Creator Response Marriage and the Spouse Pawn

[tubbis]

So I'm really excited to get my hands on this set and I've already ordered and anxiously await its arrival. In the meantime, I have been reading and rereading the instructions to better prepare myself, because I know that inevitably I will be the one explaining the rules to my friends.

But this one mechanic has me a bit puzzled. Could you elaborate on how marriage works? The explanation on page 23 states that a player may attach the mermaids pendant card to an eligible friend and then claim the spouse pawn. However, there is only one spouse pawn included in the set, correct? Does the special bonus action gained by the spouse pawn only apply to the player that married, or is this a "joint" marriage that allows every player to have a bonus action?

If there is indeed only 1 marriage possible per game, and the marriage is not "joint", I could see some friendly rivalries about getting the pendant first so they can claim the marriage token for themselves. (Not that that's a bad thing, I think it'll add a little layer of competitiveness in an otherwise co-op game, which could be fun!)

 

[Colito]

You are correct! There is only one Mermaid Pendant and therefore only 1 player can get married per game. They then gain the advantage (which is an advantage the whole group benefits from) of having one extra action each turn. AND this action can be taken at locations where the player is not (basically they ask their spouse to go off and take care of something elsewhere in the Valley). This is quite the advantage which is why its not easy to get. I normally see players having the build the expanded Farmhouse building in order to get the Pendant, which they then use to marry an eligible friend. Hope this is helpful!

 

[tubbis]

Thank you very much! That clears up a lot of confusion for me. Can't wait to play!!

(I'm still going to fight for the pendant myself, even if it helps everyone else )

 

[Gurdiak]

You are correct! There is only one Mermaid Pendant and therefore only 1 player can get married per game. They then gain the advantage (which is an advantage the whole group benefits from) of having one extra action each turn. AND this action can be taken at locations where the player is not (basically they ask their spouse to go off and take care of something elsewhere in the Valley). This is quite the advantage which is why its not easy to get. I normally see players having the build the expanded Farmhouse building in order to get the Pendant, which they then use to marry an eligible friend. Hope this is helpful!

Does that mean that you can get married without getting the farmhouse if you get the pendant through other means?

 

[Colito]

That is true! Building the Farmhouse lets you look through the deck of epic items (there are 16) and take the Pendant. Similar to the Stable, which when built lets you look through the epic items and gain the Horse. It's much harder to get the Pendant through other means because you don't gain to many epic items per game.