Under the Leaves
Under the Leaves Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Over 12 rounds, create a beautiful and varied garden. Attract all kinds of creatures into your garden – buzzing bees, busy hummingbirds, and – if you pay close attention to the preferences of the shy little meadow sprites – maybe even them! Whoever has the most creatures in their garden at the end wins the game.
Components
- 1 garden bag
- 50 garden tiles
- 4 starting tiles (with green backs)
- 12 meadow sprite cards (4 green, 4 brown, and 4 blue)
- 60 meadow sprites (20 blue, 20 green, and 20 brown)
- 58 red hummingbirds
- 71 yellow bees
The creatures in your garden are unlimited – if you run out of wooden pieces, use other materials as substitutes. If you use meadow sprites to represent bees or hummingbirds, place them next to your garden; they do not count toward majority scoring.
Setup
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Each player takes 1 random starting tile. Put the remaining starting tiles back in the box – you will not need them for this game.
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Shuffle each of the 3 kinds of meadow sprite cards separately. Then draw 1 green, 1 brown, and 1 blue meadow sprite card and lay them face up. Put the remaining cards of each kind back in the box – you do not need them for this game. Place the matching-colored meadow sprites next to their cards.
- For your first game, we recommend choosing the meadow sprite cards marked with a star. These are easier to understand and help you get into the game more easily.
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Place the bees and hummingbirds in a general supply.
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Throw all garden tiles into the garden bag and shake it well so all the tiles get mixed up inside. Playing with fewer than 4 players? Remove some random garden tiles from the bag and put them back in the box:
Players Tiles removed 2 24 3 12 4 0 -
Draw 3 garden tiles from the garden bag and lay them out in the middle of the table. This is the display.
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Whoever last watered plants begins and becomes the starting player.
What a garden tile looks like
Every garden tile consists of four spaces. There are 6 kinds of spaces: the five kinds of beds, and the pond.
All garden tiles have 2 identical adjacent beds – and either a mushroom or a pond. Starting tiles, on the other hand, have a pond and 3 different beds, one of which has a mushroom. Starting tiles otherwise count as garden tiles for the rest of the game (unless stated otherwise).
Every garden tile and starting tile has a nest in the middle, which borders all 4 spaces.
Course of Play
You take turns in clockwise order. Each turn consists of 3 steps: Plant, Attract, and Refill the Display. Then the next player in clockwise order takes their turn.
Step 1: Plant
To plant, choose 1 of the 3 available garden tiles from the display and place it in your garden according to the planting rules. The tiles are printed on both sides and mirrored on the back. Once you have placed a garden tile, it is considered planted, and you may no longer move it, flip it, or exchange it.
Planting rules: To plant a garden tile, you must place it so that at least 1 side is fully adjacent to an already-placed tile. That means no tile side may be adjacent to 2 different tiles at once. When placing the tile, you may also flip it to its back side; you do not have to make sure matching beds are adjacent (though it can be an advantage).
If, while planting, you connect adjacent beds of the same color, larger fields are formed – these will become important right away in Step 2: Attract!
Step 2: Attract
After you have planted a garden tile, check whether your garden attracts any creatures. Follow this order:
- Bees
- Hummingbirds
- Green seedlings
- Brown mushroomlings
- Blue pondlings
Bees
Bees are attracted by nectar-rich fields. A nectar-rich field is formed as soon as you have 3 or more adjacent beds of the same color.
Have you just formed a nectar-rich field? Take 1 bee and place it on any bed of the nectar-rich field. Then check: do you already have other nectar-rich fields of the same-colored bed? Place 1 additional bee in each of those nectar-rich fields.
The same nectar-rich field can hold an unlimited number of bees. There is no limit to this.
Important: if you enlarge an already-existing nectar-rich field, no additional bee is attracted.
If planting a garden tile enlarges several differently-colored fields to 3+ beds for the first time, all of these fields become nectar-rich.
Hummingbirds
Does every bed on a garden tile belong to a nectar-rich field? Place 1 hummingbird in the nest at the center of that garden tile.
Planting a garden tile can make the orange field, the pink field, and the purple field nectar-rich. As a result, all beds on the newly-placed tile are part of nectar-rich fields, and a hummingbird is attracted. Place 1 hummingbird on the nest in the middle of that garden tile.
3 hummingbirds in a connected row or column: have you just placed the third hummingbird? Place 1 additional hummingbird in the middle nest – this way you can place a maximum of 3 hummingbirds in 1 nest this way.
- Note 1: these "bonus" hummingbirds matter later for scoring – for new groups, only look at the bottommost hummingbirds.
- Note 2: if 4 or more hummingbirds "extend" the row or column, that is each time a new group of 3 hummingbirds in its own right.
Meadow Sprites
While you expand your garden, you can also attract meadow sprites in addition to bees and hummingbirds. Check the meadow sprite cards now, starting with the green seedling: place 1 sprite on the space indicated on the card, if you have attracted it. Then continue with the brown mushroomling, and finally the blue pondling.
These 2 rules apply to all meadow sprites:
- Each space may only be used once to satisfy a given meadow sprite's preferences – unless the meadow sprite card has a star (see below).
- A bed may hold 1 meadow sprite of each kind, but never more than one of the same kind.
On the following pages you will find detailed descriptions of each individual meadow sprite card. For cards with a star, it is important to read the description, since additional rules are explained there.
Step 3: Refill the Display
After you have placed all the creatures your garden attracts, refill the display by drawing a garden tile from the garden bag and placing it in the display. Then the next player in clockwise order takes their turn.
End of the Game
The game ends immediately once there are no more tiles left in the garden bag and you can no longer refill the display. By this point, each of you has played 12 rounds and has 13 tiles laid out in your garden.
Now check, for each of the 3 meadow sprite kinds: who has the majority of one of the 3 meadow sprites? If you have the majority, take 2 more meadow sprites of the same kind and place them in your garden. Is there a tie? Everyone involved in the tie gets the bonus.
Now everyone counts how many creatures were attracted to their garden. Each creature is worth 1 point. Whoever has the most points wins. In case of a tie, the person with the most hummingbirds wins. If there is still a tie, the person with the most bees wins. If there is still a tie, everyone involved shares the victory!
Green Seedlings
CASTANA Have 4 beds of the same color arranged in a square. Place 1 seedling in the middle of the square.
CARBALA Have a nectar-rich field with 5+ beds. Place 1 seedling on 1 of the beds (your choice).
MOCHERA Have 4 different spaces (any of the five bed colors or the pond) arranged in a square. Place 1 seedling in the middle of the square.
- Note: the starting tile alone does not attract a Mochera.
- Note (FAQ): do not attract a Mochera directly from your starting tile alone – the beds and/or ponds must be on 2+ different garden tiles.
BELOTA Have 4 beds of the same color in a connected row or column. Place 1 seedling on 1 of the beds (your choice).
- Note (FAQ): the 4 beds in the row/column must be connected to each other.
Brown Mushroomlings
SOMI Have 2+ mushrooms within a field of 2+ same-colored beds. Place 1 mushroomling on 1 of the beds (your choice).
- Note: the mushrooms do not need to be adjacent to each other.
- Note (FAQ): the 2+ mushrooms only need to be in the same field – they do not need to be adjacent to one another.
EDULI 3 mushrooms are in a horizontal or vertical line; the distance between the mushrooms does not matter. Place 1 mushroomling on the middle mushroom.
- Note: the 2 mushrooms that did not receive a mushroomling may still attract an Eduli again later.
REISHI 2 mushrooms border each other diagonally. Place 1 mushroomling on one of the two mushrooms.
- Note: the mushroom that did not receive a mushroomling may still attract a Reishi again later.
NOKI 1 bed with a mushroom is surrounded by 8 beds without mushrooms. Place 1 mushroomling on the mushroom.
- Note: every bed without a mushroom may be used any number of times to attract a Noki.
Blue Pondlings
NIDARIA A pond is 2+ spaces large. Place 1 pondling on 1 of those spaces.
- Note: if the area of a larger pond that already has a pondling on it grows further, no additional pondling is attracted.
AMBI 2 ponds are separated by exactly 1 bed. Place 1 pondling on that bed.
- Note: every pond may be used any number of times to attract an Ambi, but at most 1 pondling may be placed on any given bed.
NARI 2 ponds border each other diagonally. Place 1 pondling on one of the two ponds.
- Note: the pond that did not receive a pondling may still attract a Nari again later.
SIELLA 1 pond is surrounded by 8 beds. Place 1 pondling on the pond.
- Note: every bed may be used any number of times to attract a Siella.
Turn Summary
Step 1: Plant
- Choose 1 garden tile.
- Plant 1 garden tile.
Step 2: Attract
- Bees: has at least 1 new nectar-rich field just formed? Place 1 bee on it. Then: place 1 additional bee on any bed in each other nectar-rich field of the same color.
- Hummingbirds: are all beds on a garden tile part of nectar-rich fields? Place 1 hummingbird on the tile's nest. Has this formed a connected row or column of 3 hummingbirds? Place 1 additional hummingbird on the middle nest of the row/column.
- Seedlings: check the seedling cards and place 1+ seedlings if applicable.
- Mushroomlings: check the mushroomling cards and place 1+ mushroomlings if applicable.
- Pondlings: check the pondling cards and place 1+ pondlings if applicable.
Step 3: Refill the Display
Credits
Designers: Trevor Benjamin, Brett J. Gilbert. Illustrations: Paulina Victoria (Paulina Castillo). Original publisher: Fractal Juegos (2025). German edition published by Frosted Games Spieleverlag GmbH under license from Fractal Juegos; German translation: Frosted Games; graphic design: Isa Repomaa; editing: Korbinian Würzle; publishing director: Benjamin Schönheiter.