Blossoms
Blossoms Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Players compete to grow the most beautiful flowers. The taller and more diverse the flowers, the higher your score!
Contents
- 54 flower cards (6 types, 9 flowers each)
- 1 score card
- 4 flower pot tiles
- special-action tokens (3 per player)
Game Setup
- Shuffle all the cards.
- Each player receives 3 special-action tokens in their colour.
- Place the 4 flower pots in a row in the centre of the playing area within reach of both players.
- Deal 4 flower cards, 1 above each pot. At the beginning of the game, there must be a different flower above each pot. If you deal a duplicate, discard it and deal the next card from the deck.
- Shuffle any discarded cards into the deck. Place the deck face down within reach of both players.
- Without looking, discard 1 face-down card into the box. This card won't be used in this game.
- Deal 2 face-down cards to both players. This is their starting hand.
The player who has watered some flowers most recently becomes the starting player.
Game Overview
Players take alternating turns. Each turn starts with the Growth action. Other actions may be performed in any order, including repeating Growth. The player takes as many actions as they wish until their turn ends due to cutting a flower, passing, or having bad luck.
Actions
If you used a special-action token in your previous turn, remove it from the pot and discard the token into the box.
Growth (this action always starts the turn)
Draw the top card from the face-down flower deck and add it to the correct pot, according to the rules below. If you managed to add a flower card (see picture), your turn continues.
Note: During your turn, you can repeat the Growth action several times.
- If there is a pot with the same flower type as on the drawn card, you cover the petals of the potted flower with the new card, which makes the stem longer.
- If there is no pot with the same flower type, but there is an empty pot, you must plant the drawn flower in the empty pot by placing the card above it.
- If there are no empty pots and no pots with the same flower, you have bad luck - discard the drawn card and your turn ends immediately.
Plant
Once per turn, you can add 1 card from your hand to a pot with the same flower type as the chosen card. You cannot add the card if it exceeds the 6-flower limit.
Note: After playing a card, you don't draw another one. Additional cards can be drawn after performing the special Pruner action.
Cut
Choose a pot with at least 2 flower cards and take all cards from it. Put this set in front of you. It will be scored at the end of the game. Each set is treated as separate. You can't join sets of flowers of the same type, but you can have 2 sets of the same flowers.
Note: Your turn ends immediately after this action.
Note: A flower cannot be higher than 6 cards. If you must add a 7th flower card of the same type, you have bad luck and discard all 7 cards - the flower dies and your turn ends immediately.
Pass
You can end your turn without cutting a flower.
Special Action
Once per turn, but after the obligatory Growth action, you can put one of your special-action tokens on a pot without any tokens on it. At the start of your next turn, remove the token from the game and discard it into the box. It has 2 effects:
- until your next turn, the flower in this pot cannot be cut and collected by your opponent.
- at any time during this turn, you can use this pot's action.
Watering Can Add any one card from your hand to the bottom of any flower in a pot. This card now counts as that type of flower, making the flower taller. You cannot exceed the 6-card limit.
Fence Once this turn while performing the Growth action, you may ignore bad luck. Discard the card which caused bad luck. You continue your turn instead of finishing it.
Rake Peek at the top 3 cards from the deck and put them back on top of the deck in any order.
Pruner Draw a card from the deck and add it to your hand. Don't show it to your opponent.
End of the Game
When the last card is drawn from the deck, the active player plays their turn. If that player was the starting player, their opponent skips the Growth action and can still perform the Plant and Cut actions, and - if they still have a special-action token - use the Watering Can. This allows both players to get the same number of turns.
Scoring
Both of you score points in 2 categories (see example below):
- The total value of your flowers.
- Different types of flowers.
Points are awarded according to the table from the score card.
Final Score
Add up points for the total value of your flowers and the number of flower types. The player with the most points wins the game. In case of a draw, the player with more unplayed special-action tokens wins. If the tie remains, we recommend playing another game of Blossoms.
Variants
Longer Game
We recommend playing 3 games in a row. The player with fewer total points from the previous game(s) starts the 2nd and 3rd game. The person who has the most points after the 3rd game wins!
Playing with Children
Flip the pots to the side without tool icons; the assigned special actions won't be used in this game. The special-action tokens are only used to reserve flowers.
Three-Player Variant
Everyone gets 2 special-action tokens and the rest of the standard rules still apply. Play clockwise.
Advanced Variant
Each turn, you have to take the Growth action, BUT it doesn't have to be your first move. You can start your turn by taking a special action.
Gameplay Example
The players set up the game according to the rules and decide that Caroline is the first to play.
First Caroline takes the Growth action - she draws a card from the face-down deck. It's a rose! She adds it to the first pot with such a card.
Caroline could finish her turn now, but instead decides to draw another card. Wow, another rose! She doesn't want to risk it, so she puts her token on the rose pot - no one can cut it until Caroline's next turn. She also uses the pot's special action - Pruner - and draws another card. Now Caroline passes.
It's time for Ralph's turn. He starts with the obligatory Growth action and draws a tulip! He adds it to the proper pot. Then, he takes a risk and draws another card. Bad luck! It's an iris. There are no irises in the pots and no empty pots, so Ralph puts the card on the discard pile and his turn ends.
It's Caroline's turn again. She takes her token from the rose pot and puts it in the box. Then, she draws a card - and that's a rose! She adds it to the pot, so the rose is 4 cards tall now. She decides she's going to cut it, but first she takes the Plant action and adds a rose card from her hand to the pot. Then she cuts the flower, gathering the 5 rose cards and placing the set in front of her. Caroline finishes her turn with a beautiful rose worth 10 points.
Ralph draws a sweet pea. There's no flower of this type in any pot, but after Caroline cut the rose there's an empty pot. Ralph places the sweet pea card in this pot and continues his turn as usual.
Flower Notes
Rose (Rosa) The iconic blazing red rose hasn't been around that long - it was created around 1930 as the result of mutation.
Iris (Iris) The word iris is of Greek origin and means a rainbow, which is strictly connected with the vast variety of the flowers' colours.
Tulip (Tulipa) The name of these popular spring flowers comes from the Persian word dolbend, meaning the fabric used for turban-tying.
Common poppy (Papaver rhoeas) There are almost 100 varieties of the poppy. Common poppy and opium poppy, famous for its medicinal properties, are the best-known ones.
Sweet pea (Lathyrus) Sweet peas come from the Mediterranean Basin: Greece, Sicily and North Africa.
Schizostylis (Schizostylis) These flowers are often planted around garden ponds. They are resistant to heavy rainfalls and rising water levels.