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Wires in the Woods
A good friend visited the UKGE a little while back (a big ol’ board games expo in the UK) and kindly sent me a haul of intriguing things, including the quickstart rules for Wires in the Woods. It’s a lovely, cosy little game with beautiful art that can be played solo or as a pair (in the full rules), and you make a story about a little foraging critter exploring the world after all the humans have disappeared.
One thing I particularly like about this game is that you’re encouraged not to use the names of the items you find, and instead to try to see them through the eyes of your foragers. See if you can guess what items I’m talking about!
Somewhere, lying in a forest clearing and partially buried under some leaf litter is an ancient dictaphone. The battery is long dead, but by some miracle it would still work if you could find a way to charge it up. It’s a wasted miracle unfortunately as there’s no-one around to listen to it, but if somehow you were to find it, and charge it up, and play it from the start of the recording, this is what you’d hear…
A few moments of static
“…recording dated April 27th…”
More static
“…patient shows signs of…”
Even more static
“…continuing with current…”
Static again, then suddenly a startled yelp and the noise of the dictaphone being dropped
“What!? It talks?!! (click) Hey, now it sounds like me! It’s a talking box!! (several more clicks) But how do I (click, static for a moment) Oh I see! That’s the button to make it listen, and this one to make it (click)”
“Hello box! I’m Una! I like how you listen so good. I once found a tin with a picture of a fish on it, and it said UNA on the label, and I really love fish when I can catch them, so my name is Una! There might have been more to the word as the label was all torn up, but Una is a good name so that’s my name now.”
Wires in the Woods uses a deck of cards to build a map of the area you’re in. I’ve drawn my first card to decide where I start, and placed a token on it so I can remember where I am. A four of clubs means I start off at a ruined watchtower.
“We’re really high up here! I wonder why someone left you up in this tower, box? I was hoping there’d be some good stuff up here as it’s hard to climb up, so maybe other foragers won’t have bothered. Looks like I was right! I found you and…this thing.”
I rolled to see what I found in the watchtower (besides the dictaphone, that’s just my own embellishment on the story) and got a 5. That’s another artifact. Let’s see what Una makes of this.
“Look! It fits on my head really nicely, over my ears. That’s good, it’s a bit windy up here and I was getting cold. It does make things a bit hard to hear though, which is kind of nice and kind of not. There’s a bit of string on it too, that could be handy. The pointy end isn’t much use though, but I’ll keep it and see if it comes in handy.”
“Okay, time to get down from here. The view is nice but I have things to do!”
That’s all for this area, so now I can draw another card and move to a new area. However, since the four of clubs is one of the trigger cards I drew while setting up the deck, that means there’s also an upcycling task here. I have three cards set aside for upcycling tasks, so let’s see what I get.
“Oh wait! I remember now also why I came up here. There’s this place over there with lots of bushes, and the bushes make lines and paths that turn all around and around, and it’s really hard to find your way through. From here I can see all the paths and the way through, but how am I going to remember the way…”
A crunching sound
“This might work…I guess you can’t see, box, so I’ll have to tell you everything. It’s a bit of soggy wood from the side of the tower. I think…yes! The pointy bit from the thing I found can scratch lines into it! Now I can make a map of the place with the bushes!! Once it’s done, I’ll leave it at the start of the paths so everyone else can find their way through too.”
In Wires in the Woods, “zeal” is used to decide whether you can keep going on your foraging quest. I started with eight, and you use one when moving between locations. Finding a way to guide others through the maze I found rewards me with two zeal, bringing me up to 10.
If you run out of zeal, your forager needs to take a big rest, and the player needs to take a break. The rulebook suggests making a cup of tea or going for a walk before continuing. I told you it was cosy.
“Good job us, box! Now no-one else will get lost here. Time to move on.”
Sounds of humming, then a yelp and a splash
“There’s a pond here box!! I didn’t see it. Lucky I kept you out of the water, things with buttons don’t like water much, do they? Just give me a moment to wring out my fur…”
Squelching and splashing sounds
“Well, that’s as good as it’ll get. It’s a warm day, I’ll dry quick. Now, let’s see…There are some bits of metal down there, but I think they’re all rusty. I don’t feel like going in the pond again, so let’s leave them there.”
“Ohhh, I see. That wasn’t just a pond, the way is flooded this way. It must be deep, I can see the tops of the trees poking out of the water! It might be fun to jump between them, but I need one hand to hold you, and if I fall in it could be bad. Box, I think we’d better go back.”
This is interesting. The next location is a huge, hollow oak, but when I rolled for the event, I got “Something has shifted in the forest. Two routes to adjacent locations have been cut off.” I’ll need to think about this for a bit.
“A hollow tree! That’s a lucky find, they’re good for sleeping in, and sometimes people leave stuff in them. Let’s take a look!”
Scrabbling noises
“Woah…Actually, I’m not sure I like it in here, box. It’s a bit dark, and someone’s carved a bunch of weird symbols in here, and there’s a little shelter, and it smells a bit, and…it feels weird-“
A clang, a squeak, frantic scrabbling noises, a crash, then sounds of panting for a few moments
“Box? I did something a bit silly. I think I knocked something over, and it made me jump, and I ran up this ladder and kicked it over by mistake when I got to the top. There’s a little shelf up here with some rusty tins on it, and I don’t think I can get back down. I think I can get out on the branches though, so maybe there’s somewhere we can climb down…”
“No, this way doesn’t work. I’m still stuck in the canopy, and the branches are too close together and too high up for me to get down. I can see a clearing with a little sign below, but it’s too far away to read. It’s cold here…I’m going to put my ear keep-warmer back on. It connects up to the flooded bit of the forest so I could try jumping between the trees, but I still don’t like that idea.”
“I don’t like it here at all, box. Let’s go back to the big tree and try another way.”
Because my forager type is “Scamper” (no really, could this game get any cuter?), I don’t spend zeal when moving to red cards. The last few cards I’ve drawn have been red, so fortunately I can move freely between them. On the other hand, I can only lay cards out in a 4 x 5 grid, and I’ve decided that I’ve hit the corner of the grid here.
“Oh! Oh! Box!! I found something! Because I wasn’t so scared this time I took a proper look through the stuff on this little shelf, and there’s a little flat square thing with a metal sliding bit at the top. There’s something flimsy inside, and there are some weird symbols on it. Not sure what it’s for, but it’s mine now!”
You also roll for events when backtracking, which is fun!
“More luck, box! I think you must be a lucky box. From this branch I can get to this roof, and it’s a bit slippery but if I’m careful I can get inside this place, and from there I can reach this wall, and from the wall there’s a staircase to the ground.”
“There was a thing inside the place, but it was strange. It was a box with a big shiny front, and it looked like there was another me trapped inside but I think that was just my reflection. I pushed all the buttons but it wouldn’t talk to me, so I think I’ll leave it there. There were some cool bits of wire on top, so I’ll remember where they are.”
You don’t have to take everything. You can carry up to three things without penalty, but four or more will start to slow you down. Since I have the dictaphone and two things, I’ll leave this here for now.
“I hear some noises coming from the flooded bit of the forest. I wonder what’s going on, box? Let’s go take a look, if I can find my way back there.”
“There was a path here, I think, once. It’s almost gone now, but nothings gets past Una! Someone’s dropped another of those funny flat square things here too, so I’ll take that. Whatever they do, two is probably better than one, right box?”
“We’re back at the pond now box, so we must be going the right way! I saw a Swoop overhead and waved at it, but it seemed to be distracted by something. They have great hearing and sense of smell, so maybe it heard the noise too?”
“Oh, I see the problem. A group of Scurries were hiding near the pond, but they came out when they saw it was just me. It looks like they’ve dropped something in the pond…a doughnut! Doughnuts are so good, no wonder they were so upset to lose it. Can I get it back for them…?”
Noise of plastic breaking
“I stabbed the pointy bit on the end of the string through one of the flat squares, box. Now it makes sort of a hook? Maybe I can pull the doughnut back to the edge with it.”
Splashing noises, then high pitched cheering
“We did it box!! The Scurries are very happy now. My plastic square is kind of ruined, but that’s okay. I have the other one anyway. I’ll leave the broken one here. Let’s see what’s going on at the flooded place.”
Bellowing noises
“Oh no! It looks like a Trample tried to cross some of the easier gaps with a wooden ladder, but now it’s tangled in some of the strings that bite you if you touch them! Those are bad, if they go in the water it’ll be really dangerous. Luckily the Trample is okay for now, but it’s really stuck. Box, we have to help!”
“All we’ve got are my ear keep-warmer and the plastic square. I don’t think the plastic square is much good here, but it seems like the Trample is hanging onto its ladder to stop it falling in. It can’t let go to untangle itself. Maybe if I tie the string from my ear keep-warmer to the ladder, and this branch, and then the Trample can let go long enough to get itself free.”
Bellowing noises and the sound of sparks
“That was close! It looks like our plan worked though box! Let’s untie the string so we can keep it. These ear keep-warmers are my best find ever!”
I’ve done all my upcycling tasks now, but I’d like to do one more location. The game ends when you decide it does, so that’s fine.
“More luck! You definitely are a lucky box! I went back the way we came, and found so many trees full of apples. Apples aren’t as good as fish, but they’re still tasty! I think I’ll”
Static
“and take some for”
Static
“and- what does this little red light mean? Are you still listening, box? (click)”
“Oh, I see, you’re getting sleepy. That’s okay, so am I now I’m full of apples. Thanks for being my friend today, box. I’ll leave you here to have a rest, and maybe someone else will find you and be your friend! Goodbye box, have a good rest.”
Click
I really enjoyed that! It’s quite a different vibe from my usual games, but it’s so wonderfully wholesome and the process of generating the story was really satisfying. I hope you enjoyed the tale of Una, and perhaps I’ll come back to this again in a while.