Grass is Greener
Grass is Greener Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Objective
The objective of Grass is Greener is to win the title of Yard of the Month amongst your neighbors! During the game, you will constantly be fending off petty neighbors (other players) from ruining your beautiful yard. The neighbor with the most points at the end of the game wins! Easy peasy!
What's in the Box?
- 10 HOA Board Members
- 18 Sod Cards
- 6 Dummy Guides
- 142 Deck Cards
Before You Begin
- Deal 3 Sod cards to each neighbor. Place all other Sod cards back in the box (these will not be used).
- Shuffle and deal 5 cards from the deck (green backs only) to each neighbor. This is your hand.
- Set the remaining deck of cards in the middle of the play area, accessible to all players. Draw 3 cards from the deck and place them face-up near the deck. This is the Community Draw Pile.
- The neighbor to the left of the dealer draws an HOA Board Member card at random. Place the selected card face-up near the main deck. Let all players read the face-up HOA Board Member's likes and dislikes. Place all other HOA Board Member cards back in the box (these will not be used).
Note: Be sure to deal a Dummy Guide to each player!
Playing the Game
The person who is most likely to set fire to their neighbor's yard plays first. Turn order continues clockwise. During each neighbor's turn, they must perform 3 actions. These actions are DRAW and PLAY, which are described below. Neighbors may choose to do any combination of these actions 3 times. Example: During Bob's turn, he chooses to play a card, draw a card, and play a card. His turn is now over. Next is Stacy's turn. She chooses to draw a card, draw a card, and draw a card. Her turn is now over.
Actions: The 2 actions are DRAW a card or PLAY a card.
Draw Action: Draw 1 card from the Community Draw Pile or from the top of the Main Deck and add it to your hand. If you choose to draw from the Community Draw Pile, do not refresh the pile until the end of your turn.
Play Action: Play 1 card from your hand on yourself or on a neighbor.
Card Refresh: At the end of a neighbor's turn, if there are fewer than 3 cards in the Community Draw Pile, draw from the Main Deck to replace the missing cards. If at any point there are 3 cards of the same type in the Community Draw Pile, discard all the cards in the pile and replace them with cards from the Main Deck. For example, if there are 3 Petty Schemes in the Community Draw Pile, discard and replace all of them with new cards.
End of Turn: If neighbors have more than 7 cards in their hand at the end of their turn, they must discard down to 7 cards.
End of Game
The game ends one of two ways:
- When a yard is filled with 9 Improvements and/or Impairments (a maximum of 3 are allowed on each plot), the game immediately ends.
- When a neighbor draws the last card in the deck, the game immediately ends.
The face-up HOA Board Member is used to adjust each neighbor's final score. Neighbors tally their points based on the HOA Board Member, the cards in their Garage and the cards in their yard. The neighbor with highest score wins the Yard of the Month (and the game). Everyone else is a complete disappointment.
What if there is a tie? In the case of a tie, draw an HOA Board Member at random from the box. Use the new HOA Board Member to further adjust the scores of the tied neighbors. If there is still a tie, repeat this process until there is no tie.
Card Types
PLOTS - Each neighbor must always have exactly 3 Plots in their yard. When a Plot is played from your hand, it replaces another plot that was in your yard. Plots may only be played in your own yard. Each Plot can hold a maximum of 3 Improvements and or Impairments.
IMPROVEMENTS - These are the cards that will give you most of your points. These are played on Plots. Again, you may only have a maximum of 3 Improvements and/or Impairments on a Plot.
IMPAIRMENTS - These work the same as Improvements except you generally want to play these in other neighbor's yard to subtract points from their total.
PETTY SCHEME - These are single use card that are discarded after being played.
GARAGE - These are cards that can affect your entire yard or game play. These are played to the left of your yard, in your Garage. There is no limit to how many Garage cards can be played.
HOA BOARD MEMBER - These are used to modify neighbors' scores at the end of the game when determining the winner.
Subtypes
Many cards in Grass is Greener have subtypes. While subtypes themselves do not have their own ruleset, they affect the way cards are played and scored. Some cards have more than one subtype. Keep an eye on these.
How to Read a Card
Many cards in Grass is Greener have subtypes. While subtypes themselves do not have their own ruleset, they affect the way cards are played and scored. Some cards have more than one subtype. Keep an eye on these.
FAQ
What is a yard? Every neighbor has a yard. The yard is made up of the 3 Plots in front of them and it includes all the Improvements and Impairments attached.
What is a neighbor? Neighbors are players. All players, including yourself.
How do I tally my points? Scoring is easiest when completed group by group. A pen and paper are helpful but not required. Start with the HOA Board Member and tally up any points granted by them. Next tally any points granted by your Garage. Finally, address each plot individually, tallying points from Improvements and Impairments as well as points earned from the plot itself.
Block Party: How does this card work? The targeted neighbor of the card is required to give each neighbor one of the cards from their hand. They must give out their cards clockwise, like a dealer. Example: Mark plays Block Party on Susie. Susie has 2 cards in her hand. Susie gives a card to Ben, sitting to her left, and then gives a card to Jan, sitting to the left of Ben. Since Susie is now out of cards, Mark doesn't get one.
Motion Lights: How does this card work? If a neighbor with Motion Lights in their garage blocks a Sabotage card that targets multiple neighbors, both the Motion Lights and the Sabotage are discarded. The Sabotage has no effect on any neighbor.
Running for the HOA and Insider Advantage: How do these work? The only benefit of the Running for the HOA card is that it allows that neighbor to play the Insider Advantage card, which adds 5 points to their score (a substantial number of points). Without the Running for the HOA card in that neighbor's Garage, Insider Advantage cannot be played. There are 3 Running for the HOA cards in the deck and only 1 Insider Advantage card. This means only 1 neighbor will be able to use the Insider Advantage card. Insider Advantage cannot be stolen or removed by any other means once it is played in a neighbor's Garage until the end of the game.
Repo Man: How does this card work? Repo Man is meant to downgrade the plot of whoever it is played on by stealing it from them and replacing with sod. Whoever played the card then takes the repossessed plot to upgrade one of their own plots with it. Each yard can only have 3 plots total, never more never less.