Forest

Have you tried any of the Helvetiq small box games? There are loads of them and they are all little boxes of joy! Delightful art. Simple rules. Accessible strategy. And family friendly themes. Forest ticks all these boxes, but is it the one for you?

Give Me A Minute

OK, this is going to be a long one. Settle in. Shuffle the deck. Deal three cards to each player. You are now ready to play!

I hope you are still with me. That was a brutal set up! But in seriousness, this is what this little boxes from Helvetiq are all about. Once, everyone has their cards, decide on a first player and then in turn, each player will play a card face up into a communal play area as above. Then redraw to three cards. This will continue until the deck runs out at which point the game ends.

When playing, you are looking to do one of two things, based on which version of the game you have agreed upon. Each card has a number of magical forest critters on it. Little Santa like Gnomes. Frogs. Owls. And Fairies. If ever the total number of any one single creature totals seven or more than something triggers. One version of the game has players looking to collect cards based on achieving this goal. The other pits players against each other, trying to avoid collecting cards by laying a card that gets the total of any type to seven or more.

As you place your card down, you can do so either end of the current tableau. Laying it either horizontally or vertically based on the art. Although this has no effect on the game. It is a simple matter of, has your card tipped the scales over seven or not on one particular character.

Wait! Do I Want These Cards Or Not?

If your card does tip the scales, then you must take every card with this particular critter shown on it. You will place these cards into a face down pile in front of you for end game scoring. This will either be a good thing, or a bad thing depending on which version of the rules you are playing. It will either be a case of trying to avoid this, or looking to achieve this. And both versions of the game feel very different. When the deck is finished, the person with the most cards either wins or loses! One final rule that I don’t play, has any remaining cards on the table go the last player who collected cards. This seems to add too much of an unfair swing. I simply take this rule out.

There is also an extra variant I do like to play, where if you manage to get a set of seven of each of the four different characters you will score an additional five points. This adds a nice tension and final element of set collection to the game which I enjoy.

When it becomes your turn, you are either looking to get a certain group of creatures to total seven or more, or avoid that at all costs. Some cards will have more creatures on than others. Some cards have nothing on at them at all, except trees. Depending on the variant you are playing, you will either be counting up what is on the table so far and then trying to get to seven, or seeing if it is possible to lay any of your cards that would avoid this. Ideally getting to six in as many as possible, to make the turn of the next player harder.

This creates a very simple, but lovely tension. Some other reviewers have suggested this is too simplistic for it to be considered a good game. It has been suggested that there is no meaningful choices and it is too luck based. Whilst this is partially true, you do have three cards to choose from. For me, there can be a lot of fun in which card you play. Yes, it is a simply choice. And one you don’t have full control over. But it is a choice that has created plenty of laughter, cries of joy, and mock accusations from other players as you leave them with no good choices of their own.

These Critters Are Everywhere

When this happens to you though, when you are the one left with no good choices, it can be annoying. When playing the version of Forest where you are looking to avoid collecting cards, being forced to collect cards, can be frustrating. Especially when there is nothing you can do about it. But this is the game. And all players are in the same boat. Your tree tableau will build until it eventually has to pop. If this lands on you, that’s a shame. But it is unlikely it will be you next time. You cannot take this game too seriously. It only takes five minutes to play. You are never that invested in it that losing the game will ruin your day.

I would recommend this game to people who enjoy short games that require minimal thinking, and create some funny, take-that style moments. This is a game for people who want something with a small footprint, minimal strategy, but high levels of cuteness!