Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains

I LOOOOVVEEEEEEE Forest Shuffle. I’m not casually fond of it. I’m not simply a fan. It is my absolute favorite game, and we own every expansion because apparently I collect tiny forest animals the way other people collect responsible adult hobbies.

Recently, we somehow scored an early-release copy of Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains, and the story of how it came home with us made me love it before we even played. Our family was making our usual weekend pilgrimage to Black & Read, a local board game store. Well, “local” might be generous as it’s about a 35-minute drive...but we willingly travel farther than that for cardboard, so it counts.

While wandering through the aisles and inspecting all the new and used games we absolutely did not need, I spotted a shelf advertising Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains. I briefly lost my shit, squealed like a completely reasonable adult, and informed D.J. that we were buying it. This was not a discussion. It was a declaration.

We searched the entire store, only to discover that the last available copy was the demo they had set up less than an hour before we arrived. The game doesn’t officially release in North America until October, which naturally made me want it approximately 400% more.

Since I clearly NEEDED this game, I sent Joey over to schmooze the woman working whether there was any chance they would sell us the demo. Without even blinking, she said, “Yep,” boxed everything back up, and handed it over. My Forest Shuffle–obsessed little heart was ridiculously happy. Then, while we were finishing our shopping, Anthony surprised me by buying the game with his own money.

When I say this mama’s heart melted, I mean I fucking cried in the middle of the game store and squeezed him much tighter than any 15-year-old wants to be squeezed in public. Anthony isn’t even a fan of the original Forest Shuffle. He says there’s too much going on. I say there are endless beautiful strategic possibilities, but whatever.

Despite that, he asked us to play Smoky Mountains as soon as we got home. So that’s exactly what we did. After I stopped and bought him an energy drink and a snack as a thank-you because he absolutely refused to accept the Venmo payment I tried to send him for the game.

So, How Is the Game?

I freaking love it.

The artwork is somehow even prettier than the original and makes the entire game feel brighter, warmer, and more inviting. Even the clearing board is reversible, allowing you to choose between a cozy autumn forest and a brighter spring-and-summer landscape. Is this purely cosmetic? Yes. Did I still get ridiculously excited about it? Also yes.

The basic gameplay still feels like Forest Shuffle, but Smoky Mountains introduces rivers, new wildlife, and a few extra decisions that make your forest more interesting, and makes your brain work just a little harder. When you play a tree, you can place another card face down beneath it to create a river. That river gives you additional spaces for fish and other wildlife with the little water symbol. The catch is that you’re sacrificing a card from your hand to build it, so you have to decide whether that card would be more useful in your forest or flipped over and turned into fish housing.

The game also includes stand-alone river terrain cards, similar to the landscape cards in Dartmoor. These allow multiple cards to be tucked above and below them, opening up even more room for wildlife, scoring combinations, and questionable decisions about where one particular fish will be happiest.

The animals also seem to offer more variety and strategic balance than those in the original game. In regular Forest Shuffle, collecting enough deer and wolves can turn your peaceful little woodland into an unstoppable point factory. So far, Smoky Mountains feels much more balanced. There are more viable scoring paths, and no single combination immediately feels completely broken or unfair. Because rivers require extra cards from your hand, your supply disappears surprisingly quickly. In our games, that helped Smoky Mountains move about ten minutes faster than the original assuming no one develops analysis paralysis while deciding which fish deserves the fanciest riverfront property.

How To Play

The game works pretty much like the original Forest Shuffle. The goal of the game is to get the most points, and the game immediately ends with the 3rd winter card is drawn. Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains adds rivers, which can be played by themselves that allow you to play two cards above and below it. Or, river cards under trees that lets you play 2 cards under them, giving a tree 5 spots to play cards.

The backs of trees are no longer saplings, they're now rivers, to ensure you can always find a river to play if desired. There are also a couple unique river cards you can play that have special abilities. Some of the wildlife are now only playable on a river (or on a tree with a river).

The wildlife cards are based on wildlife from Smoky Mountains National Park, so there are few (the dang racoon is the only one that comes to mind) cards in common with the other Forest Shuffle versions.

Set Up

• Everyone starts with 6 cards and 1 cave.

• Put the clearing board in the middle.

• Prepare the deck with the three Winter cards as shown in the rulebook.

• The person who most recently walked in a forest goes first.

On your turn, choose ONE thing

Option 1: Draw Two Cards

Take each card from either:

• The face-down deck, or

• The face-up cards in the clearing.

You can mix and match. You may never hold more than 10 cards.

Option 2: Play One Card

1. Look at the number in the card’s top corner. That is its cost.

2. Pay by discarding that many other cards from your hand into the clearing.

3. Put the card into your forest.

4. Do its effect first, then its bonus if you earned it.

5. Optionally, when playing a tree, play an additional card from your hand face down as a river below a tree card.

Trees

A normal tree has four spaces:

• One above

• One below

• One on the left

• One on the right

Animal and plant cards are split in half. Choose which animal or plant you want, tuck the unwanted half under the tree, and leave your chosen half showing.

Each space normally holds only one card unless a card specifically says otherwise.

Whenever you play a tree, flip the top card of the deck into the clearing.

Rivers - The New Cards

You can play a face-up terrain card as a stand-alone river. It goes sideways and holds:

• Two cards above

• Two cards below

Only animals and plants with the water requirement symbol may be placed around a stand-alone river.

When playing a tree, you may also sacrifice one additional card from your hand by placing it face down beneath the tree. Its card back becomes a universal river.

A tree with a river has five spaces:

• Left, right, and top: any appropriate animal or plant

• Two spaces below the river: water-required animals and plants only

Important: If you play a tree without adding a river, you cannot add a universal river to it later unless another card specifically allows it.

Bonuses

Some cards offer a bonus. To receive it, every card you use to pay must match the played card’s color/tree symbol.

f you don't have two o the am color cards, you can still play the card with mismatched payment, you simply don’t receive its bonus.

The Clearing

All cards spent as payment go face up into the clearing, where anyone may draw them later. Some cards you play from your hand will allow you to take cards from the clearing to play them into your tableau.

After playing a card, count the clearing:

• Fewer than 10 cards: leave it alone.

• 10 or more cards: remove everything from the clearing.

The Cave

Some card abilities let you put cards into your cave. Cave cards are worth 1 point each at the end.

End Game

When the first or second Winter card appears, place it beside the clearing and draw a replacement. When the third Winter card appears, the game ends immediately. Even if someone was halfway through their turn.

Scoring

Using the score sheet, add up:

• Points on all visible cards in your forest

• Points from their scoring conditions

• One point per card in your cave

Highest score wins.

New Mechanics

• Playing wildlife from the clearing: Certain card abilities allow you to play a specific type of card directly from the clearing without paying its cost. If the correct card isn’t available, the ability may let you reveal cards from the deck and add them to the clearing while you search for one.

• New animal categories: Smoky Mountains introduces mice, squirrels, and fish, giving you even more adorable creatures to collect and more symbols to obsessively count at the end of the game.

• Rivers: Rivers can be played as stand-alone terrain or added beneath trees. They provide additional card spaces and create new opportunities for wildlife placement, card interactions, and scoring.

• More scoring combinations: The cards offer more ways to combine different animals, plants, trees, and rivers. Instead of feeling pushed toward one overwhelmingly powerful strategy, you have several different ways to build a high-scoring forest.

Does This Replace Forest Shuffle?

No. Absolutely not. Sit down.

The original Forest Shuffle will always hold a special place in my heart, especially once all the expansions are added and the cards start comboing off one another in increasingly ridiculous ways. I love the giant puzzle it creates, even if Anthony insists there is “too much going on.”

That said, I absolutely love Smoky Mountains. If I were teaching someone who had never played Forest Shuffle before, I would still start with the original because it provides the best introduction to the basic system. Once they had a game or two under their belt, though, Smoky Mountains would probably become the version I reached for most often. It adds just enough complexity to feel fresh without completely reinventing the game I already love.

Final Thoughts

Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains takes everything I love about the original - the beautiful artwork, satisfying card combinations, strategic decisions, and tiny woodland creatures, and adds rivers, fish, more balanced scoring, and a fresh new puzzle to obsess over. It’s slightly more complex, surprisingly quick to play, and absolutely gorgeous on the table. Scoring an early copy already made it feel special, but having Anthony secretly buy it for me turned it into one of those games that will always mean more than whatever points end up on the score sheet. I expected to love Smoky Mountains because it’s Forest Shuffle; I didn’t expect to love the story of how it joined our collection just as much.

All that's missing is a PSL to sip while I play!

Forest Shufle Smoky Mountains

Forest Shuffle Smoky Mountains releases in North America in October. You can preorder now on the Asmodee website.

Learn More