Garden Dice
Garden Dice Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Gameboard
Row Signs, Column Signs, Normal Spaces, Star Spaces, Scoring Track.
50 Seed/Veggie Tiles
10 each of 5 types. Players buy and then plant them as seeds, water them to flip them to the veggie side, then harvest them for points. Each tile has a point value in the top left corner; this number is relevant to several actions during the game and is also the worth of the tile when scored.
The five tile types: Squash, Carrot, Tomato, Artichoke, Eggplant. Each has a Seed side and a Veggie side.
4 Bird/Rabbit Tiles
...used to eat each other's seeds and veggies. See Move A Critter for details.
4 Sundial/Scarecrow Tiles
...grant special abilities to their owner. See Special Tiles for details.
4 Player Aids
For rules reminders during the game.
4 Wooden Dice
36 Wooden Discs
9 in each player color. Players use them to mark their own tiles, and as scoring markers. Add stickers to your discs before your first play.
4 Sun Tokens
Used to change dice results. See Sun Tokens for details.
2 Rock Tiles
Used in 2-player game only. See Special Tiles for details.
Setup
Sort the seed/veggie tiles by type and place them in stacks (seed side up) beside the board. See the chart below for the number of tiles to use (return unused tiles to the box).
- 2 players: 5 of each type
- 3 players: 7 of each type
- 4 players: 10 of each type
Distribute the following to each player:
- 1 Player Aid
- All 9 discs of one color
- 1 bird/rabbit tile
- 1 sundial/scarecrow tile
- 1 sun token
- (In a 2-player game only) 1 rock tile
Each player then places one of their discs on the path by the start of the scoring track, and keeps their other 8 discs near at hand where all players may see them throughout the game.
Remove all unused material from the game.
Determine the start player randomly, then give that player the four dice and begin!
On Your Turn
At the start of your turn, roll all four dice to form your dice pool for the turn. Spend one or more dice from your pool to perform one of the possible actions, setting aside spent dice. Once the action has been resolved, repeat the process using only the unspent dice remaining in your pool. Continue in this fashion until you are unable to perform an action (even an undesired one) using the dice that remain. When you are unable to take any further action, your turn is over; pass the dice to the next player clockwise.
Example: Blue rolls all four dice. His resulting dice pool is 1, 5, 1, 6, which he can now spend on any actions he wishes.
- Actions can be performed in any order you choose, and you can perform the same action more than once on your turn.
- If you happen to roll the same result on all four dice, you may reroll all of them, repeating if necessary.
The Actions
Buy A Seed Tile
Spend one die to buy one seed tile from the stacks with a point value less than or equal to the number rolled. Put one of your discs on the purchased tile and place it in front of you (seed side up) so that everyone can easily see it.
- If you don't have an available disc to place on it, you can not buy a seed tile.
- You can own as many seeds of each type as you want, but you can not buy more than two of the same type on one turn.
Example: Blue spends his 5 to buy an Artichoke seed tile (value 4). He places it on the table in front of himself and puts one of his discs on it.
Place A Tile
Spend two dice to place one of your special tiles or purchased seed tiles onto an empty space on the board, using the dice numbers as coordinates (one die for the row and the other for the column).
If your sundial tile is already on the board, you can use it to modify the coordinate dice. See Special Tiles for details.
- Seed tiles are always placed seed side up, with your disc (which you placed when you purchased it) remaining on the tile.
- Bird/rabbit tiles are always placed bird side up, and sundial/scarecrow tiles are always placed sundial side up. Add one of your discs to the tile as you place it; if you have no available discs, you can not place the tile.
- Rock tiles are the same on both sides. Do not add a disc when placed.
- Seed tiles, sundial/scarecrow tiles, and rocks can never be moved once they've been placed on the board. Bird/rabbit tiles can move; see Move A Critter for details.
Example: Blue spends a 6 and a 1 from his pool to place his Artichoke seed tile. Notice that with these two dice he could place the tile at either 1,6 or 6,1. He chooses 1,6 and places the tile in that space, keeping his disc on it.
Water A Seed
Spend one die to water one of your own placed seed tiles of equal or lower value. Flip the watered seed tile over to its veggie side and return your disc to the tile.
Watering automatically chains to nearby seed tiles. Read below to see how chaining works when you water a seed.
Example: It is Green's turn. She has already spent three of the dice in her pool on other things, and she has a 5 remaining. She can use it to water a placed seed of value 5 or lower, so she decides to water her value-4 artichoke seed. She waters it by spending the die and flipping it to the veggie side, keeping her disc in place on the tile.
Chaining (Watering)
A very important side effect of watering a seed tile is that any other seed tiles (regardless of owner) that are adjacent (not diagonal) to the initial tile being watered are also watered, but only if their point value is lower than the value of the first watered tile. (Not the die roll... the tile.)
This effect is called chaining; it repeats itself with each new tile that was watered by the first chain effect, and so on and so on until it can repeat no further. The chain only waters seed tiles that have a lower value than the previously-watered tile in the chain; all other tiles and empty spaces interrupt the chain.
Flip all tiles watered as the result of chaining to their veggie side, keeping the discs in place on the tiles.
Example: Green has just watered her Artichoke seed. The watering will chain right to Blue's Tomato seed. From there it will chain right to her own Squash seed, and also down to Yellow's Carrot seed. The chain is interrupted by all of the red Xs in the diagram above, because watering only ever chains to seeds of lower value. This is what the board will look like after the watering chain is complete. The affected Artichoke, Tomato, Carrot, and Squash seeds have been flipped over to their veggie sides, and their discs remain in place.
Harvest A Veggie
Spend one die to harvest one of your own veggie tiles of equal or lower value. Remove the harvested veggie tile from the board and return your disc to your supply. Place the harvested veggie face up on the table in front of you where everyone can clearly see it (not concealed or stacked). Score points for the harvested veggie equal to the value of the tile, and update your marker on the scoring track accordingly.
Harvesting automatically chains to nearby veggie tiles. Read below to see how chaining works when you harvest a veggie.
Example: It is Yellow's turn. He spends a "3" from his dice pool to harvest his Tomato from the board. He collects the Tomato and places it where everyone can see it, retrieving its disc and returning it to his supply for later use. Yellow scores 3 points for the value-3 Tomato, and updates his scoring marker.
Scarecrow Bonus: If the harvested veggie was protected by your own Scarecrow, earn 3 bonus points.
Star Bonus: If the harvested veggie was on one of the Star spaces and did not already earn the Scarecrow Bonus, double its point value.
Chaining (Harvesting)
Harvesting chains similarly to watering, in that any other veggie tiles (regardless of owner) that are adjacent (not diagonal) to the initial tile being harvested are also harvested, but only if their point value is lower than the value of the first harvested tile. (Not the die roll... the tile.)
As with a watering chain, a harvesting chain repeats itself with each new tile that was harvested by the first chain effect, and so on and so on until it can repeat no further. The chain only harvests veggie tiles that have a lower value than the preceding tile in the chain; all other tiles and empty spaces interrupt the chain.
Score a harvest chain one tile at a time, beginning with the original harvested veggie. Each subsequent veggie tile harvested as a result of the chain is treated and scored exactly as if its owner had harvested it, including Scarecrow and Star bonuses. As a special reward for starting the chain on your turn, you score one bonus point for every harvested veggie in the chain belonging to another player.
Example: Yellow has just harvested his Tomato. The harvest chains left to his own Squash, and down to Green's Carrot. The harvest chains again down from Green's Carrot to Green's Squash and also right to Red's Squash. (Those two Squashes both happen to be on Star spaces.) One by one the harvested tiles and their discs are collected and scored by their owners. Let's see how many points they earned:
- Yellow's Tomato: 3 pts for Yellow. (Green's scarecrow does not affect its score.)
- Yellow's Squash: 1 pt for Yellow (Green's scarecrow does not affect its score.)
- Green's Carrot: 2 pts + 3 pt Scarecrow Bonus = 5 pts for Green.
- Green's Squash: 1 pt + 3 pt Scarecrow Bonus = 4 pts for Green. (Star Bonus canceled.)
- Red's Squash: 1 pt doubled by the Star Bonus = 2 pts for Red.
- Yellow earns 3 bonus pts for causing 3 opponent veggies to be harvested on his turn.
So, the final result of all this scoring is that Yellow earns 7 points, Green earns 9 points, and Red earns 2 points. Maybe not such a great move by Yellow!
Flip A Special Tile
Spend one die with a result of six to flip one of your special tiles on the board from one side to the other (from bird to rabbit or vice versa, or from a sundial to scarecrow or vice versa). The tile stays in the same space and any discs on the flipped tile should remain.
Move A Critter
Spend one die to move your own critter (bird or rabbit) tile (in a straight line) a number of spaces equal to or lower than the value of the die. You may only move your critter into or through empty spaces, with two notable exceptions:
- You may move your bird onto an opponent's seed tile. When this happens, the bird ends its movement for this action and eats the seed tile. You may only do this if you have at least one disc in your supply.
- The Scarecrow Exception: Your bird can not move onto (and thus can not eat) an opponent's seed tile if it is affected by that same opponent's scarecrow. (Your bird can move freely through empty spaces affected by scarecrows. Rabbits are not affected by scarecrows.)
- You may move your rabbit onto an opponent's veggie tile. When this happens, the rabbit ends its movement for this action and eats the veggie tile. You may only do this if you have at least one disc in your supply.
Example: If Green spent a 3, the Green Rabbit could move up to 3 spaces right to eat Blue's Eggplant, OR 1 space down. If Yellow spent a 3, the Yellow Bird could move up to 3 spaces left to eat Blue's Tomato seed, OR 1 space up to eat Green's Artichoke seed.
Eating A Tile
When your critter eats an opponent's tile, remove the eaten tile with its disc from the board. Your critter remains in the space vacated by the eaten tile. You now must make a choice about what to do with the removed eaten tile:
A) Swallow it whole. Discard the tile from the game and return its disc to its owner. Place one of your own discs from your supply on your critter; all discs placed on your critter in this way stay there until the critter is removed from the board. (see Remove A Critter for details.)
OR
B) Spit out the seeds. Spend a die from your dice pool of equal or greater value than the eaten tile. Return its disc to its owner. Put one of your own discs on the eaten tile and place it in front of you (seed side up, even if it was originally a veggie) so that everyone can easily see it. Treat this tile as if it were a seed purchased with the Buy A Seed Tile action.
Example: Yellow's Bird eats Green's Artichoke seed, and Yellow decides to swallow it whole. The Artichoke tile is discarded from the game, Green gets her disc back, and Yellow adds one of his own discs to his Bird.
Example: Green's Rabbit eats Blue's Eggplant, and decides to Spit out the Seeds. Green spends a 5 from her dice pool, gives Blue back his disc, and keeps the Eggplant as a purchased seed of her own, adding one of her discs to it.
Your critter(s) may eat more than one tile on your turn, but each eaten tile in a single turn must belong to a different opponent. (Regardless of whether it is your bird or rabbit doing the eating.)
Remove A Critter
Spend three dice to remove one critter tile (even your own) from the board. Two of your spent dice must correspond to the coordinates of the critter on the board; your third spent die must be a six.
If your sundial tile is already on the board, you can use it to modify the coordinate dice. See Special Tiles for details.
When the critter is removed, it is returned to the player who owns it so that it may be played again later. Any ownership disc(s) on the critter tile are also returned to the owner's supply.
Example: Blue spends a 1 and a 2 (the coordinates) and a 6 from his dice pool to remove Red's Rabbit. Red gets her rabbit back plus the three discs that were on it.
Game End
The game ends when the last remaining seed tile is taken from the last remaining supply stack. The player taking this tile completes his or her turn and the game ends. Tally the final score by adding bonus points, as follows:
- Deduct 5 points for each purchased seed tile you have not placed on the board except the first. (For example, if you have three unplayed seed tiles when the game ends, you only lose points for two of them; −10 pts total.)
- Sets: A Set is a group of all five veggie types. You earn 15 bonus points for each Set of harvested veggie tiles. The same tiles are also used for Collections (see below).
- Collections: A Collection is a group of identical veggies. You earn the following points for your Collections of harvested veggie tiles:
- Each 3-part Collection: 10 pts.
- Each 4-part Collection: 15 pts.
- Each 5-part Collection or larger: 20 pts.
- Collections of 2 or fewer tiles do not earn points.
- Each unused Sun token is worth 5 points.
- Unharvested veggies on the board are worth nothing.
Example: At game end, Blue has 58 points. He deducts 15 pts (5pts × 3) for having four leftover purchased seed tiles. He adds 30 pts (15pts × 2) for having two Sets. His 3-part Collection of Carrots earns him 10 pts and his 4-part Collection of Tomatoes earns him 15 pts. He still has his Sun token, so earns 5 pts for it. Blue's final score is (58 - 15 + 30 + 10 + 15 + 5) = 103!
The player with the most points wins! If two or more players are tied for the most, the tied player with the most points showing on his or her harvested veggies (by counting up the face value) wins. If the players are still tied, all tied players share the victory!
Family Game Variant
For a friendlier game, eliminate the bird/rabbit tiles from the game. All other rules remain the same.
Special Tiles
A special tile's abilities only become available once the tile is placed on the board with the Place A Tile action.
Sundial
You may use your sundial to modify the result rolled on one or two dice specifically for the purposes of determining coordinates. You may use your sundial freely throughout the game, including on the turn it was placed (but only after it has been placed). On each turn, the sundial can be used once to either:
A) Modify one die by adding or subtracting 1 or 2.
OR
B) Modify two dice by adding or subtracting 1 from each. The two modified dice may be but do not have to be spent on the same action. (For example you could perform two Place A Tile actions on your turn and modify one coordinate die in each.)
Scarecrow
Your scarecrow affects your own seed and veggie tiles in the eight surrounding spaces. All other tiles and empty spaces in that area are unaffected.
- Your scarecrow protects your seed tiles in the affected area from opponents' birds; they can not move onto nor eat your protected seed tiles. (Bird movement is otherwise unaffected by scarecrows.)
- Your scarecrow adds a 3-point Scarecrow Bonus to each of your veggies harvested from the affected area, but cancels any Star Bonus those veggies otherwise would have earned.
Please note that scarecrows create no limits on placing, watering, harvesting, or critter movement for any player other than the effects specifically described above.
Bird & Rabbit
Move your bird/rabbit around the board to eat other players' seed/veggie tiles respectively. See the Move A Critter section for details about how the bird/rabbit moves and eats.
Rock (2 Players Only)
With two players, each player receives a single rock tile at the start of the game. Rocks are placed using the Place A Tile action, but do not receive a disc when placed. A rock blocks its space permanently and is impassable by critters.
Sun Tokens
Each player begins the game with a sun token. You may discard your sun from the game at the start of your turn to reroll all four dice in your dice pool, or at any time during your turn in order to change one of your dice to a result of your choice. If you still have your sun at the end of the game, it earns you 5 bonus points.
Credits
Garden Dice Game Design: Doug Bass. Graphics and Rules Development: Joshua Cappel. Rules Editing: Nathan Morse.
Published by Meridae Games, LLC. www.meridaegames.com. ©2012 Meridae Games