Power Plants Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • Training Mode
• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Add a Patch
  • 2. Sprout or Grow?
  • 3. Draw a Patch
  • Stuff to Know About Patches & Powers
• Endgame
• Scoring
  • Field Scoring Chart
• Game Terms You'll See on the Cards
• First Game? Want to Ease In? Try Training Mode!

Overview

In Power Plants, you are a wizard growing a shared garden of magical plants with your rivals. You will add patches to the garden, choosing between their awesome Plant powers and Grow powers. Manipulate the garden's growth, gather Gems, and deploy your team of loyal Sprites to repel your competition and control the most valuable fields when the garden is complete!

At the end of the game, you'll score for the Gems you've gathered, the Gems in patches you control, special plant scoring, and most importantly, the value of the fields you control! Larger fields are worth more; control more patches to control the field, with lower-numbered patches breaking ties. If you have the highest score, you win!

Training Mode

If you are playing with young children or this is your first time playing, you should make sure to check out Training Mode on page 7. Read the full rules first (there aren't a lot of them), then apply the suggested adjustments. It's a smooth and quick introduction to the game that will make your future plays a breeze!

Components

• 64 Patch tiles — Eight of each plant type, numbered 1 to 8: Deeproot, Frightshade, Snapjaw, Emberwood, Honeyleaf, Starflower, Tanglethorn, Wingbean.
• 100 Sprite markers — 20 for each player.
• 1 Bag
• 1 Wizard pawn
• 8 Plant cards — Each card shows the plant's timing symbol, plant name, whether it comes with a free Sprite, its Sprout power, its Grow power, and any endgame scoring.
• Gem tokens — In many denominations.
• 5 Reference cards

For example, the Snapjaw plant card reads:

Snapjaw — Sprites could ensnare around a Snapjaw patch. While dangerous to grow, it's worth the risk in insatiable spines that add speed and power to your magic.

Sprout: Capture one rival Sprite from a field next to the Wizard, then add one Sprite to any one patch in that field.

Grow: Capture one rival Sprite from a patch next to the growing Snapjaw.

Endgame: After field scoring, all players must buy back their own captured Sprites from other players, at a cost of one Gem each.

Setup

1. Decide (or randomly determine by drawing Plant cards) which five Plants you want to play with.

   Find the Plant cards matching your chosen plants, and place them on the table in a column. Arrange the column by timing category so that Morning plants are at the top, Noon plants are in the middle, and Night plants are at the bottom. Card order within each timing category doesn't matter.

   What makes a good plant combo? While any five plants will make a fun and interesting game, balanced sets include at least two Morning, at least one Noon, and at least one Night in your group of five. There are timing symbols on the card backs so you can randomly draw Plants by timing category if you wish.

2. Use only the tile sets matching the plants you have chosen. With two players, return all patches marked 7 and 8 to the box. With three players, return all patches marked 8 to the box.

3. Begin the garden by assembling the highest-numbered patch of each plant into a "trapezoid" formation as shown. For example in a three-player game, 7 is the highest remaining number. The position of the patches in the formation should be random. Leave space around the edges for the garden to grow!

4. Place the rest of the patches in the bag, and mix it well. Draw three patches from the bag to form a Surplus pile off to the side. In a five-player game, the Surplus has five patches in it.

5. Make a supply pile of Gems.

6. Each player chooses a colour and takes the 20 Sprites of that colour. Determine a starting player randomly, and give them the Wizard pawn.

7. Beginning with the starting player and proceeding clockwise, each player draws a hand of two patches from the bag. If any player receives two patches of the same type, they may choose to swap a patch from their hand with a patch from the Surplus.

   You are ready to begin!

Gameplay

Gameplay goes in turns. Begin with the starting player and go clockwise. Take turns until the bag is empty; soon after that the game ends with final scoring. Your turn has three simple steps:

1. Add a Patch

Choose one patch from your hand, and add it to the garden (so that at least one flat side of the new patch aligns with the flat side of a patch that is already in the garden). Place the Wizard pawn on the new patch.

• Most plant types let you also add a free Sprite from your supply to the new patch when you add it; check the plant card to be sure.

For example, you could add this Starflower (which comes with a Sprite) to any spot around the garden. You choose this spot.

2. Sprout or Grow?

If you choose to Sprout, you will activate only the Sprout power of the Wizards' patch (the patch you added).

If you choose to Grow, you will activate the Grow power of every patch that the Wizard's patch is touching (but not the Wizard's patch itself). Activate each Growing patch, one at a time.

• When Growing more than one patch, they activate in order from the top of the card column down. If you are Growing multiple patches of the same type, you decide the specific order those patches activate when it is their type's turn.
• Whether Sprouting or Growing, you may choose to not activate the power of any patch that you would be entitled to.

Now you must choose to Sprout or Grow. If you Sprout, you will activate the Sprout power of the new Starflower. If you Grow, you will activate the Grow powers of the Honeyleaf and the Starflower that are next to the new patch.

You decide to Grow, because the Starflower's Sprout power isn't ideal at the moment. Going down the card column, you'll Grow the Honeyleaf first, then the Starflower.

The Growing Honeyleaf lets you add one Sprite each to the patches next to the Wizard. The Growing Starflower earns you one Gem per occupied patch next to the Wizard; thanks to the Honeyleaf, there are now two! You collect two Gems from the supply.

3. Draw a Patch

Once you have resolved your choice of Sprout or Grow, your turn is over. Pass the Wizard to the next player, and draw a new patch from the bag.

• If you draw the last patch from the bag, announce it so that everyone knows that Endgame has arrived (see Endgame, below)!
• If the drawn patch matches the one in your hand, you may choose to swap either one of your two patches with one from the Surplus.

Stuff to Know About Patches & Powers

• SUPER IMPORTANT: Only one player's Sprites may be on a patch at any time. If you are ever supposed to add a Sprite to a patch where there are any rival Sprites, you remove a rival Sprite from there instead of adding a Sprite. This also applies when a Sprite is moved to a patch where there are any rivals; the moving Sprite plus one rival from the patch are both removed.
• When you must add a Sprite to a patch, it comes from your supply. When a Sprite is removed from a patch, it returns to its owner's supply. There is no limit to the number of your Sprites that can be on one patch.
• If you are ever supposed to add a Sprite and there are none left in your supply, you must pick up one of your Sprites from somewhere in the garden and use it.
• When you activate a power, you must resolve it as fully as possible; you may not decline to carry out part of a plant's power if you are capable of carrying it out.
• When adding a patch, you must be able to slide it into its spot without disturbing other patches. Therefore an empty spot with five or six patches surrounding it may not be added to.
• Your hand of patches is public information. No hiding!

For example, if Pink chooses to add and Sprout this Honeyleaf, they will add two Sprites to the empty Emberwood... but since there is already a Blue Sprite on the Honeyleaf, they would remove it and add only one of their own.

For example, you couldn't slide a patch into the spot with the ✗; a patch may not be added there. Interestingly, you could add a patch to the spot marked with the ✓, and potentially Grow the Deeproot and Frightshade that it would be touching.

Endgame

When the last patch is drawn from the bag, the player drawing it must announce it. Then each player gets one more turn (this means that each player will end the game holding one unplayed patch).

• In a five-player game, keep taking turns until no player has any patches left.

After the final turn is taken, the game is over; go to final Scoring.

Scoring

Track your score using Gems. Each Gem is one point.

1. You may have earned Gems during the game; these are included in your score. Depending on which plants you played with, this could range from zero to a hefty portion of your score.
2. Some plants in your game (for example the Snapjaw) may indicate some sort of endgame scoring. Their cards tell you when during final scoring they are resolved. Make sure you resolve these at the appropriate moment.
3. Claim the Gems from each patch where you have any Sprites. Return any Gems in patches with no Sprites to the supply.
4. Score each field (a field is a connected group of one or more matching patches). Fields are worth points based on their size (the number of patches they are composed of). See the scoring chart below. As you score each field, pull it away from the garden carefully, so that you can keep track of which fields remain to be scored. Use Gems to track your gained points.
   • Each field offers a 1st-place and a 2nd-place score; you win 1st-place if you control the most patches in the field, 2nd-place if you control the second-most patches.
   • If you control at least one patch in a field and score neither 1st or 2nd place, you score one point for that field.
   • The number of Sprites you have in a field doesn't matter; only the number of patches you control.
   • If there is ever a tie for control of a field, the tie is broken in favour of the tied player who controls the lowest-numbered patch between them in that field.

Field Scoring Chart

Field Size	1st Place	2nd Place
1 Patch	1	✗
2 Patches	3	1
3 Patches	5	2
4 Patches	7	3
5 Patches	9	4
6 Patches	11	5
7 Patches	13	6
8 Patches	15	7

Below are some examples of how various fields may score. Remember that a) the number of Sprites doesn't matter, only the number of controlled patches; and b) ties are broken by the lowest-numbered controlled patch.

• Yellow breaks the tie for 1st so gains 5 points. Pink breaks the tie for 2nd so gains 2 points. Blue gains 1 point.
• Blue wins 1st so gains 3 points.
• Blue breaks the tie for 1st so gains 3 points. Yellow wins 2nd so gains 1 point.
• Yellow wins 1st so gains 11 points. Blue wins 2nd so gains 5 points. Pink gains 1 point.
• Pink wins 1st so gains 7 points. Yellow breaks the tie for 2nd so gains 3 points. Blue gains 1 point.

Once scoring is complete, the player with the most Gems wins!

In the event of a tie, the tie is broken in favour of the player with more total Sprites in the garden. If that is still a tie, the tied players share their victory... but they keep a suspicious eye on each other for next time!

Game Terms You'll See on the Cards

• Gem: Crystallized magical energy generated by some garden plants. Gems are used to track your score.
• Sprite: Magical garden spirits. Your team of Sprites will determine control of the various patches and fields at the end of the game.
• Patch: A single tile.
• Field: A connected group of patches of the same type. A single patch is also still a tiny field.
• Spot: An empty space beside a patch that doesn't have a patch in it.
• Control: You control a patch if you have any Sprites on it. You control a field if you control more of its patches than any other player.
• Locked and Unlocked: An unlocked patch could be slid out from the garden without disturbing any other patches or splitting the garden into more than one part. A locked patch could not be.
• Lone: A lone Sprite is the only one on its patch.
• Rival: A rival Sprite belongs to another player.

First Game? Want to Ease In? Try Training Mode!

Sometimes (especially with beginners and younger players) it can be a little daunting to learn both Sprout and Grow powers for each plant in your first game; it feels like a lot. Our helpful Training Mode will help you get familiar with the plants before diving into the full game. We recommend you try this the first time you play; it's quick!

Use these five plants: Honeyleaf, Deeproot, Tanglethorn, Emberwood, Starflower.

They all focus on adding Sprites to the garden, or on gaining Gems. The other plant types introduce more complex and confrontational powers.

Cover up the Grow powers. Use extra Plant cards face down to cover the Grow powers in your card column, like in the example on the right; you won't need that information.

Sprout Only! That's right, you will be using Sprout powers only. It feels a lot easier to learn just five effects instead of ten, and you'll jump into playing the game nice and quick!

That's it! Everything else is the same as in the full game. A quick spin through Training Mode and you'll be ready for more!

I am ready for more, what should I do next? Well, you could play Training Mode with some different plants, or you could try the full game with the plants you've already experienced. Either path is good and fun!

When moving to the full game, remember that each plant really only has one "personality". Think of the Sprout powers as super versions of the Grow powers. Deeproot for example, adds Sprites in a straight line from the Wizard; its Sprout power simply does it better than its Grow power does. Emberwood adds Gems to the garden. Frightshade moves Sprites around... and so on!