Yes, the holidays are fast approaching and I'm receiving requests for gift ideas. I've also been doing a little shopping of my own, so this week I hope to share some of the toys and games I've been discovering or rediscovering all over again. Books will keep coming daily, too. That list is still very, very long.
First up is a game I have never played but am adding to my own wish list this year. I learned about it years ago but it wasn't readily available for some reason I can't remember, so I forgot about it. Then it popped up again while I was researching something else.
This game has been around since the early 1980s so some kids in several countries in the generation right below me grew up with this since it is available in several languages such as:
La Forêt Enchantée
Sagaland
Aventuras no Reino Encantado
Efteling Sprookjesspel
Nõiutud Mets
Sprookjesland
The Wizard of Oz (a modified version apparently)
In English, that's Enchanted Forest. I've not met many people who have played it, but those who have say it's fun. (The Amazon reader reviews are also glowing.) It won game of the year when it was released, the prestigious Spiel Des Jahres award that is.
Apparently one journeys around the board learning what magic objects are hidden under different trees. When the king wants to learn where something is, everyone rushes back to the castle to tell him. So it requires memory and strategy. And sounds like a fairy tale variation of Clue which was always one of my favorite games growing up.
Cinderella's glass slipper, the Emperor's crown and other once-upon-a-time treasures are hidden deep in the forest. Find them for the king and you'll inherit the kingdom!
To Play: One treasure is hidden under each tree in the forest. As you move from tree to tree, you get to peek at the treasures you find. Can you remember where each one is hidden? When the king asks where one of the treasures is, players race to reach the castle with the right information. Here's a tip: If you watch the other players carefully, sometimes you can even figure out where the treasure is without ever seeing it! The first player to locate three treasures wins.
Here's the introductory story included in the rules:
Once upon a time there lived a king, and he dwelt in a splendid castle high above the enchanted forest. His subjects could not have wished for a better king, so wise and benevo1ent was his rule. Many years passed and the king, feeling that he was growing old began to worry about who should rule after him for he had no children. However, word had often come to him of strange and wonderful treasures which were said to be hidden in the enchanted forest, and these had aroused his curiosity and now filled his heart with longing. He resolved that a search should be made for these remarkable treasures, so that they might be collected at his castle where everyone might see them and marvel at them. No sooner had he decided on his plan than he sent heralds throughout the land to announce that whoever should find and lead him to the hiding places of three of these marvelous treasures would succeed to his throne.
The game comes with:
1 Game Board
6 Pawns
2 Standard 6-Sided Dice
13 Pine Trees
13 Treasure Discs
13 Treasure Cards including:
Sleeping Beauty's Spindle
Mirror of Snow White's Wicked Stepmother
Cinderella's glass slipper
Puss in Boot's Seven League Boots
Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp Little
Red Riding Hood's Basket
Bone that Hansel used to fool the Wicked Witch Stolen
Jewels from the story of Ali Baba
Poisoned Apple from Snow White
Tom Thumb's Needle and Thimble
Wedding Rings of Beauty and the Beast
The Crowns of the Ogre's Daughters
Hop O My Thumbs' Bag of Stones
That's one treasure list. The one pictured below is slightly different. So I'm not sure if different countries get different tales emphasized or if different iterations of the game over time have offered different treasures. Either way, they all are fun. Reading them makes me want to play the game even more.
I gleaned some of the information for this post from BoardGameGeek and other places around the web, too, which was much more helpful than Wikipedia.
The game is available on Amazon currently for $23.86. More than the regular version of Clue, but hey, it has fairy tale stuff! With little trees! It is recommended for players 6 years and up, so I think I might figure it out...
Within the same check of my newsfeeds, it's announced that Björk is composing a song for a Moomin film and now BoardGameGeek gets a mention at SurLaLune! :D
ReplyDeleteAnother game based on a specific fairy tale (if The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids can be considered to be a fairy tale rather than or as well as an animal tale; I suppose it's really the latter but I associate it with the former through it being in the Grimm's collection and, more so, in the main fairy tale collection I had as a child) that I don't think either of us have mentioned online is 'The Uncatchables' (in the German of the box: 'Nicht zu fassen'). It was amoung the nominees for the Kinderspiel des Jahes this year (which with so games published in Germany nowadays is a huge honor in itself) and from a quick read of the rules it does indeed look like a lot of fun for larger groups (up to six) that include young children. The problem is finding people with young children among my closer relations to buy it for…
Wish this had come out when I was still teaching 2nd graders. They loved fairy tales.
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