Reviewing the Board Game Leaf: Deluxe Edition by Weird City Games

I backed Leaf on Kickstarter a year or two ago. Could not resist the chonky wooden leaves and the beautiful card artwork. Finally played for the first time in the fall of 2025—I gotta wait to play fall-themed games in the fall, after all.

Leaf is designed by Tim Eisner, designer or co-designer of such games as Wonderland’s War, March of the Ants, Canopy, and The Grimm Forest. I have now played 4 of his games, and they all feel quite different. While Leaf and Canopy are similar in their nature theme and good looks (and in that they are not hella weird like The Grimm Forest and Wonderland’s War), they are each unique and fun to play.

How Does Leaf Play?

Leaf is just as tactile as it looks. The idea of the game is essentially to place leaves to touch as many of its leaf tips (including the stem) to as many other leaf tips as possible, given what goodies you are looking to procure. The number of touching tips and the leaf color determine how much, and what kind of stuff you get. Goodies include leaf cards (useful for playing more leaves), sun tokens (for moving up the tree track for even more goodies), and animal cards (for set collection points).

Other players can also benefit from your choices by placing mushroom tokens on leaves. When your leaf contacts the leaf with their token, they receive sun tokens which can be used to move up the seasons track to get acorns (points). Adjoining mushrooms can also be grouped for end-game points.

Components

A nice touch: the game arrived wrapped in elegantly printed brown paper rather than plastic wrap. A minor complaint: The tuckboxes inside the main box are cheap paperboard and they are going to wear out quickly. They also make it a pain to unbox the game and to put it away. I think this was intended to be an environmentally friendly storage solution, but unfortunately it is not user-friendly.

The tactile element feels essential to me. I can’t imagine playing online, because now that I have had the pieces in my hands I know what I would be missing. I am quite fond of the wooden components in the deluxe edition. They give me that special feeling of wanting to eat them. (I have never actually eaten a board game component, appetizing though they are; it’s really more of a vibe.)

Fun Factor

Leaf is a pleasing game, and also a brain teaser. The strategy is compelling enough that I continue thinking about it after we finish playing. It is nerve-wracking in the right ways. It’s highly competitive without requiring constant surveying of opponents, allowing players to be interactive while still being immersed in their own plans. When playing, I want to scour the playing area for opportunity. I don’t want to miss that super satisfying combo where my leaf points make 5 or 6 contacts with other leaves. I care about my turns when I’m playing, and after it’s over I think about how I’m going to approach the next session. That’s a good sign.