Forest Shuffle

1.Setup

• The box holds 180 cards: 66 Trees, 48 cards with two species (one at the top, one at the bottom), 44 cards with two species (one on the left, one on the right), 3 Winter cards, 5 Caves and 14 reference cards, plus a Clearing board and a score pad.
• 2 to 5 players, ages 10 and up.
• The Clearing goes in the middle, empty, with the reference cards within everyone's reach. Each player places a Cave in front of them.
• Set the 3 Winter cards aside, shuffle the rest and return to the box, unseen, 30 cards with two players, 20 with three, 10 with four, none with five.
• Split the deck into three roughly equal piles. Shuffle two Winter cards into one of them and put the third on top, then stack the other two piles on it: winter arrives in the last third.
• The deck goes to the left of the Clearing. Each player draws 6 cards; with no Tree at all, you may once return those 6 cards to the box and draw 6 new ones.
• Whoever walked in a forest most recently starts; play goes clockwise.

2.How to play

• On your turn, choose one action: draw two cards, or play a card.
• Draw: take two cards one after the other, each from the top of the deck or from the face-up cards in the Clearing. You may never hold more than 10 cards: with 9, you take only one.
• A Winter card you draw goes face up next to the Clearing, and you draw another card instead.
• Play: pay the card's cost by placing that many other cards from your hand face up in the Clearing. On a card with two species, choose the half you play and pay only its cost.
• A Tree goes in front of you and offers four slots: above, below, left and right. Each Tree you play also sends the top card of the deck face up into the Clearing.
• Instead of a Tree, you may play any card face down: it is a tree sapling, which offers four slots like a Tree but belongs to none of the eight species.
• A card with two species is slid halfway under a Tree, into a free slot on the side of the species played. Only the half that shows counts from then on; the other is ignored until the end.
• A played card may have an effect, a bonus, or both: effect first, then bonus, and each is optional. Most effects are used once, right after playing the card; those of Mushrooms stay active from your next turn on.
• You get the bonus when every card paid shows the same Tree symbol as the card played; on a two-species card given as payment, the symbol may be on either half.
• After playing, check the Clearing: with 10 or more cards, it is emptied entirely into the box. The turn then passes to the player on your left, unless an effect grants an extra turn.

3.Scoring

• Each player adds up the points of every visible card in their forest, then adds 1 point per card in their Cave.
• Each card shows its points and their condition; the reference cards spell them out. The score pad groups them into four lines: Trees, top and bottom species, left and right species, Cave.
• Trees: Birch 1 point; Douglas Fir 5; Sycamore 1 per Tree in your forest, saplings included; Silver Fir 2 per card attached to it; Linden 1, or 3 for whoever has the most, ties included.
• Trees, continued: Beech 5 if you have at least 4; Oak 10 if all eight Tree species are in your forest, saplings not counted; Horse Chestnuts score together, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36 then 49 points for 1 to 7 or more.
• Sets: Butterflies of different species, 0, 3, 6, 12 then 20 points for a set of 1 to 5, each card in one set only; Fireflies, 0, 10, 15 then 20 points for 1 to 4; Bats, 5 points each if you have at least three different species.
• In Marquoir, enter the four lines of the score pad: Tree points, top and bottom points, left and right points, then the number of cards in your Cave.

4.End of the game

• The game ends the moment the third Winter card is revealed, even mid-turn: that player does not finish their turn.
• Then count the points; the highest total wins.
• On a tie, the tied players share the victory.

House rules and pitfalls

• A Winter card can also come out when a Tree sends the top card into the Clearing, or when an effect makes you draw: treat it the same way.
• A Tree is fully occupied when each of its four slots holds at least one card; some species care about this.
• A few species share their slot: several European Hares can stack in the same place, without limit.
• Effects let you draw one or two cards, draw according to your cards with a given symbol, play a species from your hand for free, or take another full turn. Cards drawn through an effect still respect the 10-card hand limit.
• Some species slide cards into your Cave: each one there is worth 1 point at the end of the game.

Frequently asked questions

The box

Released

2023

Age

Ages 10+

Designer

Kosch

Artwork

Toni Llobet, Judit Piella

Publisher

Lookout Games

Mechanics

Hand ManagementMulti-Use CardsSet CollectionOpen DraftingTags

Contents

• 66 Tree cards
• 48 two-species cards, one at the top, one at the bottom
• 44 two-species cards, one on the left, one on the right
• 3 Winter cards
• 1 Clearing board
• 5 Cave cards and 14 reference cards
• 1 score pad

Expansions

• Forest Shuffle: Alpine · 2024
• Forest Shuffle: Woodland Edge · 2024
• Forest Shuffle: Exploration · 2025

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