Fluttering Souls Review

Fluttering Souls

Hey folks! Today we’re collecting butterflies and trying to get a visit from a lost loved one. The first player to receive 3 visits from lost loved ones. White butterflies are said to be visits from loved ones lost. They are fluttering souls checking up and visiting loved ones from their past life. Fluttering Souls is a two player set collection card game. It plays in about 20 minutes. This game was provided by Good Games Publishing to review.

• Designer: Joel Lewis
• Publisher: Good Games Publishing
• Players: 2
• Ages: 13+
• Time to Play: 10 Minutes

Components

• 21 Butterfly Cards
• 15 Layout Cards
• 5 White Butterfly Tokens
• 1 Rulebook

Set Up

1. Place the Butterfly Tokens to the side of the play area.
2. Take out the Great Eggfly card from the butterfly cards.
3. Shuffle the butterfly cards.
4. Shuffle the layout cards.
5. Draw a layout card and flip it face up.
   1. Starting at the top row of the layout card, place butterfly cards either face up or face down depending on the layout card. Black cards are to be placed face down.

Game Play

The starting player starts the round and it alternates between players. The second player gets the Great Eggfly card. 

You’re trying to collect the best sets of butterflies to earn the most points. We’ll go over scoring after the game play. On a players turn, they take one butterfly card that is open. To be open, a butterfly can’t have another card overlaid on it.

If a player has the Great Eggfly card, they can use that to replace the card they have just taken. This blocks the cards it covers and hopefully saves it for another turn to collect.

Play goes on until all the butterflies have been collected. Then you score the round. The player with the most points wins a white butterfly token. Then if a player has 3 white butterflies, they win the game. If no player has 3 white butterflies yet, then another round is played. Draw a new layout card and set up for another round.

Scoring

• Blue Morpho
  • Collect 3 of these butterflies and earn 4 points.
• Eighty-Eight
  • Collect 2 of these and earn 3 points.
• Swallowtail
  • Either 2 points per swallowtail or two swallowtails can be used as a wild in another set.
• Monarch
  • 2 of these and earn 2 point, 3 of these and earn 5 points, 4 of these and earn 8 points.
• Great Eggfly
  • 0 points, but will win ties for points.

Final Thoughts

This is a small box game, and inside of it is a small amount of components. The wooden butterfly tokens are nice a chunky.  It’s nice to have wooden components when the publisher could have easily done cardboard tokens. The art on the cards are beautiful and nicely illustrated. The layout cards are nicely done and you can easily differentiate what cards are face up and what ones are face down. It also adds a nice variety to set up each time you’re playing. 

Game play is simple, fast, and elegant. This game is pure set collection. It boils that down, adds beautiful butterflies, and gives you a game that plays super fast. I enjoy games like this, and I think there’s a place in every collection for a simple back and forth game.  Sure, I enjoy big and heavy worker placement games or area control games with miniatures, but I also enjoy the games that don’t take too long to set up or play.  This is one of those games. Even though it’s fast to play and set up, there is some strategy to this with what cards you’re collecting. Then there is my favorite card. The Great Eggfly. This beauty lets you set up your move while blocking your opponent from taking what they need or what you need. 

 

If you’re into butterflies, quick card games, and set collection this game is for you!  If you’re into just one of those things, this is a great game to get.  It’s fast, beautiful, and just a nice break from those games that take forever to setup and play.  You could call this a filler game. Alternatively, you could make this one of the games on date night after you cook a nice dinner.  I really like the fast paced, elegant card games that I can play multiple times in a row.  This one is simple and easy enough you can teach it to people who haven’t played modern board games yet and it’s something that won’t overwhelm them.