by SgtSagara1001


I Got Your Six
Six sentence reviews focused on brevity, not grammar
2-minute read

Author: Meeple Mark



Forever Home

Players: 1 - 5
Complexity: Micro · Filler · Light · Medium · Heavy




Designers: Lottie Hazell & Jack Hazell
Artists: Dann May & Dominique Vassie
Publisher: Birdwood Games (English Edition)

Photo Credit: Wouter Debisschop


Forever Home is a game of action selection, drafting, pattern-building, and set-collection with high-quality components ideal for those who enjoy lighter games while extra layers in the design such as randomized public objectives, majorities, and advanced player boards will appeal to experienced gamers.

Technically, this is an action selection game (players take two actions per turn and may choose the same action twice), yet in actuality, drafting is the primary mechanic as the three actions are: draft a pattern card from a display into your hand, draft a tile from a display directly to your player board (to progress toward completing one of your pattern cards), or shift a tile already on your board (likewise, to complete a pattern) with the latter action used the least.

Once a pattern (all of which are very basic consisting of only two to five tiles and possibly some empty spaces) is completed/scored then a certain number of tiles must be removed from it as indicated by the pattern card, so finding similar patterns is fun/crucial allowing players to make a new one from the remnants quickly; removed tiles will form various sets (different/same/specific colors of tiles) based on public objective cards and the choice of which set to begin/continue with each removed tile is as important as the pattern itself as the sets will comprise most of a player’s score.

Forever Home plays fast and is completely abstract; however, screen-printed dog meeples and beautiful art illustrate the theme well, though unfortunately, pattern cards reuse the same seven images (public objective cards all have unique art).

The game scales very well with the noteworthy difference being more cards/tiles are removed and replaced from the display between each player’s turn in games with 4 or 5 players compared to lower player counts where there is the potential to plan ahead based on the display; solo is an excellent experience with an emphasis on speed/efficiency and adds a small wrinkle to the scoring system.

A couple of design issues that may keep your tail from wagging are that players can inadvertently “cheat” when scoring pattern cards if they don’t recognize one has been completed (each must be scored as soon as it’s complete - a lower-scoring pattern cannot be bypassed for a higher-scoring one) and hate-drafting can be a sound strategy.

IGY6 Recommendation: Goodbye · Try · Buy

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