JaénYa launches a mobile game: five harvesting days, from the countryside to Sierra Mágina and at the foot of the Santa Catalina castle. Varea at the right moment, don't break branches and reach the cooperative before it rains. It's free, no downloads, and has a ranking.
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Photo: JaénYa
The day dawns foggy, the tarps are laid out under the olive tree and the crew waits. We have to fill the trailer and reach the cooperative before nightfall… or before it starts to rain.
«Vareo» is the new game from JaénYa. You play it on your phone or computer, without downloading anything, and that's all it is: a bit of entertainment with something of the harvest season of a lifetime, no more pretension than that.
How to play
Tap a loaded branch and the vareador hits it. The force is marked by an arc above its head that goes up and down on its own: grey is weak, green is just right and red is strong. A strong hit knocks down all the olives, yes, but it scatters them off the tarp, knocks down leaves and breaks the tender branches. With six broken branches, the game is over.
Olives that fall off the tarp can be gleaned, though it costs time. When the olive tree is clean, you gather the tarps, the olives go into the trailer and you move on to the next one. With the quota full, off to the cooperative! On the computer: arrows to choose a branch, space to varear, B to glean and Enter to gather the tarps.
The game's cover and an olive tree in the countryside, with the starlings coming down to the tarp. Photo: JaénYa
Five days across the province
—The hillside olive grove, in the traditional frame.
—The countryside, with olive trees as far as the eye can see.
—At the foot of snowy Sierra Mágina.
—The white farmhouse, with its threshing floor.
—Below the castle of Santa Catalina, with the cross and the Cathedral peeking out.
Snowy Sierra Mágina and the farmhouse with its threshing floor. Photo: JaénYa
What happens in the field
Not everything is varear. In the morning the tarp dawns white with frost, other days there is mud, the starlings come down to eat the olives off the tarp and you have to scare them off, the crew stops for lunch and the neighbour offers you his electric vareadora while the battery lasts. And the sky, always watching: if the rain or the night comes with the trailer not full, the game is over.
The scale, the points and the ranking
At the end everything is weighed on the cooperative's scale. The kilos delivered score points, with a bonus for bringing the olives clean and for not leaving them on the ground. You see your harvest-season voucher day by day and you can play again or challenge someone on WhatsApp. The kilos and quotas are from the game, not from the real harvest season.
If you log into your JaénYa account, your games count in the game's ranking, with your alias, and add to the portal's general ranking. You can also play without an account.
The neighbour's vareadora and the cooperative voucher at the end of the harvest season. Photo: JaénYa
