Winter Rabbit

About this board game

Winter Rabbit is a semi-cooperative light strategy game for 2–6 players, with play lasting about 120 minutes. Players work together to gather enough supplies for their village to survive a predicted severe winter, while competing to earn the highest score.

Set in the world of traditional Cherokee animal stories, the game gives each player the role of an animal character. Rabbit, the constant trickster, refuses to help and attempts to confuse the others while diverting resources for himself.

At the heart of the game is a hidden worker-placement system. Villagers are drawn randomly from a bag, and the active player secretly knows which villager they have drawn before choosing where to place it. Other players must make decisions with incomplete information, while resources are produced only when enough villagers occupy a location.

• Every player receives a resource when production occurs, with extra resources going to players who have villagers present.
• Rabbit villagers produce nothing and divert resources to the Rabbit Burrow, where players may later steal them back.
• Resources can build personal engines through village cards, influence everyone through stories, or complete tasks that score points and benefit another player.

Resource management is essential. Storage is limited, and producing too much can make it harder to generate resources in future turns. The variable game length depends on player count, keeping the race against winter uncertain.

If the village collectively produces enough supplies, the player with the highest score wins. If winter arrives first, everyone shares a collective loss. Winner of the 49th Annual Origins Awards in the light strategy game category, Winter Rabbit presents Indigenous values and concepts as a counterpoint to common colonial game themes.