfy clothes, warm beverage in hand after a good stretch and taking a deep breath.  This simple, quick game is a nice way to take a relaxing break during a busy day, and also fits easily into a night time wind down routine.  You can play to clear your mind while you wait for the rain to pass, or enjoy the rainy season and the glimpse of rare beauty it offers to those who are drawn to sit beside the lake and patiently witness nature's beauty unfold. 

The box is illustrated with depictions of the lake with its flora and fauna. Colorful flowers pop from the deep turquoise of the lid. The game fits in the palm of my hand like a brick of European butter, yum!  From the moment you open the box and unfold the rule book you are invited to relax and imagine yourself in a magical place.  “Come to the lake!” It beckons to you.  

The smooth, rectangular box is divided into two compartments:  on one side there are twenty eight lake tiles, on the smaller side are eight flower tokens, or “blooms”. The tiles are made of thin yet sturdy cardboard, illustrated with a variety of lilies floating on the water's surface as well as animals enjoying the lake.  Each glossy painted wooden token represents a different kind and color of lily. The simple floral designs are bold and bright against the dark blue water background of the token.  The art is cute.  I can imagine a naturalist might watercolor such designs in their journals they take with them on their adventures.  This simple graphic style sets the scene for tranquility.  

The aim is to match the half flowers on one or more sides so that a circular gap forms in the corners, which causes a lily to “bloom.”  Choose a flower token to fill the gap, and keep drawing tiles and matching flowers until you reach eight blooms. Place tokens nearby, then shuffle up the lake tiles and stack them face down in a pile.  Draw the first tile, turning it face up and placing it in the center of your play area.  This is your starting tile.  Draw another tile from the draw pile and look at it.  Try to place it next to your starting tile in a way that completes one of the flowers along its edge with a matching color.  Place each new tile you draw next to a tile already in play, making sure to match the colors of all the tile edges that touch the tile you are placing.  

Each time you manage to complete a square of four touching tiles, a blossom opens between them.  Look at the four completed flowers on the four touching tiles.  Choose an unplayed blossom that matches the color of one of those four flowers and place it in the hole between them.  As soon as the eighth blossom opens, the game ends.  Your score is equal to the number of unplayed tiles left in the draw pile plus eight (since all eight blossoms have opened.) However, if you run out of tiles before all eight blossoms open, the rain ends and the game comes to a close.  Count up the number of blossoms that opened-that’s your score.

Strategies revolve around choosing the best placement of flower-completing tiles to allow the most flowers to be completed in a single move.  Another thing to consider is deciding which flower will bloom next.  The first few flowers to open may be fairly random.  However, as tiles begin to cluster together, many partial circles begin to form.  These circles require one additional matching flower tile to complete the bloom opening formation.  The more often a particular whole flower appears, the more likely it is you’ll be needing that unique token.  Try to open first the completed flowers that are most rarely seen in your tile configuration of the surface of the lake.  Completing one circle in a single turn is satisfying, but completing two, three, or even four circles in one move is incredibly exciting!

It only takes a second to tabulate my score, then pack this small game’s simple components up.  Stack the tiles and store them on one side of the box, place the tokens on the other side.  Top the two compartments with the instruction booklet.  I usually don’t keep score, I just keep shuffling the draw pile again and again to facilitate continuous play.  Cleanse, rinse, and repeat…on the gentle cycle, of course!

The latest edition of this game has many upgrades, including an easier open box due to its shallower lid.  The tiles have a more velvety feel, and the backs are a fresh green color embossed with a nice ripple patterned tile slick.  The tiles are also upgraded to feature enhanced illustrations including many animals such as dragonflies, frogs, fish, and waterfowl.  The colors in the newer edition are brighter and lighter, and rendered in a more naturalistic style.  However, I have found the first edition’s flower tokens to have better contrast in color and variety of flowers.  This makes for easier matching of the flower tokens to the kinds of blooms completed on the tile surface of the lake.  

I’d also like to note that the rules booklet is much easier to read in the newer edition.  It has bigger, dark text printed on a light background as opposed to the smaller light text printed on a dark background which was hard on my eyes.  The directions for play are illustrated in an easier to understand diagram in the newer rules booklet.  

I only have one complaint about this game: I would love it if the flower tiles matched the completed blooms more perfectly in color and kind of lily.  So many times I thought I had a match until I realized the flower on the tile was close but not quite a match.  I find this happens in many games so I just get used to it and persevere.  However, each time I find myself confused it takes me out of the relaxed state I try to cultivate during a round of A Gentle Rain.

Here we sit sharing a small spot on the floor, a game, and a cup of tea.

When I have about twenty minutes to chill, I grab the game I look forward to sharing a quiet moment with every now and again.  I have found this game to be a good coping tool to have in my self-help toolbox.  It can quickly help initiate a tranquil state of mind.  One of my favorite places to play is in my dance studio while sitting on my yoga mat.  I already employ the image of a blooming flower to start my meditation time.  Peaceful visions of lilies opening as they float on the water fills my mind, and I imagine their roots being nourished by the richness of the dark and muddy waters.  I delight in the colorful, unique blossoms as they emerge from the murky depths;  sometimes, from the deepest darkness the brightest beauty arises.

I light some incense and can reasonably assume a round will last as long as a stick of Nag Champa will take to burn.  I attempt to touch base with my center.  I decide that I am right here right now.  I try to see the most potential in playing this game at this time in this moment.  I sit still in the peace of this quiet room where I meditate.  I witness my breathing happen.  I become an anonymous member of this happening.  

Isn’t it funny how easy it is to forget how to breathe?  Sometimes I forget breathing exists or how to take a breath.  Air?   What the heck is air?  Get grounded with a square breathing technique.  Take a deep breath in for a count of four.  Hold for a count of four, then breathe out for a count of four.  Repeat as needed.  Get out of your head and into your body.  What do your hands feel?  What do you see, hear, smell, or taste?  Listen to your senses.  What are they telling you?

Recently I have played a few light, casual rounds with my husband, who is a really strategic, focused, quick player.  When I play with him, he zips through the draw pile, quickly matching flower patterns and placing lake tiles that blossom in the rain.  He really pays attention to the orientation of the tiles from the get-go, angling for the best use of each tile.  His lake begins lighting up with lilies almost immediately because he delights in quickly matching the tiles on as many sides as possible at once.  With this simple tactic in mind many, if not all, flowers bloom before the draw pile runs out, achieving the highest scores possible.  It’s fun to play with him because it’s a change of pace from my own meditative, non-scorekeeping solitary play I usually enjoy.  It’s fun to watch him rack up the points while I take my time as if I’m working a jigsaw puzzle.

Some games feel non-competitive, not a time to keep score necessarily, but to keep company, to share the story of an ordinary day’s unexpected turn of events and the story of how they were dealt with.  Sometimes games like this are something to do between people trying to be there for each other during a heavy time while still managing to keep it light.   A Gentle Rain has a cute story that draws me in and makes others want to play along.  We are invited to relax lakeside hoping to witness a highly anticipated event only beheld in the gentlest of rain storms.  Many unique types of lilies will bloom before our very eyes as the rain hits their petals.  These delicate yet resilient flowers bloom one at a time as you match flower halves together by the color and type of flowers represented on all edges of the tiles we draw and put down to form the surface of the lake right in front of us.   I hope you have enjoyed our trip to the lake.  I wish you well on your own adventures.  Just remember, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that matters!