Whispering Woods
Whispering Woods Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Goal of the Game
In each turn, you expand your forest. Place new Forest tiles to add elements and tasks that your animals need to complete. Move your animals along the required paths to collect victory points by completing these tasks.
Plan carefully to earn valuable Bonus cards. The player who collects the most points by the end of the game wins.
Components
- 96 Forest tiles
- 1 cloth bag
- 16 Animals — 4 per color
- 4 Starting tiles
- 1 Bear
- 10 Bonus cards: 4 x2 Cards, 3 x3 Cards, 2 x4 Cards, 1 x5 Card
- 6 Mission cards
- 1 Scoring marker
- 1 Scoring board
- 1 rulebook
For the solo mode: 4 Animal tiles
Game Setup
A. Each player takes 1 Starting tile and the 4 Animals of one color. Return the remaining Starting tiles and Animals to the box.
B. Place your Starting tile with the Task side facing up in your play area and place 1 of your Animals on it. Keep your other Animals readily available nearby.
C. Sort the Bonus cards in ascending order by value and place them within easy reach on the table.
D. Place all the Forest tiles into the bag and shuffle them. Draw 6 tiles and place them with the Forest side facing up in the center of the table to create the tile display.
E. The player who walked the longest distance today places the Bear in front of them and will start the game.
Anatomy of the Tiles
The Forest tiles display the 6 elements of the forest, each in a different color: Fruits, Flowers, Mushrooms, Leaves, Water, Minerals.
Each Forest tile has 2 different sides:
The Forest Side — This side shows the color, and therefore the element, of the tile. You can also see the task from the Task side and the possible victory points.
The Task Side — This side shows the task of the tile and the victory points you earn for completing it. Additionally, you can see the element and therefore the color of the Forest side.
Note: The Starting tiles only have a Task side (see the Starting Tiles section).
Gameplay
You play in clockwise order. The person with the Bear starts. On your turn, you perform the following 3 steps in order:
- Refill the tile display
- Take Forest tiles and place them in your forest
- Complete tasks (optional)
1. Refill the Tile Display
Refill the display to 6 tiles by drawing new Forest tiles from the bag (this does not apply during the first turn). Place the new tiles in the center of the table with the Forest side facing up, into the existing display.
Refresh the Entire Display (optional): Once per turn, you can refresh the display after refilling it. Draw 6 new tiles from the bag and then return the 6 old tiles to the bag. To do this, however, you must first flip a previously completed Forest tile you have from its Task side to its Forest side. If you don't have a completed tile on the Task side, you can't refresh the display.
At the end of the game, you will still receive the printed victory points for the completed Task tile that you flipped to refresh the display, but 1 victory point will be deducted.
Example: Carmen completed a task on a previous turn. She flips the completed tile and refreshes the tile display. For this tile, 1 victory point will be deducted at the end of the game.
2. Take Forest Tiles and Place Them in Your Forest
On your turn, you must take 1 or 2 new Forest tiles from the display and add them to your forest. There is only one placement rule: the tile must be placed adjacent to at least one side of a tile that is already in your forest.
In this step, you must choose between 2 options:
A. Take 2 tiles from the display and place them in your forest, one after the other, the Forest side facing up.
B. Take 1 tile from the display, flip it to the Task side, and place it in your forest. Then place one of your unused Animals on this tile. Note: If all 4 of your Animals are already in your forest, you can no longer choose this option.
Example A: Carmen takes 2 tiles from the display and places them in her forest with the Forest side facing up.
Example B: Fritz takes 1 tile from the display, flips it to the Task side, and places it in his forest. He places 1 of his Animals on the tile.
3. Complete Tasks (Optional)
You may complete as many tasks as you like during your turn. Each task consists of a path—a sequence of colored elements that you must follow with one of your Animals, either from left to right or from right to left, on the Forest sides of the tiles in your forest. You can complete a task in either direction along its printed sequence of colors.
Select any task in your forest and complete it as follows:
A. Take the Animal on top of that task and move it from tile to tile through your forest in any combination of directions, always only onto adjacent tiles, following the exact sequence specified on that task.
B. Move your Animal only across Forest sides, never over Task sides. Additionally, you can only use each Forest tile once per task.
C. Flip the tile where your path ends to its Task side. This also ends the movement of your Animal, which now remains on the destination tile. It is now a new task to be completed in your forest.
D. Take the tile with the completed task from your forest and place it to the side with the Task side facing up. You will receive the printed victory points at the end of the game. Then, either complete more tasks (with this or another animal) or end your turn.
Important: Your Forest tiles must always be connected. You can't complete a task if removing the corresponding tile would divide your forest into multiple areas.
Example: Fritz moves his Animal along the path Green-Green-Blue-Blue, completing the task. He flips the second blue Forest tile and places his Animal on it. He then removes the tile with the completed task from his forest and sets it aside.
Bonus Cards
If you manage to complete multiple tasks in a single turn, you receive a Bonus card. You can complete these tasks with one or multiple animals. Then, take the Bonus card that corresponds to the number of tasks you completed this turn. If no corresponding card is available, take the next lower one. At the end of the game, you will receive the victory points printed on the Bonus card.
Example: On his turn, Fritz completes a second task after completing the first one with the same animal. For this, he receives a 2x Bonus card, which is worth 3 victory points at the end.
Reminder: You can't complete a task if removing the Forest tile would divide your forest. If you can't complete any more tasks because of this, your turn ends and you can receive a Bonus card only for the tasks you have already completed.
Example: On her turn, Carmen completes 4 tasks using 2 different Animals. Both of the 4x Bonus cards have already been taken. Carmen instead takes the next lower Bonus card, the 3x card.
The Starting Tiles
Each Starting tile displays the following special task: to complete this task, the first and last tile of the path must show the same-colored element. In between, you must move the animal over 4 tiles of different colors.
End of the Game
The game ends when a player completes a certain number of tasks. Depending on the number of players, this number is:
- 2 players: 10 completed tasks
- 3 players: 9 completed tasks
- 4 players: 8 completed tasks
The player to the right of the Bear takes the last turn, ensuring that everyone has had the same number of turns. If this player triggered the end of the game, the game ends immediately after their turn.
Alternatively, in the rare case that the display can't be fully refreshed in Step 1, the game end is triggered. Continue playing with the remaining tiles until the player to the right of the Bear has taken their turn.
After the last turn, determine your final score: Add up the victory points from all your completed tasks and Bonus cards. Subtract 1 victory point for each Forest tile that you flipped to refresh the display.
The player with the most victory points wins. In the event of a tie, the tied player with fewer Forest tiles (whether Forest or Task side up) in their forest wins. If there is still a tie, the victory is shared.
Example: At the end of the game, Carmen has completed 8 tasks (= 58 victory points) and earned 2 Bonus cards (= 8 victory points). She refreshed the display twice and flipped completed tasks for it (= minus 2 victory points). In total, she has 64 victory points (58 − 2 + 8 = 64).
The Solo Mode
Experience Whispering Woods as a challenging solo game! We recommend trying the solo missions once you are familiar with the game. All additions and changes to the basic rules are described here.
Game Setup
A. Take 1 Starting tile and 1 Animal of each color. Return the remaining Starting tiles, Animals, and Bonus cards to the box. You won't need them in the solo game.
B. Place 1 Animal, of any color, on the Starting tile.
C. Place the 4 Animal tiles on the edge of your play area and position the remaining 3 Animals on the tiles that match their color.
D. Prepare the Scoring board and place the Scoring marker next to space "1" on the score track. Place the Mission card of your chosen level in the designated slot on the board.
E. Set the Bear aside for now.
F. Place all the Forest tiles into the bag and shuffle them. Draw 6 tiles and place them in the center of the table with the Forest side facing up to create the tile display.
Solo Mode Gameplay
In the solo game, you try to achieve objectives within missions. If you succeed within a given number of turns, you pass the challenge. There are a total of 6 levels of missions with increasing difficulty.
Your turn in the solo game largely follows the same rules as the base game. The differences are a change in Step 3 and the addition of a new Step 4:
- Refill the tile display (+ optionally refresh the display)
- Take Forest tiles and place them in your forest
- Complete tasks (optional)
- End your turn
3. Complete Tasks (optional)
Complete tasks as in the base game. Place each completed task next to the Animal tile that matches the color of the Animal you used for that task. You can complete multiple tasks in one turn, but in the solo game, you do not receive any Bonus cards.
Example: Fritz has completed 4 tasks with the yellow Animal, 2 with the red, and 1 each with the blue and green.
4. End Your Turn
After completing Step 3, draw a Forest tile from the bag. Place it in one of the empty spaces around the Scoring board. Additionally, remove all tiles from the existing display that match the color of the tile drawn. Set the removed tiles aside; they will no longer be used in this game.
The game ends immediately when you place a tile in the last available space around the Scoring board.
Achieving the Mission Objectives
You win the solo game if you meet the objectives of the chosen mission within the available number of turns. Each mission has 1 to 3 objectives and a minimum score requirement. Some missions also have extra rules.
You start each mission with 12 available turns. With each objective you achieve within a mission, you unlock an extra turn by gaining an additional space for a tile in Step 4. This gives you up to 13 (Level 1), 14 (Level 2), or 15 turns (Level 3-6) to complete all objectives.
Example: Fritz completes the objective on the right side of the Mission card for Level 3. This unlocks an additional space for a tile and therefore an extra turn.
Mission Levels
Level 1
- Complete 1 task with each Animal.
- Minimum score: 60 points
Level 2
- Complete 1 task with each Animal.
- The Forest sides of all completed tasks must form 2-color pairs.
- Minimum score: 70 points
Level 3
- Complete 1 task with each Animal. The 4 Forest sides must be different colors.
- Complete 2 tasks with 1 Animal, both having the same-colored Forest side.
- Complete 2 tasks with the same Animal in the same turn.
- Minimum score: 75 points
Level 4
- Complete 1 task with each Animal. The 4 Forest sides must be different colors.
- Complete 3 tasks with the same-colored Forest side.
- Complete tasks worth a total of 8 points with each Animal.
- Minimum score: 80 points
Level 5
- Complete 2 tasks with each Animal.
- Complete 6 tasks with different-colored Forest sides.
- Complete 3 tasks with the same Animal in the same turn.
- Minimum score: 85 points
- Extra Rule: Flipping a Forest tile to refresh the display costs you 2 points (instead of 1).
Level 6
- Complete 2 tasks with each Animal.
- Complete 4 tasks with the same Animal in the same turn.
- Complete tasks worth a total of 12 points with each Animal.
- Minimum score: 95 points
- Extra Rule: Flipping a Forest tile to refresh the display costs you 3 points (instead of 1).
Note: All objectives are minimum requirements. You may exceed them to achieve the objectives.
If you managed to achieve all the objectives and the minimum score of your mission within the given number of turns, congratulations! You've successfully coordinated your animals. Start your next solo game at the next higher level and face the new challenges.
If, however, you did not manage to meet all the conditions, you have failed this mission. Try the mission again before moving on to the next level.
Scoring Marker: Use the marker to display your current score on the Scoring board. If you reach 60 points, place the Bear in front of you and move the marker back to the start.
Example: Fritz completed at least 1 task with each of his animals. He also reached 64 points, successfully completing the mission "Level 1."
Quick Reference for 2-4 Players
Setup
- Each player takes a Starting tile and places 1 of their Animals on it.
- Sort the Bonus cards by value and place them within reach.
- Draw 6 tiles from the bag and place them in the center of the table with the Forest side facing up as the tile display.
- The player who walked the longest distance today takes the Bear and begins the game.
Gameplay
You play in a clockwise order. On your turn, perform the following 3 steps in sequence:
- Refill the display and optionally refresh it completely: First, refill the display to 6 tiles. Once per turn, you may choose to refresh the entire display. To do this, flip a completed tile from its Task side to its Forest side. This will cost you 1 victory point at the end of the game.
- Take tiles from the display and place them in your forest: Choose between these 2 options: A. Place 2 tiles with the Forest side up, OR B. Place 1 tile with the Task side up and place an Animal on the task.
- Complete tasks (optional): Move your Animal along the designated path over your Forest tiles. Place the completed task in front of you. Flip the tile where your Animal ends its path; it becomes a new task. You may complete as many tasks as you can in a single turn.
Bonus Cards
If you complete multiple tasks in one turn, you receive a Bonus card. Take the Bonus card that corresponds to the number of tasks you completed.
End of the Game
The game ends when a player completes a certain number of tasks. Depending on the number of players, this is:
- 2 players: 10 completed tasks
- 3 players: 9 completed tasks
- 4 players: 8 completed tasks
The game also ends if the display cannot be refilled in Step 1. In this case, finish the game with the remaining tiles.
Scoring
Add up the victory points from your completed tasks and Bonus cards. Subtract 1 victory point for each Forest tile you flipped to refresh the display.
The player with the most victory points wins. In the event of a tie, the tied player with fewer Forest tiles in their forest wins.
Credits
Designers: Cristian Bustos, Bernardo Vásquez
Illustrations: Weberson Santiago
Graphic design: Laura Mena
English version: Laia Gonzalez, Sönke Schmidt
Editors: José Manuel Álvarez, Laura Mena, Simón Weinstein
Proofreader: William Niebling
© 2024 Fractal Juegos. All rights reserved. © English version 2025 Wonderbow. All rights reserved.