Designed by: Brent Povis
Fungi (also published as Morels) is a game for two where players compete to harvest the most exciting and exotic mushroom collection, for consuming at the end of the game. The player with the most delicious feast wins.
The rules are slightly too fiddly to lay out in their entirety here, but essentially you’ve five options on each turn – collect mushrooms by picking up forest cards, collect mushrooms from a decay pile (these are a bit like grabbing something from the bargain bin before it goes out of date), get a pan going on the fire, sell mushrooms for sticks (which allow you a bit more choice as to where you pick up mushrooms on a future turn) or cook mushrooms – the last being fairly important, as what you cook defines your points at the end of the game.
There are one or two other elements to consider (hand size being one, the addition of butter or cider to your recipes being another) but the game as a whole is a race, as you only have until the forest deck runs out to collect and cook your mushrooms. Don’t underestimate the benefit of selling mushrooms for sticks, as being able to venture further into the ‘forest’ can be a huge benefit in cherry-picking the fungi you’re after.
As soon as the forest deck runs out, the game ends.
There's no denying the charm of Fungi - it's a delightful looking game. The gameplay is, for me, unfortunately not intriguing or tight enough to make me want to play it regularly over other two-player card games. It's entirely pleasant, though, and you can practically smell the ceps frying in butter.
If you keep an eye on what your opponent is picking up, it's certainly possible to throw a spanner in the works by nabbing the mushrooms they want. But it's not a game where this combative element is front and centre.
Low - the game only plays two, and you only ever have five options at most. And most choices err toward the self-evident after a couple of plays.
Light - you're trying to collect sets of the same type of mushroom, so although there will the odd decision to be made it's not a game to give you palpitations.
Some variety is ensured by the randomness of how the cards come out.
2-2
Players
8+
Years
15-30
Mins
Sam says
The artwork is beautiful and I like the gentleness of it - in a medium overflowing with space combat and other more explosive themes, trotting through the woods, basket in hand, feels rather sweet. But it is slightly faffy to play: every turn some cards 'decay' so go in the decay pile, the decay pile needs to be checked to be sure there aren't too many cards there, new forest cards come out, hand sizes must be checked, and for me the bucolic theme is slightly undermined by the fiddliness of just moving cards around...