Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden
Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Base Game
- 48 cards (45 Vegetable cards, 3 'On Holiday' cards)
- 4 Neighbour tiles
- 24 Neighbour tokens (6 for each Neighbour), with their reverse being the 'On Holiday' side
- 1 Eudora/Scoring tile
- 1 Beehive/Player Aid tile
- 6 Bee tokens
Expansions
New Neighbours
- 6 New Neighbour tiles
- 36 New Neighbour Tokens
Grasshoppers
- 1 Grasshopper tile
- 4 Grasshopper tokens
Romancing Eudora
- 1 Romancing Eudora tile
- 3 Romancing Eudora cards
Rules for 1 Player
Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden was originally developed as a solo game. These rules are the basis for understanding the flow of the game. Please read them first, and then see the section with rules for games with 2 players.
Setup
- Lay out the three 'On Holiday' cards on the table.
- Shuffle the deck of 45 Vegetable cards and then deal 15 of them face down onto each of the 'On Holiday' cards.
- Stack the three decks one on top of each other, so you have one deck of 48 cards.
- Place 4 Neighbour tiles face up to one side. Place the matching Neighbour tokens next to them with their 'On Holiday' side facing up. Shuffle the tokens, making sure that their Neighbour side is not revealed. For your first game we recommend using the Original Neighbours.
- Place the Beehive tile nearby with 3 Bee tokens on it. Place the other Bee tokens in front of you as your supply.
Place Eudora Brassica's tile nearby.
Gameplay
All Mr. Cabbagehead wants is to plant his vegetables and create an award-winning garden. However, whenever he goes on holiday, his tedious Neighbours snoop around. This makes it difficult to make his garden ready for evaluation by the committee and win the coveted Blue Ribbon.
The game is played in 3 rounds. In each round there are two phases:
The Planting Phase, when Vegetable cards are placed in the garden and Neighbour tokens are revealed.
The Neighbour Phase, when it is determined which of Mr. Cabbagehead's Tedious Neighbours interferes with his quest for perfection.
After the end of the 3rd round, the Garden Club visits for Evaluation, when the value of the garden is determined.
1. The Planting Phase
Oh poor Mr. Cabbagehead! Tirelessly planting vegetables in the garden while his neighbours peer over the fence and make tedious and tiresome comments!
The top 3 cards of the Vegetable deck are drawn one at a time and placed face up in a row in the Player's Area.
One of them must now be chosen for planting:
- The leftmost card costs 1 Bee to plant. To plant this Vegetable, 1 Bee token must be placed back on the Beehive tile. If there are no Bee tokens in the supply, this Vegetable may not be chosen.
- The card in the centre does not cost any Bees and is free to plant.
- The rightmost card yields a bonus of 1 Bee token when planted. To plant this Vegetable, one Bee token must be taken from the Beehive tile and placed in the supply. If there are no Bee tokens on the Beehive tile, this Vegetable may not be chosen.
There are 4 numbers on each Vegetable card:
- The total number of cards of this type of Vegetable in the deck.
- The point value for this type of Vegetable.
- The Vegetable number, which determines which card will yield Neighbour tokens and is used to break some ties.
- The Neighbour number, which determines how many Neighbour tokens will be revealed.
Vegetables are planted in the garden plot, a grid of a maximum size of 6 columns by 3 rows. In the 18 available slots, at most 15 cards will have been planted by the end of the 3rd round.
A card may be placed anywhere in the garden; it does not need to be adjacent to any other previously planted Vegetable.
NOTE: A Vegetable is scored if placed in a slot that is adjacent (directly to the left or right, above or below) to another Vegetable of the same type.
The 6 columns of the garden plot are not fixed until the 1st and 6th columns have cards in them.
Similarly, the 3 rows of the plot are not fixed until the 1st and 3rd rows have cards in them.
VARIANT: For a more difficult game, the 3 x 6 grid is fixed at the beginning. To form the playing area, place 6 of the Neighbour tokens not in play horizontally to mark the columns, and 3 of them vertically to the side, to mark the rows.
Cards may not be moved once planted. However, a card already in the garden may be removed in order to plant a new card in its place. The removed card is placed in the Compost, under the Eudora tile, and will be worth -2 points at the end of the game. These cards may always be inspected.
Of the two remaining drawn cards, the card with the highest Vegetable number is the one that determines how many Neighbour tokens are revealed. Randomly choose a number of Neighbour tokens equal to the Neighbour number on this card, reveal them, and place them on the matching Neighbour tile.
Then, both of the remaining cards are placed in a discard pile. They will not be used again, but may be inspected during the game.
Planting Vegetables and revealing Neighbour tokens continue until an 'On Holiday' card is revealed. At this point 5 cards will have been planted. The 'On Holiday' card is removed and the game proceeds to the Neighbour Phase.
2. The Neighbour Phase
Oh those vegetables look ripe! It'd be a shame to let the birds get them while Mr. Cabbagehead is on holiday...
The Neighbour tile with the most tokens is the Neighbour who visits and interferes with the garden, usually by removing a Vegetable card. Which card is removed depends on that Neighbour's preference for Vegetables and is outlined below and on the Neighbour card.
If two or more Neighbours are tied for the most tokens, they are too busy being boring conversationalists with each other to interfere with the garden.
The Vegetable chosen by the Neighbour is placed on the discard pile. All Neighbour tokens are then placed with the 'On Holiday' side facing up and shuffled in with the rest of the tokens again.
At the end of the 3rd round, 45 Vegetable cards have been drawn and 15 cards have been planted. It is possible that fewer than 15 cards remain in the garden, since some may have been taken by a Neighbour or placed in the Compost. It is now time for Evaluation.
Evaluation
The crowds marvel as Ms. Eudora Brassica and the Garden Club arrive to judge Mr. Cabbagehead's garden for the annual Blue Ribbon Garden Club Contest!
Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden is now evaluated and a Garden Club Prize is awarded according to the following criteria:
- Vegetables
- Awards of Merit
- Compost
1. Vegetables
A Vegetable is scored if placed in a slot that is adjacent (directly to the left or right, above or below) to another Vegetable of the same type.
Any Vegetable without any adjacent card of the same type is not scored.
Vegetable scoring example: There are 6 Carrots in total, but one of them is not adjacent to another Carrot, and is thus not scored. The other 5 Carrots are scored because each of them is adjacent to another Carrot. 15 points are scored (3 points per carrot).
2. Awards of Merit
Awards of Merit are given for particular achievements in garden design and are worth a variety of points.
A garden may earn multiple Awards of Merit, if the garden fulfills the Garden Club's strict criteria.
The Four Corners: 12 points — The 4 corners are all occupied by the same type of Vegetable card.
The Avenue: 14 points — The 1st column and the 6th column are occupied by 2 different sets of 3 Vegetables.
The Promenade: 14 points — There are 3 pairs of different vegetables positioned as shown in one of the two possible layouts. The Promenade may only be scored once. Achieving both of the layouts has no effect.
The Monopoly: 8 (+2) points — The garden has at least 5 Vegetables of one type. If at least 5 of those Vegetables are adjacent to each other, an additional 2 points are earned. The Monopoly may only be scored once. Additional Vegetables of the same type, or more sets of 5+ Vegetables have no effect.
The Mixed Plot: 30 points — Each row has exactly 3 types of Vegetables in it. Each type of Vegetable is present in only one row.
The Bee's Knees: 6 points — All 6 Bees are in the supply at the end of the game.
The Bounty: 12 points — There are 6 Vegetables of different types in a single row. The Bounty may only be scored once. Another row with 6 Vegetables of different types has no effect.
3. Compost
Finally, for each Vegetable that has been removed from the garden plot and placed under Eudora, 2 points are subtracted from the value of the garden.
The Garden Club Prize
Eudora Brassica will then award the following Garden Club prize, according to the points earned by the garden:
- 0-40 points: A hope that you'll do better next year and some whispered desultory comments.
- 41-60 points: The White Ribbon and polite murmurs.
- 61-80 points: The Yellow Ribbon and cordial applause.
- 81-100 points: The Red Ribbon and a hearty handshake.
- 101 or more points: The Blue Ribbon and a rousing hurrah!
Note: The Garden Club uses the American Ribbon color scale rather than the Canadian. Eudora has adopted a more progressive color scale for ribbons during her tenure as Garden Club President.
The Neighbours
The Original Neighbours
Tedious... so endlessly tedious...
These 4 Neighbours were included in the original Print and Play edition of Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden and are recommended for your first game.
LORD CARROTBODY ...does not like it when other Vegetables are planted next to Carrots. He will take the Vegetable with the highest Vegetable number that is adjacent to a Carrot. If there are no Carrots in the garden or no Carrots are adjacent to any other Vegetable, he will take the Vegetable with the highest Vegetable number.
THE MAYOR OF ONION TOWN ...only loves Turnips, Salsify, and Radishes. He will always choose to take the one Turnip, Salsify, or Radish with the highest Vegetable number. If there are none of those in the garden, there is no effect.
SALLIE TOMMY-OUGHTOOS ...is not very picky. She will always take the Vegetable with the lowest Vegetable number.
HORACE SAVOY-BRASSICA ...is jealous of Mr. Cabbagehead and his award-winning garden (not to mention annoyed at Mr. Cabbagehead's romancing of his half-sister Eudora, President of the Garden Club). He will always remove one Vegetable (the one with the highest Vegetable number) from the type that your garden plot has the most of. If there is a tie for the most, he will take one with the highest point value.
The New Neighbours (expansion)
There goes the neighbourhood, again!
The New Neighbours moved in when this edition of Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden was developed.
To use the New Neighbours, during Setup shuffle all of the Neighbour tiles (old and new) together and choose 4 at random to use for the game, also taking the matching Neighbour tokens. The other Neighbours can be placed back in the box along with their Neighbour tokens.
THE FERWIG-RADISHERS ...are always looking for the next fashionable trend. They will remove the Vegetable card with the highest Vegetable number from the next set of three cards that are drawn and revealed. The player plants one of the two remaining Vegetables for free (not spending or gaining Bees), and reveals Neighbour tokens according to the Neighbour number of the other Vegetable.
NOTE: The Ferwig-Radishers in the game for two players: The next player to draw cards will lose one to the Ferwig-Radishers, which is placed at the bottom of the Vegetable deck. Of the other two cards, the player plants one, reveals Neighbour tokens according to the remaining card, and then passes that card to the opponent. The opponent then draws two cards as normal, loses one to the Ferwig-Radishers (which is again placed at the bottom of the Vegetable deck), and takes their turn in the same way. Gameplay then proceeds normally at the beginning of the first player's turn.
BERNARD BETTERAVÉ ...is a former French cycling star and avid honey cake baker. He was inspired to start baking after becoming addicted to hazelnut chocolate spread during his racing days. He will take all the Bees in the supply. Remove any Bee tokens in the supply from the game.
DUKE & DUCHESS PEAPOD …will not accept anything but the best. They will always choose to take the Vegetable card with the highest Vegetable number.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE POMME-FRITES, ESQ. ...loves to organise everyone else's business, like the retired busy-body that he is. He will move every Vegetable that is not adjacent to another Vegetable to fill empty slots in the garden.
If there are multiple lone Vegetables, he will start with the first such lone Vegetable he finds in the 1st row, going from left to right, and then proceeding to the 2nd row and then the 3rd row.
That Vegetable is moved to the first empty slot in the 1st row (going from left to right) that is adjacent to another Vegetable (which can be in the 2nd row).
If no empty slots exist in the 1st row, then it is moved to the first empty slot in the 2nd row, and if that row also has no empty slots, to the first empty slot in the 3rd row.
If there are no lone Vegetables there is no effect.
CALLAHAN O'CORNCOB … looks kindly upon lonely vegetables. He will always take a Vegetable card that is the only one of its type in the garden. If there is more than one Vegetable that is the only ones of its type in the garden, he will take the one with the highest Vegetable number. If there is no such Vegetable card there is no effect.
THE WIDOW LEAFYGREENS ...is a woman of modest means and the town gossip. She thinks that round vegetables (Lettuce, Pumpkins, and Ruta Baga) should be tenderly cared for. She is not one to gossip, but believes that Mr. Cabbagehead should not have gone on holiday and left them unattended, the poor dears. She will always choose to take the one Lettuce, Pumpkin, or Ruta Baga with the highest Vegetable number. If there are none of those in the garden, there is no effect.
Expansions
Grasshoppers
Oh what a bother! Not only does Mr. Cabbagehead have to deal with his tiresome neighbours but now a plague of insects as well. He had so hoped for the Blue Ribbon this year...
During setup, shuffle the 4 Grasshopper tokens in with the Neighbour tokens.
During play, if a Grasshopper token is drawn instead of a Neighbour token, place the Grasshopper token in a slot adjacent to any Vegetable card that is not yet occupied by a card or another Grasshopper.
Slots in the garden occupied by only a Grasshopper token are considered empty. Therefore, Vegetable cards may be planted in such slots, under the Grasshopper token.
At the end of the game, each Vegetable card that is adjacent to, and the same type as, a card with a Grasshopper token on it is worth 1 fewer point. The Vegetable card with the Grasshopper token is not reduced in value.
Grasshoppers scoring example: 4 Lettuce cards of 4 points each would normally be worth 16 points. However, the Grasshopper token causes the Lettuce cards adjacent to the Grasshopper to be worth 1 point less. 3 points are lost, which results in a score of 13 points for Lettuces.
Romancing Eudora
For use only in games with 1 player.
Love's splendour in a bouquet...
During step 2 of Setup, shuffle the 3 Rose cards and insert 1 face down into each set of 15 Vegetable cards before placing them on top of the 'On Holiday' cards. Shuffle each 16-card set separately, place them on top of the 'On Holiday' cards, and stack them in a single deck as usual.
Each time a Rose card is drawn, it may immediately be placed in the garden. If it is, another Vegetable card is drawn to replace it in the same position among the cards drawn.
When placing a Rose card, it must overlap two horizontally adjacent Vegetable cards and be subject to the rules printed on the Rose card. If it cannot be placed when drawn, it is removed from the game, and another Vegetable card is drawn to replace it.
If a Vegetable card which is under a Rose is removed by a Neighbour, another Vegetable may be planted in the same slot (and placed under the rose) later in the game.
At the end of the game, any Rose that is not overlapping two Vegetables is removed. Score 5 Bonus points for each remaining Rose.
Romancing Eudora scoring example: A Rose card overlaps the middle two Lettuce cards and would score a bonus of 5 points.
Rules for 2 Players
In this version of the game Mr. Cabbagehead competes with Ned, one of his slightly less annoying neighbours.
Ned (short for Neddance) is the Mayor of Onion Town's distant cousin who used to live in Ipswich but came to live in the village because it was better for her asthma.
Setup
- Lay out two 'On Holiday' cards on the table.
- Shuffle the deck of 45 Vegetable cards and then deal 21 of them face down on the first 'On Holiday' card, 20 on the other 'On Holiday' card, and the remaining 4 Vegetable cards on the table.
- Stack the three decks one on top of each other, so the deck with 4 cards is on the bottom, the deck with 21 cards on top of it, and the deck with 22 cards at the top.
- Place 4 Neighbour tiles face up to one side. Place the matching Neighbour tokens next to them with their 'On Holiday' side facing up. Shuffle the tokens, making sure that their Neighbour side is not revealed. For your first game, you may want to choose the base game Neighbours.
- Place the Beehive tile nearby with 2 Bee tokens on it. Give each player 2 Bee tokens.
Place Eudora Brassica's tile nearby.
The player who last ate vegetables is the starting player and begins the game. The players may also agree on any other method to determine the starting player.
Gameplay
Each player plants their own garden, with the goal of achieving the highest score possible.
As in the rules for games with 1 player, the game for 2 players is played in 3 rounds, each of which has a Planting and a Neighbour phase. After the end of the 3rd round, the value of each player's garden is determined during Evaluation.
Gameplay differs from the game with 1 player in the following ways:
1. The Planting Phase
The first player takes their first turn, draws and reveals 3 Vegetable cards face up on the table, and then:
- Plants one of these cards.
- Reveals Neighbour tokens based on one of the remaining two cards with the highest Vegetable number, as normal.
- Places one of the two remaining cards at the bottom of the Vegetable deck.
- Passes the remaining card to the opposing player, choosing the position (left, centre, or right) in which to place it.
The second player then draws and reveals 2 new Vegetable cards and places them beside the card passed to them, with that card maintaining its position as chosen by the first player.
Example: If the player decided that the card being passed should be in the middle, the new cards are placed to the left and to the right of that card.
The second player then takes their turn and similarly plants one card, reveals Neighbour tokens, puts one card to the bottom of the deck, and passes the remaining card to the first player.
This process is repeated until an 'On Holiday' card is revealed. At this point, each player will have planted 5 cards and the first player should have one Vegetable card in front of them.
The 'On Holiday' card is removed and the game proceeds to the Neighbour Phase.
2. The Neighbour Phase
As in the rules for 1 player, the Neighbour tile with the most tokens is the Neighbour who visits the garden. However, in this case the Neighbour visits both gardens, and both players may lose a card if the criteria are fulfilled.
If two or more Neighbours are tied for the most tokens, no cards are removed.
At the end of the 2nd round, 10 cards will have been planted by each player. At the end of the 3rd round, 15 cards will have been planted by each player.
It is possible that fewer than those cards remain in the garden, since some may have been taken by a Neighbour, or placed in the Compost. It is now time for Evaluation.
Note that there is no visible 'On Holiday' card at the end of the 3rd round, but the final Neighbour Phase still happens.
Evaluation
Evaluation is carried out using the same rules as in a game with 1 player.
If there is a tie for most points, the player with the most different types of Vegetables in their garden is the winner.
In case of a tie for most different types, the player with the most Bee tokens is the winner.
If there is a further tie, it is resolved by playing a game of IUNU, Mr. Cabbagehead's favourite game and #2 in the Sanders Select Series of games.
Acknowledgements
Game design: Todd Sanders Development: LudiCreations Illustration & Graphic design: Todd Sanders Tabletopia implementation & project management: Viktor Csete Rulebook editing: Paul Grogan & Dimitris "JamesH" Chatzidimitriou
The designer would like to thank his gardening teachers: his mother Darlene, aunt Nancy, and grandmother Mildred.
Special thanks to Sonja Hatanpää, Toni Heinonen, Matti Malinen, Kai Saarto, Alvin Chen, Vincent van der Zwaag, Ben O'Steen.
The publisher would like to thank Anniina, the blossom perennial.
Vernon Cabbagehead would like everyone to please just leave him in peace and close the door on your way out.