Winter Review: endure the freezing and unfreezing of the lake

Winter was "born" in 2016 as a micro-game with 18 cards and 18 tokens for a contest called the Board Game Geek 18 Card Contest, in which it was a finalist. It was the first version, handcrafted and distributed in a print-and-play format.

Being a finalist was the incentive needed by the designers, siblings Maria Blasco Arnandis and Enrique Blasco, to publish it through their own publishing house, Brote de Juegos.

In 2021, Winter won the Cardboard Edison Award.

As Winter gained prominence, its official publication took place the following year, in 2022, by the Spanish publisher Devir, during SPIEL Essen, held annually in Germany, considered the world's largest board game convention.

This new edition featured professional production, refined art, and quality components, maintaining the minimalist essence that is the game's premise.

Winter is an abstract game. The designers' aim was to create a minimalist and atmospheric game that conveyed the ephemeral feeling of winter: the cold that arrives, dominates, but inevitably gives way to the thaw.

The game is the first in the 4 Seasons series, which will continue with the titles Autumn, Summer, and Spring.

Let's get to know Winter!

Winter is a 2-player game, ages 8+, by siblings and designers Maria Blasco Arnandis and Enrique Blasco. Art by the studio Meeple Foundry and Carlos Ureta.

Winter was released in 2022 by the Spanish publisher Devir, and in Brazil in 2023 also by Devir. Its main mechanics are: model building, area influence/majority, and a modular board.

In 2022, it was nominated for Best International 2-Player Game by 5 Seasons.

Playing the Game

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.

This is the background for Winter!

Winter is a minimalist game, and its components reflect this:

- 18 snowflake cards (light blue and dark blue);

- 18 snowflake tokens (light blue and dark blue).

That's it!

The setup goes like this:

- Shuffle all the cards and form a pile;

- Turn over the 1st card to reveal the snowflakes and place it on the table;

- The 1st player (chosen at random) reveals a 2nd card and places it next to the 1st card;

- The 2nd player chooses the color of snowflakes each player will play with (light blue or dark blue);

- Both players receive the tokens corresponding to their color;

- The 2nd player can now begin their turn.

Winter consists of 2 Phases, namely:

- Phase 1: Freeze;

- Phase 2: Unfreeze.

Each Phase has a number of actions, and the difference with Winter is that Phase 2 only begins after Phase 1 has completely finished, so they do not alternate. This is very interesting and makes a lot of sense, as it deals with the complete freezing of the lake and, afterwards, its unfreezing.

Let's talk about the Phases!

Phase 1, the Freezing phase, has two possible actions, of which, on your turn, you must choose only one:

- Action 1: reveal a card from the pile and put it into play;

- Action 2: place 1 token of your color.

Action 1 consists of revealing a card from the pile and placing it. It sounds simple, and it is, but don't be fooled - there is a correct way to position the card, and furthermore, if you get it wrong here you will give your opponent a great advantage.

Each card has 4 snowflake sections, in light blue (for one player) and dark blue (for the other player).

To get ahead of things a bit, the goal here is to connect 4 snowflakes of your color, so it's important to pay attention to the colors and how you place the card.

But let's get back to the card placement:

- cards are always placed next to the other cards on the table, in the same alignment;

- they can be rotated 180º, but not 90º;

- cards must touch at least one of the 4 snowflake sections of another card.

This action guarantees you the spaces to later place tokens of your color and control the freezing of the lake.

If you choose Action 2, simply place 1 token of your color - but this also has its own strategy. The tokens are always placed in the center of a square formed by 4 sections of snowflakes of the same color. This action is the most important, as it guarantees your control over the freezing lake.

After performing one of the two actions in Phase 1, it will be the other player's turn to perform an action, also from Phase 1.

Phase 1, the Freeze phase, ends when, during either player's turn, the deck runs out by playing the last card on the table. Thus, at the end of Phase 1, the Freeze phase, the 18 cards will create a group of connected cards and tokens, the "frozen lake".

Then it's time for Phase 2, the Unfreeze phase. During their turn in this phase, each player must choose one of three possible actions:

- Action 1: move 1 card to another position AND place at least 1 token of their color;

- Action 2: remove 1 card from the table;

- Action 3: collect 1 token of their color.

An interesting detail is that this Phase continues in alternating turns until the end of the game. Another important thing during Phase 2 is its golden rule:

- it is not possible to remove or move a card that has a token on top of it.

Now that we're on the Unfreeze, let's move on to Action 1, which is to move 1 card to another position. To be executed, it must meet all 2 of the following conditions:

- It must form at least one new square of 4 snowflake sections of the color belonging to the player who moved it;

- that player must immediately place one of their tokens in each new square of their color that was created when moving the card.

This Action is crucial because, thematically, the lake is thawing, the "ice chunks" are moving, but you still have presence with your token.

In Action 2, to remove 1 card from the table, simply respect the golden rule mentioned earlier, and when a card is removed, it is discarded from the game and cannot be used again.

This action is important because it gives you two great opportunities:

- to remove a good card for your opponent;

- by doing so, you don't remove one of your own tokens (Action 3, below).

Finally, Action 3, which is to collect 1 token of your color, is by far the worst of all, since you haven't moved any cards and, obviously, haven't placed any more of your own tokens or removed any cards from the game, so, in fact, this Action should be used when there's no other option.

The only "advantage" is that when a token is removed, it returns to the player and can be reused in Action 1 of this same Phase, but that's all.

One very important thing: during Phase 2, the Unfreeze phase, if a player moves or removes a card and this group of cards is divided into two disconnected groups, all cards and tokens in the group with fewer cards will be removed from the game.

If both groups have an equal number of cards, the player whose turn it is decides which group is discarded.

After performing one of the three actions in Phase 2, it will be the other player's turn to perform an action, also from Phase 2. And remember: this Phase continues until the end of the game.

That's how you play Winter!

Ending the Game

The game ends when one of the players removes their last token.

The winner is the player who managed to keep at least one of their tokens in play!

Winter is about maintaining control during the two Phases, the freezing phase and the unfreezing phase.

Phase order is important. Phase 1, the Freeze phase, shows the importance of Action 1: revealing a card from the deck and putting it into play, because only with this action can you guarantee good and strategic locations for the next action, Action 2, which is placing 1 token of your color, to dominate the lake during the freezing phase.

Note that one action precedes the other, and that, if by chance, without realizing it, your opponent ends up placing cards that help you, then you just need to place your token. This is the best-case scenario!

Always try to keep your tokens in the center of the frozen "lake," that is:

- avoid placing your tokens in the corners of the lake, because when you remove them, you always release a card in Phase 2 that can harm you;

- Try to place cards in such a way as to leave your tokens in the "center" of the frozen lake. This ensures that if you need to remove one of your tokens in Phase 2, you don't release cards to your opponent.

It's a "chess game": knowing where to place the card, and always, always, whenever possible, place one of your tokens in the freezing lake. This will be the basis for the next Phase.

Keep an eye on the card pile, after all, it will dictate when Phase 2, the Unfreezing phase, begins, so it's good to have placed as many tokens of your color as possible; this means greater control on your part.

Now, regarding this last Phase, the Unfreezing phase, Action 1, to move 1 card to another position AND place at least 1 token of your color, is by far the best of all. After all, it's the only opportunity to place one or more of your tokens in the lake. Use this to your advantage; it can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Removing 1 card from the table (Action 2) is an alternative, especially when it's a card that can benefit your opponent, i.e., one that has more sections of their token's color. Remove it without hesitation, especially when this removed card releases another block of cards, and, according to the rules, this smaller block, or the one you choose if they are of equal size, will be completely eliminated from the game. This can undermine your opponent's dominance.

Finally, the worst action of all, at least for me, isAction 3, collecting 1 token of your color. It is only done when you have nothing else to do. This action causes you to lose control over the thawing lake. It's terrible to perform this action, only used when the 1st or 2nd actions are not possible. This action is the famous "shooting yourself in the foot".

Furthermore, pay attention to the opportunities the game presents, devise your best strategy, know how to position yourself during the freeze, survive the thaw, and win in Winter.

Unboxing:

Rules:

Gameplay:

If you're looking for a portable, minimalist game with easy rules, playable anywhere, anytime, Winter is your game!

Winter is language-free, only using cards and tokens, which is a big draw for kids. It's no wonder the game is for ages 8+. It's really easy to play!

I find the game very thematic in terms of freezing and unfreezing the lake, and this is very evident during the game, with the cards being the pieces of ice that form the blocks, and being able to "dominate" areas with your snowflake tokens makes everything more fun.

The kids will laugh a lot and have fun placing the cards, always trying to form the 4 sections of snowflakes of their color, or "cursing" when, unable to escape, they end up playing a card that's good for the opponent. These will be good moments to remember.

The time to thaw the lake will be very fun, as it's finally time to "stay alive" in the game, removing as few tokens of your color as possible and "hoping" your opponent gets into trouble. There will be smirks everywhere.

As a bonus, the game also provides important stimuli for children, namely:

- resource management: to manage the number of tokens of your color, the more you use, the better;

- strategy: to know the right moment to take which action;

- decision-making: to decide on the action that benefits you most;

- logical-mathematical reasoning: to control the number of snowflake tokens that you and your opponent have in the lake, and this means victory in the game.

Pedagogically, Winter addresses resource management, stimulates strategy, decision-making, logical-mathematical reasoning and, on top of that, it's fun!

I recommend Winter for your collection!!!