Gretchen's Garden Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setup
• Course of Play
  • I. Action Phase
    • A) Buy a plant or pot from Gretchen's shop
    • B) Cut another player's plant
    • C) Tend your plants by watering and moving them
    • D) Flower a plant in your collection
  • II. Weather Phase
  • III. Growth Phase
  • IV. Clean-Up Phase
• End of the Game

Goal of the Game

Over the course of 12 rounds, you try to build the most valuable succulent collection by acquiring pots and plants and tending them. Others may cut your plants, and the weather might change, but don't let that stop you!

Components

• 1 card overview sheet
• 134 cards comprising:
  • 36 A-succulents
  • 36 B-succulents
  • 6 special plants
  • 24 pots
  • 8 starting pots
  • 4 watering cans
  • 12 weather cards
  • 8 overview cards
• 1 game board (Gretchen's shop)
• 4 player boards
• 6 flowers
• 116 double-sided markers:
  • water
  • leaf
• 26 "4 leaves" markers
• 1 start marker (assembled from two pieces)
• 1 scorepad

Setup

1. Place Gretchen's shop in the center of the play area. With 2 players, use the side showing Gretchen and 4 spaces; with 3-4 players, use the other side showing 6 spaces.
2. Place the water and leaf markers within reach of all players.
3. Decide which succulents to use for this game and return any unused cards to the game box. Each set (A and B) consists of 6 different types of succulents; each type is assigned a color: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, or red.

For your first play, we recommend you use only the A-cards. Once you are familiar with the game, you can instead use the B-cards or a mix of both. Make sure you use only one type of succulent per color.

4. Prepare the supply by sorting the succulents by color and placing the 6 piles above Gretchen's shop, with a matching flower below each pile.
5. Prepare the plant deck according to the table below as follows: Take the indicated number of special plants and set them aside; return any remaining special plants to the game box unseen. Then take the indicated number of succulents from each supply pile and shuffle them with the set-aside special plants to form the plant deck, placing it to the left of Gretchen's shop.

Player Count	Succulents of Each Type	Special Plants
2	1	3 at random
3	2	4 at random
4	3	all 6

6. Shuffle all 24 pots face down to form the pot deck, placing it to the right of Gretchen's shop.
7. Draw cards from the plant and pot decks and place them face up in the empty spaces of Gretchen's shop. Then place 1 leaf on each face-up plant card and 1 water on each face-up pot card.
8. Shuffle the 12 weather cards and place the pile on the left side below Gretchen's shop. Then take the topmost weather card from the pile and place it on the right side below Gretchen's shop—this is called the current weather card.
9. Each player gets 1 player board, 2 starting pots, 1 watering can, and 2 different overview cards. Place your player board in front of you and the starting pots to the left and right of it. You can place the watering can and overview cards below the player board.
10. The player who has most recently watered a plant is the start player and gets the start marker. That player and the player to their left place 2 leaves on their money plant; all other players place 3 leaves on their money plant.

Course of Play

The game is played over 12 seasons (i.e., rounds) comprising the following four phases:

• I. Action Phase
• II. Weather Phase
• III. Growth Phase
• IV. Clean-Up Phase

I. Action Phase

Beginning with the start player and in clockwise order, each player takes one turn, choosing exactly one of the following four actions:

• A) Buy a plant or pot from Gretchen's shop
• B) Cut another player's plant
• C) Tend your plants by watering and moving them
• D) Flower a plant in your collection

A) Buy a plant or pot from Gretchen's shop

Choose a plant or pot from Gretchen's shop and pay the cost indicated below the card by returning an equal number of leaves from your money plant to the stock. Do not replenish the shop—empty spaces remain empty. If you cannot afford any of the available cards, you must choose a different action.

Plants

Plant cards show: color (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, or red), set (A or B), name, effect, and illustration.

Except for the Rainbow West (wild), all special plants are gray. In this game, gray is not considered a color.

You must place a newly bought plant in an empty pot; the color of the pot does not matter. If you do not have an empty pot, you cannot buy a new plant. All plants and pots in front of you are considered your collection.

If the newly bought plant comes with leaves, they remain on the plant. If there are more leaves on the plant than its pot allows (see box below), return any excess leaves to the stock.

Plants cannot grow indefinitely. Pots define how many leaves their plants can hold, as indicated by the number at the top of the pot—the so-called pot size (see "Pot" section below).

Example: You have 2 empty pots in your collection. You buy a String of Pearls for 1 leaf and place it in the starting pot on the right of your money plant.

Pots

Pot card shows: pot size, water capacity, and color.

• Pot size — maximum number of leaves a plant in this pot can hold
• Water capacity — amount of water required for growth
• Color — purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, or wild

The starting pots are gray, which is not considered a color in this game.

You must place a newly bought pot in-between the two pots on the far left or far right of your collection, by sliding the starting pot to the side and placing the new pot in its place. You only ever move the starting pot: If there was a plant in that pot, it remains in its place (thus, effectively, moving into the new pot)! If the newly bought pot comes with water, leave it in the pot.

Example: You buy the blue pot for 2 leaves. To place it in your collection, you first move the right starting pot farther to the right and place the new pot in the gap that has formed. The String of Pearls remains in place and is now in the blue pot.

B) Cut another player's plant

Choose another player's plant that meets the following conditions:

• The chosen plant must hold at least one leaf and no flower.
• There is at least one copy of that plant left in its supply pile.
• You must have an empty pot in your collection.

If all of these conditions are met, you can cut that plant as follows: Turn 1 leaf on the plant to the water side and move it to the pot below the plant. If moving the water to the pot would exceed its water capacity, move it to that player's watering can instead (see box below).

A pot can never hold more water than its water capacity, as indicated by the number of droplet symbols at the bottom of the pot.

Then take a matching plant from the supply pile and place it in an empty pot in your collection; the color of the pot does not matter.

Example: You cut an opponent's Mexican Firecracker, turning its only leaf to the water side. Since its pot is already full of water, you move the water to the opponent's watering can. Then you take a Mexican Firecracker from the supply and place it in an empty pot in your collection.

C) Tend your plants by watering and moving them

This action consists of two parts: "Moving" and "Watering and Growth". You can carry them out in any order; you can even skip one or both parts.

Moving

You can move two plants in your collection by either displacing two plants one after the other or swapping the positions of two plants. You can only move plants without flower.

• Displacing: Choose 1 or 2 plants in your collection and move them one after the other into empty pots. You can (but do not have to) move the second plant into the pot that is now empty after moving the first (see example #1).
• Swapping: Choose exactly 2 plants in your collection and swap their positions (see example #2). You do not need to have empty pots to swap plants.

Leaves move with the plants holding them but if the new pot has a smaller pot size than the number of leaves on the plant, you must return any excess leaves to the stock.

Example #1: You move the String of Pearls into the green pot on the right (1) and the Mexican Firecracker into the now empty yellow pot (2).

Example #2: You swap the Mexican Firecracker and String of Pearls.

Watering and Growth

Proceed as follows:

• Place 2 water from the stock into your watering can—this is also stated on the watering can card as a reminder (there is no limit to the water capacity on a watering can).
• Take any amount of water from your watering can and distribute it onto the pots in your collection, up to the water capacity of each pot.
• Leave any water that you cannot or do not want to place in pots in the watering can.

Example: You take the 4 existing water from your watering can and 2 additional water from the stock and distribute them onto your pots.

After watering your plants, immediately carry out an additional Growth Phase for your collection only (see "Growth Phase" on page 10).

D) Flower a plant in your collection

Choose a plant in your collection that meets the requirements for flowering: It must be in a pot matching its own color (or a wild pot) and the corresponding flower must be still available in the supply. (Gray is not considered a color!)

If a plant in your collection meets these requirements, first return all water from its pot to the stock. Then take the matching flower and place it on the plant. Each succulent type can only flower once per game. At the end of the game, each flower is worth 7 points.

Example: You have a String of Pearls in a green pot and the green flower is still in the supply, so you can flower your String of Pearls. Discard all water from its pot and move the flower from the supply onto the plant.

Flowered plants remain in the state they are at the time they flower until the end of the game, i.e., you cannot place any more water in their pot, you cannot move them, and no one can cut them.

II. Weather Phase

This phase is played simultaneously.

Take water from the stock equal to the number shown on the current weather card and place it in your pots and watering can as you wish. Water cannot exceed a pot's water capacity. Your watering can, on the other hand, can hold any amount of water; this water can later be used during a "Tend" action (see page 8).

Note: You cannot place any water in pots with flowered plants.

Example: The current weather provides 3 water, of which you place 2 in the yellow pot and the remaining one in the gray pot, even if there is no plant in it yet.

III. Growth Phase

This phase is also played simultaneously.

Carry out the following steps for each pot with water equal to its capacity: Turn all water in this pot to the leaf side and move the leaves onto the plant in that pot. If there are now more leaves on the plant than the pot size allows, return any excess leaves to the stock.

If there is no plant in a pot with maximum water, leave the water in the pot.

Example (continued): In the Growth Phase, you turn the water in the yellow pot to the leaf side and move it onto the Mexican Firecracker above. The water in the gray pot stays where it is.

IV. Clean-Up Phase

At the end of each round, carry out the following steps: replenish Gretchen's shop, update the weather, and pass the start marker clockwise.

Replenishing Gretchen's Shop

Place a marker on each remaining card in Gretchen's shop: 1 leaf on each plant and 1 water on each pot.

Then check whether you need to remove cards:

• Remove all plants with 4 leaves and place them face up next to the plant deck.
• Remove all pots with more water than their water capacity allows and place them face up next to the pot deck.

Return any leaves and water from the removed cards to the stock. Then move any remaining plants and pots to the center of the shop, on the cheapest spaces, leaving no gaps. Finally, draw cards from the respective decks and place them face up on the empty spaces, if any.

Example: First, you add 1 leaf to each plant and 1 water to each pot. Then, you need to remove the Snake Plant and wild pot.

Example (continued): Finally, you move the Jellybean Plant to the 1-cost space and draw 2 new plants and 1 new pot from the respective decks, placing them on the empty spaces in Gretchen's shop.

Updating the Weather

Place the topmost card from the pile of weather cards on top of the previous current weather card on the right. This is the next round's weather. (The card on the left serves as a weather forecast for the next round.)

Passing the Start Marker

Pass the start marker to the next player clockwise, who will be start player in the next round's Action Phase.

End of the Game

The game ends after the Growth Phase of round 12.

Score your collections as follows: First, remove any water remaining in your pots. Then, take the scorepad and tally your scores in each category.

• Leaves: Total the leaves on all plants in your collection except the money plant. Each leaf scores 1 point; leaves on your money plant score no points.
• Flowers: Each flower in your collection scores 7 points.
• Plants: Some plants score points at the end of the game. Score these plants one type after the other: purple, yellow, orange, red, and special plants. If you are unsure how a specific plant works, look up its description on the card overview sheet.
• Pots: Each pot in your collection scores 2 points.

The player with the highest total wins. In case of a tie, enjoy your shared victory.

Example scoring (from the rulebook's final page): Steve scores his collection as follows. Money does not score. On the scorepad: leaves 36, flowers 14 (two flowers at 7), pots 14 (seven pots at 2), plant rows 0, 5, 0, 4 and 0 by row, for a total of 73.