SPOOKTACULAR GAMES SERIES! PART 4

Spooktacular Games: Moonless Night

You know the nights with no moon are the best nights to collect the shadowlings so you put fresh batteries in your trusty lantern and head out into the forest!  The Shadowlings are fast, darting between shadows as soon as you blink your eyes.  All you have to do to catch them is freeze them in the light of your lantern, but as you move around, you could have sworn they were standing right there… Another shadowling must have rescued them!  Can you catch them all before they get away?

​Shadows in the Forest 
Age: 8+
Players: 2-7
Playtime: 15 mins
Publisher: ThinkFun

In Shadows in the Forest one player plays as the seeker, and the others (up to six) play as shadowlings.  The seeker is trying to find and freeze all of the shadowlings and the shadowlings are trying to group up in the same hiding place.  The best part of this game, though, is that it's designed to be played in the dark!  Set up is a little more complicated than the other games we’ve talked about so far.  You place the game board in front of all the players and you put the trees, tree stumps, and large stones together and then on the board to make the hiding places. Be careful that the hiding places do not touch the path. Place the lantern and the glow in the dark dice on one of the four red starting stones (in the corners) and then, turn down the lights!  The shadowlings now get to place their figures on the board with their masks on, while the seeker’s eyes are closed. ​

For the first turn, the shadowlings must all pick separate hiding places.  The seeker then takes their first turn.  On each of the seeker’s turns, they will roll the die and move that number of spaces.  (As a note, if the seeker's first roll is a one, they get to immediately move one space, and then 

they get to reroll and move that number of spaces as well.  Until the seeker reaches the first green, mossy stone, they can only move forward away from the stone they started on. Once they reach the mossy stone, they are allowed to move in any direction, even back the way they came.)  If, while the seeker is moving, a shadowling is illuminated by the lantern, the shadowling loses their mask and is frozen.  This shadowling is no longer allowed to move to a new hiding place. After the seeker’s turn, it is the shadowlings turn and the seeker must close their eyes! The shadowlings can move anywhere on the board

as long as they do not jump over obstacles and do not get caught in the lantern’s light.  If a shadowling touches the light as they move on their turn, they immediately freeze and lose their mask! Ultimately, the shadowlings are all trying to congregate behind the same obstacle. If a 

shadowling is frozen, another shadowling can come to their aid. They must go to the same hiding spot and wait until the seeker’s next turn has passed. At that point, the frozen shadowling retrieves their mask and is allowed to move around the board once again! The game ends when either the seeker has frozen all of the shadowlings or all of the shadowlings manage to hide in the same hiding spot.  
Not only is playing a boardgame in the dark fun but it also provides an exciting twist for a spooktacular family game night!  We also love the ability to control the difficulty of the game by simply playing with more shadowlings or with fewer shadowlings!  The minimum number of shadowlings is three, but you can play with up to six for a more complex game! Give Shadows in the Forest a try and tell us how your spooktacular family game night goes!