The boardgame of Radgost

As soon as you lift the lid off the Forest of Radgost box, one of the richest mythologies on Earth will burst to life. Spread the forest map across the table, spill the figurines, card decks and tokens and dive in.

We tweaked the rules until the game was simple enough to make kids forget their phones for an hour and a half. Then we crammed it with content so rich and varied that it’s guaranteed to keep seasoned boardgamers glued to the table until night turns into day.

We know, because we tested these features extensively both in board game clubs and at neighborhood get-togethers:

• Decision-making under uncertainty drives the game, challenging serious players without forcing casual ones to strategize too much
• New players can jump in at any point – great for those game nights when half your crew is running late, or to let newcomers warm up
• An ‘open-world’ component based on cards and mini-scenarios that lets you take detours and explore the woods – it would take years to play out all its possibilities
• The game includes nine card decks enhancing the gameplay significantly
• Loosely cooperative gameplay, allowing players to work together, but letting any single one strike off on their own
• Item combos and sliders let you develop and shape your character without tedious scorekeeping with pencils and sheets
• Fresh dice-rolling mechanic that evokes the feeling of being lost in woods unable to judge distance or direction – always surprising, rarely frustrating
• A night mode to shake things up and let you see the forest through the eyes of its demons and spirits
• To dial in everything just right, we sought help from hardcore gamers, Slavic scholars and math professors, but before all that we consulted children.