In Living Forest, you play as a nature spirit who will try to save the forest and its sacred tree from the flames of Onibi. But you are not alone in your mission as the animal guardians have come together to lend a hand around the Circle of Spirits where you progress. Each turn, they bring you valuable elements, so try to combine your team of animal guardians as best as possible to carry out your actions, but be careful: some of them are solitary and do not like to be mixed with others...
You have one of three ways to achieve your goal: by planting 12 different Protective Trees, by collecting 12 Sacred Flowers to awaken Sanki the great Guardian of the Forest, by extinguishing 12 Fires to permanently repel Onibi.
Each turn includes 3 phases:
• Guardian Animals (simultaneous push your luck phase) : You draw and turn face up, one after the other, the Guardian Animal cards from your personal stack. You thus form the Animal Guardian Help Line. You can stop drawing cards whenever you want. However, if you reveal a card showing a third solitary symbol, then you must stop drawing cards. This card closes your Help Line.
• Action phase: You play in turn. If your Help Line shows strictly less than three solitary symbols (not canceled by gregarious symbols), you can then perform 2 different Actions. If your Help Line shows three solitary symbols (not canceled by gregarious symbols), you can then perform only 1 Action. The strength of an Action is determined by the number of corresponding Elements visible on the Guardian Animal cards in your Help Line and on your Forest individual board.
• End of the turn:
- Onibi attacks you: If some Fires remain at the center of the Circle of Spirits and you cannot resist them, then add as many Fire Varan cards to your discard stack as there are Fire tiles at the center of the Circle of Spirits.
- Onibi attacks the Sacred Tree: Add as many Fires to the center of the Circle of Spirits as there are Guardian Animal cards taken this turn.
- The arrival of new Guardian Animals: Complete the Guardian Animal reserve by revealing as many new cards per level as there were cards taken this turn.
- Passing the Sacred Tree: Give the Sacred Tree to the next Spirit of Nature clockwise.
- The Return of Guardian Animals: Move all the Animal Guardian cards from your Help Line to your personal discard stack.
The game stops at the end of a complete turn when one of the Spirits of Nature has managed to collect at least 12 different Protective Trees OR 12 Fires OR 12 Sacred Flowers.
- Beautiful art and approachable rules
- Solid value for the price
- Not as deep as heavier euro games
- Some may find it too luck-driven
- Push-your-luck with nature-themed resource management
- Forest ecosystem with fire events and growth dynamics
- Elegant and pretty; relatively light on heavy narrative
- Dune: Imperium
- Raiders of the North Sea
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice placement — Use dice as workers to activate actions and gather resources
- set collection / resource management — Acquire resources to grow the forest and score points
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the customization in this game is insane
- this is such a clever system and again not too difficult to get your head round
- it's a dry point salad game
- the problem is is that i was experimenting and i don't think the experiment worked
- this is a build-your-own tableau game with a point salad style
- Cascadia is such a good gateway game
- it's not dead but that is a zatu sponsored video
References (from this video)
- Lovely game design
- Interesting push your luck system
- Good player interaction via track
- Building and growing trees
- Forest environment
- Thematic with mechanical elegance
- Flip City
- Mystic Veil
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deck building — Build deck by purchasing cards
- Linear Engine Building — Build a linear engine with minmaxing options
- Permanent Bonuses — Purchase trees that provide permanent bonuses
- Push Your Luck — Play cards until you choose to stop or bust (blackjack style)
- Track/Wheel Movement — Move around a spinny track wheel mechanism
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's sort of like war with actual decisions
- It'll take two minutes
- That was amazing. I wonder if that game is like that every time
- It turns out that it was
- So many card games following it have been inspired by that obviously
- The coolest combo you can make in Mystic Veil is like here. The coolest combo you can make in Mystic Lands is like here, right? And the average is like there
- What I made, right? Even if you didn't win, right?
- The most unique way that I have ever encountered an engine builder
- An unbelievably satisfying gameplay experience to destroy
- Betting is like a way to make people care about an outcome
- Poker is a terrible game if you're just playing it right? Uh but the second you're betting with money and you care, right?
- Why do we root for sports teams, right? Like our the day after go Dodgers
- The sitting back and then seeing what happens - yeah there is a really fun aspect to that
- Train making time. When all the technology moves to a certain thing, everybody is making trains, right?
References (from this video)
- lovely artwork
- accessible for family play
- some variability in player experience
- forest management and evolution
- forest realm with mythical creatures
- mythic/forest folk-tale vibe
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- engine_building — Develops a personal engine through card and resource interactions.
- set_collection — Acquiring sets of resources/cards to trigger effects.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm down to 150 games. Thank you for watching.
- Bye-bye eclipse and remix stays.
- This is one game. It all stays. We're not going to take it out right now.
- My number one game of all time stays obvious.
- I love it. Love it.
References (from this video)
- Wife wanted it in almost every category
- One of most played in 2022
- Not a co-op despite evil spirit theme
- Forest spirits competing to save forest
- Enchanted forest
- Fantasy racing
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — Plant trees, buy animals, put out flames
- Deck building — Buy animals to add to deck
- racing — First to complete objective wins
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Does your wife ever tell you what to do all the time especially what board games to play
- My wife loves games where she beats your ass
- This was the game we took to the hospital when my son was born
- I'm afraid for the calendar its days are numbered
- What does a sprinter eat before a race? Nothing, they fast
References (from this video)
- Balance with nature, conservation, and ecosystem management
- Forest environment, woodland realm
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- unknown — Mechanics are not specified in the transcript; the game is only mentioned tangentially as a potential example of a new shiny game.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's ruining the hobby for me
- I will not teach my family new games
- I will have only one unplayed game by the end of this year
- my little buffer
- only two ongoing Campaign games
- Are you excited about getting that shiny new game in the mail or backing one?
References (from this video)
- award-winning design
- beautiful visuals
- publisher changes may affect availability
- nature, ecology, forest balance
- Mythical forest with spirits
- mythic, strategic
- Colt Express
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — cards drive actions
- Resource management — manage forest resources
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Today I'm painting Batman. He is part of the DC United DC Heroes United Batman Hush. It just came out.
- The villains are the real thing.
- I would love to play it.
- We did Marvel United I think the very first box and I'm pretty sure we played with painted minis.
References (from this video)
- Strong production value for the price; components and artwork are appealing
- Easy to learn with a clear, pictorial rulebook and quick setup
- Fast, satisfying turns with simultaneous reveals and meaningful combo potential
- Multiple viable strategies and paths to victory provide variety
- Balance among the three victory conditions can feel uneven; fire often dominates
- Lotus-flower path is harder to achieve and can be underpowered in practice
- Four-player play can introduce downtime and occasional AP
- Theme sometimes feels secondary to mechanics, and the board mechanic feels a bit tacked-on
- Environmental stewardship and race-to-Victory through multiple victory conditions
- A protected forest defended by animal spirits against a spreading evil fire spirit
- mythic allegory with a nature-spirit motif
- Mystic Veil
- Dune Imperium
- Terraforming Mars
- Dominion
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- board actions and resource management — Plant trees, put out fires, and gain permanent bonuses via board tiles and tree tokens
- deck-building — Players add cards to their deck and draw to generate actions; cards have left-aligned icons that power actions; bust mechanic can reduce actions available
- engine-building with card upgrades — Purchase higher-tier cards to improve your engine; limited deck trimming via fragment tiles and discard options
- leapfrogging and spoiling — Move around the board to leapfrog other players and steal their victory-point markers
- multi-path victory conditions — Win by collecting fire tokens, planting trees, or achieving lotus-flower icons; racing-end conditions determine game end
- Simultaneous card reveal — All players flip cards at once and then select actions, reducing downtime
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's a pure race affair
- The lotus flower has come close a couple of times
- Balance is potentially off
- This is not rocket science
- It's a light game… actually a next-step game, not gateway
References (from this video)
- Visually appealing components
- Engaging push-your-luck element
- Cohesive forest theming
- Can be fiddly with card management
- Some players may experience analysis-paralysis on setup
- forest stewardship, nature magic
- A magical forest environment with living trees and creatures
- mythic, nature-forward
- Acropolis
- El Dorado
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — Players acquire and play cards to grow and manage their forest
- hand-management — Strategic control of a limited hand to maximize actions each turn
- push-your-luck — Flip cards to perform actions, but flipping three creatures limits options
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is visually appealing
- I am going to pitch you 10 games
- they will pick collection to take home
- it's a card game where you're going to play elves Orcs
- Planet X is a deduction game
- Galaxy Trucker and this is super silly fun
References (from this video)
- Engaging deck-building with meaningful in-game decisions
- Clear theme and satisfying action choices
- Luck can influence outcomes due to card draws
- Occasional analysis paralysis on optimal action timing
- Nature stewardship, renewal, and protecting a living ecosystem.
- A magical forest where spirits guide the growth of trees and the welfare of the woodland.
- Theme-driven engine where your actions unfold toward a seasonal objective.
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action_selection — On each turn, players choose from available actions; timing matters as you balance speed with efficiency.
- deck-building — Players build a personal deck from purchased cards to enable actions.
- engine_building — Improving your deck over time to perform increasingly powerful actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a deck building action selection game where you're trying to be the spirit who first accomplishes a certain objective
- Star Realm's is purely a deck builder there's nothing else there
- Legendary is a game system which kind of comes from a game called Ascension
- Legacy you have to build like a dam before the river overflows
- amazing production
- it's one of the friendliest games here
- it's a deck building game, it is a push your luck deck building game so it's quite unique
- Dominion—it's purely deck-building and it showed the world what deck-building is
- you get tons of new cards in this game
- the whole game is based on the universe and it’s all about that
References (from this video)
- great animal theme
- multiple paths to victory keeps things exciting
- high replayability with variable setups
- monotony risk if not varied
- slightly heavier rules for newcomers
- forest stewardship, risk, and growth
- forest ecosystem
- optimistic, nature-forward
- Cartographers
- Parks
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — deck-building with multiple win conditions
- push-your-luck — pulling from a deck with strategic risk and reward
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's one of my favorite puzzle games in a small format
- it's a purely solo game with just 18 cards
- no two sessions are alike
- the solo mode is simple yet challenging
- this is my updated top 50 solo board games 2024 Edition
- it's a must try in my opinion
References (from this video)
- beautiful art and components
- calm, thematic flavor
- rules and scoring can be nuanced
- eco-friendly, nature-driven
- fantastical forest growth and life
- environmental, peaceful conflict
- Wingspan
- Everdell
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- progress track / tableau building — grow the forest by placing actions and building cards.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- gun violence has to stop
- we love y'all
- bring your positive energy
- it's all about fun
- we'll have an update on the next show
References (from this video)
- Accessible with solid theme
- Engaging engine with currency and deck choices
- Inspired by Quacks of Quedlinburg; may feel derivative to some
- nature spirits and forest economy
- forest-themed deck-building
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — build a deck of animal cards to gain currencies and powers
- push-your-luck / currency management — draw cards and manage currencies to fuel actions and avoid busts
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- an ultra streamlined deduction Style game that's definitely different to your traditional kind of logical deduction games
- I really like this one
- guaranteed some laugh out loud moments
- it's just a very charming, breezy, enjoyable game
- one of the best abstract games that I've played this year
- this game is as good as an abstract game can get in my opinion
- massive brain burner puzzle as you trying to optimally place every single card
- it's such an easy game to teach and learn
- this is one of the best simple dice games that I have
- ratings for this game have just gone up and up and up
- my favorite Uwe Rosenberg game
- The Network's become pretty big actually
- this game is almost perfect
References (from this video)
- information into advance and player agency in handling threats
- clear thematic feedback tied to player decisions
- forest management, environmental risk
- fantasy forest with a looming fire threat
- narrative-driven tension with evolving threats
- Pyramid of Penguin
- Robinson Crusoe
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dilemma choices — Players must decide whether to address rising danger or let it cascade
- risk management / threat tokens — Fire accumulates and players decide whether to extinguish or let it burn, affecting future rounds
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I talk to the game and the game talks back.
- the feedback tells the user you've done it right do that more or perhaps you've done it wrong don't do that again.
- you're going to feel like you're achieving something when you play, you want a game to reassure you, guide you and challenge you, you want it to react to my decisions and you want to know that the game is listening.
- the most common feedback in tabletop games is the allocation of rewards for certain actions.
- the continuous accumulation of victory points gives a sense of growth or momentum to a tabletop game.
- the game talks back, and that is a core part of what makes feedback powerful.
References (from this video)
- Gorgeous animal artwork and thematic presentation that elevates the experience
- Engaging push-your-luck deck-building loop with satisfying immediate feedback
- Multiple end-game paths (trees, fires, flowers) provide strategic variety
- Turn-based tension and interaction improve with more players, especially beyond two
- Onboarding and setup are cumbersome due to many components and required organization
- Rulebook is unintuitive and relies on heavy thematic naming, creating a learning curve
- Narrative integration is weak; setting can feel detached from core mechanics
- End-game trigger in 2-player games can feel abrupt or anticlimactic
- Limited variability in setup reduces long-term replay value without expansions
- Guardianship of a living ecosystem through seasonal balance
- Seasonal forest with guardian animals, nature-based magic, and elemental forces
- Ambitious but somewhat incongruent; thematic names can be opaque and not tightly integrated with mechanics
- Cracks of Quedlinberg
- Quacks of Quedlinburg
- Mystic Veil
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Central circular board with two-action turns — Wind moves around the board enabling repeated actions; landing on spaces can grant extra buys or other effects
- end-game triggers — Game ends when a player reaches 12 trees, 12 fires, or 12 flowers within a round
- Fire tokens and fire demon cards — End-of-round fires increase in value; unmitigated fires may force drawing fire demon cards with negative effects
- Push-your-luck deck-building — Reveal cards from a deck until choosing to stop or being forced to stop; busting a solitary creature reduces available actions
- Resource management (Suns, Water, Flowers, Saplings) — Suns purchase cards, Water puts out fires, Flowers contribute to end-game goals, Saplings grow trees and unlock additional symbols
- Set collection / symbol-based currency — Collect matching symbols to gain access to different abilities and to purchase cards and trees
- Solitary vs. gregarious creatures — Solitary creatures impose negative effects; adding gregarious creatures can counteract them
- Turn order importance (clockwise, start player token) — Beginning-of-round turn order influences firefighting and card purchasing; in 2-player games this can create a tempo where early turns impact end-game timing
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the game has loads of bits and it's not immediately obvious what's what
- the narrative is pretty nonsensical
- onboarding is clunky and the rulebook is unintuitive
- the art is the highlight
References (from this video)
- Unique card draw mechanic - draw as many cards as wanted until stopping
- Satisfying deck building
- Interesting push your luck element
- Tons of strategic depth
- Multiple win conditions
- Appropriate for ages 10+
- Weak thematic connection
- Too complex for younger children (6 year olds)
- forest spirits
- environmental protection
- nature
- fire prevention
- King of Tokyo
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- you have a family I have I have a family these are the best games for all the families families
- so in this video we're going to talk about the best family games in our humble opinions our humble objective opinions
- there's tons of strategy to be had here it's also the deck building is satisfying
- It's super interactive that's your turn you Chuck a bunch of dice
- This is the game I advertise is the closest to a video game field that I've ever played and a challenging one because it's not easy to win at all
- the worse you draw the better
- It takes 15 minutes I mean essentially I just told you all the rules of the game
- if you're looking for a co-op game for family that's just easy to get to the table look no further it's the best one
- it's a simple premise and a lot of people will say hey it sounds like a lot game which yes of course it is it's Pusher like you pull out these tokens but you really influence your luck but it's really really really fun
References (from this video)
- visually appealing, cute animals
- great for both families and gamers
- versatile for solo, two-player, and multiplayer
- can be heavier for a casual family play
- deck-building weight may not suit all players
- Conservation and growth with nature spirits
- A magical forest under threat
- light, nature-forward
- Feed the Kraken
- Dungeon Fighter
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — Players build a deck to trigger forest-care actions.
- race/goal-based — Race to complete one of three victory conditions in a turn-based track.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the best board games you can give to others at Christmas
- it's a rolling right game based on Twilight Imperium the big game
- I think everyone can enjoy it
- if I had to say in one sentence if yanga and Uno had a baby that would be a rhino
- you can treat it as a standalone expansion
- this is a kids game I keep advocating for because I really love it it's really good with grown-ups as well
- it's just tons of fun if you miss you lose Health if you hit you hit
- seven people together and we can try to feed the Kraken
References (from this video)
- expansion (Kodama) significantly improves the game
- expansion balances victory conditions
- has nice game insert
- varied strategies
- solo mode is weak
- base game not as strong as with expansion
- nature
- forest
- Mystic Veil
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- There is a difference between how great a game is and how much my personal enjoyment like my drive my passion for getting the game out is
- should you really be really focusing on it in terms of a top 100
- these games are awesome
- I just want to talk about these top 50 games which I can do in about five videos Max
- a game might be rated at a really high level in the past and then drop for me
- just a simple role selection drafting game
References (from this video)
- Unique deck-building flow that changes typical deck interaction
- Atmospheric theme with elegant artwork
- Accessible yet strategic
- Some randomness can influence outcomes more than desired
- May feel lighter to players seeking heavy euro-weight
- Nature protection and renewal
- A magical forest under threat from an evil force
- Deck-building with push-your-luck and protective goals
- Quacks of Quedlinburg
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — Deck construction and management with draw-from-deck flow rather than playing hand cards.
- push-your-luck — Deciding when to continue drawing versus taking safer actions, affecting forest protection.
- risk-reward timing — Balancing burn/draw decisions to optimize actions without overextending.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's amazing game in short you are building a zoo and not only building a zoo you're also trying to conserve the earth
- this is my most played solo game
- it's a very open world feeling where you can travel wherever talk with whoever have interactions there and fight monsters
- pattern here first of all they're both in big heavy boxes second of all they both have minis and cards and a lot of stuff going on
- let's skip the ranch and just buy Kickstarter games that look really nice