Fabled Fruit

FABLED FRUIT

So last week I reviewed Charterstone, a beefy legacy game full of all the typical things you would expect from a story telling campaign worker placement game, this week I am going to talk about a different kind of legacy game, Fabled Fruit.

A box of cards, that is what Fabled Fruit is at first glace. There are 2 decks of cards and some really nice wooden animal meeples. Your first game of Fable Fruit has you setting up a small selection of action cards (4 of each) in piles and dealing some fruit cards from a separate deck. Each turn  a player takes their animal and places it on an action card and either does the action or buys the card with fruit from their hand. Bought action cards are flipped and placed face down as fruit juice for that player, get enough and you win. 

The real interesting part comes is when after a card is bough a new card from the action pile comes out. There will be four of this cards so the first four purchases will bring out a whole new action pile. Once a player has enough fruit juices to win the game shows it's big trick. You don't put everything back the way it was, any cards that became fruit juice are removed from all future games in this play through. The actions cards in the center of the table at the end of a game is the set up for the next game. So in a legacy "light" move each game picks up from where the last left off. 

A game of Fabled Fruit only takes about 20 to 30 minutes to play and moves along a good pace. With the ever cycling set of action cards there is always something new to be doing. The action cards are numbered so that they come out in a specific order but as this our first play through each new card is a surprise and each time a pile of action cards that we have been relying on goes away we lament.

So much of the strategy to winning a game of Fabled Fruit is timing. Getting the right fruits, getting additional fruit, taking fruits from players, not having to pay out extra fruits (for going on an action that another player is on) and being able to get the fruit juice you've been saving for before someone else does is all part of it. 

I have only played about 8 games in our current play through and have gotten between a third and half way through the action card deck and am very impressed with the balance of how as cards and particular actions leave play the new ones change up the game play. We have had a few early cards stick around for some time as if some silent agreement between the players on their overall usefulness stopped us from buying them.

Unlike other legacy games Fabled Fruits has two big differences, first off it supports drop in and out play from game to game and even the number of players can vary second once you have finished the "campaign" of games you can just reset the game for another run through as no components are permanently removed or destroyed. 

While there might not be many components in a box of Fabled Fruit what is there is quality. The cards and animal meeples are very well done. The cards have unique animal art on all 60+ sets. The colors are bright and pop. The rules are light enough that it would easily work as a family game but interaction keeps a more experienced gamer like myself more than just entertained.

Fabled Fruit is actually a bit of a strange duck. It's light enough and flexible enough that the buy in effort is low, but the engagement and discovery level are much higher. You won't burn your brain but interactive tension is there. I like it a lot and am looking forwards to seeing what new actions are revealed and how they spice up the game in future plays.