Shadows in the Woods game
Dec. 24th, 2014 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithI love the concepts of this game, Shadows in the Woods. The German version is Waldschattenspiel. The original version had a solid folding board, while the second edition has a modular board. It's a strategy game, so I doubt I'd be very good at it, but I still think it's nifty because ...
* It looks pretty. The colors and shapes are charming.
* It is designed to play in the dark. That makes it a perfect "blackout" game to make power outages fun instead of miserable. If you reserve it for that, or other special occasions like sleepovers, it will hold a certain allure not shared by everyday board games.
* It teaches about light and shadows, which you could use for physics or artistry or woodscraft or many other things. The dwarfs are not constrained by board spaces but can actually move anywhere it's dark, although they can't cross lit areas -- and those areas change as the light moves.
* It's one of those rare games where the two sides are played in completely different ways. The adult moves the candle, trying to illuminate the dwarfs which are played by the children. So the strategies for each are different. Also it's a competitive game between adult and children, but a cooperative game among the children.
* It uses a real burning candle. I consider this a feature, not a bug. It teaches kids to be careful with something that is just a little bit dangerous, so they can gain a sense of safety rules. The adult player is the only one who moves the candle, but kids still need to be alert to its presence and not roughhouse around it. If you're paranoid about safety, or have a disability that makes live flame too hazardous, you could replace it with a battery-operated candle.
* It looks pretty. The colors and shapes are charming.
* It is designed to play in the dark. That makes it a perfect "blackout" game to make power outages fun instead of miserable. If you reserve it for that, or other special occasions like sleepovers, it will hold a certain allure not shared by everyday board games.
* It teaches about light and shadows, which you could use for physics or artistry or woodscraft or many other things. The dwarfs are not constrained by board spaces but can actually move anywhere it's dark, although they can't cross lit areas -- and those areas change as the light moves.
* It's one of those rare games where the two sides are played in completely different ways. The adult moves the candle, trying to illuminate the dwarfs which are played by the children. So the strategies for each are different. Also it's a competitive game between adult and children, but a cooperative game among the children.
* It uses a real burning candle. I consider this a feature, not a bug. It teaches kids to be careful with something that is just a little bit dangerous, so they can gain a sense of safety rules. The adult player is the only one who moves the candle, but kids still need to be alert to its presence and not roughhouse around it. If you're paranoid about safety, or have a disability that makes live flame too hazardous, you could replace it with a battery-operated candle.
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Date: 2014-12-26 03:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-25 06:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-26 01:05 am (UTC)