Arboria Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Setting Up the Game
• Play Sequence
  • A Player's Turn
  • End of Sequence
• Playing a Card: Flowers, Sun, Cloud, Rain
  • The Flowers
    • Growing a Flower
    • Fade a Flower
  • Moving the Sun
  • Moving the Cloud
  • The Rain
• End of the Game
• Counting the Score
  • Counting the Score: Example
• 2 Players Game
  • Initial Set-up
  • Play Sequence (2 Players)
    • Turns Sequence
    • End of Sequence
• Optional Rules for Green Fingered Gardeners

Object of the Game

Each player takes control of a flower species and tries to grow the tallest flowers in the longest row of the same colored flowers.

Setting Up the Game

First, place the board at the center of the table, 6x6 side face up. Then remove the cards showing the symbol of a watering can. Those cards will only be used playing with Advanced Rules (see page 4).

1. Each player chooses a character and his flower species, and takes the 24 flower counters of the same species. And build 4 piles, by color in front of him.
2. Place the Sun marker on the edge of the board, on the "Sun Start" position drawn on the board, with its two arrows pointing towards the board.
3. The Cloud is out of the board at the beginning of the game.
4. The 22 playing cards are shuffled and distributed face down in front of each player. Depending on the number of players, each player receives:
   • 5 cards in a 4 player game
   • 6 cards in a 3 player game
   • 10 cards in a 2 player game (see "2 player game" section, page 4)
5. The remaining cards (2 to 4) are set aside in a face down pile, called the discard pile.

Setup for a 4 player game: situation at the start of the game, during the first player turn (he has the Grasshopper marker).

Set up for a 3 player game: situation at the start of the game, during the first player turn (he has the Grasshopper marker).

Play Sequence

The player who gardened the last is the first player. He receive the Grasshopper marker and place it in front of him. He will start the first sequence. After that, the other players will take turn in a clockwise order, until all the cards in front of each player has been revealed, and each player has played. So a sequence is made of a turn per player.

A Player's Turn

1. Reveal the 5 or 6 cards in front of you: turn your cards face up and leave them in front of you.
2. Play up to 3 visible cards: you don't have the obligation to play 3 cards. You can play cards in front of you, or cards in front of other players (which means cards that players revealed before you, this sequence, but that they did not play). Each card played goes to the discard pile, face down.

End of Sequence

When all the cards have been revealed and everybody has played hi turn:

• The first player passes the Grasshopper marker to the player on his left who becomes the first player for the next sequence.
• The Sun is moved one square clockwise along the board (following the arrows) for each Sun card still visible (not played this sequence by a player).
• The 22 cards are re-shuffled and a new sequence is started.

Playing a Card: Flowers, Sun, Cloud, Rain

The Flowers

There are 16 flower cards. Each cards represents the 4 variety of flowers.

Growing a Flower

You can grow your flower species by playing a flower card. Look at the flower corresponding to your own species, and place a counter of the same color on the board respecting the following points:

• You must be in the sunlight (Illustration 1). The sunlight is represented by the two columns pointed by the arrows on the Sun marker. Any square in these two columns is considered under sunlight, except if shadowed by another flower or under the Cloud.
• You can't grow a flower in the shadow of another flower (Illustration 2). A flower in the sunlight projects a shadow onto the square right behind it (the square opposite to the sun). A flower in a shadow cannot grow if its pile (before growing) is smaller than the one that is closer to the sun (which makes the shadow).
• You can't grow a flower under the Cloud. The Cloud can cover from 4 to 9 squares, depending on his board's position. Every square under the cloud is not under sunlight. So you cannot play a flower card to grow a flower under the Cloud. Although the Rain can grow simultaneously many flowers under the Cloud.
• Place a flower counter. You can grow one of your already existing flower by adding one counter to the pile, or add a new flower on an empty square.

Illustration 1: Sunlight example.

Illustration 2: Shadow example. Callouts on the illustration read "You can grow a flower on these squares" and "These 3 squares are in shadow." You can grow a flower on those squares.

Fade a Flower

You can fade an opponent flower by playing two cards presenting the same species of the same color. These two cards count towards the three cards that you can play during your turn. Which leaves you only with one card left to play.

When you fade a flower remove from the board a flower counter showing the same species and same color as the pair of cards you played. You can either remove a flower counter on top of a pile, or a lonely flower counter on a square (in this case this square becomes empty). There is no restriction about the Sun, Cloud or shadows to fade a flower.

This flower counter (the faded flower) is discarded. Put it aside for the rest of the game.

Moving the Sun

There are 3 Sun cards in the playing deck.

A Sun card allows you to move the Sun from 1 to 3 squares maximum. The Sun moves in a clockwise order around the board, following the arrows on the board's corners. The Sun is always placed with its two arrows pointing towards two columns. When you reach a corner with the Sun, you directly move the Sun from one edge of the board to the next edge without stopping in between 2 squares.

Furthermore, at the end of a sequence, when every player has played, the Sun is moved one square for each Sun card revealed but not played.

Illustration 3: Moving the Sun.

• Example 1: When moving the Sun playing a Sun card, you can stop on square 1, square 2 or square 3. Be careful when it passes a board corner.
• Example 2: If there are 2 unplayed revealed Sun cards during the end-sequence, the Sun has to be moved exactly 2 squares.

(Illustration 3 labels: "Sun position before moving it" and "Sun position at the end of a sequence".)

Moving the Cloud

There are 2 Cloud cards in the playing deck.

Playing a Cloud card allows you to move the Cloud anywhere on the board. The first time a Cloud card is played, the Cloud is taken from outside the board and placed on any board's square. It will remain on the board until the end of the game.

The following Cloud cards played allow you to move the cloud to any board's square of your choice.

The Cloud stand have to be centered over a single square on the board. This way, if the Cloud is placed in a corner it will cover 4 squares. Placed on a side it will cover 6 squares. Placed in the center of the board it will cover 9 squares.

Illustration 4: The Cloud.

• Example 1: In these positions, the Cloud covers 9 squares.
• Example 2: In this position, the Cloud only covers 4 squares.
• Example 3: In this position, the Cloud covers 6 squares.

The Rain

There is only one Rain card in the playing deck.

When the Rain card is played, every flower under the cloud, from every player grows. This means that each player has to add a flower counter of the same color and same species on top of each already existing flower under the Cloud. In case a player doesn't have enough flower counters of the needed color and species to grow all his flowers, he can choose which ones to grow.

Additionally, the player who played the Rain card can had one flower counter of his own species in any empty square under the Cloud. He can choose the color for this new flower. [Printed as "can had" in the source.]

There are no Sun or shadow restrictions to grow flowers under the Rain.

Illustration 5: The Rain. The steps shown on the illustration are:

1. The wizard player plays the Rain card.
2. The wizard player has to grow her flowers under the Cloud. As she has only one blue flower counter available, she chooses to place it on her tallest flower under the Cloud, growing a 4 counters flower. She can also place one new free flower color of her choice on an empty square under the Cloud. She decides to place a green flower on the designated square.
3. The little boy player adds 2 yellow flower counters on each yellow flower under the Cloud.
4. The grandma player adds one red flower counter on the one already under the Cloud.

End of the Game

The game ends after one full day, that is when the Sun has completed one full circle around the board.

When the Sun reaches or passes the "Sun Start" position, every player gets to play his last turn. The Sun can still be moved, but the game will end after the last player's turn.

For example, in a 4 player game, if the Sun passes the "Sun Start" position during the second player's turn, then the third and fourth players still have to play their turns and the game ends.

The game can also end by itself during the "End sequence". If after the last player's turn, the Sun is moved from the result of revealed unplayed Sun card, and passes the "Sun Start" position, then the game ends and nobody gets to play another turn.

Counting the Score

For each color, each player can only choose one flower-line containing his flower species. This should give each player 4 scores (one per color). The final score is obtained by adding these 4 scores together.

A flower-line can be chosen horizontally, vertically or diagonally, but has to contain flowers of the same color (although they can be from different species).

A flower's height is described as the number of flower counters in the same square (from 1 to 6). To score in a certain color, the player multiplies the height of his tallest flower (from 1 to 6) with the number of squares occupied by that color line (from 1 to 6).

Counting the Score: Example

In this example, the lumberjack player chooses the long red diagonal for his red flower line. This diagonal is 5 squares long and his tallest red flower is 2 counters tall. Therefore, the red color give him 5x2 = 10 points. Proceed this way for each color and for each player.

The example scores from the printed scoring table, with one column per character as drawn in the table header (left to right: lumberjack, then the three other characters; the grandma and little boy column labels are inferred from the header artwork and the Rain example) and one row per color:

Color	Lumberjack	Grandma	Wizard	Little boy
Red	2x5 = 10	2x5 = 10	2x2 = 4	1x2 = 2
Green	3x4 = 12	2x3 = 6	1x4 = 4	6x3 = 18
Blue	2x4 = 8	3x4 = 12	4x3 = 12	1x4 = 4
Yellow	2x5 = 10	2x5 = 10	3x5 = 15	3x5 = 15
Total	40 pts	38 pts

2 Players Game

Although all rules are the same, the initial setup and the sequence of play are a little different in a two player game.

Set up for a 2 players game.

Initial Set-up

Distribute 10 cards face down in front of each player. Arrange them in two rows of five cards each.

Play Sequence (2 Players)

Turns Sequence

1. Player "A" reveals the 5 cards from his first row, and plays up to 3 visible cards.
2. Player "B" reveals the 5 cards from his first row, and plays up to 3 visible cards (the unplayed cards revealed by A are still visible).
3. Player "A" reveals the 5 cards from his second row, and play up to 3 visible cards (All the unplayed cards revealed by A and B are still visible).
4. Player "B" reveals the 5 cards from his second row, and play up to 3 visible cards (All the unplayed cards revealed by A and B are still visible).

End of Sequence

When all the cards have been revealed and both players have played twice:

• Player A passes the Grasshopper marker to player B who becomes the first player for the next sequence.
• The Sun is moved one square clockwise along the board (following the arrows) for each revealed unplayed "Sun" card (not played this turn by a player).
• The 22 cards are re-shuffled and a new sequence is started.

Optional Rules for Green Fingered Gardeners

There is 6 Special Cards which can be used if desired.

By mutual agreement, you can decide to play with optional rules. These rules will "Spine up" your games. At the beginning of the game, each player pick a Special Card and keep it hidden until he decides to play it. Put the remaining Special Cards back in the game box without looking at them. This card can be played during the player turn instead of another card (within the 3 cards limit you are allowed to play).

Once played (and unless otherwise stated), this card is discarded and will join the playing deck. So, during the next sequences, other player will be able to play this card too.

The six Special Cards are:

• Bee: Playing the Bee card, the player may move the top flower counter of any flower within a 2 square range (orthogonally or diagonally). He can place it on an already existing flower (same species and same color) adding the counter to the pile, or create a new flower on an empty square.
• Rock: Playing the Rock card, the player may place the Rock counter on any empty square. The rock projects a shadow as a 5 tall flower. You are not allowed to grow a flower on the Rock. Discard the Rock card after using it.
• Carnivorous Plant: Playing the Carnivorous Plant card, the player may place the Carnivorous Plant counter on any empty square. Then, if the Carnivorous Plant is NOT in the sunlight, it will eat the top flower counter of a flower in one of the 8 adjacent squares. Eventually, the flower choice belongs to the player using the card. The eaten flower counter is discarded. Put it back in the game box. The Carnivorous Plant will eat another flower counter each time a player use the Carnivorous Plant.
• Thunderbolt: Playing the Thunderbolt card, discard the top flower counter of the tallest flower under the Cloud. Eventually, the choice belongs to the player using the card. The flower counter is discarded. Put it back in the game box.
• Fertilizer: Play this card with a flower card. You can make your flower grow by 2 counters. It counts as if you played 2 cards.
• Transplanting: Playing the Transplanting card, the player may move a one flower counter flower (made of only one flower counter) to any empty square of the board.

The card names above are the English names used in the booklet text; the card faces are labelled in French in the artwork.