REVIEW – My wife and I have been playing board games and card games for as long as we’ve been married. When our kids got old enough, we taught them to play our favorites, games like Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Ticket to Ride. Recently, our final kid headed off to college, so my wife and I have been trying some new two-player games. Our latest acquisition is The Fox in the Forest, a casual two-player card game from FoxTrot Games.
What’s In The Box?
- 33 cards in three different suits
- 17 scoring tokens
- 2 player reference cards
- 1 rulebook with 10 pages of well-written English instructions
Gameplay
At its core, The Fox in the Forest is a trick-taking game with one suit designated as trump. Despite being a two-player game and only having three suits, it’s very similar to classic games like Hearts and Spades. There are two game mechanics that make this game interesting. One, you have to carefully plan how many tricks you take. 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. 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. It’s a challenge to take the right number of tricks.
Two, all of the odd-numbered cards have instructions on them that manipulate the standard rules of tricks and trumps. 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. This adds a new level of complexity without making things too complex.
Each hand has 13 tricks, and it normally takes three hands for one of us to get 21 points, which is the condition for winning. Games normally take us about 15 minutes to play.
What I like
- Fun, casual card game for two
- Innovative game mechanics
- Quality construction
- Clear rules
What I’d change
- Not a thing
Final Thoughts
The Fox in the Forest is a casual game that is simple to learn and play yet requires just enough planning to keep it interesting. It’s perfect after a long day when we want to have a bit of fun but don’t want to think too hard. I encourage you to pick up a copy.
Price:: $15
Where to buy: Renegade Game Studios and Amazon
Source: This game was purchased by James Garriss from Tantrum House.
Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
Great review about these games like cards games