Canopy: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Drafting, Push Your Luck, Set Collection
Player Age: 8+ Player Count: 1 - 4 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 45 Minutes
Game Designer: Tim EisnerGame Artist: Vincent DutraitPublisher: Weird City GamesYear Published: 2021BGG Weight: 2.00Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Tim Eisner
Introduction:
Canopy is a fast nature-themed game that includes both flora and fauna. The element that makes this game unique is the interesting drafting system that has been created. Essentially, there are three piles that players will choose from. The players start at the first pile and can go up to the third pile, looking through to see if they want to take that pile before moving on to the next. To pass on those cards the player will add one more unseen card to that pile from the deck before viewing the next pile. If a player chooses a pile, they have to play all of the gained cards (some will be negative) into their tableau. This game combines push your luck with drafting to create an interesting twist on drafting. The rules will largely follow the two-player rules as that is the main targeted player count in the rulebook.
Game Anatomy:
Trees and Canopy:
Trees must be built out of at least one branch and one canopy. All tree elements will stay on the player's individual boards between seasons. If a tree is finished, it will score for the total amount of branches and the canopy, then have an animal token placed on it to represent that it has already scored. The largest tree every season will score bonus points and the player with the largest forest (most trees) at the end of the game will score bonus points.
Plants:
The majority of plants have set collection properties that bring different scoring conditions. These plants will be discarded after being scored at the end of every season.
Animals:
Animals come in pairs so will have two cards with the same name and illustration. One animal in the pair will score for the collected pair and one will award the player a bonus ability. Unlike plants, animals will stay in the player's tableau at the end of each season and will be scored at the end of the game.
Sun and Moon:
The sun and moon are paired cards. The player will gain five points at the end of the season for every pair of sun and moon cards. These cards will then be discarded before the new season.
Negative Cards:
There are various negative cards throughout the deck, such as the drought that will instantly discard one of the player's cards. The main negative cards are diseases and fire. These cards will force the player to discard either two animals or two plants, respectively, at the end of the season before scoring. Alternatively, if the player has three of the same type, every player will discard one plant or animal based on the card.
Seed Deck:
Players will draft seeds throughout the seasons. At the end of each season, players will draw three cards (plus one for each fire card) from the seed deck. The player will choose to keep any amount of drawn cards equal to the amount of seed cards they possess.
Setup:
- Shuffle the rainforest cards together and remove 10 from the game.
- Seperate the rainforest deck into three piles of equal size.
- Place the current season and future season board as displayed, including the decks in their respective places.
- From the current season deck deal 1 card to new growth 1, 2 cards to new growth 2 and 3 cards to new growth 3.
- The player to have watered a plant most recently goes first.
How to Play:
On a turn, a player will look at all the cards from Growth Pile 1 and decide if they want them.
If not, they place one card from the season deck onto that pile and move to the next. This continues over the three piles, if any are accepted, the player will play all the cards from that pile and place one new card from the top of the season deck to replace the pile they took. If the player rejects all three piles they will instead take the top card of the season deck and play it. Players will keep doing this in turn order until there are no piles left and no cards to replace them from the season deck. The players will then score all their cards (as explained in card anatomy), gaining point tokens as needed. The trees and animals will remain in play, but all other cards will be discarded once scored. The next season's deck pile will now become the current season, and this will continue for the span of three seasons. At the end of the third season, the animals will also be scored and the largest forest bonus will be awarded.
Final Thoughts:
- Negative effects and animal pairs keep the drafting tense.
- Easy rules to remember with optional advanced cards (purple colour on the bottom right).
Canopy is easily staying in my collection as one of my go-to fast, nature-themed, filler-ish games, right next to Ecosystem. Canopy has a unique drafting system with its three piles. This system creates an element of push-your-luck, where players have to decide if the grass is, in fact, greener in the next pile. There is a good mix of negative cards, animal pairs, and an interesting set collection in the plants to keep players chasing the right pile.
Comments
Post a Comment