Paupers Ladder: The Crows of Coppershell Bay Game Review

Written by Emma Garrett

This “Tiny Tin Tale” is another foray into Paul Stapleton’s Brighthelm world. When I reviewed Pauper’s Ladder (the revised version of the first edition), I found myself falling in love in real-time. When you take your first steps into Brighthelm, it doesn’t matter which you get to first. They don’t tell the same story, and you don’t need any prior knowledge for either. They do take place in the same timeless, vivid, madcap world that you absolutely want to find yourself lost in.  

What is The Crows of Coppershell Bay?

You’ll hold in your hands a tiny purple tin with an idyllic scene of a seaside town. There can’t be much in here, you think, it’s tiny. Fast forward fifteen minutes and you find yourself digging in the scrapyard for the materials you need to craft yourself a shovel or a pair of gloves. The tiny rulebook is wordy, to explain how things work. I can see how that might be initially off-putting. I set up my first game following the instructions, and as suggested visited each location in turn and looked up what happens there. It’s so quickly intuitive and the cards are so clever. Each card does at least five different things. They have their story, as well as symbols on each corner that come into play when you draw the card at a different location. It’s such a good use of limited space. 

It’s a sandbox game, the locations in the world are laid out in front of you and you can go wherever you like, and do whatever you want. Well, you could. The game does present you with a slight dilemma. You are a low-paid maggot-farm worker who has gotten yourself into a huge debt with some notoriously unforgiving Crows. Unless you want to be pecked into oblivion, you should probably spend these days trying to collect enough gems to pay them back. This contrast between knowing you have so much to do and looking at a whole new world in front of you creates an exhilarating playing experience. 

How do you play the game?

Just like any good story you start by getting familiar with your character, your surroundings and what you can use to help you on your mission. You can embark on missions to improve your character traits to give you a better chance later on in the game. Things start to ramp up as time passes. The daytime card has a neat little way to measure the time ensuring you balance your actions well. Flipping the card over at the end of each day to the nighttime feels inspired. It prevents you from doing the things that can make you the most gems for a time, and gives you extra ways to recharge some of your character’s limited internal resources. 

Then there is the final showdown with the big bad. I was unsure about this at first as, if you’ve managed to collect 60 gems during your game surely it’s unfair to be asked for more. I suppose that’s why they recommend only getting your loans from the bank. Any loan sharks, or crows, might be vindictive and greedy. The die-rolling here works really well and doesn’t leave you feeling like the whole three days boiled down to luck. You can be fully prepared by this point, by having as many lives and other resources left as possible. 

This game takes you from reading the instructions step by step, to a glorious moment where it all clicks into place. When I was fishing I could hardly see the four other aspects on the cards I was drawing because I was fishing. Once you get your eye in, learn the language of the game and the cards, all the words fall away onto the beach leaving images as bright as reality to engage with. 

Related article: Talking to Paul Stapleton, designer of the Crows of Coppershell Bay and Paupers' Ladder

Should you play it?

We consider it a must-play game. 

Gift it to your wide-eyed imaginative child, and find yourself borrowing it while they’re at school. It’s a piece of pure magical perfection.

You should try it if you liked Pokemon Red: Both the art and sandbox feel are reminiscent of exploring this 90s handheld world.

About Crows of Coppershell Bay

Designer: Paul Stapleton

Publisher: Bedsit Games

Players: 1-4

Time: 30-45

Ages: 10+

Price: £14