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In forest shuffle, you are trying to create an ecologically balanced habitat for plant and animal life alike.
Set-Up
Place the clearing Game board in the centre of the play area.
Next, find the 14 white reference cards and put these above the clearing board. These cards all have a fox on their backs.
Give every player a cave card, and return the rest to the box. This card should be placed in the area in front of each player.
Find the three Winter Cards and set them aside. Shuffle the rest cards together. These should all have the same back that looks like a sprout. Once these are good and shuffled you will need to remove a certain number at random from the game and return them to the box, this number varies depending on the player number:
2 Player game - Return 30 cards to the box
3 Player game - Return 20 cards to the box
4 Player game - Return 10 cards to the box
5 Player game - Do not return any, you will play with the full deck.
Divide the remaining cards into three roughly even piles face down. Shuffle two of the Winter cards into one of these piles then place the final winter card on top of this pile. Place the other two piles on top of the one containing the winter cards. This is now your card deck, place this at the end of the clearing with the tree symbol in the corner, the other end will be the discard pile.
Now, deal every player 6 cards from the deck. Each player should privately examine their cards and look to see if they have any tree cards in hand. If a player has no tree cards, they are allowed to take one mulligan, where they discard their full hand and draw 6 cards again. This can only be done once per player.
Now you are set up and ready to play Forest Shuffle.
A look at the Cards in the deck
Forest Shuffle contains 4 different Types of Cards in the deck; Tree Cards, Vertical Split Fauna and Flora Cards, Horizontal Split Fauna and Flora Cards, and Winter Cards.
The first three types share similar elements and card features which we can have a look at.
Illustration - Tree cards will contain a single illustration and the Fauna and Flora cards will contain two illustrations. These just are a visual representation of the species on the card.
Cost - This represents how many cards will need to be put into the clearing from your hand in order to play the card into your area.
Card Colour with Tree Symbol - Cards belong to different tree groups, the tree you play them on to does not need to match this symbol but discarding cards that match the symbol on the card you are playing can sometimes net you a bonus.
Type Symbol - Each card belongs to a plant or animal group, these are sometimes used for other card effects and scoring requirements.
Name - The name of the species on the card.
Number in Game - Tells you how many of that card exist in the game.
Effect - Some plant and animal cards have an effect that activates when playing the card into your area, you immediately activate this when playing and is a one-time thing. However, some Mushrooms have, an ongoing effect these will say on the card.
Bonus - Some cards have bonuses that activate if you pay for that card with cards matching the card colours shown in the binoculars box. If you satisfy this you get a bonus you take one time on that turn.
Point Value - This shows how many points (the acorn symbol) the cards are worth at the end of the game. Some require criteria to be met to score points or increase in value as more of a type of card are played in your area.
All card effects, bonuses, types, and tree symbols are explained in the reference on the back of the rule book. Keeping this nearby while playing your first few games can help you learn the iconography.
The final type of card is the Winter Cards. These cards are used to signal that you are nearing the end of the game and the end of the game. These are been shuffled into the deck and when drawn are shown to the group and then placed next to the board. The first two do nothing but signal you are nearing the end of the game. However, drawing the third will immediately end the game. They have the same backs as the other cards in the deck so you cannot tell where they are.
Game Play
The rules say the player who last took a walk in the forest starts the game, but you can choose however you see fit.
Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player takes one of two possible actions on their turn. These actions are to Draw Two Cards or Play a Card and Check the Clearing.
Drawing Two cards - When taking this action you will be drawing two cards, one at a time. For each card, you have two options as to where to draw from, either a face-up card from the clearing or a face-down card from the top of the deck. The clearing will not be an option at the start of the game as it begins the game empty but as players go cards will be added. Your hand Limit is 10 Cards so you cannot take this action with 10 cards in hand, and can only take one card on this action with 9 in your hand.
Playing a Card and Check the Clearing - To play a card from your hand you must first pay the cost in the corner of the card, if you are playing a split card you only have to pay the cost of the side you will be using. The cards you pay for the card with are placed face up on the clearing board. If the card has a listed bonus you can choose to match the card type listed there to get a bonus action. When you play a tree card you must also reveal the top card from the deck and add it to the clearing.
A tree can just be played into your area, but a split card must be played onto a tree. Each tree has 4 slots, 2 for each type of split card. Each slot can only hold one card except for certain cards like Toads which will tell you on them when you can put more than one in a slot. Tuck the split card under the tree so the half you have paid for is still showing, while the other half is hidden under the tree.
If you do not have any tree cards any card can be played face-down into your area as a sapling. This provides a card slot on each of its four sides like a normal tree. However, it does not belong to any of the eight tree species and is not considered a tree species of its own.
Next, look for any effects on the card and any bonuses you activated and take the related actions.
Finally, once you have finished with your played card you must check the clearing by counting how many cards are currently in the clearing. If there are 10 or more cards, all cards in the clearing are removed and put into the discard pile.
Play continues around the table until the third Winter Card is drawn which immediately will trigger the end of the game.
There are two other types of cards in the game, your personal cave card and the reference cards.
Cave cards are used with certain effects on cards, such as bears and raccoons. The effect will allow you to take cards from a location like the clearing or your hand and put them face down under your cave card. Cards put under the cave are now worth one point at the end of the game.
The reference cards are located in a stack near the clearing board. These are a detailed overview of each of the cards and how they score in more detail than the normal cards. They are there to help clarify anything and are for all players to use.
Final Scoring
When the final Winter Card is drawn this immediately triggers end-game scoring. The game comes with a scorepad to help you total each player's score.
You first look at each of your tree cards scoring conditions and total up how much that is worth, then the cards at the top and bottom of the trees, then the cards to the left and right of the trees, and finally points from cards in your cave.
The rule book has an example for scoring and you can use the reference cards if you are confused by how any of the cards score.
The player with the highest score wins. If there is a tie the players share the victory.
That's how you play forest shuffle.
