- Publisher : Iello
- Designer(s) : Reed Ambrose
- Artist(s) : Štěpán Drašťák
- Players : 1–4
- Playing time : 30 - 45 Min
- Weight BGG : 1.96
What's this?
In Wispwood , players explore a mysterious forest populated by luminous will-o’-the-wisps with varying powers. Each turn, you will collect a will-o’-the-wisp from around a central pond and then build a shape in your personal forest to optimize your scoring objectives.
How do you play?
1. The Classic Tour (Take a Will-o’-the-Wisp)
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Tile selection: You choose one of the available Will-o’-the-Wisp tiles around the pond .
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Shape selection: By default, you must choose one of the two polyomino shapes adjacent to this will-o’-the-wisp . You take the Will-o’-the-Wisp tile and draw the number of Tree tiles needed to recreate the entire chosen shape .
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Placement in the forest: You integrate this shape into your grid . At least one tile of the new shape must be adjacent (orthogonally) to a tile already placed . The will-o’-the-wisp can be placed anywhere inside the shape, and the shape can be rotated or flipped .
2. The Tree Tour (Fill in the holes)
If you do not want to or cannot take a will-o’-the-wisp, you can do a Tree Tour .
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You draw 1, 2 or 3 Tree tiles and place them one by one in your forest (adjacent to existing tiles and without exceeding the limits of your grid) .
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This action also allows you to right your cat (make it face up) if it was hiding .
🐾 The Power of the Cat (Cat Actions)
Your Cat starts the round face up . During a normal turn, you can choose to hide it (turn the token over) to trigger a powerful one-time bonus :
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Either discard all the will-o’-the-wisps from the pond to draw 8 new ones (ideal if you are looking for a specific type) .
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You can choose any of the 8 shapes around the pond instead of limiting yourself to the 2 adjacent to your tile .
End of round and transition
As soon as a player has completely filled their grid , the end of the round is triggered . The round is completed so that everyone has played the same number of moves, then the round’s points are tallied according to the 5 active objectives .
The twist in the next round: Before starting the next round, you must remove ALL your Tree tiles from your grid (they go back into the draw pile) . However, your Will-o’-the-Wisps remain in place !
A game is played in 3 rounds :
- Round 1: 4×4 grid
- Round 2: 5×5 grid
- Round 3: 6×6 grid
At the end of the 3rd round, the person with the highest total score wins .
Is it good?
Wispwood is a true puzzle and tile-laying game where every placement counts. The original idea here is to have to rebuild your forest each round by removing trees while keeping the will-o’-the-wisps.
What seemed like a perfect setup in the first round can become a real puzzle in the next, when you have to fill the gaps with imposed geometric shapes. This system of choices around the pond, where you constantly monitor what your opponents are collecting, creates real tension and numerous tactical opportunities.
The cat’s powers add just the right amount of control to limit frustration. The various scoring cards also offer great replayability thanks to the multiple ways the will-o’-the-wisps can score.
One could, however, criticize its rather abstract theme and art direction, which may not appeal to everyone. Furthermore, despite the variety of scoring cards, some strategies sometimes seem more profitable than others, often leading players to focus on two or three particularly lucrative objectives. This can make some choices seem a bit obvious and create a slight sense of repetition. One might even wonder if two rounds wouldn’t have been enough.
But despite these minor flaws, Wispwood remains a particularly effective tile-laying game. I recommend it to all fans of spatial puzzles: accessible, clever, and satisfying, it combines strategic thinking and scoring optimization within a limited space.
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Wispwood review
Positives
- Original Forest Regeneration System
- Accessible and fluid rules
- Satisfactory, but could be improved.
- Good space puzzle
Negatives
- Very abstract theme
- Limited interaction
- Risk of dominant strategies
- A slight feeling of repetitiveness
