Hunt A Monster in One-Versus-All Memory Game The Legend of the Wendigo

One player is the Wendigo picking off scout members one by one, while disguised as one of their own! Can you spot him as he moves around the camp?

The Legend of the Wendigo is all about memorizing where each tile is, spotting the subtle differences between them, and catching the Wendigo before he manages to steal too many scouts.

Gameplay

One player is chosen to take on the role of the Wendigo, while the other players will work together as the scouts. Thirty-two scout tiles are spread out on the table. Each tile shows a unique scout. There are several similar builds of scouts across the tiles, but minor features will vary between them all: expression, height, hairstyle, scarf, or hat.

All the scout players close their eyes and the Wendigo draws a Wendigo tile. Each Wendigo tile shows the Wendigo on one side and a scout that matches one of the scout tiles on the other. The Wendigo player replaces the scout on the table with his Wendigo tile, scout side up, and returns the scout tile to the box. The scout players open their eyes and the game begins.

Each round of the game has two phases. During the day phase, a forty-five second timer runs, during which the scout players attempt to memorize the placement of all the tiles on the table. Once the timer runs out they close their eyes for the night phase, during which the Wendigo player removes one of the scout tiles from the table, and moves the Wendigo tile from its current location to the spot that the removed tile occupied. Once he is done, the scouts open their eyes and another day phase begins.

Once during each day phase, if all the scout players agree, they may flip over one tile. If they reveal the Wendigo, they win the game. If they were wrong, it is flipped back over to its scout side. Players attempt to memorize where the tiles are so that when the Wendigo tile is moved to a new location, they spot it.

If the Wendigo player manages to remove five tiles from the table, and the scout players do not correctly identify the Wendigo tile during the next day phase, the Wendigo player wins.

Review

The Legend of the Wendigo is a light one-versus-all memory game that works well with its fast playtime. It goes by quickly enough that it is easy to play several rounds of the game in a row, and multiple players can take on the roll of the Wendigo.

There is a nice escalation of suspense as the Wendigo collects more and more tiles, and there’s subtlety for the Wendigo in choosing which tiles to capture. The memory element is nicely implemented, especially as you need to fit memorizing the board with discussing when to flip a tile within the same span of time. Flipping those tiles is a fun moment and it’s quite satisfying when you manage to pinpoint the monster.

It’s a fun and unique theme that ties in well with the gameplay, and the artwork is executed well with the distinctions between the various scouts subtle and clever.

The game’s one flaw is that there is no scaling for player count. This means the scout player is going to have a much harder time in a two-player game in which she has to memorize all thirty-two scout tiles alone, compared to a six-player game in which five scout players can easily divide up the tiles between themselves.

The Legend of the Wendigo is light, fast, and family-friendly (there are even variant suggestions for playing with young children). It’s an enjoyable memory game that is suspenseful and satisfying, particularly when you hit the sweet spot in player count.

Pros: Artwork on scouts is well done for making spotting differences challenging, plays fast, both roles are enjoyable

Cons: No scaling between player counts

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.