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Fungi
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Description
If you fancy a beautiful and strategic mushroom foraging trip, Pegasus Press’ Fungi may right up your woodland path. In this neat card game two players compete to collect and cook the most rare and delicious mushrooms they can as they move along a pathway of forest cards representing the route they’re strolling through the wood.
Fungi offers a range of different species of mushroom to come across and collect on your jaunt, each type with its own rarity-dependent flavour and sale values. Collect three or more of any one type and cook them in a pan to score flavour points, or exchange two more more of a kind for sticks. These allow foraging beyond what is directly in front and available to you; vital if you’re going to get those rare and tasty mushrooms before your opponent!
Along your journey you might well find some butter or cidre to spice up your meal and cook yourself up some more points; or a chance to pick from the night deck of mushrooms that have grown larger and tastier in the night and are worth double flavour or trade points. You may also find more pans to cook in and baskets in which to carry more than your current hand size allows. Just make sure you avoid the dangerous Fly agaric; this poisonous mushroom will reduce your hand size as you focus on recovering from your ailment.
Fungi is a delightful set collection game of tasty decisions. How long do you push your luck and wait before you cook your mushrooms? Do you choose to cook them all or do you trade some of lesser value in for sticks? What is your opponent collecting? Do you want to block them? Do you take what’s right in front of you or spend sticks to get something more interesting further up the path? With the forest disappearing into decay behind you as you pass, you only have a limited time to run back and pick things up before they are gone for good!
This card game is comprised of 86 Forest cards, eight night cards, 18 stick cards, one ‘shoes’ card, overview cards and rules.
With sweet artwork, head-to-head competition and plenty of choices, Fungi is great fun for even the most mushroom-averse players!
Player Count: 2
Time: 20-40 Minutes
Age: 10+
Fungi, the brain-child of Brent Povis, is a two-player card-based game that revolves around collecting and cooking an array of mushrooms to prosper on a dusky evening in the woods. The play time is between 20 and 40 minutes and while the rules may initially seem a little boggy, this game will soon become a great pick-up-and-go addition to any collection.
The Content
The box, which is understated, contains 86 Forest Cards (offering a variety of mushrooms, pans, baskets, flavour enhancers and moons), eight Night Cards (mushrooms worth double the points but only accessible in exchange for a moon card), 18 Sticks, a pair of shoes and six Overview Cards.
The Premise
The goal of Fungi is fairly simple: collect and cook mushrooms. To win? Simply have the most flavour points from the creations you’ve cooked.
Each player will start the game with a pan and three other randomly dealt forest cards. A “forest” will also be dealt, which is eight randomly dealt cards from the forest pile, that runs horizontally across your playing surface. The shoes will be placed below the two cards furthest from the draw pile, which is made up of the remaining forest cards.
From here, each player has a choice of five actions but may only take one per turn. The forest is the centre of play, with cards being collected from the pair of shoes for no cost or collected from deeper recesses in exchange for sticks. The forest floor “evolves” with every turn, with a card entering the “decay” pile once per turn – this effectively acts as the forests reduced section, offering you the chance to pick up more than one card, but it’s only available when there are four or less cards in it.
Once there are four, it’s written off as inedible goods and the cards are returned to the discard pile. Each player is initially limited to a hand-limit of eight cards, and while this can be added to over time with baskets, it makes foraging for resources slightly trickier than it first appears.
The Goal
The goal is to collect three or more of the same type of mushroom, which can then be cooked. Each type of mushroom is numbered based on its flavour and exchange value (for sticks) – however, the higher the value, the rarer the mushroom, which means there is limited availability as the draw pile runs low.
The more mushrooms cooked, the more ingredients that can be added into the mix. For example, if you cook four or more of the same type of mushroom, you can add butter which gives you +3 points; for five or more of the same, you can add cider which gives you +5 points etc.
Once the draw pile is emptied and the forest floor depleted, each player tallies up their points and the one with the highest amount wins.
Fungi – The Verdict
Fungi is a brilliantly creative game – its elements are very simple but beautifully illustrated, with each card having enough individuality and character to make it identifiable without needing to know the name of each mushroom. The components are also made to a very high standard and once it’s been unpacked, Fungi fits back into the same box that you took it out of which seems to be becoming a far-out idea.
The game itself is very enjoyable and can be played as tactically as you wish. Myself? I like to try and collect odd cards to spite my opponent, but with a strict hand limit this can be risky. The difficulty is balancing collecting mushrooms and resources such as pans, baskets etc – as one without the other simply won’t win the game. For me though, the beauty of Fungi really is in its simplicity. An easy go-to on a cold, Tuesday night, its theme is strong enough to transport me to a roaring camp-fire with the smell of buttery mushrooms lifting in the air.
That’s not to say there are no niggles with the gameplay – the constant movement of the forest can be a little annoying. While essential to the game, it can detract from it’s fast-paced nature and can be a distraction when trying to focus on other things. The ending to the game is also very abrupt – when the last card from the forest is taken, the game is automatically over. If this is the card you’ve waited all game for, it’s incredibly frustrating to be able to collect it but not be able to play it. This might suit some peoples style of play as it can be quite cut-throat, but if not can easily be adapted to create a house-rule that might suit you better.
Overall though, Fungi is a solid card-based game. It’s fast-paced, it’s imaginative and it offers a slightly different dimension to your collection. If you like games like Jaipur or Love Letter, this is worth investing in. Oh, and don’t fear if you’re one of life’s mushroom haters, no actual fungi is used in the making of the game.
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If you liked this blog on Fungi, you can click here to buy it today. Let us know your thoughts on our social media channels @/zatugames
Editors note: This post was originally published on 9th March 2018. Updated on 19th June 2024 to improve the information available.
Interested in a two-player game with good replay value? Well, how about trying Fungi? For a game that I initially overlooked, I was pleased when after deciding to buy and play the game with someone I know who loves mushrooms, we had a good experience and certainly good enough to play again. I figure I’m now guaranteed to get some games in and Fungi remains ready to be deployed to answer the need for a filler.
On first looks, Fungi seems a little basic and perhaps too simple to be a game that will keep you coming back for more, yet don’t let first appearances put you off. Fungi is indeed a simple game; the rules are straightforward and well written enough that new players to games should find them easy to follow and it has variety and a randomness to ensure good replay value.
Ultimately, it is a quick game which offers a good filler option with a fair competitive side and players can always take the option of playing a series of fast games. You can set up a Fungi tournament and play knockout games, it is up to you!
The game
In Fungi, players collect cards featuring mostly either a type of mushroom or an item to help collect or cook mushrooms, players can then cook mushrooms or sell them. Selling mushrooms awards you sticks which then give you a greater range to collect mushrooms from on the forest track you explore. But the main aspect of the game is to collect mushrooms and cook them to produce tasty meals. Players then score according to the type of mushrooms, how many of them were used and whether you used additional ingredients, namely butter and cider, your score in flavour points for all you dishes determines your final score.
Strategic play
The game revolves around the choices you make. What mushrooms to collect and when to cook them. There are a limited number of mushrooms and the greater the value the fewer the cards available. You’ll need to collect pans to cook in and consider whether to accumulate more cards or cook earlier when you have the opportunity.
Each game is different based on the variety and randomness of cards in the forest trail and deck, but also the choices you make and those of your opponent. There is a push your luck element to the game and yet you can make reasonable choices to keep your score building. Overall, luck is only part of the game and not an overwhelming one. In the games I’ve played, yes I was sometimes waiting for a card to come up, but usually I had enough options and more importantly I found the key decision is when to cook a meal and score points.
Party game
Fungi can also work when played in an environment where it is more than simply a filler. It is a two-player game which on the surface makes it unlikely to be ideal for groups and more suited for couples. But games can be played in a short time and multiple players could take part and spectate if you wanted a larger competition. Alternatively, why not utilise several two player games for a group so everyone has a game to play and Fungi is one of your options?
Maybe afterwards you can try making delicious mushroom based dishes for real and have both the card-based competition followed by a culinary one.
Design
The game comes in a nice little box. Good quality cards and simple rules that work. The artwork is nice and adds to the appeal of the game. For a game that fits into a small box, can be learned, and played quickly, doesn’t take up much space and isn’t expensive, it’s a game worthy of adding to a collection and I’m glad I bought the game. It’s not a game I will play frequently, as I do prefer more medium to heavy weight games, but it’s a game I can rely on to happily fill a gap and I think that’s the point of games like Fungi.
One o f the advantages of such a small yet fun and easy game to play, Fungi is compact enough to put in a rucksack with ease and take with you on your travels. Whether on the train or hiking it easy to store and doesn’t take a huge amount of space to play, so something to consider? I sometimes go on board game retreats so we usually play the bigger games, but Fungi can neatly fit into a small space or if you just want one or two small games to take, Fungi is a great option.
Things I like: Simple, easy to learn, quick to play, nice artwork
Things I don’t like: Maybe too simple for some, two-player games may not some
If you liked this blog on Fungi, you can click here to buy it today. Let us know your thoughts on our social media channels @/zatugames
Eager to share your own thoughts on some of your favourite games? Just fill out our quick and easy application here to become a zatu blogger!
Zatu Score
You might like
- The competitive focus
- Lovely illustrations
- Imaginative concept
- Great Replayability
Might not like
- The constant replenishing/movement of cards