Solo Scene: a Gentle Rain

“Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence.”

— Dalai Lama

Finding calm in today’s world remains challenging. Our 21st century Internet Age keeps us constantly scrambling just to keep our heads above water. The cares of our incessantly demanding world often overwhelm us, giving us scant time for ourselves to recover, let alone to relish the few, small joys in life. We all have our methods of gaining a few moments of peace, of re-centering our views, of restoring our attitudes. I keep a singing bowl on my desk next to a tiny, smirking Buddhist monk figurine, though I rarely use the bowl for stress relief. I have little time to sit near my backyard prayer flag garden; more often I pull weeds and re-string flags. I read before bed every night, making the recent choice to return to escapist fiction instead of my more personally educational non-fiction history titles. Games, especially solitaire ones, also help divert me from my anxieties...when I find the time. I recently discovered a new solo game, one specifically designed as a calming activity: a Gentle Rain by Kevin Wilson. It’s a fantastic game ideal for anyone, even non-gamers, to help find a little momentary calm in these tumultuous times.

I recently saw some buzz about this new-to-me, floral-themed tile game in an article at Goonhammer I stumbled upon in my social media wanderings. The piece offered a good overview of the game — relaxing theme, tile placement, even a peaceful themed rules presentation — and quickly convinced me it was worth finding to help manage my anxiety and find some calm. Mondo Games released a first and second edition in 2021 and 2024, but my online searches revealed a “Bloom Edition”* Incredible Dream Studios released in 2021. I found it in my local Target’s board game section for $19.99, an incredible price for a soothing game experience, either as a treat for yourself or as a gift, even for non-gamer friends seeking something calming and new.

The game consists of 28 tiles, eight lotus bloom markers in different colors, and the instructions. (The Bloom Edition box fits all the components snugly in a tidy country-tray-style arrangement.) The tiles show half a colored lotus blossom on each edge, with the corners cut off in a quarter circle. Each turn a player draws a tile from a face-down pile and, after placing the first one, positions it so one or more half-blossoms match ones already in play. Form a square (around that now-fully circular corner cut) and the player places a lotus marker matching one of the completed blooms in the arrangement just completed. The player continues until they’ve played all the tiles or placed all the blossom tokens. The concepts remain basic enough to engage even non-gamers, with enough puzzling arrangements to maintain interest.

a Gentle Rain encourages calm play with relaxed contemplation of the lotus arrangement. No time limit. Optional scoring. A focus on blossom color and petal pattern (necessary because some colors like purple and black, or red, orange, and pink, look very close; my only concern with the game). The rules offer options for scoring (if you must) as well as thoughts on playing it as a group cooperative game, essentially taking turns drawing and placing tiles. Every time I played someone came along to ask about it, watch a few turns, and, in some cases, play after I was finished.

I quickly discovered two strategies to help me complete the tiles and place all the blossom tokens. I realize no tile has two of the same lotus halves, therefore I tried avoiding making a “corner” with two similar blossoms (though I still overlook this at times). I also avoided “boxing in” open spaces on three sides, since it’s easier to match two sides than three. Despite my strategic observations, each time I’ve played I follow the instructions to get comfortable, take and release a few deep breaths, and relax.

Overall the game has a very zen feel to it. While player choice remains limited to the half-blossom arrangements and which color lotus token to use when completing a square, the process of drawing, observing, and placing proved calming. No rush to beat opponents. No analysis paralysis over how to best execute a winning strategy. No worry about scoring. Set-up took very little time, packing it up only slightly longer, and playing, well, 15-20 minutes seemed just right at a relaxed pace. You could play it during lunch break. You could play before or after work as part of a calming routine. You could play it when you need to take a break and refocus. Simple, elegant, effective. a Gentle Rain is good gift for the yuletide holidays, an affordable treat to invite some calm into your life.

“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”

— Buddha

* The only difference I can find in the versions is the “Bloom Edition” includes sculpted lotus blossom tokens, rather than the nicely printed plastic disc tokens in the others. The rules and tiles seem otherwise the same. According to the website, the “Bloom Edition” is a Target exclusive.