YORKTON - There are certain games which really scream family fun and that is certainly the initial take on Nut Hunt.
The box front is a happy looking squirrel carrying an acorn.
And, yes that is more of less the theme here. Players are in charge of a group of squirrels which move around a modular board collecting a variety of nuts.
When enough of your squirrels meet in a single location they nest.
Of course it’s not all nuts and nesting for a squirrel since a fox randomly moves around the board too. When the fox arrives at a location the squirrels high tail it to adjacent spaces to be safe.
While the squirrels are safe after a move your plans might be compromised.
Players have ‘secret’ goals to connect two tiles somewhere on the board with a line of squirrels and nests. They are only scored at game end, so a fox moving late might force players to break scoring chains.
It’s pretty straight forward as the rules note. “Turns have a simple structure with one mandatory action (moving the fox), followed by a choice of three optional actions (recruiting a squirrel, hassling the fox or scouting an objective). Plus, there is a free action that can be taken at any time: to exchange three of the same nut for one of any nut.”
So the theme here is pretty light, but it is cute too. That makes it a fine family game option albeit a somewhat narrow age group perhaps for children. The age is suggested as eight, and up, but I’m not sure teens would jump at the game too often simply because what they like can change day-to-day.
As for adults, this 2022 release for Jaspar Burch, is one of those games that when it’s out on the table to play it is a quick one as a sort of filler game – expected about 30-minutes of game time.
The question – as with many games – would Nut Hunt come off the shelf often?
In our group it’s not likely – although we hold game nights in the winter and this quick-learn game will work nicely there.
The game is versatile in that it has a solo mode, and plays up to five, so that is always a plus.
Aesthetically, Nut Hunt scores higher. The cute little wooden squirrels are neat, and the hexagon board pieces well-made. That the board is modular changes up the playing field game-to-game, but the influence of change is negligible.
Overall a nice offering from www.pineislandgames.com, for the gamer with the mindset for very light game play.
