Dear readers, I’m here to report,
On a game of mysterious sort,
It’s more magical than strange,
Fairies, goblins may change,
The way you lay cards down for sport!

Yes, yes, my poetry may be atrocious, but I choose to rhyme without reason simply to express how Goblins Drool, Fairies Rule is far superior to my lame limerick. Goblins Drool, Fairies Rule (hereby to be known as GDFR), is a game by David Sanhueza of Game-O-Gami, recently released on Kickstarter. I was lucky enough to be involved in the development of the Kickstarter campaign and, so, have been privy to a lot of the hard work that David has put into bringing GDFR to gaming tables.

In GDFR, players take on the roles of guardians of the Fairy Ring, a magical area where fairies frolic, but also a place where mischievous goblins are kept safely in check. Speaking of mischief, a band of goblins have managed to break free of the Fairy Ring, supposedly while some fairies were auditioning for Disney, and have escaped into the real world to do all manner of goblin-like activities – like explosive frisbee or tying shoelaces together. It’s now up to the players wrangle the goblins and get them under control. How does one accomplish such a task? With rhyming, of course!

The main mechanic of GDFR lies in its rhyming schemes. Five sets of goblins and fairies share rhyming names, such as Dusty Dour/Petal Flower and Gobble T. Goop/Hula Hoop. When players place cards to the center of the table, they must flip over any cards with rhyming names. Since fairies are on the front of cards and goblins are on the backs, this can cause fairies to turn into goblins and vice versa, so the center of the table is constantly in flux. The player who placed the card must then take any cards with symbols that match the card placed. The goal of the game is to be the first player with no goblins on their side, or with six fairies total. You can take a closer look at how these simple but wonderful mechanics work in the gameplay video below (narrated by our very own Monkey238).

As all of you may be able to tell, GDFR was designed and developed as a children’s game. However, I can safely say that designing an entertaining game for children – and one that adults will enjoy playing with those children – is no easy feat. In fact, like comedy, it’s incredibly difficult to pull off convincingly. Now, Monkey238 and I don’t have any kids (yet), but we do often tap into our inner youth when playing a game, and can accurately assess if a game is entertaining. GDFR does a great job of satisfying both our inner children and our inner gamers.

Aside from the gameplay, the game is almost worth its price alone as an art piece. The fairy and goblin portraits from veteran artist Mike Maihack are fantastic, and each card will feature an individual image of the frolicker or mischief-maker. The game contains only 20 cards, but they’re double-sided, which means 40 individual portraits. Plus, the cards are gigantic which not only show off the art, but make it easier for small hands (and bigger, clumsier ones) to pick them up.

I will readily admit that I may have a bit of bias when it comes to this project, but even if I wasn’t involved in a part of its production, I would still highly recommend it to families and the young at heart. Head on over to Kickstarter now, pledge your support, and help create something magical.

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