Fall In New England
Before winter makes its appearance, a particularly warm fall bathes the forest in a golden shimmer. During this Indian Summer, New England blossoms one final time. Treetops are ablaze with countless colors, a living rainbow, with colors ranging from green to orange to red.
The first leaves have begun to fall and our steps along with the diligent squirrels rustle the colorful foliage.
On our walks through the woods we discover all kinds of little treasures. We collect berries, nuts, mushrooms, and feathers. We pause for a moment to watch the shy inhabitants of the forest before we set off towards home where a good game and a hot tea awaits us.
Components
- 2 game board pieces
- 6 different Forest Floor boards
- 75 Leaf tiles in 3 colors puzzle pieces with a Hole
- 20 Animal tiles
- 32 Squirrel tokens
- 4 Backpacks
- 1 Berry Bush
- 1 Hiking Shoes token 80
- 80 Treasure tokens
Object of the Game
On the way home irom your walk, you cross a Section oi Forest Floor. Each Forest Floor is divided into 6 Areas various Treasures of the forest. During your turn, you place Leaf tiles on the Forest Floor to fill up these 6 Areas.
Each Leaf tile has 1 Hole, through which you can peek into an empty space or at a Treasure on your Forest Floor. Try to place Leaf tiles on your Forest Floor in such a way that they completely cover your Forest Floor and leave little free space.
Ideally, you place the Leaf tiles in such a way that the Treasures are visible through the Holes. These Holes are then covered with Treasure tokens from the common supply.
Each time you completely cover 1 of the 6 Areas, you collect the Treasure tokens that are lying on top of the Leaf tiles in this Area. With the Treasure tokens you gain new options to cover your Forest Floor faster.
The first player to cover their entire Forest Floor with Leaf tiles wins the game. For end game scoring, Treasures are only used to resolve ties, so use them during the game instead of collecting them.
Setup
A Shuffle the 6 Forest Floor boards and hand each player 1 Forest Floor board. Give 1 Backpack to each player and have them place it next to the bottom left corner of their Forest Floor. Put the remaining Forest Floors and Backpacks back into the box as they are not used for this game.
B Turn the two game boards to the multiplayer game side and place them next to each other in the middle of the table.
C Sort the Animal tiles and place them on the designated spaces on the game board. Place the corresponding Treasure tokens on the 3 specially marked Animal tiles (Raccoon, Fox, Badger).
D Separate the Treasure tokens and Squirrel tokens and place them next to the shorter sides of the game board to form the common supply.
E Shuffle the Leaf tiles. Each player draws 5 random Leaf tiles (2 green threes, 2 orange fours, 1 red five), which they place from left ("front") to right ("back") on the bottom edge of their Forest Floor. The Leaf tiles start next to their Backpack starting with the 2 green threes, followed by the 2 orange fours, with the red five to the far right. This line of Leaf tiles is called the "Player Path".
F Place additional Leaf tiles in a circle around the game board. The order of the Leaf tiles is random. Leave an empty space of about 1 hand at a place of your choice in the circle. This incomplete circle of Leaf tiles is called the "Common Path".
G Put the Berry Bush, hereafter only called Bush, in the empty space of the Common Path.
H Place the remaining Leaf tiles readily accessible in 1 corner of the table.
I Give each player 1 Berry, 1 Nut, and 1 Mushroom. Each player should place these Treasure tokens above their Backpack.
J The last person to have taken a stroll in the forest is the start player and takes the Hiking Shoes.
Game Play
Beginning with the start player, each player takes 1 turn in clockwise order. On your turn, you execute 1 Main Action. Before and/or after your Main Action you may execute as many Special Actions as you like.
The game is over at the end of the round where 1 player has covered their entire Forest Floor with Leaf tiles.
The player who covers their Forest Floor first wins. Treasure tokens are used to resolve a tie. If you did not win, count the number of empty spaces on your Forest Floor to determine how well you played.
Tile Placement Rules
Leaf Tiles
- Must be placed on empty spaces.
- May be placed on spaces with printed-on Treasures.
- May be flipped and rotated as needed.
- May only be placed on your own Forest Floor.
- May be placed with their Hole over empty Forest Floor.
- May be placed with their Hole over printed-on Treasures.
- May be placed on the line between 2 or more Areas.
- May only be placed during your Main Action.
- May not be placed on Animal tiles.
- May not be placed on Squirrels.
- May not be placed such that they overlap other tiles.
- May not be placed such that they extend over the edge of your Forest Floor.
- May never be moved after your Main Action has been executed.
Leaf tiles do not have to be placed adjacent to another.
The same rules apply to Squirrels.
Animal tiles may only be placed over empty Holes in the Leaf tiles whose outline corresponds to the shape of the selected Animal tile. Otherwise the same restrictions apply for Animal tiles as for Leaf tiles.
Normal Main Action
On your turn, perform one of the following Main Actions. Follow the tile placement rules while doing so. You are not allowed to pass. Note! Only in certain cases is it better to place 1 Squirrel instead of placing 1 Leaf tile.
-
Take 1 Leaf tile of your choice from your Player Path and place it on your Forest Floor.
-
OR
Take 1 Squirrel from the common supply and OR place it on 1 empty space on your Forest Floor.
At any time during the game (even when it is not your turn) you can take 1 Leaf tile from your Player Path and try placing it on your Forest Floor. Return the Leaf tile to the same space after checking for fit.
Treasures
If you cover a Treasure depicted on your Forest Floor with the Hole of a Leaf tile, take a Treasure token of the same type from the common supply and place it on the Hole.
If you cover an empty space on your Forest Floor with the Hole in the Leaf tile or place a Squirrel on a depicted Treasure you receive nothing.
Area
Each Area consists of 12 spaces (3x4) and is regarded as completely covered when all spaces of this Area are covered with Leaf tiles and/or Squirrels.. Spaces covered by Holes in Leaf tiles are considered covered.
Whenever you have completely covered 1 Area with Leaf tiles and/or Squirrels, immediately take all Treasures from the Holes in this Area and put them in your supply.
Claus places in his Main Action 1 Leaf tile and this way completes 1 Area.
If you just glance at the game, you might be tempted to think that the Treasure tokens are victory points that need to be collected. It is important to eliminate this impression and clarify matters when you are explaining the rules.
Player Path
Refill your Player Path immediately upon taking the last Leaf tile from your Player Path as follows:
- Take the Leaf tile from the Common Path that is directly next to the Bush and place it to the right of your Backpack.
- Move the Bush clockwise to the next Leaf tile on the Path.
- Take the Leaf tile that is directly next to the Bush and place it to the right of the Leaf tile that was last placed on your Player Path.
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have exactly 5 Leaf tiles on your Player Path.
While doing so, do not change the order of the Leaf tiles on the Common Path or on your own Path.
You may pay 1 Berry to take new Leaf tiles even when you still have Leaf tiles on your Player Path. See Special Action Berry.
The Animal Tiles
There are 7 different Animal tiles in varying numbers. At the beginning of the game, 1 Treasure token is placed on 3 of them (Raccoon, Fox, Badger).
At any time during your turn, place 1 Animal tile over a continuous outline of empty Holes. The shape of the Animal tiles must match this outline exactly. It doesn't matter if the Holes cover depicted Treasures or not.
For each depicted Treasure covered in this way, take another Treasure token of this type from the common supply and put it in your personal supply. There must not be any Treasure tokens on the Holes and the Animal tile must only cover Holes!
You may also choose Animal tiles that are smaller than the continuous shape of the Holes.
If you place 1 of the 3 Animal tiles (Raccoon, Fox, Badger) that received a Treasure token at the start of the game, you take the corresponding Treasure token and put it in your supply. You take this Treasure token in addition to the other Treasure tokens that you gained by placing that Animal tile.
The Common Path
Refill the Common Path with randomly drawn Leaf tiles as soon as it contains less than 7 Leaf tiles. Take the Leaf tiles you placed aside at the beginning of the game and add them at the end of the Common Path (where the Bush is not) until you have almost circled the entire game board once again.
If there are no more Leaf tiles available to refill the Common Path, you refill as many as possible. If there are too few Leaf tiles on the Common Path to fully refill your own Player Path, refill it as much as possible. On the rare occasion that there are no more Leaf tiles on the Common Path or on your own Player Path, you will need to use Mushrooms to place the Leaf tiles of your fellow players or place Squirrels.
Treasures
Return a Treasure token from your supply to the common supply to execute its Action. '1 he Treasure tokens have different powers. Berries and Nuts grant you Special Actions. Mushrooms and Feathers grant you an Alternative Main Action.
You may execute as many Special Actions as you like before and after your Main Action in place of of your Normal Main Action, you may execute 1 Alternative Main Action.
You may never execute more than 1 Main Action during your turn so you may use a maximum of 1 Mushroom or 1 Feather during your turn.
Berry
Return a Berry to the common supply to execute this Special Action.
Refill your Player Path to 5 Leaf tiles. Follow the steps 2 to 4 described under Player Path.
If you already have 5 Leaf tiles on your Player Path, you may take a sixth Leaf tile. Execute step 3 described under Player Path. You may never have more than 6 Leaf tiles in your personal supply.
Nut
Return a Nut to the common supply to execute this Special Action.
Take a Squirrel from the common supply and place it on an empty space on your Forest Floor. If this completes an Area, immediately take all Treasure tokens from this Area and put them into your supply.
Mushroom
Return a Mushroom to the common supply to execute this Alternative Main Action.
Take the 1st Leaf tile (the one directly next to their Backpack) from 2 different players and place both tiles in the order of your choice on your Forest Floor. If there is no more space for them on your Forest Floor you may forgo taking one of the two Leaf tiles.
In the two-player-game, you take the other player's Leaf tile next to their Backpack and the next Leaf tile from the Common Path that is directly next to the Bush.
If you take the last Leaf tile from the Path of another player, that player then immediately refills his Path by following steps 1-4 described under Player Path. If 2 players are so affected, they refill their Player Paths in turn order.
Feather
Return 1 Feather to the common supply to execute this Alternative Main Action.
Place 2 Leaf tiles from your Player Path in the order of your choice onto your Forest Floor. You need to have at least 2 Leaf tiles on your Player Path to be able to execute this Action.
You may have as many Treasures as you like in your own supply.
Players are advised to not save up too many Treasures over the course of the game. '1 he winner is often the player who uses his Treasures in order to place more tiles or better suited Leaf tiles on their Forest Floor.
Exchanging Treasures
You may exchange Treasure tokens from your supply for those in the common supply. Each Treasure token has a value of its own. Feathers are the most valuable, followed by Mushrooms, Nuts, and Berries, in that order. You may exchange Treasures at any time and as often as you like during your turn.
Exchange 1 Treasure for 1 Treasure of a lower value.
Exchange 2 of the same Treasures for 1 Treasure of the next higher value.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as a player completely covers their Forest Floor with Leaf tiles and/or Squirrels.
Finish the current round up to the player to the right of the start player. Exchange all Treasure tokens according to the exchange rules for Nuts and use them to place Squirrels on the empty spaces on your Forest Floor.
If you complete any Areas in this way, take Treasure tokens if appropriate, which you may once again exchange for Nuts and so on. Squirrels are not limited, if they run out in a game find a substitute.
The player who covered their Forest Floor completely with Leaf tiles and/or Squirrels wins the game. If more than 1 player has completely covered their Forest Floor, they add up the Nuts in their supply to resolve any ties.
The winner is the player with the most Nuts.
If there is a draw in the amount of Nuts, resolve it in favor of the player that has 1 Blue Berry remaining. If there still is a draw the players share the victory.
All other players count the empty spaces remaining on their Forest Floors. The remaining players are ranked based on fewest remaining empty spaces.
Continue Reading