Last night, it was almost midnight, I had to wake up early the next morning, and I was very much tired. Yet I didn't want to end the day before going to bed. I had planned to play Star Clicker for my "Pew Pew" review series (very much stalling, I know), and had felt very excited about the prospect of it the whole day, yet it required too much set-up, so I gave up.
I spent twenty minutes walking in circles from shelf to shelf to try to pick a title that felt fresh (therefore not in my regular rotation), that could be played without dice (too noisy in the evening), and that was low on the mind-load side. Finally, I got an illumination: I would play Fairy Trails. It's short, the rules could not be easier, and it's not too brain-demanding.
So I played once. Lost. Couldn't resist trying again. And won!
I like how convoluted the trails can be in the end.
This is such a good solo game! The rules are almost identical to My First Carcassonne: you lay tiles with paths and "spots" alongside them, and when you close both ends of a path, you can put tokens of the matching color on the spots. The goal is to place all your little color beads. The main difference with My First Carcassonne is that each tile features a dual system of paths (yellow and purple) that are entirely independent of each other. So you are managing both networks at the same time.
In solo, the goal is to place all beads of each color, with the special rule that, it you lay three tiles without placing a bead by closing an appropriate path, you lose instantly. This means that the game is very tense throughout, and you need to constantly pay attention because defeat is always lurking nearby. It doesn't require much strategic thinking, so as I said, it is not too brain-demanding, but you need to fully immerse into the mycelium networks that you are building, scoring paths efficiently. I especially like how the game sets an organic tempo as you count the tiles and dread the third one every time.
This has been on my Top 20 for two years for a reason and I keep enjoying it!