Easy start

Game setup and rules explanation can be done in a jiffy. The setup is mostly about shuffling a big pile of cards, removing some depending on player count, and adding 3 winter cards in the bottom third of the deck. These winter cards are the game timer: as soon as the 3^rd winter card is drawn, the game ends immediately.

Cards come in two types: tree cards and animal/plant cards. With a combination of these cards players will build their forest tableau by placing trees and filling the 4 spots (left, right, top, bottom) around the tree with plants and animals. Turns are simple as players only have 2 possible actions to choose from: either draw two cards, or play one card to their tableau. Cards can be drawn from the face-down deck, or from the discard line of cards called the clearing. This clearing can only hold 10 cards, if at the end of your turn 10 or more cards are in the clearing, all cards there get discarded. Cards you play often have a cost from 1 to 3, paid by discarding cards from your hand to the clearing. Some cards are free to play. Cards will give you points for various things at the end of the game: some will give you a basic amount of points just for being there, others will award cards of certain suits in your forest, or for meeting certain conditions, or just for being part of a specific set (like butterflies who will give you up to 20 points if you managed to place 5 different ones in your forest).

The tree cards are the backbone of your forest: you need them to ‘attach’ all the other cards to. The non-tree cards are split into two halves, either top-bottom or left-right. You choose which half you want to add to your forest. Some cards have abilities that trigger when you play them (like letting you draw a card), or when you pay for them using cards of one specific suit.

A forest full of choices

Choices arise from the first tree you place as some trees can also be worth a lot of points if you work for it – like horse chestnuts become more valuable if you manage to get them in big numbers, while the oak wants your forest to be diverse and have trees of all kinds. And for the other cards you have a lot of choices as well: which half do I want to use (often both halves are supporting your strategy because they are related, but you have to pick one), which cards are you willing to discard in order to pay for other cards? And as always you’ll have your eye on end-game scoring as a lot of cards score for certain synergies, be it a suit (color and symbol used on each card), a type of animal, or a set. You will build your forest with those synergies in mind and as the game progresses look for specific cards to be the finishing touches of your forest. And then there is the draw cards action: the game ends with a sudden death when the 3^rd winter cards is drawn. As soon as the first winter cards appears, tension rises as it might become risky to draw cards from the deck… or maybe you are happy with the state of your forest and want to rush the end because you know your opponent is hoping to get their hands on just one more beech tree card…

The clearing can become a battle ground as well: it can be a place for you to sneak cards in because you have to discard them to pay for other cards, only to draw them back later because you really wanted those suits for the bonus action of another card you want to play. Or maybe you had the perfect card for your opponent in your hand but were afraid to use it to pay for another card because then it would be available for your opponent to draw? Not if you discard it at a time when the clearing reaches its maximum capacity: then that precious card will be gone by the time your opponent’s turn comes around.

In any given play, you are often relying on 2 or 3 ‘big’ scoring combinations for your end-game scoring, and as soon as you’ve locked those in, you will be focusing on getting more cards to fuel that scoring engine, be it by adding cards of certain suits to your tableau or by getting as much of a certain type of animal or tree in your forest. If you’re lucky, your starting hand might have given you a push into a certain direction with two or three cards that work well together. In order to score big, you need to choose your scoring engines as soon as possible, if you get a little bit of everything, you’ll probably won’t score well…

Are some combos overpowered? Yes, I'm looking at you: wolves and deer! I have only played Forest Shuffle 5 times so far, either with 4 or with 2 players. On my first play, with 4 players, I had not read about certain combos being overpowered. In that first play I stumbled upon a lot of deer cards and 2 or 3 wolf cards and 1 or 2 lynxes. If you’re unfamiliar with the game and how these cards score this probably means nothing to you, but the wolf-deer strategy is the subject of a lot of chatter about unbalanced game play as this combo seems overpowered. The wolf scores big points for every deer in your forest, and the deer themselves also add to your score as they award points for certain suits. Both the wolves and some deer have some powerful bonus actions, like letting you play an extra card for free, or extra card draws. And I admit: I owned that first play with a monster score compared to the other three players, who all focused on other cards and combos in their tableau. I am convinced that if we would have played again immediately after that first play, no one around that table would have let another player “get away” with a wolf-deer combo again. For me, Forest Shuffle is mainly a 2-player game as that player count allows some control over what cards your opponent gets, either by holding on to a couple of cards that would be too perfect for my opponent’s tableau, or by hate drafting from the clearing. I have held on to a wolf, a lynx and a couple of deer cards because I didn’t want my opponent to get them after he had played his first wolf to his forest and already had a couple of deer. Also, in a 2-player game 30 cards are removed from the deck, so you might not see all the wolves and all the deer and all the lynx’ making it more tense…

Verdict

I love Forest Shuffle as a fast-paced card game for 2. It looks cute but can get cut-throat if your opponent is of the same skill level, i.e. is aware of the different scoring combinations that are in the deck. It plays fast, has great table presence (although it can be a table hog, especially at higher player counts).