In the season of in-laws, out-laws, and extended family—also known as “the holidays”—I present to you, Dearest Romance Readers, another board game perfect for date night: “Fairy Tile.” As you cook, clean, decorate, and cook some more, I offer you some alone time with your significant other in the form of quickie. A quick board game, that is. Fairy Tile, by IELLO USA LLC, takes only about thirty-minutes to play and it’s easy to learn, which is perfect for your busy holiday schedules.
For starters, let me tell you about my Fairy-Tile book: Princess Flora leaves her father’s castle against his better judgement and wishes. She gets lost in the forest, only to meet the Knight Ulric. He immediately falls for her many charms, and he escorts her to what he thinks is safety. There, she is captured and whisked away by Dragon Draxor—right in front of Knight Ulric. He pursues the dragon, and a battle ensues for the princess. Knight Ulric wins, but I believe he is hiding a dark secret…
Escape into this gorgeous stained-glass, art-filled world (illustrated by Miguel Coimbra). There are thirty-six cards—pages of the story—that are jewel-toned, surrounded by gold filigree, and seemingly back lit. All of the cards are dealt out evenly to all players (2-4) at the beginning of the game. These are the pages of your fairytale book, but you may only look at the top card.
Fairy Tile, is another story-telling, book-building game, but not as role-playing as “Fog of Love” as there is no need for character creation. This is a competitive game; there is only one winner. As you build the Kingdom, you move the “daring Princess,” “devoted Knight,” and “dreadful Dragon” around the Kingdom.
The bored, rebellious Princess Flora—my kind of princess—begins the game at her castle, and she may move one space at a time. However, she has the special ability to portal from one castle to another in the kingdom. Keep this in mind while you are building and strategizing.
The devoted, tenacious Knight Ulric, begins the game in the forest. He may move two spaces at a time, but always forward and away from his starting point—never back to where he started. And the dreadful, awfully human-like Dragon Draxor begins the game in the mountains. Draxor must move in a straight line, flying from one edge of the kingdom to the other.
Your opponent will also be moving these characters around, so some strategy is required. Your move will consist of either lying down tiles (building the Kingdom), moving one of the three characters on the board around to fulfill your page’s scene, or turning the page.
As a move, you could choose to lie down tiles to help you fulfill future strategies. Another option is you move characters to satisfy the conditions of that page, and you read your justification for your movements out loud. Save the story part for the end of the game, if you win. (more on that later) Once the pages are laid, they’re laid. Future movements or pages have no bearing on your current pages.
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I've never played a story-telling, book-building game, but this review makes me want to give Fairy Tile a try.