Nutty Squirrels is live (Squirreling away)
Update: Nutty Squirrels of the Oakwood Forest has launched on Kickstarter and the campaign will run for 30 days. You may pledge for a copy of the game, or for the PnP. Other games by Tiny Robot Games are also available to order as a bundle.
Our preview post below was published on March 11.
Nutty Squirrels Board Game is a push-your-luck 1-6 players game in which you play as a squirrel trying to stash as many acorns as possible into its nest while avoiding racketing squirrels, threatening owls, and hurtful falls from the tree canopy. It will launch on Kickstarter on March 17.
In the solo mode, you start the game by setting up six lines of five leaf cards each, radiating from the tree trunk. Three power cards are put on display to form the market. Inside the tree trunk is your nest which is also your starting location.
You can venture forth on a branch by moving onto the next leaf card. Once you land on an unrevealed leaf card, you flip it. It may feature four different things: acorns, that can be gathered in your cheeks, a squirrel thief that will steal one of the acorns you carry, a broken branch, in which case you fall from the tree, lose all the acorns you had with you, and go back to the trunk, or an owl, to which you must give three acorns or lose the game.
Once your cheeks are full (you can carry one acorn in each of your two cheeks), you may go back to the tree trunk to stash the acorns in your nest and score them. Your acorns (carried or scored) can also be used as money, either to bribe the owl or to purchase a power card from the market. These power cards endow you with new abilities, such as a backpack to carry one more acorn, or the flying squirrel ability to move from one branch to the next without going back through the trunk. You also need to pay acorns each time you move away from the trunk to an already revealed leaf card.
If you manage to stash at least 20 acorns in your nest, you win the game. You can, however, keep playing to try to achieve the highest possible score.