Forest Shuffle on a rainy day

It’s been a really rainy week in the PNW, which has been a nice change switch into a slower mode of existence and get out the cozy games. We spent some family time this Sunday with a popular game called Forest Shuffle. It’s an open drafting board game with beautiful, realistic art of the flora and fauna of the forest. Players build combination of nature to generate the most points. Each player has their own hand of cards, and a play is either pulling cards from the “forest floor” and or the community deck or playing a card into their own forest. Turns can go fairly quick, and of course it’s great to see someone discard something that you need for your forest ecosystem to thrive. Each tree that is played in a players forest can have numerous creatures surrounding it and the way players build combinations do matter. There is an equal amount of luck and strategy. Winter cards are put into the 3rd end of the shared deck and once 3 winter cards are pulled, then the game is over.

This game got us in a “forest mood” and also needing to pay attention to the smallest and biggest details of how all the flora and fauna work together. It’s slightly like like when one is out in the wilderness with nothing to think about but to immerse oneself in all the displays of the forest.

Bonus Tool: There is an app called, Forest Shuffle Smart Counter that you can download on a phone to take the photos of your tree and creature combos to help in counting up each players’ points. It was definatly a useful tool to have.

Game Expansions: If you want more diversity and adventure, there are a few different expansions to the base game, including Forest Shuffle: Alpine & Forest Shuffle: Exploration