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Nicole Simeone
Stuffed Fables
A game that brings the toy box to life for a fantastic set of adventures.
As a kid, who imagined their stuffed animals having a life of their own when they were away?
I did. Pretty sure a bunch of people at Pixar did. And, I suspect a few at Plaid Hat Games also spent time on the idea. And that very idea is now a board game.
Stuffed Fables is a cooperative adventure game that is best described as an adorable gateway game to Dungeons and Dragons. Players start by choosing a stuffed animal. In the starting chapters, there are four characters to select from Stitch, Flops, Lumpy, and Theadora. Two other characters, Piggle and Lionel, become active in later chapters. Each Stuffie has its own attributes to bring to gameplay.
As you are playing as stuffed animals, your life force is measured in stuffing. White die are rolled in order to store up batting for a rainy day. Danger comes knocking at your door lickety-split in this game so the more padding you have, the better.
The available actions you have depend upon the dice you pull from the bag. There are pink, blue, green, orange, and yellow dice for actions. Black die are placed on the threat track. Too many of those and an attack will be generated. Reference cards are included as a reminder for newer players as to what each die represents.
I found this game by coincidences at PAX East in 2018. A banner featuring the box cover art stuck up in the air like a beacon. I walked over and found a demo of the game going on. The banner was enough to bring me across a convention hall. But, it was the demo that got me hooked.
This game is one of my favorite cooperative games. It is flexible enough to be a small group party game or just a two-person romp. So often games sit on our shelves waiting to be played because we need to have people over to play them. Stuffed Fables lets us set up and spend an evening battling across a land filled with dangerous toys without finding someone willing to come over after work.
The creator did a fantastic job building an accessible story arc. While the heroes of the story are stuffed animals, adults get plenty of entertainment value. The toy perspective also gives kids a chance to be included in the game, but I say that with one caveat. Each chapter is estimated to be approximately sixty to ninety minutes of playtime. Adam and I have taken longer to get through a chapter adventure. If you want to include a kiddo, or an adult for that matter, who doesn’t have the longevity for that commitment, it’s maybe not the best idea.
There is additional content available on PlaidHatGames.com for Stuffed Fables. Coloring pages allowing for personalization of the character’s looks can be printed from the website. A lost story, as well as alternative rules, can be found there to spice up the game.
I am hoping more lost stories, and expansions are released. This is an exciting and fun world to dive into. It would be terrible if this were simply a one-off game.