Strawberry Sunset Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Objective
• Setup
• Gameplay
• End of Game
• Appendix
  • Playing a Card
  • Compost Piles
  • Growing Strawberries
• Scoring
  • Strawberry Plants: +5 points
  • Water Features: +3 points each
  • Longest Garden Path: +1 point / plot length
  • Gravel: -2 points each
• Advanced Scoring
  • Sculpture Garden
  • The Birds and the Bees
  • Reflecting Pools

Contents

48 Garden cards, 4 Player Guide cards, 1 Rule card, 1 Scoring card, and 1 Appendix card.

Objective

Create the most fruitful strawberry patch between Sunrise and Sunset. Earn points by growing strawberry plants and adding unique features to your garden, ya dig?

Setup

Divide all the cards into their 3 decks: Sunrise (Deck 1), Noon (Deck 2), and Sunset (Deck 3).

Shuffle each deck independently. Deal 1 card from the Sunrise deck to each gardener (player), this is the start of their garden.

• For 2 Gardeners: Discard 8 cards from each deck.
• For 3 Gardeners: Discard 4 cards from each deck.
• For 4 Gardeners: No cards are discarded.

Begin by placing the Sunset deck on the bottom, followed by Noon on top, and finally the Sunrise deck as the topmost. This will be the Main Deck you draw from.

Gameplay

The last person who ate a strawberry goes first.

On your turn, you can either draw from the Main Deck or from a Compost Pile.

Drawing from the Main Deck: If you draw from the Main Deck, you can draw 2 cards. Choose 1 card to play, and then discard the other into its appropriate Compost Pile face up.

Drawing from a Compost Pile: Rather than drawing blindly from the Main Deck, you may see a card you'd like in a Compost Pile. You may draw 1 card from the top, and play it. Learn more about how Compost Piles work on the "Appendix" card.

A good gardener takes time to check their options when playing a card. Each card has 4 quadrants called "Plots", be sure to cover up gravel plots, but not water, and plan ahead to grow complete strawberry plants. See "Playing a Card" and "Growing Strawberries" on the Appendix card to learn more.

End of Game

The game ends at Sunset when the last card is played from the Main Deck. Gardeners can now score their garden. Reference your Player Guide and the Scoring card for point explanations. The gardener with the most points wins.

Appendix

Playing a Card

You may play a card anywhere, even upside down or by covering an entire card as long as it follows 2 rules:

A card must always be placed on top of at least a single plot. And cards cannot be placed horizontally, all cards must remain vertical.

Each card has four quadrants called Plots. If placing your card on a quarter (1 plot) or half of a card (2 plots), use the diamond tile in the center of each card to line up your card correctly. Your turn is over once you've played a card.

Compost Piles

When a gardener draws from the main deck, their discarded card is placed in its respective Compost Pile. For example, all cards from the Sunrise deck are discarded in the same Compost Pile. As you discover Noon and Sunset decks, begin a new Compost Pile for each.

The example table layout on the reverse side of this card shows players just reaching the Sunset section in the Main Deck, but they haven't started a Compost Pile for it yet.

Growing Strawberries

Your main objective is to grow as many strawberry plants as you can. A strawberry plant has 3 sections: root, flower, and fruit. Connecting all 3 requires planning and strategy.

To complete a plant, you must connect a root to a flower, and that flower to a fruit. Plants must physically connect in the right order. You may have additional root and flower connections in your plant as long as they follow the correct order. A single root can also support multiple plants. To see an example of how they come together, see your Player Guide.

Scoring

To calculate how many points you made from your garden, count them in the following order: Strawberry Plants, Water Features, your longest Garden Path, and finally gravel.

Strawberry Plants: +5 points

Grow as many strawberries as you can! Complete a strawberry plant by connecting the 3 parts of a plant: roots + flowers + fruit.

Water Features: +3 points each

Water features keep your garden hydrated as well as create beautiful scenery, try to leave as many showing as you can.

Longest Garden Path: +1 point / plot length

Access to your plants is important for maintenance and enjoyment! Find your longest, contiguous garden path. For every plot your path runs along, you get +1 points. Paths can be 1 or 2 tiles wide, but cannot connect diagonally.

Gravel: -2 points each

You don't want to leave any unused plots in your garden. Be sure to cover up any gravel before it's too late.

You can also view how cards are placed and examples of scoring on your Player Guide card.

Advanced Scoring

After learning the basics of growing a strawberry patch, take on these additional challenges while creating your garden. The game plays as normal until the Main Deck and 1 Compost Pile is depleted.

Sculpture Garden

Give your art additional space to breathe. When your garden has statues adjacent to gravel, you convert Gravel from -2 points to +1 each.

The Birds and the Bees

Everyone enjoys a little wildlife in their garden! When you have 2 bird baths and/or beehives, you gain an extra 3 points. If you have 3, you receive 6 points, and all 4 gets you 9 points.

Reflecting Pools

Single sections of water score no extra points on their own, but if you connect multiple water features without any barriers (water to water), you get an extra 2 points for each water section, making each worth 5 points. (Ex: 3 connections would be 15 points.)