Playing Nature’s Year is a book of eight short seasonal games designed by Meguey Baker that you can play with anybody, set within the wheel of the natural year. Evoking seasonal celebrations and the cycle of New England’s natural year, this collection recalls the oldest games we know and the first games we learn as children: wishing games, fortune telling games, and storytelling games. Also included are essays, recipes, and reflections by Vincent Baker, Emily Care Boss, Epidiah Ravachol, and Jodi Levine, to accompany each game.

There are wishes, fortune-telling, collaborative stories, and lots of six-sided dice involved. In “The Holly and the Ivy,” you vie to be the one to catch the White Stag of Dawn – if you win the game, you get your heart’s wish. “In the Company of Birds,” you and another player try to attract the most birds to nest in your tree, and how many you attract tells your fortune together. These are just a couple of the games featured within. Play one or many, with anyone. Play each in its season, or several together. Play Nature’s Year.