Lost Woods is one of a few board games that Peder (semi-)recently procured via Kickstarter, and it seemed so appropriate to play in a lake cottage that we had to bring it along. This was our first time playing it, so there was a little bit of prep in the form of popping out lots of little cardboard pieces — which is an activity I happen to enjoy almost as much as popping bubble wrap, so I was definitely okay with this.

In Lost Woods, you play as one of a few courageous adventurers (who, as I understand it based on what the game implies, are a bunch of kids playing dress-up in the woods). The premise is simple — the game is played until one of the players makes it out of the woods, and the winner is the player with the most gold at the end of the game (regardless of whether they were the player to escape the woods first). You build the board as you go (in a way that’s reminiscent of how you explore the house in Betrayal at House on the Hill) by drawing cards that take you north, south, east, or west.

Each time you lay down a new card, you must draw a tile from the tile bag and act according to what you’ve drawn. You might draw a weapon you can use — anything from pretty normal items like a broken baby bottle to fantastical objects like unicorn horns — or a gold piece. Or you might draw a monster that you’ll then have to fight. If you don’t defeat the monster, on your next turn you’ll have to either try again or move in a different direction to escape it. As you go, you can also draw cards that lead to magical fountains, which let you learn a magical spell to be used as a powerful weapon against monsters. But use the spell once, and it’s gone for good — or at least until you make your way back to the fountain again.

To make it out of the woods, you’ll have to be the one to lay down the last card from one of the directional card decks — but even then, you’re not out just yet. To complete your journey, you’ll have to defeat the Guardian. To do so, you’ll have to roll better than the Guardian does three times in a row — once you do, the game is complete. Next, it’s time for everyone to count up the gold they’ve collected during their travels through the woods — the player with the most wins the game.

Lost Woods is a simple little game, but an enjoyable one. There’s very little strategy involved, and though there’s a fair amount of luck, the game is primarily a race against time. It’s definitely not a game for serious gamers, but it’s a fun, lighthearted game for when you want something short and don’t feel like investing a lot of brainpower into a complicated game. It’d be a great one for starting off a game night, and would be an even better one to play with the kids in your life (if I had to put a number on it, I’d say anyone from about 8 and up would have a good time with this one).

Overall Grade: C

Casual Grade: A

Gamer Grade: D-

Have you played Lost Woods? If not, would you give it a go?

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As Peder mentioned in his post earlier this week, Tsuro is the perfect game for starting out a game night; it’s also great for those times when you want to play a board game but don’t have much time, or for introducing non-gamer friends to an unintimidating game.

The object of Tsuro is simple — be the last one standing on the board. To start, each player chooses one of the different colored pawns and places it on any of the tic marks at the edge of the board. The board is essentially one big grid; each turn, players lay down one path tile in front of their pawn, and each tile they lay down in subsequent turns must lead their pawn further along its current path. The path tiles each have a few lines on them that represent possible paths a pawn can take. Once a tile is laid down in front of a pawn, that pawn must follow it to wherever it may end.

Though no two tiles are the same, the game is designed so that the paths on any one tile can match up with the ones shown on any other tile. As the game progresses and players lay down more and more tiles, the paths they create eventually start merging — and affecting other pawns. Pawns must follow the path laid before them no matter what (starting to see the metaphor inherent in this game?), so if a player lays down a tile that connects to another pawn’s path, that path might lead them off the edge of the board, and they’ll then be out of the game. A path could also cause two pawns to collide, in which case, both pawns would then be out.

Players continue to draw tiles and lay them down until all tiles have been drawn and the final tile, known as the dragon tile, is revealed. The person to draw this tile gets first draw from the discarded tiles of the next player to go out of the game (the rest, if any, are then divvied up in order of play amongst the remaining players). After that, the players keep on until only one pawn is left on the board and all others have gone out by running off the edge of the board, colliding with another pawn, or even playing a tile of their own that forces their pawn toward one of these outcomes (this is often how most players meet their end — as more tiles are laid out on the board and fewer are left to play, sometimes the only tile a player has left is one that will cause them to lose the game).

As a game that requires little strategy and a small time investment, Tsuro is a great game for getting a party started, providing a low-key activity at a family gathering, or just getting your board game fix in a quick and relaxing way. What’s your favorite time to play Tsuro?

Casual Grade: A+

Gamer Grade: C

Overall Grade: A

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