The Mayday Games Blog

Here at Mayday, we love games! And that means we love other company's games too! Here, guest blogger, Mike H. (Instagram @theboardgamehipster) tells us all about "Lost Woods, by Poppy Jasper Games. 

Have you ever been camping in a magical forest and suddenly found yourself lost? Armed with only the things you have laying around in camp and stuff you found on the forest floor? Well that's exactly what happens in Lost Woods, Poppy Jasper's breakout release. Lost Woods is a 60 minute game for 1-6 players where you are lost in the magical forest trying to collect gold and escape the grasp of the woods. Let's take a deeper look into the Lost Woods.

Components- when you first receive your copy you can't help but notice the weight of the box. Inside you will find enough tiles for 2 different size maps, two 7 dice sets, a bag of chits, wooden gold and custom meeples, player boards, and a nice instruction manual. All the components are excellent quality. The chunky chits practically fell out of the punch board. The tiles that represent the different directions are thick with a quality finish. The dice are fine, but like most of you, I have my favorite rpg dice and have thrown those in the box for my rolling pleasure.  The wooden pieces are great, the gold are little bar pieces and the meeples are custom explorers holding up lanterns. The player boards and instruction manual are very informative, easy to read and understand. 

Game play is very simple in Lost Woods, easy to teach and a whole lot of fun. In the beginning of the game you start in camp, armed with whatever you manage to find, sometimes that means an empty paper towel roll. On your turn you must move up to 3 spaces in any direction. Once you move out of camp you will start revealing tiles labeled the direction you choose. For instance, if you want to move up on the map or "north" you reveal a north tile. Once you reveal and move you explore the tile, grabbing an explore chit from the bag. You can find weapons for better attacks, potions to help you reroll bad rolls, gold, or enemies. After exploring you may choose to keep the weapon or potion, moving it to your player board or deciding to leave it. You can only carry 3 items at a time. You may also choose to fight a revealed monster. Combat is very simple, use your strongest weapon marked with a d6-d20 dice against the enemy who is also marked with a d6-d20, highest roll wins. If you win, collect the loot noted on the monster's chit. Loose, you either drop a piece of gold or a weapon and go back to camp, it's that simple and there is no player elimination which is also very nice. When revealing tiles you may also encounter magic wells that have special powers you are able to use. Once you use the magical spell it goes back to the well and may be used again. Continue searching the forest until the last tile from any stack is placed. There, you will find the exit to the forest blocked by the "boss" monster. Defeating him and escaping the forest triggers the end game. Person with the most gold wins.

I really enjoy this game. Not only is it fun and light, but it uses dice! The 7 dice set really brings out the rpg'er in all of us. Lost Woods is also the perfect weight for a parent and child to play, the box says 12+ but a mature 8-10 year old would have no problem grasping the concept and having a good time. It's easy enough for kids but there's still a bit of depth and strategy for the parent to get into. No player elimination also helps make this game great for kids. I'm a big fan of modular maps. Never knowing what that next tile will bring is something that always pulls me to a particular game. It also really adds to the replay ability. I would recommend this game every chance I got, head over to Poppyjaspergames.com today and pick yourself up a copy today!

What games do you recommend for kids? Let me know over at my Instagram page @theboardgamehipster Keep gaming! -Mike H.