SKULL CANYON SKI FEST

Ticket to slide

This light set-collection/routeclaiming title from Pandasaurus Games puts players on the precarious slopes of the recently reopened Skull Canyon Ski Resort. Over three days, two to four skiers will be competing to net the most points by tackling the mountain’s various runs, and gaining fame for doing so with style. In the evenings, players will relax in the village and make vital preparations for next day’s competition. Come sundown on the third day, a victor will be declared based on their scored runs, collected gear, fame, and majorities held on the three tiers of slopes.

With just two actions out of the available three being chosen each turn, Skull Canyon Ski Fest’s pace matches its adrenaline pumping theme well. Whether they are catching a lift up the mountain, drawing slope cards, or descending a run, players turns will whip back and forth with momentum sustaining speed, ensuring that everyone remains invested in the gameplay.

Central to the experience are the aforementioned slope cards. Each card in this huge deck will be one of three colours and depict one of the five ‘style’ icons. To claim a run, a number of cards with either matching colours or styles must be played depending on its difficulty – usually two, four, or seven. Doing so will reward players’ with points, fame, and a place on the ‘run scoreboard’. ‘Claiming’ these runs on the scoreboard is important, as having a majority will grant extra points at the end of the game. Oftentimes though, this will involve ‘stealing’ a run and require playing an extra card for every player token already there.

Mechanically, this is nothing new: The card play has near enough been directly imported from Ticket to Ride

– right down to the ‘wild’ Yeti cards. But nonetheless, Skull Canyon Ski Fest deserves credit for making familiar mechanics feel fresh and undeniably suited to its chosen theme.

Further distancing itself from an unfair dismissal as ‘Ticket to Ride with ski googles’ is the game’s brief foray into worker-placement mechanics. This occurs at the end of days one and two, as players make their way to Ski Village to wind down and stock up. Here, players will advance through the village at whatever pace they choose, stopping on spaces to pay for various actions. Play will always pass to whoever is furthest back in the village but they may never return to spaces already passed, meaning that players can rush ahead to certain actions but at the risk of giving your opponents several turns in a row. Actions range from gaining fame or slope cards, as well as powerful ability granting ‘Gear’ cards which are worth points at the end of the game. Unfortunately, with this Apres-Ski phase occurring only twice throughout the game, gear cards often see little to no use. On the other hand though, the phase pushes players to cautiously and strategically weigh up how best to utilise these scarce village actions, adding some unexpected crunch to the game.

Elsewhere, strategy lies in how best to use yeti cards to block runs and trigger avalanches, but mainly comes through in assessing the board-state and identifying the optimum course of action. There’s a certain joy here in lining things up perfectly based on position, cards in hand and in the market, the yeti, and the need to steal runs – all with an eye on where this might leave you for the next turn. Thankfully though, it never becomes overwhelming, ensuring that this resort remains open to all, especially families and younger players.

❚ WE SAY Fast, fun, and familiar but with a style all of its own.

Usually, I have no interest in being a vole. Or a stoat. Or any woodland creature. And yet, here, my begrudgingly helpful hedgehog has left the forest a better place. Based on Blackwell’s previous solitaire potion-making game Apothecaria, Apawthecaria takes the leap into Brian Tyrell’s world of critters writing prescriptions.

Players take the role of an animal whose goal is to heal the ailing of the woodland, usually by collecting roots, flowers and leaves, and then creating a concoction as a treatment. It’s a journaling game that directs players to reflect on their experiences through the woodland (and beyond, there are many biomes), interacting with various creatures and situations as prompted by the book. All of the randomness is dealt with by drawing from a deck of cards, whether that’s foraging (draw a number higher than the rarity) or creating an encounter (just using the number and suit from the card).

The book is the key here. The almanac – a section of the book dedicated to the plants, treatments, and processes required in your job as a GP of the undergrowth – sets it apart from other journaling games. Often journaling games feel like you should be creating either a workable piece of fiction or the lore for some future adventure. Here you’re making notes. Real notes that you’ll find helpful for playing the game. Soon you’re flicking through the almanac like it’s a useful gardening book, noting down that you need garden mint and lavender, along with where they can be found and how rare they are. I scribbled these into my own journal (an unused diary, useful for tracking time in the game) alongside the prompt responses and notes about the notoriety of the guild, what I was carrying and so on. It flowed because the book is a part of the game. It’s a key prop, and one of the pleasures is simply understanding what you’re looking for. There’s none of the sense of ‘returning to the rulebook’ here during play, because the book that happens to have the rules is also the thing you need to flick through to find out wild violet leaves are good for curing the ‘sense’ keyword. Soon you’re working out from the almanac contents what you think might be around you in this season, and it’s a kind of productive guessing game.

Of course, you’re against the clock – you can’t leave a squirrel with a headache for too long after all. And you might not forage what you need, and the inhabitants nearby might not want to barter in a friendly way. Plus, there is, and forgive me for saying this, ‘fun inventory management.’ You need to think about what you’re going to keep in your bag for longer trips and later into the year, or overloading yourself.

And beyond the fact that this is all so immersive, is that it naturally draws out short, tender interactions without being wishy-washy. There’s something in the fact that the ailments can be dire and deadly that makes the ‘work’ in the game a little more gallows humour than soft focus feeling-fests. A perfectly pitched solo adventure that might give you paws for thought.

WE SAY

❚

A deep game of exploration that will have you stopping to smell the flowers (before picking them for parts in an attempt to stave off the death of an ailing kestrel).