The Maiden In The Forest

Players: 1

Age: 8+

Teaching Time: 2 mins

Playing Time: 20 mins

Setup Time: 5 mins

Value For Money: High

Luck: Mid

Complexity: Low

Strategy: Mid

Price: Print and Play

Recommended: Yes

Website: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171431/maiden-forest

Solo Play Review

I always feel bad writing negative reviews for Print and Plays, they are in the end a lot of work given away free for the love of the game. Equally I feel a little bad putting out reviews that have little to do but praise and so end up being a little short. Happily, with The Maiden in the Forest I’ve got the second problem rather than the first. Looks wise its of the predictably high standards of all of Todd Sanders’ output with a slightly art nouvea edge that has a stark but ethereal feel perfect for the game and looks lovely one the tabletop. It’s also a simple build with only eighteen cards. As is again typical with Air and Nothingness press the rules are nicely formatted onto two of the cards, one forming the turn marker once its elegant rules are committed to memory, the other a quick reference card. This is a lovely touch that I always like to see from a quality PnP since it means that if you want to go with long term storage you don’t need to spend more effort storing the game than its rules, which is not always the case.

The game play is as elegant as everything else here, twelve cards form a clock layout and can be swapped in position and then spun or flipped depending on which of your slightly varied set of powers are available on any given turn and if you’ve got the right cards in the right position around the clockface. Get them all face down by the end of twelve turns and you win, releasing the magical maiden from her previously bloom filled prison. It’s a good mix of brain baking but easily learnable gameplay and masterable enough that with focus and thinking you can be fairly certain of victory.

At bottom this is a patience game rather than a full on puzzle, as such wins will come soon and regularly and you’ll go back to it not to top your score or even to see if you can win but to run out the cards and watch the clockwork turn, and you will go back for it. The clockwork is just so light and pretty, it will sit a happily on a shelf of other time fillers waiting for its ten minutes on the table and it beasts the hell out of most patience games. The Maiden in the Forest doesn't try to be anything that it isn't and is fantastic for it, it’s an 18-card patience game that looks amazing and plays smoothly. Print it, play it, box it, keep it, kill time with it.