
- BGG rank
- BGG #398
- BGG rating
- 7.4
Glass Road
- 1–4 players
- 20–80 min
- Complexity 3.0/5
- 2013

2024
Rules assistance for Black Forest
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 1 player

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Black Forest is a board game released in 2024 for 1–4 players, 60–120 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Uwe Rosenberg and Tido Lorenz and its main mechanics are Set Collection, Variable Set-up, and Tile Placement.
In Black Forest, you start out with a small domain in need of new buildings and livestock. You’ll travel from village to village, to enlist the aid of the best specialists. Exploiting the abilities of these specialists lets you collect resources, lay out new landscape tiles (e.g. ponds and fields), and build a variety of buildings, which come in four types. Choose the right buildings, place landscapes, fire up your glass production, and expand your domain. Uwe Rosenberg’s resource wheels, made famous in Glass Road (2013), return in Black Forest. Two resource wheels on your tableau help you keep track of your resources and production. Black Forest continues the story - as the name suggests — in the Black Forest. Among others, the main difference between the two games is the use of worker placement in Black Forest instead of simultaneous action selection. A wide selection of buildings and their different effects offer many different paths to victory. —description from the publisher
Black Forest supports 1–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Black Forest is 60–120 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Black Forest for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Black Forest has a complexity rating of 3.2 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Black Forest belongs to these categories: Economic, Medieval, and City Building. Its main mechanics are Set Collection, Variable Set-up, and Tile Placement. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Black Forest are: Uwe Rosenberg and Tido Lorenz. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Black Forest as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.