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For Northwood! Is a solo hand management and precision trick-taking game. Your objective is to peacefully unify the kingdom of Northwood through conversations with their rulers. Over eight rounds, you must visit eight animal fiefs and engage their rulers in dialogue (tricks). Each ruler's suit represents the trump for that fief. Each ruler also requires you to win an exact number of tricks to join your alliance, so the game gets harder as your options dwindle.
You start with four allies, each with an ability that you can use once per visit. These abilities can make you draw, discard, or otherwise manipulate your hand to help you hit the target score. Once you've won a ruler over, you can pull them in to substitute temporarily for one of your allies, if you need a more specific set of abilities to tackle the harder fiefs.
With multiple difficulty levels, 24 rulers (12 used per game), and a 16-scenario challenge booklet, For Northwood! offers hours of gameplay with a new puzzle every time!
Winner of *Best Overall Game* and *Jury Prize* in the 2021 BGG 54-card contest.
Also winner of *Best Art*, *Best Solo Game*, and *Best New Designer*!
-description from designer
- charming art style and presentation
- compact, portable design with durable components
- strong thematic integration between story/dialogue and trick-taking mechanics
- high replayability through campaign elements and multiple rulers
- shuffling and downtime between visits can slow play for some
- early plays can be luck-dependent and require careful planning to hit perfect scores
- learning curve may be steep for players new to this hybrid of dialogue and trick-taking
- dialogue-driven, trick-taking duel where players win favor from rulers by completing tricks
- the kingdom of Northwood with eight rulers and a quest to accumulate favor
- dialogue-based mini-scenarios within each trick
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- ally substitution — players can substitute allies or rulers to gain abilities, with limits on uses per round or per game
- Compound Scoring — points are gained by winning dialogues; the goal is to reach 16 favor to win the game
- deck manipulation — special cards allow drawing or discarding, or manipulating hand composition to hit targets
- deck/hand management with peeks — abilities enable peeking at top cards or exchanging cards between deck, discard, and score piles to influence outcomes
- dialogue card system — each trick is paired with a dialogue card; success depends on meeting the ruler's requirements and following rules
- draw/discard and ability cards — special cards allow drawing or discarding, or manipulating hand composition to hit targets
- favor scoring — points are gained by winning dialogues; the goal is to reach 16 favor to win the game
- Trick-taking — play rounds (visits) following the leading suit; trump is determined by the ruler card; winner is the highest in the trump suit or leading suit if no trump is played
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I wholeheartedly recommend that you get it for yourself
- this is a really great concise game solid mechanics
- portable and transportable
- the art and presentation I think it's so unique
References (from this video)
- Engaging solo playthrough with dynamic ally abilities
- Rules are demonstrated clearly through a hands-on tutorial-style run
- High replay potential via different leaders and ally combos
- High reliance on luck due to deck order
- Steep complexity for new players due to multiple mechanics
- Tracking multiple moving parts can be challenging during a live run
- Diplomacy and alliance-building via trick-taking
- Kingdom of Northwood
- dialogue-driven progression through trick-taking rounds
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- ally abilities — Jacks and other ally cards grant special abilities between tricks to alter outcomes.
- deck manipulation — Ruler exchanges and top-card look/discard interactions influence future plays.
- hand management — Eight-card hands are built and managed across tricks with discards and draws.
- recruitment/dialogue mechanics — Convincing leaders to join Northwood is reflected through winning tricks and using ally abilities.
- Trick-taking — Players follow suit when able, aim to win tricks; trump determined by current leader.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is a solo trick-taking game
- boom since we were successful we slide this ruler down and they scream for Northwood
- we managed to convince them through our action to peacefully join our cause
- we scored a perfect game all eight thieves are united peacefully for Northwood
- luck we pulled it, far more luck than skill