Family•Reviews

Fluttering Souls

Sometimes you just need a light and beautiful two player game.

For those nights the small box card game Fluttering Souls is a perfect fit.

How Do You Play?

In Fluttering Souls, you’ll attempt to make collections of butterflies to score the most victory points.

Each type of butterfly scores slightly differently depending on how many cards of the same type are collected.

Each round, players will shuffle the butterfly cards and then lay them out according to the layout card. Some cards will be face up while others will be face down. Two butterfly cards will not be used in each layout and are set aside until the next round.

One at a time beginning with the first player, players will select a card from the layout that is completely uncovered to take into their collection zone. As more cards are removed, cards higher in the layout will become open and thus able to be collected. Cards that are face down are immediately flipped over once they have been uncovered. Players continue collecting cards until there are none left.

The second player is given the Great Eggfly card at the beginning of each round. This card offers no victory points, but allows the player using it replace a card they collected with it, thus recovering cards that would have otherwise been uncovered and available. Eventually the Great Eggfly will have to be drafted for the game to continue. Its new owner will then have the ability to use it if they wish.

Once all cards are collected, players count up their points for successfully collected sets and the player with the most points wins the round and takes a butterfly token. While offering no victory points, the Great Eggfly does break ties.

The first player to win 3 out of 5 rounds is declared the winner.

What Do We Think?

If you are on the hunt for a simple two player game to enjoy with your favorite gaming partner, Fluttering Souls is definitely worth checking out.

I absolutely love how simple it is. It’s easy to learn and plays quickly as well. We can work through all five rounds in about 15-20 minutes. Perfect for a little date night game!

With 16 different card set ups to try, there’s a great bit of variety you can get with the small amount of cards this game take to play. We have really enjoyed that so long as you play it smart, you can win with any of the butterfly sets. The use of the Great Eggfly to swap and block your opponent provides a fun little bit of take-that in a simple to use form. Everything is very straightforward in this abstract game, but the simplicity really suits it well.

Simplicity doesn’t mean they skimped on the beauty factor though. This game is really well produced with beautifully illustrated cards and fun wooden butterfly counters. From box to components every bit of the game looks lovely and adds to the overall play. Plus, thanks to the randomization from shuffling and the various card layouts replayability is very high!

Fluttering Souls is easily picked up by younger players as well. Our daughter (8) loves the theme and naturally gravitated towards it. For kids in that in-between age where they are getting ready to age out of “kid” games and are looking for things that feel more grown up, Fluttering Souls hits the mark. It look sophisticated without any complicated mechanics that might overwhelm a younger player.

Is this a “forever game?” Will it always be something that holds your interest and keeps getting to the table? Possibly not. But for $13 Fluttering Souls has everything I’m looking for in a light two player micro game. Its size and the ease of teaching it to new players means it’ll get tossed in a bag to come along to a restaurant or our next family gathering for sure.

Summary

Fluttering Souls is a lovely two player micro game that is beautiful both in its looks and its straight forward design. With just a handful of cards, this small game manages to maintain high replayability as players attempt to find the most clever ways to collect sets without revealing cards from the stack that will benefit their opponent.

Don’t let the age on the box scare you off, while it says 14+ Fluttering Souls is easily picked up by players starting around 8 years old.

For a mere $13, this is a great one to pick up for anyone looking for a light, small box strategy game!

To have a copy of Fluttering Souls flutter into your home, click here!

A special thank you to our friends at Good Games Publishing for sending us a copy of Fluttering Souls to review. As always our thoughts and opinions are our own.