Goal. Build a beautiful garden by placing cards on an infinite grid. Score as many points as possible by the end of December (12 months / turns).
Setup
- The deck is split into 7 piles: four plant piles by size (1x2, 2x2, 1x3, 2x3), an amenity pile, a path pile, and a grass pile.
- Each player starts with one card from each pile (4 plants of different sizes, 1 amenity, 1 path, 1 grass).
- Six grass tiles are placed in a row at the bottom of the board to seed the garden.
- The calendar starts on January. After every player has taken a turn for the current month, the calendar advances.
A Turn (Four Phases)
- Draw - choose one: Draw 1 Plant, Draw 1 Amenity, Draw 1 Path + 1 Grass, or Discard Hand & Draw 1 of Each Plant Size (twice per match).
- Place Paths and Grass - any number. Paths must connect to another path. Grass can be placed in any open tile - no adjacency required.
- Plant In Season - any number of plants whose season includes the current month.
- Plant Out of Season OR Place Amenity - exactly one card (any plant or one amenity).
Placement Rules
- Plants must be placed adjacent to a Path or Amenity card (some plants and amenities ignore this rule - their text says so).
- Only the image portion of a card counts for adjacency. The buried portion does not.
- The card's text panel is buried under cards already on the board - shown as dirt-and-roots during placement. The image panel must land on empty grid.
- Once a card is placed, the buried portion vanishes - only the plant or amenity image remains on the board. The roots are tucked beneath their neighbors.
- Shade Only plants must touch a card with the Shade icon (trees).
- Sun Only plants cannot touch a Shade-icon card at the moment of placement.
- Path cards can be rotated with R or Ctrl+Scroll while placing.
- The first path placed in a game must connect to the starter grass row at the bottom of the board.
- Each player's first turn must include at least one path or amenity placement.
- You may not place a card if it would leave no valid spot anywhere for a future path tile. The garden must always be able to grow another path.
- Right-click drag pans the board at any time, even while placing.
- Adjacency means sharing an edge - never diagonal.
Scoring
- Each card scores its printed value when placed.
- +1 per adjacent plant card with the same color.
- +1 per adjacent plant card with the same species.
- Bonuses stack with no limit - a white rose between a white rose and a red rose gets +3 (two same-species roses, one same-color white).
- Special card text (e.g. +1 adjacent to grass, +2 adjacent to Trellis, -3 out of season) is applied automatically. Cards with a special rule show a yellow ! badge in your hand.
Winning
- Cooperative. The team is graded on the table below. Players only see the C / B / A floors during the game; the full ladder is revealed in the final score.
- Competitive. Highest score at the end of December wins. In team mode, the team with the highest combined total wins.
Tips
- Hold cards that will be in season soon - in-season planting is free of opportunity cost.
- Paths sprawl cheaply but score nothing; amenities cost your out-of-season placement but score and create planting spots.
- Group same-color and same-species plants to stack color/species bonuses.