Do you know how to catch a fairy?

Apparently, it’s pretty easy.

Sprinkle a little fairy lure around the jar and over the window sill. Carefully place a tiny piece of cake or pastry in your jar and wait. The fairy will be attracted to the shiny fairy lure and then fly into the jar to eat the treat. When it does, just pop the lid on as quick as you can!

Welcome to Fairy Season from Good Games Publishing.

In this 3-5 player game by Gavin Jenkins and Dan Fish, players will use traps and their wit to capture the best swarms.

 

How to play Fairy Season

Setup:

Set up in Fairy Season is very simple. Players shuffle the Fairy deck and deal 5 cards to each player. 

They then place the deck face down as a draw deck and are ready to go.

The player who most recently ate a mushroom goes first.

Gameplay:

Fairy Season is played over several rounds and ends once all the cards from the deck have been drawn and players finish the final Swarm.

On a player’s turn, they play a card from their hand into the “Swarm” following the Rules of the Hunt (see below) and resolve its effects, if there are any.

The Swarm is the area in the center of play where all the cards are played. Cards are played on top of one another in a line, but in a way that the card beneath is visible. See the example in the photo. 

The next player then plays a card from their hand (if they can), followed by the next and so on. This continues until a player can not play a card and “Flunks.”

Another player may play a Royal Fairy to continue play if they choose. If not, the player who placed the last card in the Swarm wins the Swarm and places them in a face up pile in front of them, called their Stash.

All players then draw cards from the deck to get their hand size back to 5 cards. And the player who Flunked the previous round becomes the first player of the new round.

Rules of the Hunt:

There are 4 types of cards; Fairies, Royal Fairies, Goblins and Traps. Each must be played following the Rules of the Hunt.

• Fairy cards come in 4 seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter) and must be played in numerical and seasonal order. For example, if Player A plays a Spring Fairy with a value of 4, the next player must play a Spring Fairy 4 or higher OR another Fairy card from a different season. When you play a matching season and number you get to draw an extra card or Stash an extra card.
• Royal Fairies may be played on top of any card to continue the round once another player Flunks. Players can also win the game if they’re able to get all 4 Royal Fairies in their Stash at any time in the game.
• Goblins can be played on any Season Fairy and any other Goblin. Goblin cards have special powers that allow players to do a number of different things like steal Fairies out of other player’s Stashes. A Goblin card may also be played by a player who doesn’t have a fairy card to play into the swarm, sort of like a wild card.
• Traps can be played on any card except the Royal Fairies. Once placed, the next player may also play a Trap or Royal Fairy. If they can not, any other player may continue the round by playing a Royal Fairy. If no one does, the player who placed the last Trap wins the Swarm and places them into their Stash.

Play continues until the last card is drawn from the Fairy deck and players have resolved the final Swam.

Players then total the number of Fairies in their Stash gaining 1 point per Fairy and 2 points for any Royal Fairies. Goblins and Traps are worth 0 points. The player with the most points wins.

 

What we like about Fairy Season

Fairy Season is a simple yet challenging trick-taking card game for the entire family.

This is one of those games that can go from shelf to table to playing in less than 2 minutes. Seriously, that fast. Other than shuffling the deck, each player is dealt 5 cards, and that is it.

The game play isn’t any more complicated. You play a card and draw a card. Again, that is it.

Although play is that simple, the strategy that goes into it can be much more difficult. But not too difficult that my 6 year-old couldn’t play it. He didn’t quite catch on to the nuances of a trick-taking game, but it didn’t stop him from being able to play cards and win Swarms.

The theme and artwork for this game is so fun and light hearted. Even though I have all boys, they really enjoyed the theme due to all the goblins.

 

How does Fairy Season score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Fairy Season ranks pretty high on our “Let’s play again” game meter due to the fact it’s quick to set up, easy to play, and has a fun theme that appeals to the entire family.

If that sounds like a good fit for your family, grab a copy of Fairy Season.

We have really enjoyed all the titles we’ve recently received from Good Games Publishing. They’ve all been well designed and produced. I’m excited to see more from them.

 

About the Author

Dane is an Advertising and Layout Manager for a national magazine by day and a husband, father of four, and board gamer by night (and mornings). He has a passion for board games and believes board games help bring families closer together while providing kids a unique way to learn many diverse skills. And he thinks they are downright fun!!!

We’d like to thank Good Games Publishing for a review copy of Fairy Season.