Have you every dreamed of running an Inn or Hotel, serving all of your new friends who come through the doors? What if we could do it in a fantasy realm and see what kind of unique characters we run across? Let’s explore that today as we jump into Enchanted Ivy!
Enchanted Ivy is published by allplay for one player. It plays in 15 mins per session. Designed by Sarah Joshua with art by Wenyi Geng.
Overview:
In Enchanted Ivy, you are Ivy the new owner of this magical Inn. Each time you play your goal is to build your Inn in a way that best fits your guests and grows the ivy on your walls. Score points off meeting their preferences and growing your ivy!
Gameplay:
You can play this game in story or endless mode, giving you a unique way to enjoy it in both cases. Either way you are using the storybook and cards in the box while being careful not to open everything as their are some spoilers and hidden things in the game.
In story mode you can play through 11 scenarios. Complete stories and unlock new doors and unique parts of the game. Endless mode lets you set up the scenarios for a wide array of guests and options.
To start a scenario you first open a storybook, get the guests and put them in the bag while taking the scoring card and ivy cards as well. Place a starting door, draw 2 ivy cards and 2 guest tokens and you are ready to go. Each scenario has a diagram you try to build your inn to look like. Balconies are set up in the Inn for your guest tokens and the game begins. To play a turn you build into the Inn, place a guest token and then replenish.
Once you draw the last ivy card, finish the turn and end the game. You complete a scenario you need to score enough points to reach the success goal. There’s also high scores to try and achieve as well!
In endless mode it’s a similar style of play but you use the rules of a storybook and make up your own scenario. You still play by the same gameplay rules and turn style and score the same, but you can add your own unique guests and setup card. Add your score at the end and see where you fall in the rank!
Impressions:
I do not play a lot of solo games in the board game space, but do in the video game world so a solo board game isn’t the first thing I grab. But I can say that Enchanted Ivy hooked me first with the art and then kept me caught with the gameplay. For a solo board game, this is a good experience!
The art is gorgeous and I think it really showcases this game well. I love the whimsical art and the style of it all is cozy fantasy, it really pops off the pieces and gives you a fun experience on the table that just looks great. The game packs well into the box, meaning it’s a lot of good material in a small package that makes it easy to travel with or take just about anywhere to play.
The two different modes are fun and I look forward to getting into it a little bit more to explore. I’ve played through most of the story mode and tried the endless mode, but for me the story mode is great and I enjoy following it along. It’s engaging and easy to follow the slow of this game which is going to make it easy to get to most tables.
Overall this is a solo game you need to explore yourself to really see the whimsical world you get to explore as Ivy in her enchanted Inn. So grab your favorite drink and playing surface and get ready to jump into this game and enjoy the vibes as you seek to run the best Inn in town!
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