Before my wife and I attended Origins, I organized my short list of games I wanted to learn more about. We've been playing so many games lately that I really wanted a demo of Morels, a two-player, set collection card game designed by <PERSON>. A game about collecting various types of mushrooms from the forest is odd, I'll grant you that, however, I have fond and vivid memories of camping with my father in the back of an F-100 pickup truck in the woods of Michigan and spending our days walking around the woods looking for mushrooms. My father always told me that banging on the trunks of trees with a stick as you walked by, your foraging stick, was what would help you find more; it would make them pop up. I knew he was full of, ahmem, it and was just giving a young kid something to do to keep him busy (and heard if we got separated), but I played the role, scoping out the best stick, and giving each tree I passed a good whack.
When we entered the Origins exhibit hall, I found it hard not to walk directly to the booth; it took deliberate effort to walk slowly down the aisles until I "stumbled" upon it. Happily, I didn't have to wait long. There, at a couple of cloth covered tables, behind a wooden crate filled with copies of Morels, and some backpacking paraphenalia tucked against the wall was <PERSON>, <PERSON>'s wife, finishing up teaching the game to some attendees. <PERSON> was off to the side talking to another interested customer.
<PERSON> hooked us in and sat us down for a demo run. Before we knew it, her practiced and professional style had us up and running in no time. My wife was immediately into her calculated mode, playing every turn like it was her last. That's usually a good sign that she likes a game so I was encouraged.
The artwork is simply beautiful, capturing a sense of whimsy but at the same time a sense of old-worldness, a style from the past, a style that aligns well with my "old" memories of foraging for morels with my father. 504
Even the summary card is well done. <PERSON> went out of his way for this first release and included little plastic frying pans and hand carved "foraging sticks" made from wooden golf tees if you bought the game at the con. He's offering them for an additional cost if you buy direct from them.
Morels is, at its heart, a simple set collection game. There are two decks, day (84 cards) and night (8 cards). The day deck consists of cards representing various types of fungi (10 Honey Fungus, 8 Tree Ear, 6 Lawyer's Wig, 5 Shiitake, 5 Hen of the Woods, 4 Fairy Ring, 4 Porcini, 4 Chanterelle, and 3 Morels) as well as 11 frying pans, 8 moons, 5 baskets, 3 butter, 3 apple cider, and the terrifying 5 Destroying Angels. The night deck consists of 1 each of a "night version" of Honey Fungus, Tree Ear, Lawyer's Wig, Shiitake, Hen of the Woods, Fairy Ring, Porcini, and Chanterelle.
The day deck is shuffled and 3 cards are given to each player along with the plastic frying pan. The day and night decks are set to the side forming draw piles and the sticks are set to the side to form a supply. The top 8 cards from the day deck are drawn and placed in a line extending away from the day deck, and represent the forest. During play, opponents "stand" at the far end of the line and forage for mushrooms at their feet (farthest from the deck) but can look up and peer deeper into the forest to see mushrooms that lurk in the distance but will get closer as players "walk" through the forest. In reality (as if we could really discuss reality when describing figurative mushroom hunting in the deep forest while sitting at the table in your kitchen or game room), the forest of cards actually move towards the players in an ever-flowing sidewalk conveyor :-)
A turn comprises a player doing one of several available actions and once complete, the card closest to the player's feet is placed in a "decay" area. The decay can contain, at most, 4 cards, so the 5th card would cause the current 4 to be discarded (out of the game) and a new decay seeded with a single card. The game ends when ALL cards have been removed from the forest and the player with the most points determines the winner.
So, what actions can a player perform to earn points? 755