Frozen Forest

Warning: This is a hard game with some prime number math involved. As such, this game is not for everyone, but it is very rewarding when played well.

A little girl named Mina and her best pal, a friendly yeti named Yuki, play hide-and-seek in a magical frozen forest. Not only do the trees grow perfectly aligned in a 10×10 grid, but the trees themselves grow straight up. This means that a skinny little girl could easily hide behind one. A yeti, however, is far too big not to be seen. So, that is why Mina always hides, Yuki always seeks, and they always have fun! But seeking takes a lot of energy for someone as big as Yuki, and the trees also happen to be very much to Yuki’s tastes. So he cannot resist munching every last splinter of every tree he encounters. In fact, if he runs out of trees to eat, he gets too hungry and gives up.

One player plays Yuki and the other player plays Mina. Yuki and Mina take turns moving from tree to tree. Yuki moves slowly, because with every step, he devours an entire tree (don’t worry, no real magical trees will be harmed during the game). On the contrary, Mina moves as far as she wants.

EQUIPMENT

• Board with 10×10 tree spots
• 70 snow spots (white discs)
• Yuki (an ‘ice’ meeple)
• Mina (a red meeple)

HOW TO WIN:

One player plays Yuki and the other player plays Mina.

Play twice swapping roles to see who does best. In many cases Yuki eventually catches Mina, but sometimes she manages to leave Yuki with no valid moves.

• If both players win playing Yuki the one that ate fewer trees wins.

• If both players win playing Mina, the one that ate more trees wins.

• If a player wins playing both Yuki and Mina this player is clearly a hide-and-seek master!

The paradox:

The strategy on the second game will depend on the result of the first one:

• If Yuki wins the first game, the player playing Yuki in the second game must eat fewer trees (catch Mina sooner).

• If Mina wins the first game, the player playing Yuki in the second game (who won as Mina), must eat as many trees as the other player did (trying to catch Mina later!) just in case Mina eventually escapes.