Alice's Garden
Alice's Garden Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 player boards
- 6 bags
- 95 game tiles:
- 65 big 4-square tiles
- 30 bonus 1-square tiles
- 1st player token
- Score sheets
- Game rules
To keep score you will also need a pen or a pencil.
Aim of the Game
Create the best garden fulfilling as many requirements of the Queen as possible (see "Scoring rules" on page 4).
Set-up
Each player takes a personal player board. Put all the game tiles into the bags according to their shape. The last player to have watered plants becomes the first player and takes the 1st player token.
How to Play
The game is played over several rounds and ends after a round in which a player cannot place a tile from the supply on their personal board. The players then tally up the scores and determine the winner.
Playing a Round
The first player of a round chooses one of the bags with the big tiles: this player takes as many tiles from the bag as there are players and puts them in the middle of the table – this is the tile supply. For the first round also take 1 additional tile from the chosen bag. Exactly one tile will remain in the supply at the end of each round.
For example, in a 4-player game the first player of the first round chooses a bag and takes 5 tiles out of it.
Starting with the first player of the round and in a clockwise order, each player takes 1 tile from the tile supply and places it on their personal board.
You may rotate and flip the tiles any way you like. You may lay your tiles both on the grass and the chess path if these squares are not yet occupied by other tiles, but you may not place your tiles or any part of them outside the playing grid.
At the end of a round one tile will always remain unclaimed in the supply. It can be chosen in a further round by any player just like any other tile in the supply. The player on the left of the current first player becomes the next round's first player. They take the 1st player token, once again choose one of the five bags and add tiles for all the players to the supply.
As the player boards fill up over the rounds, there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for placing tiles on the boards. But if players can fit a tile from the supply onto their board, they have to take it (even if they don't like it).
Getting a Bonus Tile
One gardener is good, two are all the better! Gather them in groups and they will help you find the missing elements for the garden and fill up unwanted blank spaces. If the Queen decides the garden is not splendid enough, she'll demand everyone's heads!
Whenever a gardener is placed orthogonally adjacent to one or more other gardeners already on the personal board, the player takes bonus tiles (they consist of only 1 square) from the bonus bag according to the number of such adjacent gardeners (i.e. 1, 2 or 3 bonus tiles).
Bonus tiles are placed on the players' boards at the end of the game after the final round, but before scoring.
For example: the new gardener becomes adjacent to two other gardeners already on the board, therefore the player takes two bonus tiles from the bag.
Final Round
If during a round a player can't place any tile from the supply onto their personal board, the game ends at the end of this round. All the players who can't take a tile from the supply during this round take a bonus tile from the bonus bag instead.
Scoring & Victory
When the game ends, all players place their bonus tiles on the boards if possible and tally up their scores according to the Scoring Rules using the scoring sheets provided with the game.
Scoring Rules
Chess Pieces
The royal chess pieces love neatly paved paths for them to be able to walk around the garden and feast their eyes on its beauty without ruining their dresses or slippers.
Players earn 5 points for each chess piece on the central path.
Roses
Roses are the Queen's favorite flowers, and the gardeners must take especially good care of them. Big sumptuous bushes are more likely to please Her Majesty than sparse shrubs planted here and there.
Players earn 1/4/9/16/25 points accordingly for each area of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 squares with roses orthogonally adjacent to each other. Areas of more than 5 roses are counted as one area and still earn their owners 25 points.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms are famous for their magical properties, and the Queen wants them always within reach, even in the farthest corners of the garden.
Players earn 8 points for each column with 2 or more squares with mushrooms (they don't have to be adjacent to each other).
Trees
The sun must shine brightly upon the garden. If the garden is overshadowed by trees, it's not a garden anymore but a forest. After a tiresome march, however, one will surely be glad to take a rest in a tree's refreshing shade…
In each row with at least two trees the players count the distance between neighboring trees (i.e. they have no other trees in between them), including the squares with the trees, and write down the longest distance in each row as their victory points.
Penalty
Empty areas
The Queen has no patience for empty spaces. The garden must be filled up to its full capacity, or else what kind of garden is that?! What were the gardeners thinking?
Each empty area on the board (no matter how many squares it consists of) brings a player -5 points.
Bonus tiles not placed on the board
In the royal garden it's vital not to overdo it. If you try to plant mushrooms in the rose bushes or pave the tree trunks, the Queen will send for the executioner without delay.
Each bonus tile players can't place on their board at the end of the game brings them -5 points.
The player with the most points wins the game and is declared the Queen's Honorary Gardener.
Scoring Example
- Chess Pieces: 9×5=45 points (9 chess pieces on the central path)
- Roses (Red): 25+1=26 points
- Mushrooms (Blue): 8×3=24 points (3 columns have 2 or more mushroom squares)
- Trees (Brown): 5+4+6+2=17 points (white numbers in the picture). Count each row's longest distance between the neighboring tree squares (including the squares with the trees themselves).
- Empty areas: -5×3=-15 points (red numbers in the picture). There are 3 empty areas.
- Unplaced bonus tiles: none.
Total: 45+26+24+17-15=97 points
Solo Rules
Set-up
Place the 5 bags with big tiles on the left side of the player.
Rounds
- A round is played in 5 turns.
- Each turn, choose one bag on the left side and draw 2 tiles from the bag.
- Choose one of the tiles and place it on your personal board.
- The effect of the gardeners is the same as in the basic rules.
- Put the bag and the remaining tile to your right.
End of the Round
When all 5 bags are on your right, move them to the left side again and start a new round.
End of the Game
If you can't use any more tiles from the bags on your left, the game ends. Tally up the score according to the basic rules.
Score Results
- Under 70 points: unfortunately, you did not manage to appease the Queen. You need to try more and design a better garden, before the Queen demands your head.
- 70-89 points: the place does look like a garden, but the Queen is hardly satisfied. You can do better.
- 90-109 points: quite good. The Queen is impressed with your job.
- 110-129 points: great! The Queen is delighted and the gardeners sing your praises.
- 130 or more points: perfect! The Queen appoints you the Chief Royal Gardener.
Summary of a Round
- Change the first player of the round: the next player in a clockwise order takes the 1st player token.
- The first player chooses one of the bags with the big tiles and adds as many tiles as there are players to the supply. (In the first round take one tile more than the number of players.)
- In a clockwise order, choose a tile from the supply and place it on your personal board.
- Take bonus tiles if gardeners are placed adjacent to one another (1, 2 or 3 bonus tiles). Bonus tiles are to be placed on the board at the end of the game.
- If a player can't place any tile from the supply on their board, they take a bonus tile. The game ends at the end of this round. The players add their bonus tiles to the boards and tally up the scores on a scoring sheet.
Credits
Game designer: Ikhwan Kwon Illustrator: Eugenia Smolenceva Game agency: Forgenext Project manager: Maria Kravchenko Artistic Director: Anastasia Durova Layout: Anna Medvedeva Production manager: Yuriy Khmelevskoy
Special gratitude to: Alexander Peshkov and Ekaterina Pluzhnikova
Game published by Lifestyle Boardgames Ltd. © 2019 All rights reserved.