Spirits of the Forest
Spirits of the Forest Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 48 Spirit tiles
- 14 Favor tokens
- 12 Gemstones
- 1 Single player card
Each spirit tile shows a spirit symbol and/or a power source icon (sun, moon, or fire). The nine spirits of the forest are: branches, dew drops, flowers, fruits, leaves, moss, mushrooms, web spiders, and vines.
The Spirit Tiles
The deck of spirit tiles represents the nine different spirits of the forest. Each spirit is associated with a unique color and a unique spirit animal. Each spirit tile has one or two icons at the top that are either a spirit symbol or one of three power source icons – the ferocity of fire, the mysticism of the moon, and the life-giving power of the sun.
Each spirit tile also features a number at the bottom of the tile that signifies how many spirit symbols of that spirit are in the deck of tiles (its total quantity in the game).
Game Setup
- Shuffle the 48 spirit tiles and deal them face up in four rows of 12 tiles to the center of the table to create the forest.
- Shuffle the 14 favor tokens and place eight of them face down on spirit tiles in the forest. The remaining six favor tokens are not needed and are returned to the box without looking at them.
- Give three gemstones of a single color to each player in a two-player game, and two gemstones of a single color to each player when playing with three or four players.
- The player that most recently hiked in a forest is the first player.
Game Overview
Spirits of the Forest is played over multiple turns. On each turn, a player collects tiles, examines favor tokens, and places gemstones. Once a turn is complete, the player to the left takes a turn and the game continues in clock-wise order around the table.
Collect Tiles
On each turn, the player collects tiles from either of the two ends of the forest choosing one of the following actions:
- Take a tile of a color with two spirits symbols on it.
- Take up to two tiles of the same color that each have only one spirit symbol.
Note: Taking two adjacent tiles with one spirit symbol on each is allowed. By taking the first, the next one adjacent will become the "end of the forest".
Note: For the first turn of the game, the first player may only take one tile, no matter how many spirits are on the tile.
After collecting tiles, the player organizes them by color and places them face up on top of each other so that only the spirit symbols and power source icons are showing.
Note: If the player is unable to collect a spirit tile, they skip this step.
Examine Favor Tokens
If a player collected a tile with a favor token on it, they also secretly examine the favor token and place it face down in front of themselves.
Favor tokens with spirit symbols or power source icons remain hidden until the end of the game. They count as an additional spirit symbol or power source icon when scoring.
Favor tokens with the "+" symbol may be used at any time to return a gemstone that was previously removed from the game back to the player.
Place Gemstones
Once the player has collected tiles, they may choose to place one of their gemstones on a spirit tile in the forest. The gemstone may be placed on any spirit tile that does not already have a gemstone on it. Gemstones can be placed on spirit tiles that have favor tokens on them.
If a player has no gemstones left in front of them, they may move one of their gemstones on the table from one tile to another as long as the destination tile does not already have a gemstone on it.
By placing a gemstone on a spirit tile, that player attempts to reserve that tile for a future turn. If the player collects the reserved tile on a future turn, they also collect their gemstone and can place it again that turn or on future turns.
Note: Only one gem can be placed or moved per turn.
A player may collect a spirit tile with an opponent's gemstone on it, but they must remove one of their own gemstones from the game – either one already on a spirit tile or an unused one in front of the player. The opponent's gemstone is returned to the opponent for future use.
If all of a player's gemstones have been removed from the game, they are unable to collect spirit tiles with an opponent's gemstone on it.
End of Game / Scoring
Players continue taking turns until all tiles have been collected from the forest. Then players reveal any favor tokens they've collected and determine how many nature points they have:
-
Spirits: Each player counts how many spirit symbols (not spirit tiles) they have for each of the nine spirits including any spirit symbols on collected favor tokens.
The player with more spirit symbols for a particular spirit scores nature points equal to the amount of spirits symbols the player has. All other players score no points.
If players are tied for the most spirit symbols for a spirit, all tied players score nature points equal to the amount of spirits symbols they have.
If a player has no spirit tiles for a given spirit, deduct three nature points from their score. Favor tokens are not counted when determining if the player loses these points.
Example: At the end of a three-player game, the players are comparing the "leaves" spirit symbols. Both players 1 and 2 have four "leaves" symbols on their Spirit tiles, but player 2 managed to get a favor token with the "leaves" spirit symbol, which adds 1 to their total. Player 2 has the most symbols, and gains 1 point for each symbol collected (5 pts.). Player 3 loses three nature points since they did not collect any "leaves" spirit symbols (-3 pts.). Only the player with the majority of spirit symbols is the one who scores the points of that given spirit, therefore Player 1 does not score any points (0 pts.).
-
Power Sources: Power sources are scored in the same way as spirits. Each player counts how many power source icons they have for each of the three power sources (Fire / Moon / Sun), including any power source icons on collected favor tokens.
The player with more power source icons for a particular power source scores nature points equal to the amount of icons the player has. All other players score no points.
If players are tied for the most power source icons for a particular power source, all tied players score nature points equal to the amount of icons they have.
If a player has no power source icons on the spirit tile for a given power source, deduct three nature points from their score. Favor tokens are not counted when determining if the player loses these points.
Example: Players are comparing the power source: Sun. 1st Player scores 5 pts., 2nd Player scores 0 pts.
The player with the most nature points is the winner. In case of a tie, the player with the least number of tiles among the tied players is the winner. In case of a further tie, the tied players share the victory.
Turn Example
It is the blue player's turn. During "Collect Tiles", the blue player has the following options:
- Collect one of the tiles with two spirit symbols (tile 1).
- Collect two tiles of the "leaves" spirit with one symbol on each (tiles 2 + 3). If the player collects tile 2 but doesn't take tile 3, the player could instead collect tile 4 as the second tile. If tile 4 is collected, the player would need to remove one of their gemstones from the game as there is already a green gemstone on that tile, the green gemstone returns to its owner.
- Collect two "moss" tiles (tiles 5 + 6) with a single spirit symbol on each. The blue player would then retrieve their gemstone from tile 5. They would not be able to collect tile 7 since no more than two tiles may be collected in a turn.
- Collect one "branches" tile (tile 8) (and the Favor token). They would not be able to collect an additional "branches" tile in the 2nd row on the right, as this would exceed the total spirit symbols they may collect each turn.
Solo Variant
In the solo variant of Spirits of the Forest, the player is competing against the game for the highest amount of nature points.
Setup
Setup for the solo variant is identical to the multiplayer game with the following changes:
- Find the nine favor tokens with spirit icons. Return all other favor tokens to the game box.
- Return all gemstones to the game box.
- Shuffle the 48 spirit tiles and place them face down in four rows of 12 tiles. Reveal the first and last tile of each row.
- Shuffle the nine favor tokens and place three randomly onto the single player card: two face down on the opponent field (top) and one face up on your own field (bottom). Return the remaining favor tokens to the game box.
Game Overview
The solo game plays identical to the multiplayer game with the following changes:
- During the Collect Tiles phase, collect one face-up tile and place it in front of you.
- Collect the face-up tile at the opposite end of the row collected from step 1 and place it on the other side of the table (the opponent's area).
- Then reveal the first and last spirit tile in the row collected from step 1.
Continue to take turns following the steps above.
The first time a row is depleted, reveal the first favor token from the enemy field of the single player card and place it in the opponent's area. The opponent will score that spirit symbol as an additional symbol.
The second time a row is depleted, reveal the second favor token from the enemy field of the single player card and place it in the opponent's area.
The game ends when only one row remains.
End of the Game / Scoring
The player gains the face-up favor token on the single player card. Spirit symbols on favor tokens are included in the evaluation for majority.
Power sources are not scored when playing the solo variant.
If the opposition has the majority on any kind of spirit, the player loses the game.
If the player has the majority or is tied on each spirit symbol, the player wins the game, proceed to count the points as in the multiplayer game for the final score.
Additional Scoring Opportunities:
- +5 nature points if the player discards the face-up favor token on the single player card before scoring.
- +10 nature points if the player gives the face-up favor token on the single player card to the opponent before scoring.