Lodge: A Cozy Bite of Competition

Serve hikers tasty snacks in the woods…and the occasional bear. But watch out for the squirrels, who want to steal all the food!

Published by Little Rocket Games, Lodge is a card game for 2-6 players with a 20-minute play time.

Gameplay

Depending on player count, 3-4 customer cards are placed in the display. Each customer is worth a certain number of points; some have special abilities, and each wants certain snacks. Each player is also dealt a hand of seven snack cards. There are four different types of snacks, and each snack card is numbered 1-48.

The game is divided into three rounds. Each turn, each player chooses a snack card from his hand, and all chosen cards are revealed simultaneously. Players then play their cards in order of their number, lowest to highest. When it’s your turn to play a card, you place it beneath a customer who wants that snack. A customer’s snack requirements can be played in any order, but when the final one is placed, the person who played the last one gets to claim the customer card. A new customer card will then be drawn from the draw deck and placed in the display.

When a player takes a customer card, he can activate its ability if it has one. Some abilities include drawing an additional snack card or swapping a snack card with an opponent, for instance.

If a player’s snack card that he played that turn is not wanted by any of the customers currently in the display when it’s his turn to place it, he discards it and gains a squirrel token.

There are also squirrels in the customer deck. When one of these is drawn when refilling the customer display, all snack cards currently played to a customer that match the snacks on the squirrel card are discarded, and each player with at least one squirrel token gains another one. The squirrel card is then discarded and another customer card is drawn.

The first and second rounds end when at least one player has only two snack cards left.  All customer cards and snack cards are left on the table, and everyone is dealt snack cards until they have seven again. The third round ends once one player has no cards left.

If a player has exactly ten squirrel tokens when the game ends, he automatically wins. If he has more than ten, he automatically loses. If he has exactly five squirrel tokens, he gains five bonus points. Otherwise, each squirrel token is worth negative one point. If someone did not win by having ten squirrel tokens, everyone counts up their points from their claimed customer cards, and the person with the most points wins.

Review

Lodge is a nicely-designed, unambitious game that does exactly what it sets out to do — provide a good, casual gaming experience for you and your friends. It’s not particularly flashy or revolutionary, but it’s light, fast, and has solid player interaction.

Players have to balance how many customers want a particular snack, and where they think others might try to play, with keeping turn order in mind. Do you want to play a card you think will more likely get you a customer, but risk that someone else might claim that customer before your turn? Or would you rather play early and avoid the risk of a squirrel?

Squirrel tokens introduce a push-your-luck element as well, since players can try for the five bonus points or even the instant win with 10. However, that victory can be tricky to time, since a squirrel card can always be drawn and will force a player to gain an extra squirrel. There are also some customers who allow you to get rid of squirrels, while others give them to you, so a player has some room to manipulate their squirrel acquisition further.

The cards are a little on the thin side, but the artwork is cozy and fun, with each customer's artwork unique. It’s got a pleasant quality to it with just a little, light, pleasant humor to its presentation.

Lodge isn’t remarkable, but it’s a pleasant experience, nicely put together, with enjoyable simultaneous turns and player interaction that makes for a nice casual, social card game.

Pros: Good player interaction, plays at a nice pace

Cons: Cards are a little thin

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.