If “The Sims” has taught me anything, it’s that gardening is hard work. That, and the fact that I should never, ever sing Karaoke and attempt to make friends at the same time. “Gartenbau”, a game that’s coming to Kickstarter in late March, 2018, lets you garden in a semi-imaginary way without all the fuss. It supports 2-4 players & ages 12+ with an average play time of about 60 minutes. It’s important to stress that the copy I received is a prototype, so everything you’re about to see and read about (including the rules) are subject to change. I’m also required by FCC regulations to disclose that I was paid to cover this game, however my thoughts and opinions are my own.
The game comes with 72 seedling tiles, 49 plant tiles, 21 flower tiles, 25 water tokens, 25 sunlight tokens, 1 score pad, 1 starting player token, and a rulebook that is about 8 pages in length. My prototype had a misprint or two, but the developer was kind enough to include a separate sheet that outlined what was wrong and what was intended. The object of the game is to be the first to grow a garden containing four fully mature flowers (along with other seedlings and plants) in order to win the most prestige (victory points). The winner earns the title of “Gardenmeister – The Master Gardener”, which may or may not earn them a discount at their local flower shop. I have yet to check – proper journalism can’t be rushed.
To set up, players will shuffle and place the face-down stack of seedling tiles in the center of the table, dealing five face-up to form a market. Players also separate the plant tiles by color, then arrange each stack so that the their listed prestige is in ascending order with the lowest on top. This group of six stacks is placed about the seedling market. Finally, players shuffle the 21 flower tiles and deal five to each player, removing undealt tiles from play. The rulebook recommends however that new players should use the preset starting hands of tiles found in said rulebook.
Assuming you were dealt the cards randomly, a draft occurs similar to that of “Sushi Go!” in that players choose one to keep and pass the rest on until they have four tiles. The extra tiles left over are discarded from the game. In a two player game, two dummy players are included to assist with the drafting process. After the draft, players choose any combination of five water and sunlight tokens with which to start the game. Play proceeds in clockwise order with the player who most recently gardened going first.
On your turn you may do one of the following four actions:
1. Acquire Seedlings From The Market – Drop one resource onto seedling tiles starting from the right until you reach the desired tile. You keep any resources that may be on it (if it were passed over on a previous turn). Tiles slide to the right to fill the empty space and a new one is drawn face-up to be placed in the left-most spot. Seedling tiles must be placed in front of you immediately, with tiles after the first needing to be adjacent to any previously placed tiles. The touching ends must match, like in “Dominos”.
2. Purchase And Place Level Two Tiles – Acquire a plant by meeting the seedling requirements as noted on the tile. You’ll also have to pay the resource requirement (water/sunlight tokens) listed on the top left of the plant tile. The plant tile will cover the matching seedling tile.
3. Place Square Flower Tiles From Hand – Place a flower tile from your hand onto a plant tile in your tableau assuming the flower tile matches the requirement shown. Take three resources from the bank, taking no more than two of the same resource.
4. Take Resources – Take three resources from the bank, taking no more than two of the same resource.
The last turn is triggered when either the last seedling tile is acquired from the market or when one player places their fourth flower tile in their garden. Turns continue until everyone has had an equal number of turns. Scores are based on the prestige points shown on a player’s flower and plant tiles. Whoever has the most points, wins!
Editor’s Note: The above doesn’t cover all of the rules found in the rulebook, but should give you an idea as to how the game is played.
“Gartenbau” seemed like any other tile drafting/placement game until I got to the scoring. There’s actually an entire page in the manual devoted the different ways tiles could score. For example, primary colors score a flat amount and that’s it, while secondary and tertiary colors can score two different ways depending on what the tile indicates. With three primary colors, three secondary colors, and six tertiary colors, the number of different scoring conditions is truly staggering and opens the door for a lot of strategy. I highly recommend giving the table in the back of the rulebook a once-over before playing to become familiar with the different scoring options available.
I also appreciate that there are two additional, optional actions players can include in their game that involve either moving a seedling tile or paying resources to draw the top face-down seedling tile from the deck for placement into your tableau. I would definitely include at least the former option, as sometimes you’ll want to place a plant tile but can’t because the required seedlings in your tableau aren’t touching (flower tiles take up two seedling tile spaces, either a full seedling tile or a half of two separate seedling tiles).
“Gartenbau”…what’s not to like? It’s family-friendly, has a colorful theme, and is easy to play but still requires a fair amount of thinking and strategy. I personally can’t wait to see what the finished product looks like.
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fisherheaton/gartenbau
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