Spirits of the Wild Review

You know how some games just look… delicious? Take Azul’s tiles that remind us of a yummy burst of sugary goodness. Or all the cutie little bits in Everdell. Well, the components in this game are really stellar and are just a joy to play with. Yes, I am jumping the gun with the formula I typically use for my reviews, but just scroll down for a sec and check out the play photo. Just those juicy little stones, the awesome bowl, the nice little coyote mini. They’re great! Anyway, having great components doesn’t necessarily mean that the game will be good. Add to that the fact that I picked this up from Target AND it’s published by Mattel and I really wasn’t expecting much from Spirits of the Wild. I’ll admit I was wrong. This is a great game. This is why –

This is a game about resource management, set collection and a hint of take that. The winner of the game is the player who can most efficiently use the stones they choose from the bowl during the game by assigning them to areas on their player mat. Each area scores points differently, and the game ends at the end of the player’s turn once at least five clear stones have left the provided bag. Let me explain.

DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly, from Target, or from your FLGS. -T

To setup the game, place all the stones in the bag. Place the bowl in the middle of the players, and set aside the coyote mini. Place the two stacks of Spirit Cards in the middle of the table. Each player receives a play mat and the same set of cards that indicates an action that can be taken on a turn. Draw out four stones from the bag and place them in the bowl. You are ready to begin.

On a player’s turn, they choose a face up card from the collection in front of them which tells them what to do on their turn. Such actions include take a stone, take two stones, or place some stones in the bowl and take one. Once an action card has been chosen and followed, the player flips it over and it cannot be used on the next turn. One card that can be used at any time instructs the player to take a Spirit Card action and refresh their cards by flipping them all face-up. The cards drive the actions to be made throughout the game, but the game really hinges on the stones and the coyote.

When you take actions to choose stones from the bowl you then have to assign those stones to spots on your play mat. These areas score differently and deciding which stones to grab and where to place them can be agonizing, but only because you can see what your opponent is doing and you really need to set yourself up to score points before the game suddenly has to end and you are stuck unfinished and will be unscoring. Unscoring? You’re welcome, Webster’s Dictionary. The coyote, when placed on an opponent’s play mat prevents stones from being added to that area and can really throw an ACME wrench into your plans. So determining when to move the coyote from your mat onto your opponent’s may really be the difference between sweet, tasty victory and bitter, yucky defeat. Again, play continues until the end of the turn when the fifth clear stone leaves the bag. Oh those clear ones? When placed, you can no longer place stones in that area but will also double that area’s score at the end of the game. So there’s quite a bit going on in your head throughout the game. Delicious!

Components. Well, I kinda already professed my love for them in the intro, so I’ll do it again here. They are wonderful components! I want to just be fidgeting with them all the time.

So is this good? Verily!! The constant struggle between deciding your action card based on the stones in the bowl or refreshing your cards or just going for broke and taking a chance on unscoring an area because there are already three clear stones out but you know at any time three more can make an appearance and end the game is just so satisfying. The components are amazing, the game play is fast and furious (not a sponsor), and you just want to play it again right afterward. Those are my favorite kind of games. If this all sounds like your kind of game, definitely check it out. You won’t be disappointed. I believe anyone would like this one. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an enthusiastic, but temptation-to-eat-the-stones-resisting 10 / 12.