New Kingdom: Gardeners Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Cards & Components
• Set-up
  • 1. Assemble the Draw Pile
  • 2. Preparing Players
  • 3. Start Play
• How to Play
  • Essential Rules
  • The Creeping Rule
  • Points as Currency
  • Assembling Teams
  • Team Bonuses
• Sequence of Play
  • 1. Place Your Doves
    • Take a Gardening Action
    • Activate Special Abilities
  • 2. Recall your Doves and Draw a Card
    • End Game
• Appendix
  • Worker Types
  • Gardeners
• First Time Players
• Glossary
• Source Notes

Overview

You and the other players will take turns drawing cards from a deck to form a hand. Cards will be played into play areas called Gardens to collect points known as Yellow Fruit.

The Harvest starts at the end of the turn in which the Master Gardener card is drawn. Players finish their final turns, and Yellow Fruit is counted to determine which player will be named the Head Gardener in the New Kingdom.

Seed, Worker, and Miracle cards will produce Yellow Fruit at the Harvest, but Thorn cards will destroy Yellow Fruit. As the game progresses, you will also gather Yellow Fruit and Purple Fruit markers which count as 1 and 5 Yellow Fruit respectively at the Harvest.

Cards & Components

See Glossary for further clarification.

72 Cards:

• 28 Worker Cards (7 types): Assistant, Fisher, Grower, Manager, Monk, Reaper, Trader

• 16 Seed Cards

• 16 Thorn Cards

• 8 Gardener Cards

• 3 Miracle Cards

• 1 Master Gardener Card

• 30 Purple Fruit

• 30 Yellow Fruit

• 15 Doves

• 1 First Player Token

• 4 Player Mats

• 8 Player Aid Cards

• 1 Rule Book

Doves: Placed on Gardeners or Workers to activate their abilities. Doves are not worth any Yellow Fruit.

Fruit: Whether cubes or icons on cards, Yellow Fruit represents both currency and points. Yellow = 1 Yellow Fruit, Purple = 5 Yellow Fruit.

Garden: Your play area which consists of two rows of 4 cards each.

Gardeners: Your player persona. Place a Dove to activate abilities or reap the benefits of passive bonuses.

The Master Gardener: Play immediately when drawn. At the end of this turn the Harvest commences.

Miracles: Plant immediately into the stated Garden when drawn. Worth 2 Yellow Fruit.

Seeds: Can be planted in any Garden. Worth either 1 Yellow Fruit or 2 Yellow Fruit.

Thorns: Plant immediately in your Garden when drawn. Worth -3 Yellow Fruit. Can be Pruned.

Workers: Can be appointed to any Garden. Worth 1 Yellow Fruit. Place a Dove to activate abilities.

Set-up

1. Assemble the Draw Pile

a. Remove the 8 Gardener cards, 8 Player aids, 3 Miracle cards & the Master Gardener card and set them aside.

b. Shuffle all remaining cards, and, depending on player count, remove the following number of cards to the box without looking at them (they will not be used for the remainder of the game):

• 2 players - Remove 30 cards
• 3 players - Remove 20 cards
• 4 players - Remove 10 cards

c. Deal 5 cards to each player without looking at them to form their starting hand.

d. Shuffle the 3 Miracle cards into the deck.

e. Take the first 9 cards face-down from the deck and add the Master Gardener card to make 10 cards.

f. Shuffle these 10 cards without looking at them and return them to the bottom of the deck.

g. Place the deck face-down as a Draw Pile for all players.

h. Designate a space next to the Draw Pile for a shared face-up Discard Pile.

2. Preparing Players

1. Give each player 2 Player aid cards to refer to both sides simultaneously and a Garden mat to place in front of them.

2. Shuffle the 8 Gardener cards and deal 2 cards face-up to each player, placing any left over Gardeners in the box. You will select 1 of the 2 to place in your Garden face-up and return the other to the box. Gardeners in the box will not be used for the remainder of the game.

   If this is your first time playing or you are teaching someone to play New Kingdom: Gardeners we recommend skipping this step and following the instructions on pg. 14 for First Time Players.

3. Place the Purple Fruit, Yellow Fruit, and Doves in 3 separate piles within reach of all players.

4. Give each player 2 Doves.

5. Give each player 3 Yellow Fruit.

3. Start Play

To begin, you will all play the Thorn cards from your starting hands into your Gardens simultaneously. If you have more than 2 Thorns, discard the rest and draw to replace those cards until you have 3 cards in your hand. If you draw additional Thorns, discard them and draw new cards.

The player with the most Thorns in their Garden is the first player and places the first player token to the left of their Gardener for the remainder of the game. If there is a tie, the player who most recently watered a plant is the first player.

Play proceeds to the right or counter-clockwise from the first player.

How to Play

You perform 2 steps per turn in order:

1. Place as many of your Doves as you would like on cards in your Garden with open spots (see pg. 11). Worker abilities and most Gardener abilities are activated by placing a Dove on them.

2. Recall your Dove and draw a card (see p. 12).

Essential Rules

• Card text overrides rules text where applicable.
• Play moves to the right or counter-clockwise in New Kingdom: Gardeners.

The Creeping Rule

Thorns creep about as the game progresses. Thorns and Seeds are always planted in the first spot to the right of the Gardener in the Garden to which they are planted. This moves all cards in the Seed Row of the Planted Garden to the right one space. If you plant a fourth card in your Garden's Seed Row, the right-most card (be it a Seed, Thorn, or Miracle), moves to the Garden to your right, and occupies the first spot in the Seed Row of that player's Garden. If your planting has a cascading effect which results in cards moving all the way around the table, stop when all players have received 1 new card in their Gardens.

For example, if you initiate the creep by planting a card in your Seed Row and receive a card from the Garden to your left, discard the received card instead and end the movement.

Points as Currency

Anywhere you see the Yellow Fruit icon that indicates both currency for pruning and end game points so you must consider how you will spend your Yellow Fruit as you play.

To prune you must spend 2 Yellow Fruit. This can be done by discarding cards from your hand, Yellow Fruit you have collected, or discarding cards directly from your Garden in any combination. If you pay more than 2 Yellow Fruit by discarding 2 cards worth a collective 3 Yellow Fruit or 4 Yellow Fruit, you do not get to keep the extra 1 Yellow Fruit. Instead it goes to waste. Yellow Fruit you have collected on cards using Grower abilities also work this way.

Assembling Teams

Workers are better together. Workers of the same type may be stacked in "teams" to earn Yellow Fruit and Doves. Once you have 4 Workers in a team, the team is complete and no more Workers can be appointed to that team. You may appoint Workers to form teams in your own Garden or in others' Gardens. If you plant a Worker in a team in another's Garden, you earn the Yellow Fruit or Dove for advancing or completing that team. You may not play 2 of the same type of Worker in separate teams in the same Garden. Rewards for assembling teams are earned immediately after appointing.

Team Bonuses

Appoint Workers of the same type to teams in your Garden or other Gardens.

Workers	Your Garden	Other Gardens
1 Worker	no bonus	no bonus
2 Workers	2 Yellow Fruit	3 Yellow Fruit
3 Workers	4 Yellow Fruit or 1 Dove	5 Yellow Fruit or 1 Dove
4 Workers	5 Yellow Fruit or 1 Dove	1 Purple Fruit or 1 Dove

Sequence of Play

1. Place Your Doves

A Dove may be placed on Gardeners or Workers to either take a Gardening Action or to Activate Special Abilities. You may place Doves in any order and you may choose not to place a Dove if you would like.

Take a Gardening Action

There are 4 types of Gardening Actions. To use a Gardening Action a Dove must be placed on your Gardener. If you do, you may choose 1 of the following:

• Appoint: Place a Worker in any Garden. Workers are always appointed to the Worker Row of a Garden. Workers of the same type may be stacked on top of one another to form teams. Workers in teams do not occupy more than one space, thus with 4 spots in a Garden it is possible to have up to 16 Workers in a Garden. If your Worker Row is full you may discard a Worker or team of Workers to appoint a new Worker in their place.
• Plant: Place a Seed in any Garden. Seeds are always Planted in the Seed Row of a Garden and always planted immediately to the right of a Gardener. They push all other cards in the Seed Row one space to the right.
• Pray: Draw 2 cards. If either of those cards are a Thorn, Miracle or the Master Gardener play them immediately. This does not replace your draw at the end of your turn.
• Prune: Discard a Thorn from any player's Garden. To do this, you must pay 2 or more Yellow Fruit (any extra Fruit paid is lost). Yellow Fruit may be paid by discarding Workers or Seeds from your hand or your Garden, or by discarding Yellow Fruit or Purple Fruit markers in any combination. For instance, you may discard a Seed worth 1 Yellow Fruit from your hand, a Worker worth 1 Yellow Fruit from your Garden or a Yellow Fruit to meet the 2 Yellow Fruit requirement. You collect no Yellow Fruit for Pruning a Thorn in your Garden, but when you Prune a Thorn in another's Garden you collect that Thorn face down for the Harvest at which point it is worth 3 Yellow Fruit for you.

Activate Special Abilities

Gardeners and Workers have special abilities that can be activated by a Dove once per turn per card. If you have a team of the same type of Workers each Worker in that team may be activated once per turn.

If your Gardener's ability requires a Dove to activate it you may place up to 2 Doves per turn on your Gardener, 1 for a Gardening action and 1 for their special ability.

2. Recall your Doves and Draw a Card

At the end of your turn you recall your Dove and you must draw a card. If a player has more than 7 cards in their hand at the end of their turn, they must discard down to 7 cards.

Certain cards are played immediately when drawn. They include:

• Thorns
• Miracles
• The Master Gardener

If The Master Gardener card is drawn, the End Game is initiated.

End Game

When The Master Gardener card is drawn play continues until it returns to the First Player. When it is the First Player's turn again, the Harvest begins and scoring commences as follows:

• Discard all the cards in your hand and set aside your Doves.
• Then, discard any Thorns in your Garden discarding 3 Yellow Fruit for each.
• Count 1 point for each Yellow Fruit and 5 points for each Purple Fruit.
• Count Yellow Fruit on cards in your Garden. Be sure to count each Worker in a team of Workers.

The player with the most Yellow Fruit wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most Workers wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most collected Thorns is crowned Head Gardener.

Appendix

Worker Types

There are 7 types of Worker cards with the following abilities:

• Assistants: You may Send an appointed Worker from your Garden to another Garden, or you may rearrange the cards in your Garden. You may not move Workers to the top row or Seeds to the bottom row, but you may move Miracles between rows.
• Fishers: Search the discard pile and choose 1 card to immediately plant, appoint, or add to your hand (cannot be a Thorn).
• Growers: Add 2 Yellow Fruit from the common pile to a Seed that is planted in your Garden. This cannot be done to Seeds that already have any Yellow Fruit on them.
• Managers: Take a Plant or Appoint action.
• Merchants: Take a card from another player's hand, then give them one back. The card you receive may be immediately planted, appointed, or added to your hand.
• Monks: Pray or pay 2 Yellow Fruit to prune.
• Reapers: Discard a Seed card from your Garden or your hand and collect the stated amount of Fruit immediately. If a Seed has Yellow Fruit on it from a Grower action, collect those as well.

Gardeners

There are 8 Gardeners with the following abilites:

• Abbess Visenia: You may place up to 2 Doves on each of your Workers.
• Abbott Wisor: Start the game with 3 Doves.
• Allus the Poet: You may use the special ability of any Worker in any Garden as your special ability.
• Brother Aventus: You may collect Thorns you Prune from your own Garden.
• Doctor Miletus: Whenever you take a Prune action, your Pruning cost is 1 Yellow Fruit instead of 2 Yellow Fruit.
• Sir Practicus: Anytime you take a Plant action you may plant 1 or 2 Seeds.
• Sister Cassia: You may look at the top 3 cards of the draw pile, take 1 and place the others back in any order you would like.
• Sister Prudence: If you draw Thorns when you Pray you may discard them.

First Time Players

For your first time playing here are some suggestions to help:

• Allow 1 hour for your first time playing to learn the rules and play slowly.
• Leave the Worker Types section of the Appendix or Glossary open as you play.
• Use the following Gardeners, dealing them randomly to players:
  • In a 2 player game play as Sir Practicus and Sister Prudence.
  • In a 3 player game play as Brother Aventus, Sir Practicus, and Sister Prudence.
  • In a 4 player game play as Abbott Wisor, Brother Aventus, Sir Practicus, and Sister Prudence.

Glossary

Doves: Each player starts with 2 Doves and more Doves can be earned as the game progresses. Doves can be placed on Gardeners or Workers to activate their abilities. Doves are not worth any Yellow Fruit.

Fruit: Collected throughout the game, Yellow Fruit represents both currency and points. Seed or Worker cards can be discarded from your hand or Garden for their Yellow Fruit value to Prune. Yellow Fruit are worth 1 and Purple Fruit are worth 5 Yellow Fruit at the Harvest. At any time, 5 Yellow Fruit can be exchanged for 1 Purple Fruit from the common Yellow Fruit pile.

Garden: This is your play area into which you place or "plant" Seeds and Thorns and "appoint" Workers. The top row is called the Worker Row and consists of 4 empty spots to which Workers can be appointed. Cards planted in this row remain where they are appointed. The bottom row is called the Seed Row and consists of your Gardener and 3 empty spots to their right where Seed and Thorn cards are planted. These cards are always planted in the first spot immediately to the right of your Gardener and push the other cards to the right. Miracles can be placed in either row. When placed in the top row they follow Worker rules, when placed in the bottom row they follow Seed rules.

Gardeners: This is your role as a player. Your Gardener is selected at the beginning of the game and placed permanently in the left-most spot of the Seed Row of your Garden. A Dove can be placed on a Gardener to take a gardening action (plant, pray, prune, or appoint) once per turn. Additionally, each Gardener has a unique ability that is either always active or can be activated once per turn by placing a Dove in your Garden. Gardeners are not worth any Yellow Fruit at the Harvest.

Harvest: The end of the game when Yellow Fruit is counted in markers, icons on cards in your Garden and collected Thorns. The player with the most Yellow Fruit will be named Head Gardener in the Master's New Kingdom.

Head Gardener: The player with the most Yellow Fruit at the end of the game is crowned the Head Gardener in the New Kingdom. This player is the victor.

The Master Gardener: This card triggers the final turn of the game and is played immediately when drawn. At the end of the last turn the Harvest occurs and points are counted.

Miracles: Worth 2 Yellow Fruit at the Harvest and placed immediately when drawn into the Garden stated on the card. Miracles may be placed in any space in the Worker Row of your Garden or in the first space of the Seed Row of your Garden. When placed in the Worker row Miracle cards do not move unless they are replaced. When placed in the Seed row, Miracle cards are planted to the right of the Gardener and move to the right when new cards are planted. You may choose not to place a Miracle card in your Garden and discard it instead. Ties for Miracles are broken by turn order starting with the player who drew the card.

Seeds: Worth either 1 or 2 Yellow Fruit at the Harvest if planted in your Garden. These cards are planted from your hand into the first space of the Seed Row of your Garden. When planted, Seeds shift other cards in the Seed Row of your Garden to the right one space.

Thorns: Worth -3 Yellow Fruit at the Harvest and planted immediately when drawn into the first space of the Seed Row of your Garden. When planted, Thorns shift other cards in the Seed Row of your Garden to the right one space. You may discard 3 Yellow Fruit to Prune a Thorn in your or another's Garden and discard it. You collect no Yellow Fruit for Pruning a Thorn in your Garden, but when you Prune a Thorn in another's Garden you collect that Thorn face down for the Harvest at which point it is worth 3 Yellow Fruit for you.

Workers: Worth 1 Yellow Fruit at the Harvest. Workers have abilities that can be activated by a Dove in your Garden. Workers of the same type can be appointed in "teams" or stacks to immediately earn Yellow Fruit or Dove.

Source Notes

Transcribed from the official English rules booklet published by New Kingdom Gaming (2-page spreads, PDF pages 2-10). The booklet's Acknowledgements page is credits and is omitted. Icons are rendered as words (Yellow Fruit, Purple Fruit, Dove).

Printed inconsistencies kept as printed: the Cards & Components list calls the Worker "Trader" while the Appendix calls it "Merchants"; the Glossary's Thorns entry says a Thorn can be pruned by discarding 3 Yellow Fruit, while the Prune action says "2 or more" Yellow Fruit; the End Game step reads "discard any Thorns in your Garden discarding 3 Yellow Fruit for each." The printed contents page spells "Componenets"; headings here use the corrected spelling.