Paolo Mori. Art by Elli Jäger. Kosmos, 2020.
2-6 Players | 20 minutes | Age 8+
Rustling Leaves is a roll-and-write game set in a forest habitat with varying rules as the seasons – spring, summer, autumn, and winter – change. Each player will get a sheet of paper upon which a grid represents the forest habitat, with each square featuring a symbol of an inhabitant of the forest, including fungi, plants and animals. Players will roll two dice and enclose a space of the grid relating to the respective numbers rolled. For example, if two and three are rolled on the dice, players must enclose a 2×3 or 3×2 space of the habitat. Points are scored by crossing off a symbol in the enclosure, with each symbol having a different way of scoring. For instance, during the spring rules, will score five points per pair in the same enclosure, while twelve points are scored for every four pinecones during the autumn rules. The game is reminiscent of using a quadrat during biology lessons to isolate an area of a particular biome and then measure how many organisms are present as a small-scale representation of the population of that biome. Though more exciting than a school field, Rustling Leaves features seeds, plants, bees, butterflies, songbirds, bears, foxes, squirrels, moose, berries, mushrooms, and rainbows.
The principal tension between concepts of ecology and Rustling Leaves is that the point-scoring mechanic sometimes does not relate to the habitats the game represents. While some creatures and plants have mechanics that reflect their actual counterparts, such as squirrels scoring points by being enclosed with acorns, many inhabitants score points by being enclosed. Further enclosing certain poisonous mushrooms causes players to lose points despite being vital co-constituents of forested environments. As such, the entangled relationship between each inhabitant of the habitat is not explored in gameplay. Unlike many other nature-inspired board games, such as Photosynthesis or Ecosystem, players only observe the habitat in which the game is set rather than actively shaping and controlling it. Although players cordon off areas of the habitat, this appears not to affect said habitat, only producing significance through point scoring. It feels like playing a game with nature rather than transforming nature into a tool, resource, or competitor in a game.
Adapted from the Ecogame Ludography entry written by Seth Etchells, Charlotte Gislam, Lucy Roberts, Chloé Germaine, Paul Wake and Jack Warren.