Death Valley: Highs & Lows (Saturday Review)

We were on a road trip. As our car was eating the miles, our journals and scrapbooks were filling up with photos, postcards and other souvenirs that would later remind us of the wonderful time we had. We were exploring towering peaks and massive canyons as we were making our way through this amazing desert, always being mindful of hazards. We loved every moment as we traversed Death Valley: Highs & Lows by Kevin Ellenburg from Button Shy with illustrations from Fachri Maulana.

My mind always boggles when I think about how a mere 18 cards can be the only components for an interesting game that challenges you to make tactical decisions at every turn. I am also always surprised when such a limited deck can tell such a wonderful story, such as the one I intimated in this review’s introduction. Yet, the games in Button Shy‘s collection regularly pull off this seemingly impossible feat.

Death Valley: Highs & Lows is no different. It’s the successor to Death Valley and can either be played on its own as a completely self-contained game, or both games can be combined to create more variety in gameplay. I never played the original game and don’t own it. So my review is focussed on the sequel as a stand-alone game. In fact, I only played it in the solo mode, but I reckon the two-player game would feel very similar.

Journies and Scrapbooks

The cards in Death Valley: Highs & Lows represent all the possible locations and sights that you and another player, or the so-called Backseat Driver player, if you’re playing solo, can potentially visit on their journey and add to their scrapbook. If you have ever visited Death Valley, you’re probably familiar with places such as Ventifact Ridge, Manly Beacon and Suprise Canyon or sights such as mountain lions and kangaroo rats. I’ve never been and am not familiar with the geography and wildlife, so it was nice to learn about this desert valley in Eastern California.

Players take turns drawing a card and adding it to their journey to chart their progress. The problem is, if you have too many cards of the same type in your journey, you bust. Maybe you burst a tyre or the engine overheated. Either way, you have to stop and lose all of the cards in your journey, which are shuffled back into the deck.

So it’s advisable to take a break and rest from time to time, instead of pushing ever forward. When you rest you take stock and commit one or more of your journey cards to your scrapbook. Cards in your scrapbook are protected from busting, but you create a stack of cards every time you rest, with only the top card revealed.

That is important, because cards have special effects that are only active when they are visible. So only the top card in each scrapbook pile is active. Also, some cards don’t score when they’re in your scrapbook. On the other hand, other cards might give you points for cards in your scrapbook. That’s what makes Death Valley: Highs & Lows such a puzzly game.

Deathly Valley

Once you played a couple of times, you know the deck pretty well. You know which cards to keep in your journey and which ones are better in your scrapbook. However, every time it’s your turn you have the unenviable and excruciating choice of whether you rest and collate your thoughts or push on and risk busting.

Mind you, busting isn’t actually the problem. You can easily rest to avoid it. The problem is that resting can lose you really valuable cards. The choice is pretty easy to start with, but as the game goes on, it gets increasingly harder until eventually it becomes almost impossible.

That’s what makes Death Valley: Highs & Lows feel like a real road trip. You set off with lots of energy and excitement. As you take photos and see the sights, you just want to keep going. You don’t want to stop, until eventually you are forced to. So you rest and update your scrapbook, enjoying the beautiful sunset and the quiet of the desert.

The next day you go again, but you are still eager to continue endlessly through the wilderness. You get overexcited and ignore the warning signs on the car’s console. So when the engine warning light finally comes on, you slow down and feel demotivated. The wonderful memories you made that day are gone. Yet, a good night’s sleep allows you to relax and recharge and as the sun rises you set off with more care and consideration.

However, now the car is in a worse state, you’re slowly running out of snacks and drinking water and your beautiful suntan is slowly turning into a sunburn. Every decision you make becomes harder and harder until finally, the end of your journey comes and it’s all over and done with.

18 Card Journey

Yet, like in real life, once you’re back home and slept a few nights in your own bed, you yearn to be out there again. You want to play Death Valley: Highs & Lows again and see if you have learned from your last trip to make this journey more exciting and interesting. Of course, even though you know what to expect the second or third or fourth time around, you always still face unexpected situations that keep you alert and force you to think on your feet.

How the game manages to squeeze this amazing experience into a mere 18 cards is as awe-inspiring as the sights of the desert. It shouldn’t be possible for such a small deck to stir up such excitement and make you want to go back for more. I can easily see myself playing Death Valley: Highs & Lows many more times. Yet, if I did ever get bored, I could easily mix it up and swap out some cards with those from the original Death Valley to create new adventures and challenges.

So I think Button Shy has lived up to my expectations yet again and created a game that isn’t just easy to learn, can be played solo or with another person, comes in a tiny wallet that you can easily fit in your jeans or coat pocket, doesn’t take up much table space and still remains interesting every time you play it. It is also very pretty. Every card has a different illustration and would look great in a real scrapbook. So if you want to have an adventure in one of the hottest places on Earth from the comfort of your own home or while commuting to work, then Death Valley: Highs & Lows is definitely worth a try.

Useful Links

• Death Valley: Highs & Lows: https://buttonshygames.com/products/death-valley-highs-and-lows-uk-only
• Rulebook: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/288007/official-rules-button-shy
• Button Shy: https://buttonshygames.com/
• BGG listing: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/402453/death-valley-highs-and-lows

Videos

Transparency Facts

I feel that this review reflects my own, independent and honest opinion, but the facts below allow you to decide whether you think that I was influenced in any way.

• I was sent a free review copy of this game by the publisher.
• At the time of writing, neither the designers, nor the publisher, nor anyone linked to the game supported me financially or by payment in kind.

Audio Version

Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/)

Music: “Walking” by AShamaluevMusic.
Website: https://www.ashamaluevmusic.com

Playlist

These are the songs I listened to while I was writing this review: