Grove: 9 card solitaire game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
The Aim of the Game
Set Up
On Each Turn
The Squirrel
Game End
Scoring
How Fruitful Was Your Harvest?
Recipe Challenge
- Recipe Cards
Multiplayer Grove
Credits

Components

18 Grove cards. Each card shows 5 trees (orange, lemon and lime — each with 1 or 2 fruits) and one open space, called a glade. The backs of the cards show recipes; these are only used for the optional Recipe Challenge, so are ignored for the standard game.
15 custom dice: 5 orange (for oranges), 5 yellow (for lemons), 5 green (for limes). Each die has faces showing 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and a basket worth 10.
1 Squirrel token
1 Wheelbarrow token

The Aim of the Game

To harvest fruit (score points) by playing cards so that the fruit trees overlap other trees in the Grove that bear the same fruit. The more trees you overlap, the greater your harvest will be.

Set Up

Shuffle the cards. For each game you will only be using 9 of the 18 cards, so divide them into two, 9 card, decks. Place one deck face down (recipe side up) and within easy reach.

Put the other deck to one side (once you've finished the game you can immediately play again using this deck).

Draw the top card and place it face up in the middle of the play area to form the start of the Grove.

Draw two cards. This is your initial hand.

On Each Turn

Play a card
Place dice
Draw another card

1. Play a card

You may rotate the card 180 degrees or 90 degrees (either way) before adding it to the Grove.

At least one tree or glade on the card must overlap a tree or glade already in the Grove.

The fruit of any overlapping tree must match the fruit of the tree underneath it.

If a tree overlaps a glade with a die on it then the tree's fruit must match the die colour. Any tree can overlap an empty glade.

A glade can overlap any type of fruit tree or another glade.

2. Place dice

The dice indicate how much fruit has been harvested.

For each tree on the played card that overlaps a tree in the Grove:

Either

If there is no die on the tree below then place a die on the overlapping tree with its value equal to the total amount of fruit shown on both trees (this total will be 2, 3 or 4). For example, if a tree with 2 fruits overlaps a tree with 1 fruit, the die should show a '3'.

The die colour must match the tree's fruit.

If you have no dice remaining of that colour then you do not place a die.

If there is already a die on the tree below then place it on the overlapping tree and increase its value by the amount of fruit shown on the overlapping tree. For example, if a tree with 1 fruit overlaps a tree with a die showing '4', the die should increase by 1 to show a '5'.

If the die value would exceed '6' then rotate it to show a basket of '10'.

If a '10' is overlapped by a matching tree then replace the die with the wheelbarrow token (if available). This represents a 'wheely good' haul of 15 fruit! Return the die to the dice pile. If the wheelbarrow has already been used then leave the die showing a '10'.

Glades

A tree may overlap a glade that has a die on it only if the tree's fruit matches the die colour. Place the die on the overlapping tree, increasing its value by the amount of fruit shown on the tree.

If the die value would exceed '6' then rotate it to show '10'. If a '10' is overlapped then replace the die with the wheelbarrow token (if available).

If a glade overlaps a tree (or another glade) that has a die on it, place the die, without changing its value, on the overlapping glade.

If a glade overlaps a tree (or another glade) without a die on it then do not place a die on the overlapping glade.

3. Draw another card

Draw another card from the draw deck (if available) to bring your hand back up to two cards.

The Squirrel

Once per game you may place a card such that an overlapping tree's fruit does NOT match that of the tree (or die colour on a glade) underneath it.

If the tree or glade underneath has a die on it, remove the die and return it to the dice pile.

Place the Squirrel token on the overlapping tree to show that the fruit has been snaffled by the cheeky creature.

Note that a tree with the squirrel on it cannot then be overlapped by another tree or glade for the rest of the game.

Game End

Once you have placed the final card (and any dice on it), the game ends.

Scoring

Any dice that are on a glade do not score (that fruit has fallen to the ground and is spoiled).

Add up all the remaining dice in your Grove to get your final score.

If the Squirrel is in your Grove then subtract 1 from your score and also subtract 1 for each die that is on an adjacent (not diagonally) tree to the Squirrel (so you will be subtracting between 1 and 5 points).

Note: when scoring, count the wheelbarrow token as a die.

How Fruitful Was Your Harvest?

Score	Rating
< 40	Pith-iful
40–44	You need a pip talk
45–49	Juiced enough
50–54	Jaffa-bulous
55–59	Sub-lime
60+	You're simply the zest!

Recipe Challenge

Shuffle the 18 cards. Randomly set 2 aside, next to each other, with their recipe sides face up.

Each recipe shows a scoring condition for the game and the bonus points or score modifier you receive for meeting the condition.

Each recipe card has a number at the top. Add together the numbers on the two cards to give the Target Score for the game.

Deal yourself 9 cards and play the game following the standard rules.

At the end of the game add any bonus points, and apply any modifiers received, to your dice score to get your final harvest score. If this equals or exceeds the Target Score, you win!

Note: For meeting recipe conditions, the Wheelbarrow is considered to be a 'die' (with the fruit it replaced) — except for the following recipes: Fruit Cocktail, Tutti Frutti, Lime Cordial, Orange Juice and Lemon Soda.

Also note that dice on glades, although they don't score, are still considered to be "in the Grove" for meeting recipe conditions.

Recipe Cards

The 18 recipe cards, printed on the backs of the Grove cards, are as follows:

Recipe	Target Number	Condition	Bonus
Tutti Frutti	35	At least 4 dice of each colour are in play	10 pts
Lime Cordial	30	All 5 Lime dice are in play	5 pts
Key Lime Pie	44	All Lime dice score double	x2
Orange Juice	30	All 5 Orange dice are in play	5 pts
Limoncello	44	All Lemon dice score double	x2
Fruit Punch	40	Lowest scoring fruit (before bonuses) scores double	x2
Lemon Soda	30	All 5 Lemon dice are in play	5 pts
Lime Pickle	26	Play a Lime die on your first turn	1 pt
Fruit Basket	27	At least 1 basket is in play	3 pts
Fruit Cocktail	29	All 15 dice are in play	5 pts
Orange Marmalade	26	Play an Orange die on your first turn	1 pt
Orange Jell-O	31	At least 1 Orange die has a value of 6	6 pts
Fruit Cake	26	At least 1 glade is surrounded by 4 adjacent dice (glade may have a die on it)	4 pts
Lime Jell-O	31	At least 1 Lime die has a value of 6	6 pts
Lemon Curd	26	Play a Lemon die on your first turn	1 pt
Fruit Salad	28	At least 3 dice of the same fruit are on adjacent trees	6 pts
Lemon Meringue Pie	31	At least 1 Lemon die has a value of 6	6 pts
Orange Liqueur	44	All Orange dice score double	x2

Multiplayer Grove

Translated from the official Russian-language retail rulebook.

Grove can be played with several players. All players follow the standard solo rules when placing cards, dice and tokens. Each player needs their own separate copy of the game, and on every turn all players take the same card into their hand.

One of the players becomes the "Caller." They shuffle their cards and place 9 of them face down, forming their deck.

The other players sort their 18 cards by the numbers printed on their fronts, in ascending order.

The Caller draws the top card of their deck and calls its number out loud. The other players find the card with that same number in their own decks. All players then place that card face up in front of them as the first card of their own Grove.

The Caller then draws 2 cards into their hand and calls out their numbers. The other players also find these cards in their decks, so that all players end up with the same two cards in hand.

Each round, players simultaneously play one card from their hand into their Grove (placing any necessary dice/tokens). Once every player has played 1 card, the Caller draws a new card from their deck and calls out its number, so that each other player finds and takes the matching card into their hand.

The game continues in this way until every player has played their final card. The player with the highest harvest score wins. A tie is broken in favor of the player who has more dice in their Grove.

The Recipe Challenge can also be used in a multiplayer game. In that case, all players set aside the same pair of recipe cards at the start of the game.

Credits

Game design and artwork: Mark Tuck.

Special thanks to Justin Culbertson and everyone at BoardGameGeek who playtested the game and gave advice during its development, as well as to Trevor Harmell for rules suggestions.