Two Rex Plays #13 - Leaf
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Leaf, a tile placement game designed by Tim Eisner and published by Weird City Games. Collect cards to create a connected network of leaves which allow you to score points by growing mushrooms, collecting sets of woodland animals, and sending squirrels spiralling up a tree.
Here are the design features we enjoyed:
+ Leaf placement – Each player has a hand of leaf cards which correspond to matching physical leaf tiles which you need to place on the table. Subsequent leaves must be placed such that their tips connect to the tips of leaves which are already on the table, and the more you connect, the greater the reward (which can be sun tokens, squirrel movement points, mushrooms, and more leaf cards). The game is still live on Kickstarter so there’s no physical edition out in the wild yet, so we played a digital version that the publisher has made available through Tabletopia. Even playing digitally, the core mechanic of placing the different leaves is a real joy and one that will only be enhanced when you add the tactility of the physical version. If you are interested in backing the project, you may want to consider the deluxe version that features upgraded wooden leaf tiles.
+ Mosaic effect - The design of the different leaves is fascinating; they are visually distinct shapes but their tips still fit together in almost all configurations (which we imagine was a challenge to achieve). The end effect is a visually impressive mosaic which has great table presence.
+ Squirrels - A side mechanic sees two squirrels skittering up a tree to pick up bonus points. Their movement path and the movement rules (they skip over each other) is pleasingly reminiscent of the real thing.
+ Art theme - The fantastic illustrations, by Angela Rizza, are hand inked and then coloured digitally to create a distinctive art style which is reminiscent of a vintage art style. This is particularly the case for the striking animal cards. It was an interesting contrast to Floriferous (the previous game we played) which also has a nature theme but adopted a scientific art style for its flora and fauna.
Tying into the natural theme of the game, Leaf has some innovative ideas around sustainability in the physical production. The wooden components are sourced from FSC certified forests, plastic wrap has been replaced with envelopes and paper bands, and there’s a particular focus on creating a small form factor for the box to reduce the impact of transport (hopefully this last one is a win-win in terms of expense, given that shipping costs appear to remain stubbornly high). Whilst these features are cropping up with increasing frequency on new projects, they are far from standard so likely come with added expense and risk to the project the publisher should get a lot of credit for their approach and helping to push forward sustainable ideas in the industry.
Interested in Leaf? Find out more here:
Kickstarter Page
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weirdcitygames/leaf-1?ref=discovery&term=leaf
Weird City Games