Waldschattenspiel (Shadows in the Woods) - a tabletop board game
Who will win, the light or the dwarves?
Wer wird gewinnen, das Lich oder die Zwerge?
Who will win, the light or the dwarves?
This beautiful German board game, Waldschattenspiel (Shadows in the Woods), by Kraul, wandered into our lives when I bought it for my children at Christmas 2017. It's a simple but magical game best played in complete darkness.
The game world
The board is a forest - lit by a single luminary tea-light that travels the forest pathways on each roll of a die. The tea-light (moved with a small wooden paddle) illuminates wooden 3D trees which cast a shadow on to the board, providing dark hiding woodsy places. Yes, you get to play with real fire!
Within the shadows cast by the trees, tiny Zwerge - dwarves/gnomes - must keep to the shadows. Any who stray from the shadows are frozen in the light until rescued by another dwarf.
The game's objective is for all the dwarves to gather together, safely in the shadow of one tree, before the light freezes them all.
Setting up
Tip: First time play: unpack in the daytime!
This is useful to know if you're excited to play this for the first time one night - you should unpack it during the daytime. Before playing, you have the opportunity to make. You transform the wooden dwarf playing pieces into dwarfish characters. There is felt supplied for their crafting of their hats. I also took up my additional whimsical requirement to include beards. Some felted wool from my stash added a beardiness any king from under the mountain would be proud of. I did have a few visions of them catching alight, so I tamed my initial extravagance of radically curly beards to this:
What I particularly love in a world of plasticky profiteering in Monopoly and Game of Life empire-building games is that it feels like a paradoxical ancient-fresh breeze in games. It hearkens to old dark fairy tales, storytelling, folklore and simple themes of light and dark —yet flips them, because the shadows are the safer place.
It is an incredibly calming game, and dwarf players play cooperatively against the light player. Usually, an adult plays the light as the naked flame is pushed around the board through the darkened forest, while the children work cooperatively as hiding dwarves, but older children could be given the role of the light.
When the lights are out
Complete darkness works best, and in this shadowy world, the trees also cast their shadows on the walls, so if you can preserve a childlike wonder, you too are in the shadowy forest. Part of the realisation for the children is that they can hide their dwarves in sight right in front of the light-bearer in what feels like should surely be visible - yet if the candle is in the right position beyond the tree, the adult won't be able to see them. The effect of being hidden yet in front of you, in complete darkness, is quite magical. The light-bearer can't move from their seat and must close their eyes during the dwarves’ movements. You rely utterly on the tiny light to catch a glimpse of a hat or beard. It's difficult to find the dwarves, much to the amusement of young children.
As the adult playing the game with younger children, because you need to look away while the children hide their dwarves each time, you may need to ask older children to take responsibility for helping the younger children avoid reaching directly over the candle flame. The game is recommended for 5 years and above. It's such a soothing game that it can be played right before toddler bedtime.
Whimsical, maybe not for everyone
The only other grown-up person in our family of 4 found the game painfully boring, and we never convinced him to play it ever again. Yet this was perfect for kids aged 9 and 5, and three of us have played it for many years. There is an additional game board on the reverse of the board, which we haven't played yet. I’ll probably keep playing this when my children lose interest completely. Maybe my cat will play with me.
Waldschattenspiel (Shadows in the Woods) is more than a game; it has something enchanting about it.
For the story lovers and forest-hearted folks
I can't quite explain how much I love this game, so unique in its gentleness, a playable fairy tale. It feels older than it is. A game that relies on your willingness to take on a role and be part of the world of the shadowy forest, to fall into an adventure of your own making. In simple terms, you let your imagination go beyond the board. My children invented names for the dwarves. I loved their secret whispering strategies as they negotiated tactics for keeping hidden, cooperating to free the dwarves frozen by the light and guessing where the shadows might fall.
Waldschattenspiel (Shadows in the Woods — my favourite board game that will be remembered and loved beyond childhood. If you find the game hard to track down, why not craft your own Waldschattenspiel.
When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.
— Ursula K. Le Guin.