Bloomchasers: A Delightful 3D Tree Game of Flowers and Wits
Bloomchasers: A Delightful 3D Tree Game of Flowers and Wits Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Tree Trunk Base
- 24 Branches (4 Shape Types)
- Weather Cards Deck:
- 15 Standard Weather Cards (Sun, Rain, Wind)
- 2 Bloom! Cards
- 3 Blight Cards (for co-op/solo mode only)
Per player:
- 3 Sunflowers
- 3 Rainflowers
- 3 Windflowers
- 40 Buds
Setup
- Create the Weather Deck! a. Place three random Standard Weather Cards (Sun, Rain, or Wind) face-up on the table. (First time players: instead of random cards, start with one card of each weather type out for a more balanced game.) b. Without looking, shuffle six more random Standard Weather Cards with two Bloom! Cards and place them face-down in a pile. Return the remaining six Standard Weather Cards and three "Blight" cards to the box without looking at them.
- Put all Branches into the bag. Have each player choose a color of Buds and flowers to play.
- To build the starting tree, have each player draw a random Branch, place it onto the tree trunk, and place a Bud of their color onto that Branch. (Players' starting Branches may touch, but starting Buds may not.)
- You're now ready to start the game. The player who most recently watered a plant goes first. Play proceeds around the table to the left.
Your Turn
Starting with the first player, follow these steps on each player's turn:
-
Draw: Reveal a new Weather Card from the deck so three are face-up and available. (Skip this step on the first turn of the game.)
If you draw a Bloom! Card, normal play pauses so flowers may grow – follow the instructions on the "Bloom!" page.
-
Place a Branch: Draw a random Branch and place it onto the tree anywhere it fits, either onto the trunk or onto an existing, available leaf. You may place a Branch through your own open Bud, but not through another player's Buds.
-
Grow a Bud: Choose one of the three face-up Weather Cards and follow its instructions to place a Bud of your color onto the tree. Then, place this used Weather Card on the bottom of the deck.
Example: White follows the instructions on the Wind Weather Card to place a white Bud that touches a Bud of a different color.
Tip: At the start of the game, you can only place one Bud per turn. Once you build flowers, you'll be able to place multiple Buds!
Placing Your Buds
Buds aren't worth any points - the flowers you grow are! Your goal is to place your Buds into "shapes" matching one of the three flower types.
Then, when a Bloom! Card is drawn you can place a flower into the Buds of the matching shape.
The three types of flowers each have a unique shape and fit over a specific formation of Buds:
- Sunflower
- Rainflower
- Windflower — Note: the Windflower requires Buds on multiple levels!
Once you have a formation of Buds ready for a flower, you'll have a chance to make it blossom when a Bloom! Card is drawn.
Bloom! Card
When a "Bloom!" Card is drawn, normal play stops and all players have the chance to grow flowers.
Starting with the current player, take turns placing flowers onto the tree where they fit into formations of three Buds.
You may place flowers over a formation of:
a. Three Buds of your own color b. Two Buds of your own color and one Bud of an opponent's color, effectively "stealing" one of their Buds!
Example Bloom! round: White goes first, and places a Sunflower of their color that fits over a formation of three white Buds.
Pink goes next, placing a Rainflower over a formation of two pink Buds and one blue Bud.
Bloom! Continued
Take turns placing flowers one by one until everyone either can't or doesn't wish to place additional flowers. If a player places no flowers at all during a Bloom!, that player may now place a new Bud anywhere on the tree.
At the end of the Bloom!, the player who originally drew the Bloom! Card should place it to the side, draw another card, and continue their turn. After both Bloom! Cards have been drawn and set aside, replenish the three face-up Weather Cards and then shuffle the Bloom! Cards back into the face-down deck.
Use Flowers to Place Multiple Buds!
Remember, each flower type is associated with a different type of weather.
Once you grow a flower, every time you use the associated Weather Card, you get to do its "action" multiple times in a row, letting you place multiple Buds on your turn!
For example, you might use a "Rain" card to place a new Bud during your turn. Then, if you happen to have a Rainflower already on the tree, you get to place an additional Bud during this turn!
Example: Blue uses a "Rain" card to place a new blue Bud. Then, because they have a Rainflower grown, they get repeat the "Rain" card action, placing another Bud!
If you have multiple flowers of one type on the tree, you may repeat the associated Weather card's action for each one you have! (i.e. If you have two Sunflowers built, you'll get to repeat a "Sun" card's action two times, ultimately placing three Buds that turn.)
Ending & Scoring the Game
Ending the game
Once all Branches are placed onto the tree and the final player has taken their turn, a final Bloom! event will happen. Starting with the next player, draw a card — if it's a Bloom! Card, play out a Bloom! Card, starting with this player. If not, do nothing and the next player draws a card until a Bloom! Card appears.
Scoring the game
After the final Bloom!, flip the deck face-up and sort the Weather Cards. Flowers corresponding with rarer Weather Cards are worth more points! (E.g., if there are two Sun cards in the deck, Sunflowers are worth four points.) Highest total score wins!
| Number of Cards | Point Value |
|---|---|
| 5 | 1 |
| 4 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 1 | 5 |
Tiebreaker
The player with the highest score and lowest quantity of flowers wins. If still needed, the player with the most open Buds on the tree wins.
Main Game FAQ
Q: What if I'm able to place multiple Buds on my turn, but don't have open space on the tree to place all of them? Only place as many Buds as you are able to, in this case.
Q: Can I place a Branch through my own color Bud? Yes, but this will block future flowers from growing there! You CANNOT place a Branch through an opponent's Bud.
Q: Can I place a flower over a formation of just two Buds? No, a flower must always fit over three Buds (either three of your own color, or two of yours and one of an opponent's.)
Q: What if I run out of flowers of a particular type? Each player only has three flowers of each type — once you run out, you must start growing different varieties of flower!
Q: When playing a Rain card, if I'm placing a second Bud because I have a Rainflower on the tree, does the first Bud I placed this turn count as "preexisting"? No — new buds placed from a Rainflower card must touch Buds of your color that were on the tree BEFORE your turn.
Co-op & Solo Play Modes
Want a challenge without the competition? Play cooperatively with up to three friends, or even solo, to stop invasive Blight Buds from taking over your beloved tree!
Setup
Set up the Weather Card Deck normally, then shuffle in 1-3 Blight cards, depending on desired difficulty. (1= Easy, 2 = Medium, 3 = Hard.)
Set aside the purple flowers and Buds — these will be Blight! Have all players place their starting Branches and Buds as usual, then place one additional Branch with a Blight Bud on it on the tree.
Throughout the game, Blight will appear and spread — you'll have to balance keeping Blight in check against your own growth goals in order to get the highest possible score!
Adding Blight Buds
Take turns playing according to the normal rules, with each player adding Buds according to weather cards and growing flowers when a Bloom! card is drawn. Continue to place Bloom! cards off to the side after use.
Adding Blight!
When a Blight card is drawn, Blight Buds start to spread! Do these two actions:
- For each open Blight Bud, place a new Blight Bud on EVERY empty space it touches, including those directly above or below it.
- Then, place a new Branch on any empty leaf/trunk spot and put a new Blight Bud on it.
Afterward, place the Blight card at the bottom of the deck and reveal a new card to continue playing. If another Blight card shows up (bummer!), immediately repeat these steps.
Use Flowers to Fight Blight
Blight Buds left unchecked can quickly choke out available spaces to grow, and worse, every empty Blight Bud remaining at the end of the game subtracts two points from your final score!
Stopping Blight flowers
Luckily, you can slow Blight's growth by growing flowers over it. During a Bloom! event, you may use a formation of two of your color Buds and one Blight Bud to grow a flower, much like when "stealing" a Bud from an opponent in normal play. (You can never use two or three Blight Buds in a flower formation.)
But, when placing a flower that uses a Blight Bud, place a purple flower rather than one of your own color. Unlike normal flowers of your color, these purple flowers don't contribute to your ability to grow multiple Buds on future turns. They do, however, prevent the now covered Blight Bud from spreading.
Example: Two Blue Buds and one purple "Blight" Bud are used to place a Sunflower. Because a Blight Bud was used, a purple flower is placed instead of a blue one.
Ending a Blight Game & Scoring
Ending the game
Once all Branches are placed, do a final Bloom! round and place any flowers you wish to. Then, do a final Blight round, placing additional Blight Buds in any remaining empty leaf spaces that touch open Blight Buds.
Scoring
Score the game as usual, with each non-purple flower earning points according to the weather card frequency chart in the standard game. Purple flowers are each worth their normal score, minus one. Then, subtract two points for each open Blight Bud from your total score!
Score Rankings
See how your score stacks up! If you achieved "Mighty Oak," you're ready to move up to a harder level and add an additional Blight card to the deck next time you play.
| Score | Rank |
|---|---|
| <0 | Failure! |
| 0-5 | Seedling |
| 5-10 | Sapling |
| 10+ | Mighty Oak |
FAQ
Q: Can I play Branches through Blight Buds? Nope. Branches never go through Blight Buds.
Q: Can I play a Blight flower on two Blight Buds and one of my own? Or three Blight Buds? You can use Blight Buds to flower the same way you would use another player's Buds. So, one Blight Bud and two of your own!
Q: What if I run out of Buds of my color during solo play? If this happens, feel free to use another non-purple color as your own Buds. But, you still may only use the nine flowers of the original color you started with.