Sunflower Valley: A Tile-Laying Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
• Valley Cards and Combinations
• The Valley Express
  • Scoring Example for the Valley Express
  • Turn Example
• Goal Cards
• Goal Cards Clarification
• End of the Game
  • Scoring

Components

• 135 cards:
  • 6 double-sided Starting Town cards
  • 120 Valley cards: 6 identical sets of 20 cards (different-colored backs)
  • 9 double-sided Goal cards
• 6 Valley Express tokens
• 1 scorepad
• Game Rules

Setup

1. Each player gets a Valley Express token, a Starting Town card, and 20 Valley cards with the back of the same color as the roofs of their Starting Town. Put all unused Starting Town cards, Valley cards, and Valley Express tokens back in the box, you won't need them.

2. Shuffle all Goal cards and flip several of them while you do. Pick 3 Goal cards at random and place them in the center of the playing area. Instead, you may choose 3 Goal cards for the game together, but note that it's better to have different types of Goal cards for the game. For your first game, take the Boundless Field, Flocks of Sheep, and Long Way cards. Put all unused Goal cards back in the box. See the Goal Cards Clarification below.

   For a game with younger children, don't use Goal cards. Let them get used to the basic rules first.

3. Each player places their Starting Town card in front of them with their Valley Express token on top of it. This token will track the progress of their Valley Express. Make sure to have some space around your Starting Town for your Valley to expand.

4. Each player shuffles their Valley cards and places them in a face-down pile in front of them.

Gameplay

The game is played over 3 rounds with each player settling their own valley. Each round, the players simultaneously perform their actions, as follows:

1. Each player draws 7 cards from their pile.

2. Each player chooses any 1 card from their hand, reveals it, and plays it next to a card in their valley (attaching it horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally). The cards are to be revealed and played at the same time.

   Important: Once played, the card can't be rotated or moved later.

3. Then everyone passes their remaining hand face-down to the player on the left.

4. Steps 2 and 3 are repeated until the final remaining card of each hand is passed on.

5. Each player places that single card they received at the bottom of their pile. The round is over.

Note: The leftover card from the first round will come back to your hand in the third round. The leftover card from the second round won't come back to you.

By the end of each round, there will be 6 new cards played. By the end of the game, each valley will contain 19 cards (1 Starting Town and 18 Valley cards).

Valley Cards and Combinations

At the end of the game, towns, farmers, and mountains score points for the combinations of the vertically or horizontally adjacent (but not diagonally adjacent) cards. Thus, there can be a combination of 1–4 cards. The combinations and the points scored for them are listed at the bottom of the Town, Farmer, and Mountain cards. Only a complete combination scores points. One card may be a part of several combinations, but each combination is scored only once. (Example: the combination around the town is complete, so it scores 4 points.)

• Towns score points for the adjacent Sheep, Field, Mountain, and/or Lake cards. A required combination is indicated in the bottom-left corner of the card, and the amount of points to be scored for it is indicated in its bottom-right corner. Thus, if there is a Sheep card and a Field card adjacent to the Town card, you will score 3 points at the end of the game. Note: Each combination can be scored only once, so if you had 2 Sheep cards and 2 Field cards adjacent to this Town card, you would still score only 3 points. Towns also score additional points for being part of the Valley Express (see below).
• Farmers score points for the adjacent Sheep, Field, and/or Lake cards. The required combination is indicated in the bottom-left corner of the card, and the amount of points to be scored for it is indicated in its bottom-right corner. Farmer cards are considered Field cards.
• Mountains score points for the adjacent Field cards. If there is 1 Field card adjacent to your mountain, you will score 1 point. For 2 Field cards — 2 points, for 3 — 4 points, for all 4 — 6 points. The more fields around the mountain you have, the more points the mountain scores.
• Each Lake scores 1 point. Combinations next to a Lake card don't score any additional points.
• Field and Sheep cards don't score points for themselves, but they can be a very useful part of a combination.

The Valley Express

The token indicates the last stop of your Valley Express. As soon as the town with the token is connected to another town via at least 1 Railroad card, move the Valley Express token to the new town. Two towns are considered connected if there is a railroad line between them (it might be one Railroad card or a chain of several consecutive Railroad cards). The Valley Express cannot pass the same town twice.

Each new town where the Valley Express stops scores 3 points at the end of the game.

Scoring Example for the Valley Express

George will score 6 points for his Valley Express at the end of the game. However, if he manages to build a railroad line to the town next to the lake (he will need at least 2 Railroad cards for that), he will score 9 points instead.

Turn Example

Paul, Mary, and George begin the fourth turn of the first round.

1. Paul receives 4 Valley cards from the player to his right: it's a sheep, a farmer, and 2 railroads. Paul picks the Sheep card and plays it next to his farmer card aiming for a combination.
2. At the same time, Mary plays a new Town card and moves the Valley Express token to it. At the end of the game, she will score 3 points for the Valley Express with this town.
3. George plays a Field card next to his mountain, and this mountain will score 4 points.

The players pass their remaining hands to the player to their left, and each player has 3 cards to choose from now.

Goal Cards

There are 2 types of Goal cards: competitive and accumulative. Competitive goals (with a blue stripe at the bottom of the card) require collecting certain cards. The player with the best result (the most cards/symbols or a difficult combination completed) will score the points indicated on the card. In case of a tie, the points are split evenly (rounding up) between the tied players. Accumulative goals (with an orange stripe at the bottom) let you score points for the indicated combinations of cards in your valley. If the condition of the accumulative goal is met, you may score points for it several times and your result is not affected by the results of the others.

Goal Cards Clarification

Valley of Sheep — The player with the most Sheep cards in their valley scores 6 points at the end of the game.

Flocks of Sheep — At the end of the game, score 2 additional points for each Sheep card if there is at least 1 Sheep card adjacent to it. For instance, if there are 2 sheep in your town and they are adjacent, each of them will score you 2 points.

The More The Merrier — The player with the most villager symbols (from both Town and Farmer cards) scores 6 points at the end of the game.

The Suburbs — At the end of the game, score 2 additional points for each card with villager symbols if there is at least 1 Town card adjacent to it. Note: If there is a town with a villager symbol next to another town with a villager symbol, each of these towns scores 2 points.

Happy Towns — At the end of the game, score 2 additional points for each Town card with a complete combination.

Boundless Field — At the end of the game, score 1 additional point for each of the Field cards within your largest field area (horizontally or vertically adjacent Field cards).

Long Way — The player with the longest consecutive railroad (a connected chain of the Railroad and Town cards) scores 6 points at the end of the game.

Satellite Towns — At the end of the game, score 2 additional points for each Town card connected to another Town card with a railroad.

Sunny Valley — The player with the most Field cards in their valley scores 6 points at the end of the game.

Suburban Trains — At the end of the game, score 3 additional points for every 2 Field cards next to the Railroad cards which are a part of the Valley Express.

Ski Resort — The player with the most Mountain cards in their valley scores 6 points at the end of the game.

Mountain Passes — At the end of the game, score 2 additional points for each Mountain card next to a Railroad card*.

Vast Network — The player with the most Railroad cards* in their valley scores 6 points at the end of the game.

Walking Routes — At the end of the game, score 2 additional points for each consecutive Railroad card, after the first, which connect two Town cards.

Lake Land — The player with the most Lake cards in their valley scores 6 points at the end of the game.

Overlooking the Water — At the end of the game, score 2 additional points for each Lake card next to a Railroad card*.

Vast Land — The player with the longest row of cards (either horizontal or vertical) in their valley scores 6 points at the end of the game.

Mountain Lakes — At the end of the game, score 2 additional points for each Lake card next to a Mountain card.

* In these cases, Railroad cards don't have to be a part of the Valley Express.

End of the Game

When the third round is over, the players tally their points. The points are scored only for the cards in the valleys, the cards left in the piles are ignored.

Scoring

Use the scorepad to add up each player's scores for every category:

1. Write the player's initials here.
2. The Valley Express scores go here (don't count the Starting Town).
3. The combinations next to the Town cards are scored here.
4. The combinations next to the Farmer cards are scored here.
5. The scores for the fields next to the Mountain cards go here.
6. The scores for all of the player's lakes go here.
7. The scores for 3 Goal cards go in 3 separate columns.
8. Sum each player's points up to reach their total score.

Whoever has the most points, wins! In case of a tie, the player with the most towns in their Valley Express wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

If you have no sheets left in your scorepad, print more! You will find the template on the Sunflower Valley: The Card Game page on the publisher's website.