Autumn

As autumn arrives, the landscape is painted with shades of orange and ochre. Gradually, the trees shed their leaves, which fall to the ground, forming colorful carpets. You and your companion could gather leaves from the garden, but before doing so, you come up with something more fun: you'll choose a type of leaf, and after a few moves with the rake, whoever can create the largest area with their group wins. Shall we begin?

Designed by María Blasco and Enrique Blasco (also known as Brote de juegos) and illustrated by Carlos Ureta, "Autumn" is a game in the 4 Seasons saga that joins Devir's pocket collection. If you're already familiar with "Winter," a title by the same authors and also part of the saga, this game will feel very familiar. With only 18 cards showing four groups of leaves in two different colors, "Autumn" allows for quick games for 2 players or solo, suitable for ages 8 and up.

If you're not keen on reading and learning rules, you won't suffer with this game as there are very few rules to remember. To start, shuffle all the cards and place them as a deck with the leaves hidden. Reveal the first card and place it on the table. The starting player (chosen randomly) reveals another card and plays it on top of the first one. Before starting their turn, the second player chooses the leaf color each player will use: red or yellow. After this decision, the player reveals a new card, plays it, and passes the turn. The game continues normally, alternating between players until the deck of cards is exhausted.

The most important rule to remember is that cards are always played on top of the others on the table, in the same direction: you can rotate it 180 degrees, but not 90. When placing the card, you must cover one or two leaf spaces, no more and no less. Overlapping spaces can be of any color; they don't have to match.

Once all the cards are placed, whoever has the largest area of connected leaf spaces of their color wins the game. Leaf spaces are only considered connected if they are orthogonally adjacent; that is, in contact on the sides, not on the corners (diagonal spaces are not considered connected). However, the winner still can't celebrate victory yet! "Autumn" is designed to play three rounds. After finishing the third, add up and compare the number of spaces each player gets to see who is the winner.

On the other hand, the solo mode offers three different challenges: Garden, Balance, and Two. In this game mode, you play with both colors simultaneously, also trying to create areas with leaf spaces of the same color. Depending on the chosen challenge, you will score differently. In the Garden challenge, choose the three areas at the end that contain the most leaves (regardless of color) and count how many spaces are in each one. The score for that game is the smallest of these three numbers. In the Balance challenge, you must achieve three exactly identical areas, with the same number of spaces in each. And finally, in the Two challenge, you will try to achieve only two areas, without having unconnected spaces of colors outside of any of those two areas.

"Autumn" is the perfect companion for any journey. With very few components, it offers a very entertaining challenge both for playing in pairs and for playing solo. The rivalry is guaranteed! The pocket collection is also characterized by its reduced cost, within everyone's reach. Let yourself be captivated by the colors of autumn and start playing with the leaves!