Fruit Picking (2014)
Fruit Picking (2014) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents of the Box
- 28 Farm cards. 4 sets of different color (green, blue, red, yellow). Each set contains 7 cards (house, rain, pineapple, grapes, cherry, banana, strawberry).
- 30 Market cards. 6 of each kind (pineapple, grapes, cherry, banana, strawberry). Contains 1 card with an umbrella mark for each kind.
- 72 Wooden seeds. 4 bags each containing 18 pieces.
- 2 Market sheets.
- Rulebook.
Game Preparation
- Each player selects one set of farm cards (7 cards) of a color.
- Arbitrarily choose an initial player. That player first puts his/her House card in front of him/her. Then he/she takes the remaining 6 cards, shuffles them, and lays each card in a circle clock-wise starting from the house card, like in the figure (the order of the cards may be different from the figure). We call this circle of cards a Farm. Each remaining player sets his/her cards exactly in the same way, following the order chosen by the initial player.
- Each player takes one bag of seeds and puts all seeds in the center of his/her farm. We refer to the center of a farm as Storage.
- Take 6 seeds from the storage and counting clock-wise from the house card, put 2 seeds in the first card, 2 in the second card, and 2 in the third card. The colors of the seeds have no relevance to the game.
- Place the Market sheet in the center of the table to make the Market for all players. Shuffle all the Market cards and place them face down making a stack in its corresponding position on the Market sheet. Then, take 4 cards from the Market stack and place them in the slots marked in the Market sheet. We refer to these four cards as the Market.
Playing the Game
The game starts with the initial player and then each turn proceeds clock-wise. A turn is divided in two phases that take place in the order shown below.
(1) Planting Seeds
A player selects one card from his/her farm that has at least one seed (the house card cannot be chosen). He/She then grabs all the seeds on that card, and starting with the next card (clock-wise) he/she puts 1 seed on top of that, 1 seed on the next card following that, and so on, until no more seeds are left in his/her hand. This is how a player plants seeds.
Example. In the figure, if a player chooses the cherry card with 3 seeds, he/she grabs all 3 seeds, and going clock-wise he/she puts 1 seed over the rain card, 1 seed over the grapes card, and 1 seed over the strawberry card.
The last card where a player lays a seed is referred to as the Target card. In the example above, the target card is the strawberry card.
(2) The Target Card
After setting a Target, there are two possible actions: [a] Water plants, or [b] Buy a Market card. If the House card becomes the target, the player cannot do any of the two actions [a] or [b] and he/she must repeat his/her turn again by planting seeds. If the House card becomes the target again, the player must repeat his/her turn, and so on. The player cannot pass his/her turn.
a. Water Plants
He/She takes a number of seeds from the storage equal to the number of fruits or raindrops depicted on the target card (3 for strawberry, 1 for pineapple and grapes, 2 for banana and cherry, and 2 for rain). He/She then puts those seeds over the target card, adding them to the current number of seeds over the target. If the number of seeds in his/her storage are less than the number of fruits in the target card, the player takes all remaining seeds and adds them to the target anyway. Then a player ends his/her turn.
b. Buy a Market Card
He/She buys a card from the market of the same kind of fruit on the target card. If the player cannot buy the card or the target is a Rain card, he/she cannot choose this action.
The money to buy Market cards is the collection of seeds on the House card (in the world of monkeys, seeds are money!).
The price of a Market card is the number of fruits on the card plus the added price of its corresponding slot on the Market sheet. The added price of each slot on the Market sheet is, starting from the Market stack, +3, +2, +1, +0.
To pay the price of a Market card, take as many seeds from the House card equal to the price of the card and return those seeds to the storage. Also, all the seeds over the target card are returned to the storage.
Example. In the figure, the price of the cherry card on the left is the number of fruits on the card (2) plus the added price (1). The total price is thus 3.
A player who buys a card should put it next to him/her on the table so that it is visible to all players.
Example. In the figure, a player is going to buy the rightmost cherry card in the Market. He/She plants the last seed on the cherry card on his/her farm (steps 1 and 2) making it the target (step 3), and now he/she can buy any cherry card in the market. The price of the rightmost cherry card in the Market is 2+1=3 because 2 is the number of cherries on the card and 1 is the added price corresponding to the Market order. The player pays 3 seeds from his/her House card (step 4). After that, he/she returns all seeds over the cherry card on his/her farm to the storage (step 5). The player puts the acquired card next to him/her.
After buying a card, shift all Market cards to the right to fill the empty slot. Then draw the top card from the stack and place it face-up in the leftmost empty slot. The player ends his/her turn.
Example. In the figure, the pineapple and cherry cards are shifted to the right to fill the empty slot left by the card bought in the previous example. Then, the top card in the stack (strawberry card) is placed face-up in the leftmost empty slot.
When the turn ends, the game proceeds to the next player clock-wise.
Note: When There Are No Seeds to Pick Up
At the beginning of a turn, there may be a situation where a player has no seeds left on any of his/her farm cards (except the House card). In that case, he/she takes 3 seeds from the House card and puts them back in his/her storage. If there are less than 3 seeds on the House card, he/she puts back all the remaining seeds in the storage. Afterwards, he/she takes 3 seeds from the storage and, starting from the House card clock-wise, puts 1 on the 1st farm card, 1 on the 2nd card, and 1 on the 3rd card. The player ends his/her turn.
End of the Game
The sets are:
- Variety: Five kinds of fruits.
- Greedy: Four identical fruits.
- Smiley: Three distinct pairs.
- Family: A three of a kind and a pair.
The game ends when a player completes any of the sets above, or when the last card is drawn from the stack of Market cards. When this happens, complete the current round so that each player has played the same number of turns.
The player who completed a set is the winner. In the case where two or more players have completed a set, the player with the largest number of fruits on his/her Market cards wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most seeds on his/her farm cards (including the House card) wins. Otherwise, the tied players are declared winners.
Rules for Experienced Players and Beginners
- Umbrella: Some of the Market cards have an umbrella mark. When such a card is drawn (even during the setup of a game), all players immediately add as many seeds from their storage equal to the number of fruits on their corresponding farm card. After this, this card works normally as any other Market card.
- Market Operation: When a player draws a Market card to fill an empty slot, that player can pay 1 seed to take 2 cards instead. He/She then chooses one of the two cards and puts one in the Market and the other at the bottom of the Market stack.
- For Beginners: Use 3 Market cards instead of 4 and omit the added price when buying a card. The game ends when any player buys 5 cards. This rule can be used with small kids.