ThinkFun Shadows in the Forest Play in the Dark Board Game for Kids and Families Age 8 and Up - Fun and Easy to Learn with Innovative and Unique Gameplay

I've been looking at certain games to include my girlfriend's daughter, she is 6. We've played it once so far and she seemed to get it. We let her play the Seeker for the first game. Very easy setup and easy to learn.

Very fun game with a very unique premise. Great quality peices.

I bought this game and a group of 6 others for three nieces aged 9, 11 and 15 that I don't see more than twice a year. Shadows in the Forest was given specifically to the youngest. My husband and I celebrated early Christmas with them Thursday night Dec 20th with their parents blessings on our way through their town to spend Christmas with our daughter. After all of the presents were opened, the little one asked to play her game first before they went to bed.The game was a TOTAL HIT with ALL three of them, their mother included! Husband was the "rules reader" and teacher, and all 6 of us played this game about five times before kids reluctantly went to bed.My one initial concern when gifting this game was whether the cooperation would devolve into squabbling and unhappy people, but the game concept looked like so much fun that I bought it anyway. Not so, normally bickering siblings came together in the most wonderful and heart-warming way.The game itself is lovely. The board is pretty, and has stone paths meandering around the outside edge of the board and the nine hollows where the slotted heavy cardboard trees are placed in the set up. One player is the seeker, and closes their eyes while the other players hide their pawns behind the trees IN A TOTALLY DARK ROOM! The only light comes from an adorable little watch-battery powered plastic lantern and a glow in the dark die. The goal is for all of the pawns to collect as soon as they can behind one tree without getting caught in the lantern's light, either by the seeker, or by the honor method while moving amongst the trees. If that happens, then the entire group of pawns wins! If a pawn IS caught, then any player removes the white plastic mask that pegs into each tiny black pawn and passes it to a spot in front of the seeker. If the seeker can find all of the pawns and collect their masks while moving around the board, then the seeker wins. Discovered pawns are immediately frozen in place, but can win back their masks if another pawn can sneak back undiscovered and stay with the frozen pawn one full turn, but they usually had to stay longer to avoid the moving lantern light.Everyone loved it, including the 15 yr old who wants to work a deal with her littlest sister to take it to a future slumber party. I hear that this game is a lot like an outdoor game called freeze tag, which I never played, but I do remember playing hide and seek, where if you were caught you were out. I enjoyed the game myself because the board game graphics + the lantern light reminded me of playing outside at night in the mysterious tree-shadows out in the yard. Just the experience of watching the shadows change amongst the trees on the board was nostalgic and captivating. I think that the girls loved the game because they won together. Cooperative play is unusual for them, and they seemed to relish that as well as the exaggerated finger-pointing and stage whispers they used to communicate to herd the pawns together. You think as a seeker that YOU are clever enough to hear the pawns tap or slide along the board (you CANNOT fly them over trees), but NO, it is not so easy. As a seeker I heard clues, kept the game going for a long time and found a few pawns, but they were able to buddy-up and re-mask, but finally everyone had to go to bed, so we all called the game a draw. I'm not sure if this is a rule, but we decided to play that on the first turn each pawn had to hide behind a different tree, because we beat the seeker in two turns grouping up like that, and the girls themselves seemed to like to prolong the game play/cooperation OVER WINNING.What a great game! We all had a wonderful time, and to me it seemed especially poetic to play it yesterday (yet again) on the shortest day of the year.

There is really nothing wrong with this game, it is a perfect addition to your game shelf in almost any case. We've had it out two different times since we got it and each time played it five or more times in succession each time, and I can easily say we have gotten our money's worth out of this delightful and different board game.The only slight issue I have and this comes from the nature of the game's premise itself and that playing it in the dark is kind of hard, yet the game requires it to be dark to play properly. The little lantern is actually incredibly bright, so in a dark room it does make it hard for the players themselves to see the board accurately and be able to make their moves. Also the game suggests that the little forest spirits masks be removed when they are discovered by the light, I would not recommend this as they are easy to misplace and lose in the dark instead we lay ours on their sides. So while these are not huge issues I found them minor inconveniences about the game, however it would never stop me from recommending this one if you want to experience the hide n seek joy this game brings.Beyond these tiny issues if you'd call them that we've had so much fun with this, it plays incredibly well at the larger player counts and is fun at even two players if that is all you have. With the lights on the game builds an atmosphere that is enhanced upon and throws players into full immersion once the lights are off and gameplay begins. We found having some background noise of crickets or wind in the trees doubles down on the immersion and fun factor and would recommend that to others.We don't play this one often, but as I said it gets many plays at a time each time we get it off the shelf, it certainly has its own time and place for when it is perfect to play. I think anyone of any age could enjoy this game, and while we've only played with groups of adult players this would be age appropriate for even the youngest gamers in your home and they are sure to love it. So turn on some ambient sounds, perhaps only partially darken your room and have a great time looking for Shadows in the Forest.

It was a very fun game to play the kids loved it

I gave this to my niece as a belated birthday present, and she LOVES it. She's 9 and her brother is 6, and they played this with their grandma to help them understand the rules the first time, and they both had a great time! He played the Seeker (the lantern) and my mother told me he was really getting into the strategizing, which I was worried about at his age. My niece loved it so much that when her cousins came over for Thanksgiving, they kept alternating between playing this game and trying to recreate it in real life (more difficult, since they insisted on using the tiny game lantern still). The game board and pieces are very nice, sturdy quality and the battery on the lantern seems pretty decent, so I'm not worried about them breaking the game anytime soon. The artwork is pretty and the little shadowlings are super cute, so she decided to find it more adorable than scary to play it in the dark. The light from the lantern and the glow-in-the-dark die make it easy to play with the lights completely off like you should. Definitely glad I found this!

Es un juego que se juega en la oscuridad (preferentemente) y estratégico. Además es multijugador con diferentes escenarios

This is a new favourite in our home! The little characters are so cute, and the game is so much fun to play. My kids ask to play it all the time, and will even just play with the board set-up and characters making up their own games. This is a really fun one.

To play this game, you need to make the room dark by switching off all the lights. Note that, this game can not be played at day time. The other thing is, team should be honest.I bought this product for my 9 year old son and he loves it. He pulls every family member and make them play the game.

The lamp didn't work. Very disappointing. The other game parts look promising but didn't get to try it.

We all have a blast playing this. My 9 year old loves to play even though he is not a fan of the dark. Only issue was battery in lantern was almost dead when we got the game so the first time we played it was crappy as there was very little light from the lantern to cast the shadows. Figured since it was all new it was good to go but decided to replace the batteries and was a world of difference.