We finally played Fairy Tale Inn by Paolo Mori and Remo Conzadori. This gimmicky little game sat on our shelf of shame for far too long. Now that the shrink is off, let’s take a look at what makes this one stand out.
What’s it all about?
You’ll play as the Innkeeper in a town frequented by notorious fairy tale characters. The problem? There’s another Innkeeper who wants to steal your guests! You and your opponent will fill rooms in the Inn and battle to be the one with the most gold at the end.
The game board
The Inn you’ll be filling with guests is a vertical game board that will likely remind you of Connect 4. It’s the same basic concept, but you’ll be dropping your guest tokens down into the columns in strategic patterns to score points!
You’ll notice that certain rooms in the Inn have symbols below them. These are called special room effects and you’ll earn them when you place a guest in that room. These special room effects can earn you 1 or 2 coins from the bank, allow you to take an extra turn at a cost of 1 coin, or they may take away your guest’s abilities.
The Guests
Fairy Tale Inn includes 8 different guests. You’ll randomly pick 5 guests each game, which provides some replayability down the road! Each guest will have a unique way in which it will score you points in the Inn. These points can be scored as an ongoing effect, when the guest is added to the Inn, or at the end of the game. Each guest also comes with 8-12 corresponding tokens that are used to fill the Inn!
The Guest List
There is a small game board that displays the guests who are ready to check into your Inn. At the start of the game, you’ll randomly draw 4 guest tokens from the included bag and populate the spaces on the guest list board. Each time a player selects a guest, the remaining guests are slid down, and a new guest is drawn from the bag and put into the top spot.
You’ll notice on the guest list board that the two top spaces have coins next to the left of their location. If you want the guest in the top spot, it’ll cost you 2 coins. But if you wait a couple turns (and if your opponent doesn’t claim the guest for themselves) you may be able to get that guest for free!
Gameplay
On your turn there’s four actions that you can take:
- Pick your guest from the guest list board (pay any coins if required).
- Drop your selected guest into the Inn (just like you would in Connect 4).
- If your guest lands in a spot with a special room effect, you’ll resolve it.
- Lastly, resolve any character abilities your guest might have
The game end is triggered when 3 columns in the Inn have been filled. Simply count your gold, and the player with the most is the winner!
Wrap Up for Fairy Tale Inn
We’ve had a lot of fun with Fairy Tale Inn. Even though it’s only a 2-player game, we’ve still played as a family and just worked in teams. I’m not sure the adults would ever pick this game out to play if the kids weren’t around, but it’s possible. It’s quick and easy enough to play, but it’ll still make you think too.
I could only come up with 2 small flaws. The first is that the box is large for a game of this weight. Of course, that’s because of the plastic Inn stored in the box, and I wouldn’t trade it for a 2-D variant. The gimmick of the Inn board makes this game a little extra special!
The only other complaint I have is that there’s only 8 guests in the box. I really hope CMON releases a mini expansion for Fairy Tale Inn. It would be so easy, and it would add a lot to the game. There is a ninth character called the “Pixie” that is available for purchase from the BGG store. It’s a promo from the Dice Tower.
