The newest Kodamaverse game, Kodama Forest, grows onto KS

The growing season has come once again, and the forest is ready to bloom! The magical Kodama spirits are here to guide the forests’ growth, but only the lushest and beautiful landscapes will become their homes.”

Indie Boards and Cards has started a Kickstarter Campaign for the tile placement game Kodama Forest from designers Jenny Iglesias and Kevin Riley. Kodama Forest is the newest game in the Kodamaverse, “following in the spirit of Kodama: The Tree Spirits (2016), Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama (2017), Kodama Duo (2018), and Kodama 3D (2019)”, and sharing the same delightful art by master Kwanchai Moriya.

In Kodama Forest, 1-6 players are seated so that there is a 9x9 square grid board on each player’s right, and another on each player’s left. Players take turns placing polyomino tiles from their hand, one on each board. Tiles can have half- flowers, half- bamboo forests and half- ponds, each of which, when completed, will lure animals to the forest, allowing the player to additionally place that animal’s tile. The forest boards are scattered with 5- and 10- point squares, which must be covered by games’ end, or they will earn unwanted points. The first player to cover all of these scoring squares triggers the game end. Players then total the score of their two boards – numbered squares score as labeled, and unnumbered squares score 1 point each. Lowest score wins.

The Kickstarter campaign for Kodama Forest continue through April 24, and the game is expected to ship in October 2020.