Horticulture
Horticulture Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 pad of 100 double sided garden sheets
- 54 Plant cards
- 10 Pencils
Setup
Shuffle the cards and count out the correct amount for the number of gardeners participating. Place these cards face down in a draw pile in an accessible area. These cards will be your local nursery. The remaining cards may be placed back in the box. They will not be used for the remainder of this game.
| Number of Gardeners | Number of Cards |
|---|---|
| 1, 2, 4, 7+ | 32 |
| 3, 5 | 30 |
| 6 | 36 |
Give every gardener a garden sheet. Garden sheets have 2 sides, A and B. Everyone should use the same side. Side A is good for beginners and side B is a little more challenging. The rules are the same for both sides.
Every gardener will need a pencil.
Everyone must now plan their garden by picking the plants they hope to plant along the border of their garden, along their pathway and companion plants that they hope to plant next to each other. Draw the icons on your garden sheet in the appropriate boxes. You will score 2 points for every plant that fulfills one of your planned objectives. You should consult the scoring section before making your plan.
Now all gardeners should pick a location for their garden gnome. Every gardener will have only 1 garden gnome and they can place it wherever they desire by drawing the gnome hat icon. The garden gnome promotes healthy plants. Every complete group of plants adjacent to the garden gnome will be counted a second time at the end of the game. Please see the scoring section for more details.
The Garden Path
All your friends have agreed to help you and each other make a beautiful pathway through your gardens. Since you are all helping each other your paths will be the same length and take the same route through your garden.
If you are gardening solo you will design your path without the help of other gardeners following the same routing rules described here. If you are struggling to be creative, draw a straight path starting at position 3 to the bottom of the garden.
Whoever most recently walked on a garden path should go first. Or the person who is reading the rule book--if you didn't read the first part out loud this is your chance to take the lead.
The first gardener will pick from one of the starting locations on your garden sheet (1-5 on side A, 1-6 on side B). All gardeners will now draw a path the length of one square on their garden sheet going downward.
In clockwise turn order, gardeners will now take turns deciding if the path should continue left, right or down. Each gardener's choice only travels 1 square in their chosen direction. Please note: the path is not allowed to reach the left or right edges of your garden, turn upward toward the top of the garden sheet or double back on itself. The creation of the path will end once the path reaches the bottom of the garden, opposite of the numbers at the top of your garden.
If there is only one valid direction on your turn, you must pick it--sometimes you only have one option. It's also possible not everyone gets a turn to pick the direction of the path. Furthermore, it's most likely everyone will not have the same number of turns deciding the direction of the path. All of these facts are sad but they won't ruin your garden. Your garden will be beautiful.
Now that you've planned your garden, placed your garden gnome and assisted your friends in building their pathways you are ready to start planting!
Game play
If you are playing with 2-6 gardeners, the gardener who most recently planted a plant that is still living should go first as the plant picker. Gardeners will take turns as the plant picker. The plant picker will pick from the plants available at the nursery.
The game is played in a series of rounds called days. First, the plant picker flips over the top 2 cards from the local nursery deck. The picker then chooses from the available selection of plants by selecting 1 of the 2 cards to bring home from the greenhouse and share with all their friends. The other card is placed in the discard pile.
Next, all gardeners draw both of the plants shown on the selected card following the placement rules. Both plants must be planted every day. In the case of a wild plant, each gardener may choose the plant of their choice for that plant.
Finally, the cards are placed in the discard pile. The gardener to the left of the plant picker will be the plant picker for the next day.
The game continues until the nursery pile runs out. After all gardeners have finished planting their last plant in their garden, everyone calculates the score of their garden.
Solo play
If you are gardening solo, you will always be the plant picker and choose 1 of the cards. This will make things easier for you, but you are now playing against yourself and must work extra hard to surpass your previous high score. Enjoy the relaxing peace found in nature and hard work.
7 or more gardeners
If you are playing with 7 or more gardeners, congratulations you have a lot of friends, everyone will take part in picking the plants each day. In place of a single plant picker, flip over the top 2 cards. Then, the group will vote on which of the two cards should be selected. Have someone point at the first card. Gardeners may raise their green thumb to vote. Do the same for the second card. Indifferent gardeners may abstain from the vote. The card with the most votes is selected. In the case of a tie, all gardeners will pick the card of their choice.
Placement rules
There are two areas for planting your plants. The main garden area on top and the window box on bottom. Each area has its own rules for placement.
Garden placement
Plants may be placed in any empty square as long as the square is (1) adjacent to the garden path or (2) adjacent to the garden gnome or (3) adjacent to another plant.
Window box placement
Each type of plant may be placed only once, in any order, in the window box. In other words you cannot place the same type of plant more than once in the window box. Please refer to the scoring section for details on scoring.
Example: Full window box with one of each type.
Scoring
Scoring is totalled in three sections, including Groups, Extras and Garden Plan. The player with the highest score wins. In the case of a tie, the victory is shared.
Groups
In the main garden you score points for every complete group of plants. A group is considered complete when it contains at least the minimum number of plants. Groups are formed by adjacent plants of the same type. Each plant type has a minimum group size. In order to score points for a group it needs to contain at least the minimum number of plants for its type. If the group contains less than the minimum number of plants you score 0 points for that group. You score points equal to the minimum group size for that plant even if the group is larger than the minimum size. Write the score in the score boxes next to each plant type.
| Plant | Minimum Group Size |
|---|---|
| Topiaries | 1 |
| Turnips | 2 |
| Carrots | 3 |
| Sweet Potatoes | 4 |
| Flowers | 5 |
| Berries | 6 |
You score points for every complete group. For example you might have multiple groups of carrots. Each complete group of carrots will score 3 points.
Remember, plants separated by the path do not belong to the same group.
Group Adjacency: Plants are considered adjacent when they are immediately next to each other along an edge, top, bottom, left or right. Plants along the diagonal are not considered adjacent. Plants on opposite sides of the garden path are not considered adjacent.
Examples:
- Samantha scores 3 points for 3 groups of trees (topiaries).
- She scores 4 points for 2 groups of turnips. Note each group scores 2 points even though one group has more than the minimum number for that group.
- She also scores 3 points for 1 group of carrots and 8 points for her 2 groups of sweet potatoes.
- She does not score any points for flowers because she didn't plant the minimum of 5 flower plants in her group.
- Finally, she scores 6 points for her group of 6 berries.
Extras
Garden Gnome: Every complete group adjacent to the garden gnome will score a second time. Sum the groups adjacent to the garden gnome and write it in the box next to the gnome hat.
Example: Samantha scores 4 points for her sweet potato group and 2 points for her turnip group adjacent to the garden gnome. Remember turnips score in groups of 2.
Window Box: Every plant in the window box scores 1 point. If the window box is full, you score an additional 6 points for a total of 12 points. Remember, you can only plant 1 of each type of plant in the window box. Write the total in the box indicated by the arrow.
Example: Samantha scores 2 points for planting 2 plants in her window box.
Garden Plan
Border: Score 2 points for every one of your planned plants that is adjacent to the border. This is scored per plant, not by group. This means every planned plant next to the border scores 2 points whether it is by itself or in a complete group or a partial group.
Example: Samantha planned to plant sweet potatoes along the border of her garden and succeeded in placing 6 sweet potatoes next to the border. She earned 12 points, 2 points for each plant.
Path: Score 2 points for every one of your selected plants that is adjacent to the garden path. This is similar to the border scoring, each plant is scored individually if it is adjacent to the garden path.
Example: Samantha planned to plant turnips next to her garden path. She was able to plant 3 turnips adjacent to her path. She scores 6 points, 2 points for each turnip next to the garden path.
Companion Plants: Score 2 points for every plant, shown in the first box, that is adjacent to its companion plant, shown in the second box. You only score each plant once, however, a single companion plant can serve as a companion for multiple plants.
Example: For each of her topiaries, planned in the first companion box, Samantha will score 2 points if it is adjacent to at least 1 companion carrot plant, planned in the second companion box. She scores 4 points for the 2 topiaries that are adjacent to companion carrot plants. The third topiary is not adjacent to any carrots. No points are scored for carrots.
Solo Scoring Table
Use the table below to determine your solo play title. Keep gardening until you become a Renowned Horticulturist.
| Points | Title |
|---|---|
| 80+ | Renowned Horticulturist |
| 75-79 | Apprentice Gnome |
| 70-74 | Plant Whisperer |
| 65-69 | Green Thumb |
| 60-64 | Careful Cultivator |
| 55-59 | Avid Gardener |
| 50-54 | Greens Keeper |
| 45-49 | Weekend Gardener |
| 40-44 | Grandpa's Little Helper |
| Below 40 | Novice Planter |