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Apparently, Leaves are more than just an Autumn menace. While I'm on the roof cleaning the bloody things out of the gutter for the third time this month, others are out there collecting leaves, marveling over them, and putting them into albums. Obviously, this game is an alternate reality, science fiction Trick Taking game.
So, where are we on the meta for Trick Taking Games? Do we still need to explain what Trick Taking is? If I say this is a set collection trick taker with a may follow mechanic am I going to get blank stares or comments of “Yes, of course, go on.”
Well, Folia Folio is a set collection trick taker with a may follow mechanic that features six suits, with the Black Suit (with awesome silver lettering/illustrations) being trump. It is played out over 9 tricks and has 48 total cards in the deck. Each suit has cards numbered one to eight and Four Leaf types – Maple, Fig...and two others (Look, I'm not a arborist, damn it). Each card features one half of a Leaf and you want to collect matching half leaves to form a full leaf in order to score.
The Trick Taking interconnects with the Set Collection in this way: Before each hand, there will be four cards in the “Gutter." Sorry, the "Glade.” These are the cards you will be competing for during this trick. Whoever wins the trick will get first draft of these cards with the the other players drafting according to where they placed in the trick. The cards that you played into the trick? They become the “Glade” for the next round.
The cards you take go into your Album with the game starting with two random cards dealt into each player's Album. Well, I say Album but it is likely you will have multiple Albums. But you will connect them into larger albums once you are able (All the better to score, my dear). You connect the cards in an album by matching like numbers to each other. The more full leafs you have in a single album, the more they are worth. (1,3,6,10,15,21). More importantly, since getting that mythical six leaf single album is nigh impossible, you get two bonus points for creating a “Perfect” leaf, which is when you match both the suit and the leaf type in a pair. As you can see from the scoring progression of a single album, you'll want to draft connecting cards to meld those multiple albums into a single one to optimize scoring.
What all this leads to is you will find that you are not simply thinking a turn ahead but at least three turns ahead. You'll want to add a card to this trick so that you can hopefully win it next trick, so you will also need to make sure you have a card in your hand that CAN win the third trick. And, of course, you'll want to win as many tricks as possible because that not only allows you to draft first but also to lead the next trick. Each suit includes both sides of each type of leaf, so factor that into your calculations for the when and how of each session.
You won't win every trick, or even most tricks, which is where the “Can Follow” becomes key. Since everyone is creating their own Albums, all cards will be valued differently by each player. This is because the numbers on the cards don't add any extra points to your album. So, sometimes you will float an off-suit card into a trick knowing/hoping you are the only one who will want to draft that card the next round.
Four players is the sweet spot for Folia Folio but it also plays great at three players with a stack of undealt cards on the table where one will be added to the glade at the end of each trick. But that does mean that all cards won't be used in a three-player game and, since you discard the undrafted card from the glade before starting a new trick, knowing what cards are not available might be that one step too far when playing try-hard strategically. Personally, we played the discarded glade cards face-up. This way you can glance around the table at everyone's albums (and that pile of discards) to know if it's even possible to pull off that album combining super combo you dreamed up.
Folia Folio brings it all together like the mythical six leaf album I mentioned earlier. It rewards strategy, mitigates the luck of a “bad hand” by giving each player goals that are divergent enough that you aren't constantly stepping on each other's toes but allows for a bit of hate drafting if you wish to pursue it. (Well, more like dislike drafting, you'll take a card knowing they need it to score but you can also use it in your album). Even in the recent surge of Trick Taking games, Folia Folio stands tall like a mighty oak.
A review copy of this release was provided by the publisher. Therewillbe.games would like to thank them for their support.
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