Cloomba
Cloomba Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 Jar cards, with the turn sequence on the back
- 4 Starting tiles
- 40 Flower tiles
- 10 Superflowers
- 21 Find cards
- 40 Butterflies
- Plush Bag for Butterflies
Goal of the Game
To win, create the best flowerbed, and be the player with the most Victory Points (VP) at the end of the game.
Victory Points are gained for each meadow with Butterflies in your flowerbed – that is, groups of adjacent flowers of the same color. For each meadow, you multiply the number of flowers by the number of Butterflies in that meadow.
When using the Advanced Rules, you also gain Victory Points for the Find cards you have bought.
Game Setup
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Each player gets a Jar card and a Starting tile and places these in front of them.
For 2 players – return all Flower tiles with a ladybug back to the box, along with 4 additional random Flower tiles. For 3 players – return 4 random Flower tiles back to the box. For 4 players – use all Flower tiles.
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Shuffle the Flower tiles and arrange them into a face-down stack. Draw tiles from the top of this stack to form a flower market of 2 stalls with a size depending on the number of players:
- 2 players – 3 tiles per stall
- 3 players – 4 tiles per stall
- 4 players – 5 tiles per stall
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Put all the Butterflies into the bag and shake it. Add as many Butterflies into each stall as there are Flower tiles, by drawing them randomly from the bag.
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Shuffle all the Superflowers and arrange them into another face-down stack.
Basic Rules: Reveal the top 3 Superflowers and place them into a row. Find cards are not used in the basic rules, so return them to the box.
Advanced Rules: Shuffle the Find cards and form a face-down deck. Reveal 3 cards from the top of the deck and place them into a row.
Either choose a random player to go first, or have the player who last held flowers in their hands go first.
Game Setup – Basic Rules
- Starting tile and Jar card
- Flower tiles and market
- Bag with Butterflies and Butterflies in the market
- Superflowers
Game Setup – Advanced Rules
- Starting tile and Jar card
- Flower tiles and market
- Bag with Butterflies and Butterflies in the market
- Superflowers and Find cards
Basic Rules
1. During your turn, take a Flower tile and a Butterfly from the same stall in the flower market and add them into your flowerbed.
Important: If there are empty spaces around your Starting tile, your new Flower tile must fill at least one of these spaces. When all spaces around your Starting tile have been filled, new Flower tiles can be connected to any Flower tiles you already have.
This placement is illegal, because there are still empty spaces around the Starting tile. This correct placement fills an empty space near the Starting tile.
2. Once you have placed the Flower tile, you may also place the Butterfly you got with it, but only:
- on the Flower tile you just placed.
- on the same color flower as the Butterfly.
- if there are no Butterflies already in that meadow.
You cannot place a Butterfly like this, because there is already another Butterfly in this red meadow. This placement is correct, since there are no other Butterflies in that meadow.
If a player doesn't want to, or is unable to place a Butterfly on a flower, they place it into their Jar instead.
Important strategy tip: When counting points, you multiply the number of flowers in a meadow by the number of Butterflies there. So, your objective is to create large meadows with multiple Butterflies. Because the rules don't allow you to place Butterflies in the same meadow, a good strategy is to create several small meadows, and then combine them into a single, larger meadow.
This player has two red meadows, one with a Butterfly. The player expands their second red meadow, and also places a Butterfly there. Both meadows count as 2 VPs, 4 VPs total. On a later turn the player places another red flower, merging the two meadows into one. Now it is a large meadow with 5 flowers and 2 Butterflies that will yield 10 VPs!
3. At the beginning and/or end of your turn, you may buy any number of Superflowers at a cost of discarding two Butterflies of the same color from your Jar for each.
When you buy a Superflower, you must immediately attach it to your flowerbed, and may also move one Butterfly from your Jar onto that tile (as long as there are no other Butterflies already in the same meadow). After you place a Superflower, immediately reveal a new one from the stack and add it to the market.
Important: The Butterflies spent for buying DO NOT return into the bag and must be discarded. Superflower placement follows the same rules as placing normal Flower tiles.
All flowers on a Superflower are considered adjacent to all surrounding tiles, regardless of the Superflower's orientation. That means that they become part of adjacent meadows of the same color and can be used to merge different meadows into a single one. It is common for a Superflower to become a "crossroads," connecting several meadows at once.
The Superflower merges 3 green meadows into a single green meadow and two red meadows into a single red meadow. Also, you may place a yellow Butterfly from your Jar onto that Superflower, since there are no other Butterflies in the new yellow meadow.
After you finish your turn, play passes to the player to your left.
Whenever one of the market stalls is empty, replenish it (both Flower tiles and Butterflies) back to the starting amount, depending on the number of players. Once the stack of Flower tiles runs out, stalls are no longer replenished. Play continues until all Flower tiles and Butterflies run out.
Game End and Scoring
When all Flower tiles and Butterflies run out, the game ends, and players calculate their Victory Points. Divide your flowerbed into meadows - areas of adjacent flowers of the same color. For each meadow multiply the number of flowers by the number of Butterflies in it. Sum all your meadows, and add 1 VP for each Butterfly in your Jar. This is your final score for this game.
The large green meadow with 7 flowers and 2 Butterflies yields 14 VPs. The large red meadow, also with 7 flowers and 2 Butterflies is also worth 14 VPs. The blue meadow in the bottom left scores 3 VPs, and the blue single-flower meadow in the top right adds 1 more VP. In total, this player scored 32 Victory Points. Meadows without Butterfly do not score any points.
The player with the most points wins the game.
If scores are tied, then the tied player with the most Butterflies in their Jar wins the tie. If this is also tied, then the players are tied.
Advanced Rules
When playing with the Advanced Rules you use the Find cards. At the beginning of the game, instead of Superflowers, reveal 3 random Find cards from the deck. Just as with Superflowers, players may buy these at the beginning and/or end of their turn, and they may buy as many as they like.
In the top left corner of each card, you can see the cost that must be paid by discarding Butterflies of the same color from your Jar. In the top right corner are the VPs that you will score at the end of the game for buying that card. On the bottom of the card is its special effect.
When you buy a Find card, take it from the market and place it near your Jar. Then immediately resolve its special effect, if necessary. After that, replenish the market with a new card from the top of the deck. Once the deck runs out, no new Find cards are added to the market.
At the end of the game, add any Victory Points you get from your cards to your total score.
Expert Rules for Real Strategists
When playing with the expert rules, simply add another restriction for placing tiles. When placing a tile, you must always fill the closest empty space to your Starting tile.
This is an illegal placement, because there is an empty space closer to Starting tile. You must fill it with your placement. This is a correct placement. On your next turn you will have plenty of possible placement options, equally distant from your Starting tile.