Often times when I buy a game I can blame it directly on one of the board game YouTube channels that I watch. This one falls into that category as Camilla on The Dice Tower has talked about this one. And the concept of Butterfly, to me, sounded like an interesting one. It takes set collection, something that is familiar and adds in a puzzle for the movement element. But let’s see how Butterfly plays.

How to Play Butterfly?

Butterfly is a simple game to play. Your goal is to collect tiles to give you the most points. That concept is simple, but how you get your tiles is the core of the game.

On the board there is a hedgehog and this hedgehog is the one collecting the tiles. Each player controls the same hedgehog. So on your turn you either keep the hedgehog facing the same way or turn it left or right. Then you move down that row or column as far as you want. When you stop on a tile you take that tile. Your opponent then takes their turn from that position.

The game ends when there is no legal move for the hedgehog. It can skip over as many spaces as you might want, including empty ones. If you go over a net, you can pull an additional tile from the bag. But there is risk to that as some of the tiles are negative points. So it is an option not a requirement that you draw a tile. Once there are no legal moves everyone adds up their scores and highest wins.

Is This A Kids Game?

This is a filler game, but is it one that for kids would also be a good game? I am not sure on it as I think that it walks that line. And when I say kid, I mean could my five year old play it. The answer to that is maybe. I think he might struggle remembering all of the tile scoring rules.

At the same time, you don’t need to be able to read much or have the patience to focus to hold a few rules in your head. So it might be a game where a young kid can play it with some reminders throughout the game as to how certain things score. But that would likely be pushing it. But for a kid who can read the scoring themselves on the player aid, they will be able to play this game easily.

That said, it is fun for adults as well. This isn’t purely a kids game. When I did my quick reviews on three games, this is slightly more than those games. But I just think slightly more complex. It is probably more of a whole family style of game which isn’t bad to have in the collection.

A Little Bit Mean

The game is a little bit mean as well. If you estimate how many points you have you might push to end the game sooner. So if I think I have more than you, then I can take an opportunity to have the game have no legal moves left. It’s a strategy and a solid one, especially if none of the other bugs out there work for you.

And, there are some bugs that give you negative points. Who wants to catch a wasp? So it is possible, later in the game, to force someone to take the wasp. And the wasps aren’t just lose a point or two, they can be lose 6 points which is a fair amount. So there are a few meaner elements to the game.

Variety in Scoring

This is what keeps the game from being purely a kids game. There are seven different ways to score, I think. The flowers give you points based off of the number of other flowers that you have. There are basic bugs which just give you points, unless you have the times two which doubles the points for that color. Then grasshoppers which hop away if you get a second one. Lightning bugs and dragonflies which score your lowest and highest of the type respectively. Wasps which are negative. And bees and honey which score when combined.

That is not difficult scoring, but it is a lot. And there is randomness to it as well. In a five player game you play with 81 tiles. 9 by 9 grid. But there are 100 tiles in the game. So 19 won’t be played with, and even more don’t get played with in a two player game. It’s a smaller board to keep the game moving faster and scores consistent or more consistent across player count.

Thus far, every time I’ve played there has been bees and honey. It is possible in the game to have honey and no bees or vice-a-versa in which case, not much you can do. You want to avoid them. Or if there are lots of wasps, and there aren’t a ton of wasp tiles, it could push it to be a bit meaner. But you need to strategize on what you want to take by what is out there on the board.

Final Thoughts on Butterfly

Butterfly is a fun game. I don’t think it’s a great game, but it’s not a bad one either. It does walk that line of being slightly too simple. But also having more strategy than you’d think as you try and get points but not leave your opponent with a good play.

I appreciate that I only need to think about the player who is coming after me. I don’t need to block someone two turns ahead because I can’t. The hedgehog gets moved each turn, so the next player will move it from where I left it and I can’t control, fully, where they move it. It’s a rare time that you can or want to force an opponent into taking a specific tile.

The game length is good for a filler at two. It says 30 minutes on the box, at two it is faster than that. But higher player counts will make it take longer. It reminds me of Point Salad that way. So if you want a fun filler and one that is good for the whole family, Butterfly is a good option.

My Grade: B
Gamer Grade: C+
Casual Grade: B+

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here