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Benevolent box art
2022 Ranked #16,307

Benevolent

A spatial exploration game has players extend their paths through a forest, take hex actions, and collect five different gifts first. Occupied spaces cost leaves to use, forcing careful choices between paying for rewards and rebuilding resources.

Abstract Strategy Area Majority / Influence Set Collection

Players

2-4

Play time

20-30 min

Age

10+

Complexity

2/5

Rating

6.88

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.3/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 3.9/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.6/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

Far away from the big cities lies a mysterious forest. Thousands of years ago, there lived tribes that worshiped the spirits of the woods.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

Far away from the big cities lies a mysterious forest. Thousands of years ago, there lived tribes that worshiped the spirits of the woods. Even now, ruins of their sanctuaries, conquered by ivy and amarbel, can be found among the trees. Rumour has it that those spirits have always been benevolent and sometimes leave their guests precious gifts: a piece of amber here, a bluebird’s feather or an ancient figurine of some outwardly stone there… Now it’s your time to head out to the magical forest, earn respect of its guardians and collect all their gifts! Every player takes the Character card and all 5 Footsteps of their chosen color and places 1 Footstep on the first position of the Dream Path. Assemble the forest board according to the player count. Players take turns clockwise starting with the first player. When a players has all 5 different gift tokens (no matter how many of each kind), the game immediately ends and that player wins. During your turn you must move first, and then perform an action. Movement: Place one of your Footsteps onto a hex without your Footstep. You can’t place your Footstep onto a hex where you already have a Footstep. You can’t place your Footstep onto a hex if there are no adjacent hexes with your Footsteps. Action: After the movement phase you must perform an action on the hex where you’ve just placed the Footstep. You have two options: Perform that hex’s action — but first you must pay Leaves for all Footsteps there, except yours. Gather Leaves — take 2 Leaves from the supply. Players continue taking turns until one of them wins.

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Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
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Player resources

Rulebooks, player aids, FAQs, and solo resources.

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Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
2–4
Best with
3–4
Play time
20–30 min
Age
10+
Complexity
2.0/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Yuri Zhuravljov

Artists

1
Svetlana Pikul

Publishers

1
Hobby World

Linked items

No published linked games yet.