Lost in the Woods Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Objective
  • Main Cards
  • Game Rounds
    • Round Setup
    • Round Gameplay
    • Draw 1 Card
    • End the Round
• Event Cards

Components

Lost in the Woods has 1 punchboard Clock and 45 cards; consisting of 1 Mansion card, 1 Bridge card, 21 Progress cards, 12 Fright cards, and 10 Event cards.

• 1 Mansion card and 1 Bridge card.
• 21 Progress cards. These cards have a rectangular frame.
• 12 Fright cards. These cards have a cathedral frame.
• 10 Event cards. These cards have an oval frame.

Setup

1. Take the Mansion card (1) and Bridge card (2) and place them in the play area so that 9 Progress cards will fit between them as shown below. This is called the Forest row (3). (Diagram omitted.)
2. Take the Clock (4) and place it above the Bridge, setting the minute hand to 12.
3. Shuffle the remaining cards to make the Journey deck (5) and place them face down next to the Clock. Leave space above the Journey deck for a discard pile (6) and to its left for the cards you draw from the Journey deck to make the Fright Row (7).

How to Play

Objective

The goal of Lost in the Woods is to place nine Progress cards in the Forest row, thereby reaching the bridge at the edge of the forest, before one hour (twelve time increments) is up.

• When you place the ninth card in the Forest row, you immediately win the game.
• If the clock ever reaches the 12th increment, you immediately lose the game.

Main Cards

There are two main card types in Lost in the Woods - Progress cards and Fright cards.

Progress cards have one of three good luck symbols on the bottom: an Acorn, a Shamrock, or a Double Distelfink.

• Acorn
• Shamrock
• Double Distelfink

Fright cards show one of three types of forest animals: a Wolf, an Owl, and a Bat.

• Wolf
• Owl
• Bat

Event cards are explained, in length, on page 7.

Game Rounds

Lost in the Woods is played over a number of rounds. During each round you will draw cards from the Journey deck, one at a time, trying to draw unique pairs of Progress cards with matching good luck symbols while trying to avoid drawing pairs of Fright cards, or one of each Fright card. Any good luck symbol can be placed next to the Mansion card.

Round Setup

• At the start of a round, draw cards from the Journey deck until one Progress card is drawn. If two matching Fright cards, or one of each type is drawn, discard the last drawn card. If a Event card is drawn, activate its ability as usual.

Round Gameplay

• Once the first Progress card is drawn in a round, you have 2 options:
  • Draw 1 Card
  • End the Round

Draw 1 Card

• If you draw a card, take the top card of the deck and place it in the Fright Row. (Diagram omitted.)
• If the card is a Event card, activate its effect.
• If the card is the second in a matching pair of Fright cards, increase the time by 1 increment, discard all cards in the Fright row, and begin a new round.
• If the card is the third unique Fright card, increase the time by 2 increments, discard all cards in the Fright row, and begin a new round.

After you have completed any above effects, if a Fright card did not cause you to begin a new round, continue by repeating round gameplay: either Draw 1 Card or End the Round.

If there are no cards in the Journey deck, reshuffle the discard pile and place it facedown to recreate the Journey Deck.

End the Round

1. When you end the round, move 1 Progress card with a matching good luck symbol from the Fright row to the Forest row for each good luck symbol on more than one Progress card in the Fright row. For example, if there are 2 or more Shamrock symbols on cards in the Fright row and 2 or more Acorn symbols on cards in the Fright row, you may take 1 of each of those cards and put them each in the Forest row. You may place these cards in any order, starting in the left-most empty space each time.

   Note: You may never place a card in the Forest row next to another card with the same good luck symbol on it. This means that if you have exactly one set of Progress cards and the symbol matches the last played card in the Forest row, you may not add it to the Forest row.

2. If you had 0 or 3 sets of at least 2 matching good luck symbols, increase the time by 1 increment.

3. Discard all cards in the Fright row and begin a new round.

Event Cards

When any of the Event cards are drawn, the action may be performed if the player has a choice. Otherwise, the event is resolved and then discarded.

• Wishing Wells: When a Wishing Well is drawn and there are any Progress cards with matching good luck symbols in the Fright row, you may choose to discard all Progress cards with that good luck symbol to move time back 1 increment. This may not cause you to have more time increments than you started the game with. This action may only be used one time each round.

• Torch: When the Torch card is drawn, you may spend 1 time increment to "light" it and set it aside. Once set aside, you can use it at anytime to discard all Fright cards from the Fright row. Once used, the Torch is discarded.

• Compass: If the Compass is in the Fright row when you choose to end the round, you may spend 1 time increment to treat it as a Progress card with any single good luck symbol on it.

• Lightning: When Lightning is drawn, discard one Progress card of your choice from the Fright row.

• Gravestone: When the Gravestone is drawn, increase time by one increment for each Fright card in the Fright row.

• Signpost: When the Signpost is drawn, you may spend one time increment to take any one Progress card from the Fright row and place it at the end of the Journey row, provided the symbol is different than the symbol on the previous card. If you do, discard all cards in the Fright row and begin a new round.

• Scarecrow: When the Scarecrow is drawn, discard all cards in the Fright row and begin a new round.

• Headless Horseman: When the Headless Horseman is drawn, discard the last card in the Forest row. Then, shuffle the discard pile and place it under the Progress deck.