Cacti
Cacti Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
SET UP
Shuffle together the 4 Wholesale cards and deal 1 to each player, face down, and return the other 2 to the box. Give each player 1 Special Sale / Turn Reference card. These 2 cards form each player's hand, and are the only 2 cards a player will ever have in their hand. A player's hand is kept secret from the other player.
Shuffle together the 48 Cacti cards and place them in a Sale side up deck in the Middle of the play area.
Place the top 5 Cacti cards from the deck Cacti side up in a row next to the deck. Place the top 3 cards of the deck Sale side up to the other side of the deck. These 8 cards and the deck form the Middle.
A start player is chosen using whatever method players agree on and the game begins with the start player taking the first turn of the game.
PLAYING CACTI
Cacti is a set collection game. Aside from the 2 cards in each player's hand, each card is 1 of 4 Cacti card types on its front, and a Sale card on its back; featuring 2 different sets of Cacti.
Each player has a Nursery (play area) where they will place the Cacti and Sale cards they acquire throughout the game. The cards in a player's Nursery are open information.
Using the Grow Action, players will move Cacti cards from the Middle to their own Nursery.
Using the Sell Action, players can use the Cacti cards from their own Nursery to obtain Sale cards from the Middle.
Sale cards in a player's Nursery are worth points at the end of the game, while players will lose points for leftover Cacti cards in their Nursery at the end of the game.
Each player has a secret Wholesale card in their hand corresponding to 1 of the different Cacti types. This card lays out the player's secret bonus Cacti for the game, and also includes the rules for scoring. This card is only revealed and played when the game ends.
Finally, each player has a Special Sale / Turn Reference card. The Special Sale card offers a single use special Action. The Turn Reference card tells the player exactly what they can and must do when they take a turn. It also includes the end game trigger.
A player's Special Sale/Turn Reference card and Wholesale card are the only cards in their hand.
Player Turns
Cacti is played over a series of player turns, beginning with the start player. Each player's Turn Reference card tells the player exactly what they can (and must) do when they take a turn.
At the start of a player's turn, they add the top Cacti card of the deck to their Nursery. Then, they choose 1 Action for their turn: either Grow, Sell, or Special.
Grow Action
When a player chooses Grow, they add all Cacti cards of a single type from the Middle to their Nursery.
Then, the other player gets a response. The other player may either: add all Cacti cards of a single type from the Middle to their Nursery or they may take a Sell Action.
Note that this response is still part of the active player's turn (the player that chose Grow). After the other player's response, the active player continues with their turn.
Sell Action
When a player chooses Sell, they move 1 Sale card from the Middle (either 1 of the 3 available Sale cards or the top card of the deck) to their Nursery. They then place the indicated Cacti cards from their Nursery under that Sale card.
A player cannot select a Sale card that they do not have the required Cacti cards for!
Each Sale card offers 2 different options, each requiring a different number and different set of required Cacti cards, as well as a different point value for each option. When a player adds a Sale card to their Nursery, they rotate that card to reflect which of the 2 options they used when moving the Sale card to their Nursery. Only 1 option is ever used!
Sale cards (and the Cacti cards beneath them) in a player's Nursery remain there for the entire game.
Example: Liz takes a Sell Action and moves this Sale card (A) from the Middle to her Nursery. She can only meet the requirements of 1 of its options. She moves these 2 Cacti cards (B) from her Nursery under the Sale card and turns the Sale card to indicate which option she used. She will gain 3 points (C) when the game ends for this Sale card.
Special Action
Instead of choosing Grow or Sell, a player may, once per game, reveal and use their Special Sale card.
When a player uses their Special Sale card, they place it in their Nursery. Next they take all Cacti of 1 type from the Middle and their Nursery and place them beneath their Special Sale card.
Ending The Turn
After selecting and using an Action, the player may move 1 Cacti card in their Nursery to the bottom of the deck.
They then add cards from the deck to the Middle until there are 5 Cacti and 3 Sale cards.
If the player cannot refill the Middle, the game ends. Otherwise, the player's turn ends and the game continues with the other player taking a turn.
ENDING THE GAME AND SCORING
When the game ends, each player reveals their Wholesale card from their hand and follows its text.
Each player gains points the following ways:
- 1 point for each Cacti card under their Wholesale card.
- 1 point for each Cacti card under the Special Sale card.
- Various points for any Sale cards in their Nursery.
Finally, each player loses points equal to the number of Cacti cards in their Nursery multiplied by the different types of remaining Cacti cards in their Nursery.
The player with the most points wins.
Example: Olivia's final score is 3.
- 4 for her Sale card.
- 3 for her Wholesale card.
- 2 for her Special Sale card.
- -6 for her remaining Cacti cards (3 cards x 2 types).
This is a very low scoring example to show how scoring works.