The Butterfly Garden Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
  • "Less Luck" Setup
• Overview
• Playing the Game
  • Phase 1: Establish Turn Order
  • Phase 2: Taking Turns
    • Step i: Capture a Butterfly
    • Step ii: Perform a Special Action
    • Step iii: Add Butterfly to Jar
    • Step iv: Deliver Butterflies to Garden
      • Additional Rules for Delivering Butterflies
      • Delivery Card Symbols
      • Special Rule for 2 Players
  • Phase 3: Prepare for Next Round
• Game End
• Determining a Winner
• Clarifications and Points of Emphasis

Contents

• 60 Butterfly Cards
• 20 Delivery Cards
• 6 Jar Cards
• 6 Garden Cards
• 6 Score Cards (optional)

Setup

1. Each player takes a jar card and a garden card and puts them in front of himself.
2. Shuffle the butterfly cards and deal 3 to each player to form their starting hands. Players keep their hands hidden from others.
3. Shuffle the remaining butterfly cards and place face-down to form a draw pile.
4. Draw 1 card per player from the butterfly deck and place face-up in a row in the center of the playing area. These cards are "the field."
5. Shuffle the delivery cards and place face-down to the side of the playing area.
6. For more than 2 players, draw and place X number of delivery cards face-up in a row near the delivery deck, where X = the number of players minus 1. For 2 players, flip 2 delivery cards and place each card on opposite sides of the delivery deck, so each card is closer to one of the players. These face-up delivery cards are "available."
7. Flip 1 more delivery card, but leave it face-up on top of the delivery deck. This is not "available," but will become available later.
8. Place the score cards aside for now.

"Less Luck" Setup

For a starting hand involving less luck, replace setup step #2 by giving players specific cards for the starting hands. Give the youngest player the 3 butterfly cards marked with the letter "A" (look for the letters in jars in lower left corner). Give the second youngest player the butterfly cards marked with a "B", give the third player the "C" cards, and so on. If you wish, you may assign letters randomly and not by age.

Overview

The game is played in a series of rounds. Players start each round by playing a butterfly card from their hands to determine the round's turn order. Players take turns starting with the lowest numbered card played and proceed upwards. On a turn, players capture butterflies from the field and add them to their "net" (i.e., their hand). The butterfly card played for turn order is put into their "jars." When a player has butterflies matching an available delivery card, he may "deliver" the butterflies to earn the card and score the VPs shown. The player with the most VPs at the end of the game wins.

During the game, players must carefully decide which butterfly cards to play. By playing lower numbered cards, players get a better pick of butterflies in the field and of delivery cards. However, lower numbered butterfly cards often have fewer butterflies and/or weaker special powers (but not always). So weigh your options carefully...

Playing the Game

The game is played in rounds until a game-ending event. Each round has 3 phases:

1. Establish Turn Order
2. Take Turns
3. Prepare for Next Round

Phase 1: Establish Turn Order

• All players simultaneously pick any butterfly card from their hands and put it face-down.
• When all are ready, turn cards face-up and keep in front of players. They are not added to or are part of the "field."
• The numbers on the cards establish the turn order for Phase 2. Players take turns from lowest to highest number played.

Phase 2: Taking Turns

Players take turns as established in Phase 1. On her turn, a player takes the following steps, in this order:

1. Capture a Butterfly
2. Perform a Special Action, if any
3. Add Butterfly to Jar
4. Deliver Butterflies to Garden (optional)

Step i: Capture a Butterfly

The player chooses any butterfly card from the field and adds it to his hand. Cards taken from the field are not replenished until Phase 3, so players going earlier have more options.

Step ii: Perform a Special Action

If the butterfly card played from a player's hand during Phase 1 has a special action icon in the upper right corner, the player may perform the action indicated by the icon.

• Draw a butterfly card, add it to one's hand, then return a card from one's hand to the bottom of the deck.
• Place a butterfly card from one's hand into one's jar, then return a butterfly card from one's jar into one's hand.
• Deliver this butterfly card directly to the garden (see Step iv) and score the VPs shown. This card may not go to the jar.
• Draw the top butterfly card from the deck and add it to one's jar. If the added card has a special action icon, the action is not performed, unless it has a "deliver to garden" icon (in which case it is delivered and not added to the jar).

Step iii: Add Butterfly to Jar

The player moves the face-up butterfly card played during Phase 1 to his jar. For convenience, when placing butterflies in the jar, the player should turn the cards sideways and tuck them under the side of his jar. This allows an easy view of all the captured butterflies.

Jar Limit: A jar can hold up to 8 butterflies. If a jar has more than 8 butterflies, the player must immediately discard butterfly card(s) of his choice until 8 or fewer butterflies remain.

Step iv: Deliver Butterflies to Garden

A player may deliver butterflies to the garden and earn an available delivery card. To do so, a player must discard butterfly cards containing butterflies that match the delivery card.

Example: A player earns a delivery card worth 5 VPs by delivering a yellow butterfly along with any 1 butterfly. A gray butterfly means "any butterfly".

Additional Rules for Delivering Butterflies

• All deliveries of butterflies earning a delivery card must be made from one's jar.
• A player may only deliver once per turn. Exception: A player who delivered a card with the "deliver to garden" icon in step ii may deliver once again in step iv.
• A player may use any combination of cards to meet the requirements of a delivery card and may also "overpay" by discarding cards with more butterflies than required.
• A rainbow butterfly counts as any color ("wild") for purposes of delivery.
• Acquired delivery cards can be tucked under a player's garden card in an overlapping row so VPs may be easily viewed.
• An equals sign on a delivery card means the delivered butterflies must be the same color.

Delivery Card Symbols

• 2 of a kind
• 3 of a kind
• 4 of a kind
• 2 pairs or 4 of a kind

Special Rule for 2 Players

The first player of a round may earn either available delivery card. The second player may only earn the card on her side of the delivery deck.

Phase 3: Prepare for Next Round

• Flip 1 butterfly card from the deck per player and place in the field, as in the setup.
• If the butterfly deck runs out, shuffle discarded cards and start a new deck.
• Replace delivery card(s) taken in Phase 2; first use the face-up card on top of the deck and then draw new cards as needed. For 2 players, if both delivery cards were taken, the first delivery card spot to fill is the one first vacated.
• Flip the top card of the delivery deck, if any remain and leave on top of the deck. If the delivery deck is exhausted, the game's end is near (see Game End).
• Begin a new round, unless a game-ending event has occurred (see Game End).

Game End

The game continues until a player reaches or passes the "VP Goal" (see below) or until all delivery cards have been taken. If either occurs, players finish the current round. A player's score is the total of VPs for the butterflies delivered.

Player Count	2	3	4	5	6
VP Goal	50	45	40	35	30

Determining a Winner

The player with the most VPs wins. In case of ties, the player with the most butterflies remaining in her jar wins the tie. If still tied, the player with the most butterflies remaining in her hand wins the tie. If still tied, the player with the lowest numbered butterfly card (in hand or jar) wins the tie.

Clarifications and Points of Emphasis

• As scores grow, players may use the optional score cards by removing delivery cards from the game and "trading up" for an equal valued score card. Rotate and flip the score cards to accomodate a variety of scores.
• During the first game, pay careful attention to the proper order for the turn actions.
• The rainbow butterfly card numbered 0 is the lowest card and goes first when played. Other than that, it has no special power.
• Any special power of a butterfly card must be used, if at all, before that card is put in the jar.
• A gray butterfly with question marks on a delivery card means "any butterfly".
• An equals sign on a delivery card means the butterflies must be of the same color.
• If a delivery card shows a rainbow butterfly, the player must deliver a rainbow butterfly.
• At a round's end, all players should have 3 butterfly cards in hand. Any other result means a mistake was made.
• Delivery cards are not replenished until Phase 3. It's possible that the last player may not have an available delivery card to earn.
• The player who first passes the VP goal is not necessarily the winner, since other players may pass the goal during the final round.