![]() ![]() ![]() (Note the designer has said you can look through the discard piles at will.) The game still works well at all player counts, though. The only problem with 4 players is that it's a bit harder to track all the cards people are discarding and picking up from the discard piles, which can be critical to success for reasons explained below. I believe the best player counts are 2-3, although the game supports up to 4. (But you should have - and could have - seen it coming if you paid a bit more attention.) Regardless, at the end of the game, both winners and losers have gorgeous-looking card arboretums to look at. Imagine carefully laying out a beautiful, clever path of maple trees, only to be surprised, and maybe a bit frustrated, that someone else has been holding a maple that reduces all your hard work to zilch. The basic idea is that each player is building a personal arboretum full of different trees, but players only receive points for their tree paths if they play tactically and arrange the trees properly. The bottom line is that this is a far more tense and strategic game than its theme would suggest. My rules explanation, with a helpful bit from the designer's post on BGG, is below. The insert is fine, cards are high-quality BUT very glossy and NOT LINEN (unlike the zman original). I've attached several pictures to make it clear how the game looks, which is absolutely fantastic in person. Some of the trees are different too (you now get a Blue Spruce, Cherry Blossom and Tulip Poplar, to replace the original's Lilac, creepy Olive, and Magnolia - but the total number of cards/trees is the same as the original). Here is my review of the basic edition:Īrboretum by Renegade studios is a reprint of the Zman original, with more vibrant and "rendered" artwork that contrasts significantly with the original game's "found-in-the-attic" look that had a bit more character. ![]() I've attached some deluxe edition pictures after the pictures I have posted of the regular edition. This is just really gaudy and distracting, to the point that it's' almost funny in a game about trees, and it's a total contrast with the base game art (and the old Zman edition). At certain angles you get a weird rainbow effect. The problem is that the cards, with have rainbow foil in the deluxe version, are a lot darker than the cards in the base game, dulling the colors of the trees (the foil is not even on the trees - it's on the background). The only advantage of the Deluxe version is the really nice wooden box. I got the Deluxe version in the mail today to compare the two - and while the deluxe isn't totally bad, I GREATLY prefer the non-deluxe version. This adds a new level of complexity without making things too complex.Note: This is a review of the basic, non-deluxe version. For example, the Fox (#3) can change the trump suit, the Witch (#9) changes suit to be trump, and the Monarch (#11) constrains what card your opponent can play. Two, all of the odd-numbered cards have instructions on them that manipulate the standard rules of tricks and trumps. It’s a challenge to take the right number of tricks. The hero of the story should be either humble–try not to take any tricks–or victorious without being greedy–try not to take all the tricks. The theme of the game is a fantasy setting that for the most part is not relevant it does, however, impact the number of tricks that you want to take. One, you have to carefully plan how many tricks you take. ![]() There are two game mechanics that make this game interesting. Despite being a two-player game and only having three suits, it’s very similar to classic games like Hearts and Spades. 1 rulebook with 10 pages of well-written English instructionsĪt its core, The Fox in the Forest is a trick-taking game with one suit designated as trump. ![]()
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