“Flashlights and Fireflies”
designed by Jeff Johnston, published by Gamewright
Play hide and seek in the woods at night while trying to be the first one home in this charming kid’s game. Each round, players will “hide” by placing their player tile face down with other tiles with matching backs. Then a dice roll determines how many firefly tokens they can collect from the pool. Next, players will use firefly tokens to try and guess where the other players are hidden. If you are found, you are “frozen,” and you can’t advance on the track back home. If you aren’t found, you take one step closer to the house. Players who were “frozen” get to draw new tiles to mix in, thus making it harder to guess where they are hiding, and repeat! First player to make it back home wins…and settles in for a nice cup of warm hot chocolate waiting for everyone else to get back in.
This game is built on two fun, strategic, and easy to understand mechanics. The first, using the wood tiles to “hide” your player tile is a great way to psych out your opponents, and the second, adding more woods tiles for the frozen players works as a great catch-up mechanism. Both allow you to look your six year-old in the eye, and point to a tile, and say “you are here” and be absolutely right and feel like a big man.
One Line Verdict: Grab your flashlight and join in this fun romp in the woods with the family and kids. Older players may want to stay in the house.