Renegade Game Studios Fox in the Forest: Duet

This game is not difficult to learn (if you're like me, video guides and examples of gameplay are always helpful to supplement the included player manual for board games). It plays relatively quickly, and the art is pleasing to look at. I can see it being simple to a fault for anyone looking for a particularly challenging game, but for the people I intend to play this with, it's wonderfully easy to teach and learn, and it's a chill game to pass time with. I'm happy to add it to the game library.

The original Fox in the Forest was a beautifully-illustrated and deeply strategic trick taking game. The designers solved the difficult of making 2-player trick taking games, and also introduced a fun mechanic where winning by too large a margin resulted in a loss, which kept games intense and often allowed less skilled players to turn their early losses to their own advantage. Cannot recommend that game highly enough. The coop sequel game is not by the same designer, and in fact no designer is credited at all. That's telling, because it does not hit any of the same highs. You're both playing cards blindly, since talking with your partner is forbidden, which makes this game less about cooperative play, since there is no real chance to strategize. The strategic decisions you do make are pretty predictable and not terribly interesting. The special card powers are also less fun than the original. Not recommended unless you really, really want to play a coop two-player card game, of which there are not many options. I'd recommend Pandemic instead, or a non-coop game like Jaipur, Targi, or the original Fox in the Forest, all of which are great options. Arboretum is a 2-4 player game that plays well at all player counts, and is one of the best card games I've ever played.

I can see this becoming one of our favourite family games. The length is just right for a quick game after dinner - I'm guessing once we're good at it around 15 minutes. It's a cooperative game where a pair will get better at playing as they get more familiar with their partner's style, which can be very satisfying when you beat a difficult game together. And it's small enough to chuck in a bag to take on holiday. Perfect!

Great game, fairly straight forward to understand the rules and easy but fun to play. Package arrived well and in tact.

I got this as a surprise date night activity for my husband and I. He has been wanting to play more co-op style games (mostly videogames). But he loves board games and foxes, so when I saw an add for this game on Instagram I immediately bought it, no questions asked. The game takes 20-30 minutes to play. We easily beat the game the first time we played it, so we thought it was going to be too easy, but ever since then it has been a fun way for us to get defeated. It's a healthy amount of strategy and luck, as well as a great way to work together with your partner--trying to be on the same thought pattern without being able to communicate. I would definitely recommend this for any friends or couples who are into board games that don't take too long (like Catan or Sythe), and who don't want to get too competitive with each other. It's also super travel friendly!