Find the Puzzle Peace You've Been Searching For in A Gentle Rain: Bloom Edition

More than just a game, A Gentle Rain: Bloom Edition is a peaceful solo puzzle that transforms scattered tiles into a vibrant tapestry of water lilies.

Published by Incredible Dream Studios, this game is designed for solo play and has a 15-minute playtime.

Gameplay

The game starts with one tile in the center of the table. Each tile has half of a colored flower along each edge. Flowers come in eight different colors. Each turn, you draw a tile and must place it next to a tile already on the table. It must be placed so that the flowers on any connecting sides match in color. If you cannot legally place a tile, you discard it.

Whenever you manage to connect four tiles into a square, you may place one of the eight flower blossom tokens in their center, selecting a blossom that is the same color as one of the four connecting flowers in that square. If you have placed all those colored flower blossoms already, you do not place a new one.

You continue drawing and placing tiles until you have been able to place all eight flower blossom tokens, and then score one point for each flower blossom and one point for each tile still in the draw pile. If you run out of tiles before placing all the blossoms, you score one point for each blossom you have placed.

Review

A Gentle Rain lives up to its title. It’s a gentle, peaceful game. Playing it feels like working on a jigsaw puzzle — mellow but engaging. The rulebook even tells you to get cozy and suggests playing with a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

There’s a nice pace to the game: draw a tile, look for a match, play a tile. A lot of thought must have been put into the distribution of the flower colors. The game never felt frustrating. Even when I wasn’t making an ideal match, there was always a match somewhere I could make. I quickly learned that the same color never appeared twice on a tile, so I should try to avoid placing tiles that would create impossible patterns to fill with the nearby ones.

The game didn’t feel that difficult, but the difficulty doesn't seem like the point of the game. It felt like the activity of connecting these tiles, finding the matches and the patterns, and the enjoyment that came from that, had more of a purpose than the final score.

This edition is an especially pretty game, from the box to the components. The blossoms are especially visually attractive and enjoyable to place. However, it can be a little finicky when you have a lot of tiles down, and you’re placing a new one in the center of them or placing a blossom. Things can be easily jostled, especially if you’re playing on the wooden surface of a dining room table.

The rulebook does say you can play with other people, simply taking turns placing a tile, but it mechanically fits best as a solo game for a quiet afternoon. This isn’t a big game, but if you enjoy small, cozy little puzzles and like pretty things, A Gentle Rain is indeed a gentle game that feels thoroughly pleasant and relaxing.

Pros: Very pretty, a relaxing puzzle

Cons: Will be too small for some players, jostling the pieces can be annoying

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.