Typically the winner of the annual Spiel des Jahres award is a family game, appealing more to casual gamers and family gamers, and only of secondary value to more hardcore gamers. There have been exceptions to this rule, of course, but most winners have been somewhat lighter fare.

Mississippi Queen fell squarely into the lighter fare camp. When it won, it was rather roundly dismissed by strategy gamers as a pretty bit of fluff. With the release of the Black Rose expansion however, the game moved into the realm of a strategy game worthy of note by players wanting a deeper gaming experience.

The game still follows the same basic path, or river, as its basic form. A river is created one tile at a time and the players attempt to be the first to navigate it to its end, having picked up two passengers along the way.

The few new rules make all the differnce. The ability to replenish coal along the way is of huge impact on the game. A player may now gamble on using their coal to jet out ahead of the pack, hoping to locate a fuel depot at the right time.

The Black Rose itself is a loose cannon, so to speak, since it is controlled by the player in last place. Use of the Rose can easily put another player in the unenviable posion of last place, meaning they now control the black ship.

The various new hazards also make for a much more interesting game. Logs slow a player, while sand bars can beach a player, possibly putting them out of the game.

Finally, the chance to play a team of ships, two paddlewheelers working in tandem, adds a very fun and very different element to the game.

Anyone playing Mississippi Queen without the benefit of the Black Rose is surely missing out on half the fun. Highly recommended.

I thinks it's difficult to review an expansion, because there are several criteria, and reviewers can disagree on the relative weights of those criteria. Some expansions add complexity to the original game, while others may just add 'chrome.' Some can turn a mediocre original design into a winner, and a few expansions have actually detracted from the original game by adding poorly written or poorly playtested rules. And all expansions must be considered for their fun-factor: do they enhance the fun of the original? Does the expansion breath new life into the original?

While Black Rose doesn't add significant complexity to the award-winning Mississippi Queen, it also doesn't detract from it. Black Rose certainly adds some 'chrome' with the new tiles and rules, and, of course, that little black sidewheeler we've dubbed Rosie. Based on over 15 plays in our groups, Black Rose definitely enhances the fun, and those who have played it don't want to play Mississippi Queen without it.

So, I'm going to rate Black Rose with 4-stars, like Mississippi Queen, and highly recommend it to all fans of the original.