Keyflower
143 questions players ask about Keyflower. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-05.
Set up and seasons
- Are the skill tiles on the boats placed face up or face down?
- Can players look at the summer and autumn tiles before they come out?
- Are the summer and autumn village tiles chosen at the start of the game or at the start of each season?
- How many winter tiles come up for auction, and what does "Winter introduced" in the set-up table mean?
- Are the boats restocked with workers and skill tiles in winter?
- When are the boats filled, and when do players take their contents?
- Does each player start with resources or boat contents?
- In what order are the boats filled if the bag runs short of workers?
- Can I pass and still take another action later in the same season?
- Who starts each season and in what direction does play go?
Bidding
- Can I add workers to a bid I am losing, not only one I am winning?
- Can I add more workers to a bid I am already winning?
- Can I move a losing bid to a tile where it merely ties the rival's bid?
- Can I take workers off a bid I am currently winning?
- Is there a maximum number of workers I can bid on a tile, or must I open with one?
- Must all workers on and around a tile be the same colour?
- What can I do with workers from a bid I lost?
- Can outbid workers be moved onto the production space of the tile they were just outbid on?
- Can I combine workers from several lost bids, plus workers from behind my screen, into one move?
- Can I split a group of outbid workers, using only some of them?
Production
- Can I place a worker on a tile just to block it, when the action gives me nothing?
- How many workers does each later use of the same tile need?
- Can I use a tile with seven or more outbid workers moved as one group?
- Can I place two or three workers on an unused tile to activate it?
- Where do resources go when I use a tile in another village or one being bid for?
- Can I use tiles in other players' villages, and in winter?
- Can I activate winter tiles, or only bid on them?
- What does the Peddler, Fair or Store require, and where must the paid worker come from?
- If the Peddler gives me a green worker, can I use it on my next action?
- What happens if a tile produces more than the supply has left?
Workers, resources and gold
Transport and upgrading
- How does a transport value work when moving several resources?
- Do goods moved with one transport action have to start on the same tile?
- If I upgrade a transport tile, do I get its new side's transport in the same action?
- Must the goods paying for an upgrade be on the tile being upgraded, and can I move them there first?
- Do I need a transport tile with an upgrade symbol to upgrade, even when only skills are needed?
- Can I upgrade tiles in another player's village?
- Can I use another player's home tile or transport tile for my own village?
- After upgrading a tile, do the workers and goods on it stay?
- Can I transport resources onto my home tile?
End of season and turn order
- In what order do players pick boats at the end of a season, and when does the start player marker change hands?
- If I win two turn order tiles, how many boats do I take and when do I pick?
- Who becomes start player if nobody bids on the purple start player tile?
- Do I still take the start player marker if I also won other turn order tiles?
- In a two-player game, how are boats chosen?
- Where do workers from unsuccessful bids go at the end of the season?
- What happens to workers in a winning bid, and to workers standing on the tile I won?
- Who gets workers left on a village tile at season end?
- What happens to workers on an auction tile nobody wins?
- When are won tiles added to my village, and can I rearrange?
Game end scoring
- How does the Sea Bastion score, and can I count more than one loop?
- Does a figure-eight road layout count as one loop for the Sea Bastion?
- How does the Sea Breese score for several connected boats?
- Do any village tiles give victory points during the game?
- Do the Forge, Goldsmith, Sawmill, Sculptor and Well need workers, and do they score repeatedly?
- Can the Keythedral or another fixed-point tile score more than once?
- Can one resource, worker or skill tile score on two different tiles?
- Do goods have to be on the Barn, Blacksmith, Stone yard or Timber yard to score there, and can I move them at game end?
- Can goods sitting on a Barn or Timber Yard also score for the Jeweller, Windmill or Mercer's Guild?
- Can the purple start player marker count as a resource, skill or worker at game end?
Boats and summer boats
- Does Boat 2b double my transport and upgrades on other players' tiles as well?
- Does Boat 2b also double the Keyflower boat's end-game score?
- Can the Boat 4a owner open a bid in a different colour on a tile nobody has bid on?
- Does Boat 4a change the colour other players must use?
- With Boat 4a, can I mix colours within one bid, or add another colour to a losing bid?
- Can Boat 4a's counter-bid be used on turn order tiles?
- Does Boat 4b let me mix colours when bidding?
- When does a summer boat's ability start working?
- Can I place workers on a summer boat tile?
- Does Boat 2a let me score the Sea Bastion without matching roads?
Village tile placement
Keyflower: The FarmersExpansion
- Can a sheep cross a river, and what does it cost?
- Does the open grass at the north tip of the Farm Yard home tile count as a field?
- How do you score a field that holds two animal types?
- With Boat 5a, do mixed animals share a field and still breed?
- Is breeding mandatory in The Farmers?
- Does breeding happen before or after won tiles are added to my village?
- Does the Hillside tile itself score a point?
- Where can the purple start player marker be placed when declared an animal?
- Can wheat counted by Boat 5b sit on the Barn, Blacksmith, Stone yard or Timber yard?
Keyflower: The MerchantsExpansion
- In a two-player game, what happens when I win Sea Bastion II in autumn?
- Can I exchange several contracts in one turn?
- Does gold count toward a contract at game end?
- When are discarded contracts shuffled back in?
- How does a cabin on the home tile affect upgrades?
- Does the Artisan score extensions?
- When an extension costs a worker, where does it go?
- Must an extension match worker colours, and does Boat 4b help?
- How is a tile with an extension scored?
Keyflower: Key CelesteExpansion
- Does Sea Breese count boats connected through Key Celeste in any shape?
- Does using the Key Celeste ghost win me the tile?
- Can the ghost be used on my own winning bid?
- How do I include Key Celeste in a game?
- Can the ghost be used on turn order tiles, and can I also win Key Celeste?
- If only the ghost is on a tile, can anyone use it?
- If nobody bid for the ghost in autumn, is a ghost placed on Key Celeste in winter?