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Fairy Tale box art

Fairy Tale

Game ID: GID0121203
Game Info
Year
2004
Players
2-6
Age
8+
Playtime
30 min
Collection
Rating
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
Vibe profile
Not enough video data yet
Description

Players use card drafting and simultaneous action selection to score points while interfering with other players' ability to do so. The game consists of four rounds. In each of them, players are dealt five cards. They simultaneously select one each and pass the remainder, repeating until done. Then, they start playing cards simultaneously, playing three and discarding two. When the cards are revealed after each selection, card abilities turn other cards face-up or face-down. At the end of the four rounds there are 12 cards in front of each player. The players each score based on their face-up cards.

Description

Players use card drafting and simultaneous action selection to score points while interfering with other players' ability to do so. The game consists of four rounds. In each of them, players are dealt five cards. They simultaneously select one each and pass the remainder, repeating until done. Then, they start playing cards simultaneously, playing three and discarding two. When the cards are revealed after each selection, card abilities turn other cards face-up or face-down. At the end of the four rounds there are 12 cards in front of each player. The players each score based on their face-up cards.

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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment: pos 2 · mix 0 · neu 1 · neg 1
Mentions per page
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video Z9Jjrb6xQeo Review at 36:48 sentiment: positive
video_pk 69172 · mention_pk 165539
Fairy Tale video thumbnail
Click to watch at 36:48 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Strong table presence
  • High toy factor
  • Charming components
  • Good visual appeal and organization of components
  • Narrative-driven with choose your own adventure elements
  • Interesting character creation with meaningful decisions
  • Thoughtful solo scaling
  • Good writing in the story book, kept to a minimum
  • Visual and tangible quality of components
  • Visually represented challenges and mechanics
  • Good marriage of game book and board game components
  • Plays true solo, which is beneficial for space considerations
Cons
  • Large and oddly shaped box
  • Host is not sold on the large plastic dice tower, preferring cardboard standees
  • Potential for component quality differences between prototype and final production
  • Miniatures are gray plastic and not painted, which the host dislikes
  • Game takes up a lot of space
  • Potential for misprints in the quick start guide
Thematic elements
  • critter crawl, beast epic adventure
  • choose your own adventure
Comparison games
  • Lands of Galier
  • Mice and Mystics
  • Aftermath
  • Red Wall
  • Eldrich Harbor
  • Book of the Duncow
  • The Secret of Nim
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Action cards — Players use "basic action cards" which can be upgraded as they play through the campaign.
  • Campaign play — The game can be played through a "campaign, which is a story book."
  • Character creation — The character creation process is described as "pretty cool. You do have some choices in how you create your critter for the critter crawl."
  • Choose Your Own Adventure — The game is described as a "marriage of board game and choose your own adventure."
  • Critter Crawl — The game is described as a "critter crawl, a kind of beast epic adventure game."
  • Dice rolling — The game involves "a lot of uh dice rolling."
  • Dice Tower/Tray — A "large plastic dice tower" is included, which the host notes could be an optional component.
  • Modular board — The game uses "map tiles" with "puzzle pieces" that are "double-sided" and used in different configurations for each chapter.
  • Resource management — The combat is described as "kind of a resource management style game or resource management style components."
  • set collection — Players need to "build sets of the different types of damage in order to damage an enemy."
  • Solo Play — The game scales "all the way down to true solo."
  • Story Book Integration — The game integrates a story book for narrative progression, with challenges and combat occurring based on the book's prompts.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • And so, if you like Toy Factor, I think you're going to want to pay attention to this game.
  • This game is also a pretty significant conglomeration, a marriage of board game and choose your own adventure.
  • I mean, how cool how cool is that? When I said this game has a lot of table presents and a big toy factor, I really mean I really meant it.
  • The thing that I'm most kind of weary about is the huge uh and oddly shaped box
  • I would greatly prefer a really nice cutout cardboard stande of these characters because I think that would look great.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video EQJs4NH6r2Y Meeple University Discussion at 0:05 sentiment: positive
video_pk 63840 · mention_pk 157357
Meeple University - Fairy Tale video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:05 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Narrative-driven cooperative play with branching story entries
  • Campaign mode with carryover upgrades
  • Cute, appealing components and minis (prototype shown)
  • Several game modes including a campaign and oneshot adventures
Cons
  • Components are prototype and rules/artwork are not final
Thematic elements
  • courage, mystery, and saving humans by rescuing them from forest threats
  • enchanted woods of brin and gold
  • branching narratives, choose-your-own-adventure style
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Campaign — Campaign mode with carryover upgrades and multiple story modes.
  • campaign and upgrades — Campaign mode with carryover upgrades and multiple story modes.
  • choose your own narrative — Branching narratives and decisions affect events and outcomes.
  • Cooperative Game — Players work together to save their humans and navigate the forest.
  • cooperative play — Players work together to save their humans and navigate the forest.
  • dice roll — Roll dice to gain symbols used in combat and challenges.
  • Dice rolling — Roll dice to gain symbols used in combat and challenges.
  • hand management — Manage action cards and wooden tokens to perform actions.
  • Narrative choice — Branching narratives and decisions affect events and outcomes.
  • Resource management — Collect gems to upgrade equipment and manage resources.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • Fairy Tale is the tale of courage, mystery, and pets doing parkour through magical forests.
  • It's a narrative-driven, fully cooperative dungeon crawler with you as one of the pets.
  • In exploration phase, you'll read entries from a branching narratives and make decisions that uh that definitely will not come back to haunt you.
  • The game has two main phases. One, exploration phase with story entries, make choices, resolve events via the story die, and unlock upgrades.
  • You'll collect ever gems that you can exchange to upgrade your equipment.
  • Fairy Tale has several game modes including campaign mode of 10 stories with carryover upgrades, the cutest board game books I've ever seen with campaign overview map, story chapter, a oneshot adventures for those with commitment issues and potentially more twists to be unlocked.
  • Speaking about cute box, although it's prototype, this one has all the cute minis.
  • Fairy Tale delivers adventure, cuteness, and just the right amount of choice induced chaos.
  • The components featured in this video are prototype, so rules and artwork are not final.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video BGMlpfTaT6o Board Game Coffee Playthrough at 0:09 sentiment: neutral
video_pk 11175 · mention_pk 32855
Board Game Coffee - Fairy Tale video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:09 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
neutral
Pros
  • Simple, familiar core mechanic that is quick to learn and accessible to casual players
  • Strong thematic alignment with fairy tale imagery, which can enhance engagement for fans of the genre
  • Potential for short, casual play sessions that fit into busy schedules
Cons
  • Limited information on publisher or designer makes provenance unclear
  • Rule depth and replay value are not evident from the transcript, leaving ambiguity about long-term appeal
  • Not widely known or reviewed in mainstream channels, which may affect perceived credibility or uptake
Thematic elements
  • Fairy tale motifs, archetypal characters, magical settings
  • Fantasy fairy tale universe with whimsical, family-friendly vibes
  • Light, casual, episodic storytelling flavor that allows for quick, approachable play
Comparison games
  • Connect Four
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • action drafting — Players select actions or characters in turn order, introducing pacing, anticipation, and counterplay between players.
  • Character/theme deployment — Incorporates fairy tale characters or motifs into play, potentially influencing scoring or actions in a thematic way.
  • Grid placement (Connect-Four style) — Players place tokens on a vertical/horizontal grid with the aim of forming a line of four, creating emphasis on pattern recognition, blocking, and spatial planning.
  • Turn-based action drafting — Players select actions or characters in turn order, introducing pacing, anticipation, and counterplay between players.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • Never knew this game existed.
  • Looks like Connect Four with fairy tale characters.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ggBkWOpe-gQ Chairman of the Board Top List at 4:17 sentiment: negative
video_pk 253 · mention_pk 718
Chairman of the Board - Fairy Tale video thumbnail
Click to watch at 4:17 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
negative
Pros
  • production quality is good; modern take on a classic mechanism
Cons
  • too simplistic; scoring not very engaging
  • lacks innovation; better targets for different audiences
Thematic elements
  • pattern/majority scoring through line completion
  • modern take on Connect Four; vertical tile placement
  • abstract puzzle
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Compound Scoring — points awarded based on line completions and symbol connections
  • pattern scoring / majority scoring — points awarded based on line completions and symbol connections
  • tile placement — placing tiles on a vertical board to create lines and patterns
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • there's next to no replayability of the game
  • it was too slow to get going it was such a churn and a slog to start gathering resources
  • i'd rather play one of those canonical classics
  • I would happily play this one again
  • it just felt like a bunch of different games mashed together in a pirate themed game
  • not for more experienced gamers
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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