USD ($)
EUR (€)
Hey there Funghis and funghirls! !f you’re here then you must be thinking about going mushroom picking. And we have the perfect game for you! Wonder Woods from Blue Orange and Coiledspring games is a fun mix of deduction, bluffing, and area control. Check out the full review on the other tab, and when you’re ready, allow me to be your guide through the forest in your first foraging foray!
Set Up
Set up is as simple as slicing shitake! Start by placing the 4 mushroom patch boards (Morels, Parasols, Boletes, and Girolles ) on the table for all to reach. Also pop the required number of mushroom tokens (8/10/12/14 in a 2/3/4/5 player game) by each board.
Then shuffle each of the four 4 card mushroom decks (each card valued either 1,3,5, or 7) – keep the 4 decks separate for now – and randomly place one (unseen) face down next to its matching board. This is the secret value of that mushroom for end game scoring purposes.
Gather the remaining cards (still unseen!), shuffle them into one big deck and then deal 4/4/3/2 to each player in a 2/3/4/5 player game. Discard the remainder unless you are playing 2 player – in that case, keep the pile face down and in reach as you will turn over one card in phase 2).
Also give each player 5 baskets in their chosen colour, keeping the spare 2 baskets to one side for later use.
That’s it – you are now ready to go mushroom picking!
Turn Those Toadstools Into Tasty Points
Okay, so each turn is broken down into two phases:-
Phase 1: Harvest – here, you take it in turns to “pick” mushrooms. To do this, you need sufficient baskets of the mushroom type you want to completely fill the leftmost available column on that particular patch board. If you do, you take one of the matching mushroom tokens. The first one only needs 1 basket, but then the price increases to 2/3/4/5! Oooft – better balance those baskets right!
Phase 1 lasts as long as players can pick mushrooms with the baskets they have. When nobody has any baskets left, or they cannot completely fill a single column on any board, Phase 1 ends.
Before moving onto phase 2, however, check each patch board. The player who has placed the most baskets on each board gets a bonus mushroom of that type for their collection. Tasty area majority bonus right there! Then gather up all the baskets you placed on the boards and get ready for Phase 2.
Phase 2: Information Exchange – In phase 2, you can get an extra basket. And that’s definitely going to help next time you go a gathering. But, to gain more picking power, you must be prepared to show a card from your hand. Oooh now that’s a delicious dilemma!
This phase happens simultaneously for all players participating (including the 2 player extra deck flip). Remember though – once seen, it can never be unseen! And there are only ever a maximum of 2 extra baskets to be had for the entire game. So if you have them already, showing any more cards (if you have them) isn’t going to do you any good!
Once everybody who revealed a card has taken their extra basket, another round begins with Phase 1. Game play repeats until………
Morels Make The World Go Round...
As there is no fixed number of rounds in Wonder Woods, the game end is triggered when two of the mushroom variety token pools run out. Then its baskets down after completing the harvest phase, and its counting time!
At that point, the hidden value card for each mushroom is revealed and scores are calculated by multiplying the number of each mushroom type you have collected by its true worth. Having some cards in your hand and (by this stage some on the table), the possible value is likely to be known. But big surprises can happen if your fellow foragers have been stingy in information sharing!
Once the game end has triggered, scores are calculated by multiplying the number of each mushroom type you collected by the hidden value card next to each patch. The winner is the player who has the most points.
Hopefully, through the powers of deduction, you’ll have been gathering up the prized Parasols or mighty Morels and not be left with bargain basement Boletes! It’s not in the rules, but timing is everything in this game! Knowing when to give up information and when to hold back is the key!
However it ends, I hope you have fun with Wonder Woods! Just remember – not all mushrooms are safe to eat! So if you do go foraging for real, maybe leave the funghi to the forest fairies!
That concludes our guide on how to play Wonder Woods. Did this help you? Let us know your thoughts and tag us on social media @zatugames.