Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Every winter, the lake freezes over. It won’t last long, so we have to play as soon as possible, trying to dominate the frozen parts of the lake before everything unfreezes and we lose everything.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Area Majority
Compete to have the strongest presence in areas that award control or points.
Modular Board
Build the play area from interchangeable sections that vary between games.
Pattern Building
Place elements to create arrangements that satisfy scoring or action patterns.
Tile Placement
Place tiles to build a shared or personal spatial arrangement.
Read the full game description
Every winter, the lake freezes over. It won’t last long, so we have to play as soon as possible, trying to dominate the frozen parts of the lake before everything unfreezes and we lose everything. In order to win, choose key spaces wisely before your rival does, and control them. Show that the cold never bothered you. In Winter, two players compete to be the player with the most chips of their color on the lake at the end of the game. The game is divided into two phases. In the first, the freezing phase, players will create the frozen lake in a contiguous form using their snowflake cards. They’ll also attempt to secure zones in which they’ve managed to group four snowflakes of their color using chips. In the second phase, the unfreezing, they’ll undo the creation by moving and retrieving their cards and chips of their color. At the end of the game, the player with the most chips on the table is declared the winner. Winter is an abstract game for 2 players ages 8 and up. Games last 10 minutes in which good decisions are everything. This is a reissue of the 2016 edition with all new mechanics. Winter was the winner of the 2021 Cardboard Edison Award. It’s the first of a series of the 4 Seasons series that will continue later with Autumn, Summer, and Spring.