Four Gardens Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Description
• Components
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Lay groundwork
  • 2. Rotate & collect
  • 3. Take a wild
  • 4. Reallocate resources
  • Groundwork-side card layout
• Landscape Cards & Rewards
• Bonus Tiles
• End of Turn
• Game End & Final Scoring
• Credits

Game Description

The goal of Four Gardens is to accumulate the most points by completing Landscape cards and finishing sets. These finished sets are called "panoramas" and they create a panoramic view of your garden.

Your score at the end of the game will be the total of the goodwill you have earned from the 4 Gods (shown by your position on the 4 God's tracks on the Scoreboard), plus the value of any Extra rewards Bonus Tiles you may have gained from finishing a set.

This goodwill is earned by completing Landscape cards. Landscape cards are completed by laying Groundwork cards, acquiring resources, and allocating those resources to satisfy the requirements of each Groundwork card.

Components

• 1 Pagoda consisting of:
  • 4 wall pieces
  • 4 roof pieces
  • 4 plastic roof caps
  • 4 plastic frames
  • 16 plastic corner connectors
  • 1 finial
  • 1 pagoda base connector
  • 1 pagoda base
• 70 Two-sided Cards (Groundwork-side / Landscape-side)
• 4 Planning Tiles (1 x 4 colors)
• 1 Scoreboard (showing the 4 God's tracks)
• 12 Bonus Tiles
• 60 Resource Tokens (4 kinds x 15 each): Stone, Water, Plants, Wood
• 16 Score Markers (4 x 4 colors)
• 1 Pagoda Assembly Guide
• 1 Rulebook

※ Pagoda segment assembly is required before initial gameplay. For assembly instructions please refer to the "Pagoda Assembly Guide" leaflet.

Game Setup

A. Stack the Pagoda segments randomly on top of each other to create a Pagoda with 4 floors. Then lay the Pagoda base in reach of all players, insert the Pagoda base connector, and place the Pagoda on top. Insert the finial on top of the top Pagoda segment. Each player should be facing a different side of the Pagoda. Locate the side of the Pagoda showing 3 resources on the bottom floor, and rotate the other 3 floors of the Pagoda so that the resources on that side show 3-2-0-1 (reading from the bottom floor to the top floor). See the Pagoda on page 1 for an example of how this looks.

B. Place the Scoreboard next to the Pagoda.

C. Each player takes 1 Planning Tile and 4 Score Markers of the same color.

D. Each player places 1 of their Score Markers on the [3] space of each God's track on the Scoreboard.

E. Make sure all the cards are Landscape-side up, shuffle them, and deal 5 to each player. Players should see the Groundwork-side of their cards when held in hand and keep them secret from the other players.

F. Place the remaining cards Landscape-side up next to the Scoreboard to form a draw pile. Draw the top 3 cards from the deck and lay them Groundwork-side up next to the deck to form an open draw.

G. Separate the 4 resources (Wood, Water, Stones, and Plants) and create resource supplies next to the 4 corners of the Pagoda.

H. Organize the Bonus Tiles according to type in 3 piles next to the Scoreboard. Arrange the 2 piles containing Bonus Tiles with numbers on them in descending value from top to bottom.

I. The player who last visited a Pagoda is the starting player.

Gameplay

Each round, players take turns in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player. During your turn you must take 3 actions. Each action requires you to play or discard 1 card from your hand. There are 4 different actions you may choose between, and the same action may be chosen multiple times.

1. Lay groundwork

You may play 1 card from your hand into your garden, Groundwork-side up. Taking this action makes it an active Groundwork card. This active Groundwork card will need to receive resources from future actions in order to become a Landscape card.

Additional rules regarding Lay groundwork

• The frame and color of a Groundwork card (see Groundwork-side card layout box) is important in determining if it can be played.
• A Groundwork card does not need to be the first (leftmost) frame of a specific panorama to be laid; a panorama may be started with any frame.
• Multiples of the same frame from the same panorama cannot be laid. (i.e. If the first frame of the orange panorama has already been laid in a player's garden, that player cannot lay another first frame from the orange panorama.)
• Additional frames from a panorama can be laid even if they are not connected to an existing frame from that panorama. (i.e. The first and third frames of the orange panorama can be laid before the second frame is laid)
• A player can have up to 3 active Groundwork cards in their garden at any time.
• A player cannot have the same colored panorama more than once in their garden.

2. Rotate & collect

If a card has a Pagoda symbol on it you may discard it to rotate the Pagoda and collect resources.

During the Rotate and collect action, rotate the floor indicated on the card (and with it all the floors above as well). You gain resources according to the side of the tower you are facing. Resources are collected either from the top floor-down, or from the bottom floor-up, depending on the arrow next to the Pagoda symbol on the card you discarded. Collected resources go onto your Planning Tile.

Additional rules regarding Rotate and collect

• The Pagoda floors must be rotated by exactly 90 degrees in the same direction before you collect resources.
• You may only collect as many resources as the number of empty spaces available on your Planning Tile. Each Planning Tile space can only hold 1 resource.
• Once the Pagoda has been rotated, you cannot choose what resources to collect or not to collect. You must collect the resources in order until your Planning Tile fills up or until you have collected all the resources on your side of the Pagoda.

3. Take a wild

If a card has a wild symbol on it you may discard the card and collect a wild resource.

During the Take a wild action, you take 1 of any resource from the supply and place it on one of your active Groundwork cards or on an empty space on your Planning Tile.

4. Reallocate resources

If a card has a handcart symbol (applies to all cards) you may discard it to reallocate your resources. During the Reallocate resources action only, you may freely move your resources around as much as you like in any combination of the following three methods:

• from your Planning Tile to active Groundwork cards in your garden
• from 1 active Groundwork card to another active Groundwork card
• from your Planning Tile back to the supply. This is the only way to discard unwanted resources.

Groundwork-side card layout

• God symbol (see page 4): Example: If completed you advance your marker on the red God's track.
• Panorama color and panorama frame order (see Lay groundwork): Example: This card is the 3rd frame of the orange 3-card panorama.
• Handcart symbol (see Reallocate resources): Example: This card may be discarded to use the Reallocate resources action.
• Pagoda symbol (see Rotate & collect): Example: This card may be discarded to rotate the top segment of the Pagoda and gain resources from the Pagoda, from top to bottom.
• Resource requirements to become a landscape card: Example: You play this card in your garden as an active Groundwork card. In future actions you will need to place 1 Stone and 1 Water Resource Token on the card to complete it, so that it becomes a Landscape card.

Landscape Cards & Rewards

If, after a Take a wild or Reallocate resources action, or after earning a Take wilds Bonus Tile, an active Groundwork card's resource requirements become satisfied, the resources on it go back to the supply and the active Groundwork card is flipped over and becomes a completed Landscape card. As a reward, advance your Score Marker 1 space on the God's track corresponding to the God symbol shown in the top-left of the newly completed Landscape card. Also, gain the rewards again of any previously completed Landscape cards that are in the same set as the newly completed Landscape card.

Additional rules regarding Landscape cards & rewards

• If a Landscape card shows a multi-colored symbol on it, you may choose which God's track to advance on. You may choose a different God's track each time this reward is earned.
• If your Score Marker is on the rightmost space on a God's track and you receive another reward in that color, instead of advancing your Score Marker, move all other player's Score Markers back 1 space on that track.
• If any Score marker is on the leftmost space on a Gods track and it is moved back 1 space, instead remove it from the Scoreboard for the remainder of the game. The player whose Score Marker it is no longer gains rewards in that color, but may still complete Landscape cards of that color if they wish.
• If the resource requirements of multiple cards are satisfied in the same turn, the player may choose the order in which to receive the rewards.

Example of a completed panorama: You complete the first frame of the orange panorama, thus finishing the whole 3-card panorama. The player now earns the reward for this card (advancing their Score Marker on the purple God meter), as well as the reward for the other 2 cards which were previously completed (advancing their Score Marker on the red and purple God meters). As a bonus for completing the whole panorama the player also takes 1 Bonus Tile.

Bonus Tiles

If you finish a set (thereby completing a panorama), collect the topmost Bonus Tile from 1 of the 3 Bonus Tile piles. You may not have 2 of the same type of Bonus Tile. The 3 Bonus Tile types are:

• Planning Tile expansion: 1 additional resource space is added to your Planning Tile. Place the Bonus Tile next to the Planning Tile. You may now collect up to 5 resources for the remainder of the game.
• Take wilds: When you collect this tile, immediately collect resources from the supply equal to the number on the tile, and place them on your active Groundwork cards and/or your Planning Tile. Flip this Bonus Tile face down; it cannot be used again.
• Extra rewards: This tile is worth an amount of points indicated by the number on it.

End of Turn

Once you have taken 3 actions, replenish your hand to 5 cards by drawing, one at a time, from either the top of the draw pile or the open draw cards.

Once you have drawn all of your cards, refill the open draw back to 3 cards, if necessary, by drawing cards from the draw pile.

If the draw pile is empty, shuffle all discards to form a new draw pile.

Game End & Final Scoring

The final round of the game is triggered once any player completes a fixed number of Landscape cards in their garden. That number varies by player count:

• 4 player game: 8 completed Landscape cards
• 3 player game: 9 completed Landscape cards
• 2 player game: 10 completed Landscape cards

Once the game ending condition is triggered, complete the current round so that every player has had the same number of turns. Once the last player has finished their turn, move on to final scoring.

Each player's final score is calculated by adding up their points on the God's tracks on the Scoreboard, as well as any additional points earned via an Extra rewards Bonus Tile. The player with the most points is the winner.

A tie is broken by highest number of completed Landscape cards. A second tie is broken by the largest completed panorama.

Credits

Four Gardens is the winning entry of the Korea Boardgames Design Contest 2018.

Development: Korea Boardgames Dev. Dept.

Four Gardens is published by Korea Boardgames Co., Ltd. under license by author "Martin Doležal". Copyright © 2020 Korea Boardgames Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Game Design: Martin Doležal | Illustrations: Rachance | Story: Sung-il Kiim | Graphic Design: Sunju Choi | Project Manager: Leon Scheuber