Pumpkin Patch: Bad Seeds Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Components
• Game Setup
• Anatomy of a Pumpkin
• How to Play
  • 1. Play Phase
  • 2. Crow Phase
  • 3. Discard Phase
  • 4. Draw Phase
• Game End
• Scoring Clarifications
• Scoring Clarifications
• Gourd Attack! Mini Expansion
• Solitaire Rules - Setup & Powers
• Solitaire Rules - Crow AI
• Solitaire Rules - Gameplay
  • 1. Play Phase
  • 2. Crow Phase
  • 3. Discard Phase
  • 4. Draw Phase
  • Game End
• Solitaire Rules - Crow AI Reference

Goal of the Game

Players take turns playing Pumpkin Cards onto the shared pumpkin patch in order to earn seeds (points). Seeds are earned by cleverly manipulating the growth of the Pumpkin Patch.

The player with the most seeds when the final pumpkin is played is the winner!

Components

• 44 Pumpkin Cards
• 6 Gourd Attack! Cards
• 2 Crow Cards
• 1 Scarecrow Card
• 1 Scoretrack Card
• 3 Pumpkin Score Markers

Game Setup

1. Place 1 Baby Boo (3) face up in the center of the table, and 4 Seedling (1) plots surrounding it. Place the two Crow Cards covering the left and right Seedling plots.
2. Create the face up compost pile by placing face up from bottom to top 1 Baby Boo (3), 2 Jack be Littles (2), and 3 Seedlings (1).
3. Shuffle the remainder of the cards to form a face down draw pile, with a space next to it for a discard pile.
4. Each player draws 3 cards from the deck.
5. [2p game only] Randomly assign each player ownership of 1 crow.
6. Place the Scoretrack. Each player picks a pumpkin marker, then place each marker on the 0 space of the Scoretrack.

Anatomy of a Pumpkin

1. Pumpkin color: Even-numbered pumpkins are always orange, and odd-numbered pumpkins are always white. The only exception is Seedlings (1), which are considered to have no color.
2. Pumpkin Number: Each Pumpkin has a number assigned to it, which shows in which order it must be played. Pumpkins are always played in ascending numerical order – a 2 must cover a 1, a 3 must cover a 2, and so on.
3. Pumpkin ability: When you play a Pumpkin Card, resolve the text of this ability and score the number of seeds shown by moving your marker that number of spaces on the Scoretrack.
4. Name count: The number of Pumpkin Cards of this name in the game.

How to Play

The player who has carved the most pumpkins in their life will start the game. Play proceeds clockwise.

On their turn, players must perform the following actions, in order from 1 to 4.

1. Play Phase

Play either 1 card from your hand or 1 card from the top of the compost pile. Resolve the card's ability and count how many seeds were scored. Move your marker that many spaces on the Scoretrack.

• Cards must be played in ascending numerical order. 2's go on top of 1's, 3's go on top of 2's, etc. When played, 1's can start a new stack of cards (a plot).
• All plots must be adjacent to at least one other plot. Thus, all plots must be played or moved adjacently to one another. Plots cannot be placed diagonally – they must be orthogonally adjacent (see diagram below).
• If there are no cards in your hand or the compost pile that you can play, discard all the cards in your hand to the discard pile and move on to the Crow Phase.

(Diagram: five example placements. Three marked with a red X are invalid, being diagonal or non-adjacent placements; two marked with a green check are valid, being orthogonally adjacent.)

2. Crow Phase

If you have been assigned a crow (2 player game), move your crow to a different plot that has no crow on it. If you have not been assigned a crow, you may move either one.

• You must move your crow each turn.
• If a plot has a crow on it, cards cannot be played on that plot. The plot cannot be moved.
• Crows do not block seed scoring.

3. Discard Phase

Discard any number of cards from your hand to the discard pile.

• You can do this to get rid of cards that you don't want.
• You are allowed to discard zero cards.

4. Draw Phase

Draw cards from the deck until you have 3 cards in your hand.

• You can only ever have 3 cards in your hand.
• If the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck.
• If you can't draw up to 3 cards, instead draw as many as possible.

Game End

The game ends when the Cinderella Pumpkin (8) is played and its seeds are collected. The winner is whichever player has collected the most seeds.

In case of a tie, the player who played the Cinderella Pumpkin (8) is the winner.

Scoring Clarifications

Jack be Littles (2) and Baby Boos (3) score based on the number of that color in a continuous group.

For example, a Jack be Little played below would score 5 seeds, 1 for each continuous orange pumpkin including itself. Baby Boo's work identically, but for white pumpkins.

(Diagram: an example patch of Jack be Little and Baby Boo cards, with Jack be Little examples shown in orange and Baby Boo examples shown in white.)

Scoring Clarifications

The Blaze (4) scores based on the largest continuous sequence of pumpkin numbers it is a part of. Each pumpkin must be adjacent to the next pumpkin in the sequence.

For example, the Blaze played below would score 4 seeds for being part of a continuous four pumpkin sequence (2-3-4-5).

The Gooligan (5) does not score points on its own. Instead, it moves a plot (following all rules of adjacency and crows). Once moved, score using the ability of the topmost pumpkin in the plot moved. The Gooligan can use the scoring ability of any other pumpkin!

Gourd Attack! Mini Expansion

Gourd Attack! is a mini-expansion for Pumpkin Patch: Bad Seeds. You may add any number of cards from this expansion to the base game when you play.

• All cards from Gourd Attack! are considered to have no color (just like seedlings).

Recycle is a new keyword in Gourd Attack! This ability offers players a new way to start plots.

• When you play a card with recycle, choose a legal plot. Move the chosen plot and all of its cards to the discard pile.
• Next, place the Gourd Attack! card in that same space to start a new plot.
• You can't recycle a plot with a crow on top of it!

Solitaire Rules - Setup & Powers

Pumpkin Patch: Bad Seeds can also be played solo. The goal of the game remains the same, collect as many seeds as possible!

Setup: Exactly the same as a multiplayer game.

Seed Powers: In the solitaire game, you may spend seeds to gain certain advantages. These Seed Powers! give you more freedom and control at the cost of lowering your final score. Throughout these rules, Seed Powers! are marked in red in the printed rulebook. The scarecrow card has reminder text for the Seed Powers! You can still use Seed Powers! when the scarecrow card is not in play.

Solitaire Rules - Crow AI

The crows in solitaire will move around and thwart your plans based on their behavior mode. Before beginning you will need to select a behavior mode for each crow from the following list of modes: Aggressive, Greedy, Hungry, or Shy. Pick any 2.

Based on the behavior modes you chose, use the following order to determine which will be Crow #1 and which will be Crow #2.

Aggressive -> Greedy -> Hungry -> Shy

Place one of the pumpkin markers on the first crow (Crow #1) to remind yourself which crow moves first.

Solitaire Rules - Gameplay

1. Play Phase

Exactly like multiplayer, except that if you can't play a card the game will end.

Seed Power! Complete Refresh - 8 Seeds

• Immediately remove both crows from the pumpkin patch.
• Discard your entire hand and redraw to a full hand of 3 cards.
• This expensive power is used to prevent the game from ending if you can't play any cards. You may only use this power once per game.

2. Crow Phase

Each crow acts on its own initiative. Its actions depend directly on its chosen behavior mode. During the crow phase, move Crow #1 first and move Crow #2 second. Reference pages 20-21 for specific Crow AI rules and examples.

Seed Power! Place Scarecrow - (X) Seeds

During the crow phase you may pay seeds equal to any plot's value to place the scarecrow on top of the plot. For Crow AI purposes, this is now considered a blocked plot. The scarecrow is removed at the beginning of the next crow phase.

For example: You just played a 4 card on top of a 3 card and know that the Aggressive Crow is going to land on that plot. So, you may pay 4 seeds to place the scarecrow on the 4 plot. At this point the Aggressive Crow's target is blocked and therefore it stays still.

3. Discard Phase

You may discard 1 card each turn.

Seed Power! Extra Discard - 2 Seeds

You may pay 2 seeds to discard one additional card. You may use this power twice each turn.

4. Draw Phase

Exactly like multiplayer (draw cards from the deck until you have 3).

Game End

Play continues until one of the three end game conditions are met:

• You place the Cinderella Pumpkin and score your final 8 seeds.
• You cannot draw up to 3 cards during the Draw Phase.
• You cannot place any pumpkins.

The number of seeds collected is your final score.

Solitaire Rules - Crow AI Reference

Rules for All Crows:

• If there are multiple valid plots for the crow to land on, the crow lands on the highest value plot.
• If multiple plots have equal values, the player may decide where the crow lands.
• Crows always move if able.

Aggressive Crow: Moves to whichever pumpkin was placed this turn. If that plot is blocked, the Aggressive Crow will not move this turn.

Hungry Crow: Moves to any unblocked plot of your choice with a higher value than its current plot. If none exist, it moves off the board and you lose 2 seeds.

Greedy Crow: Moves to the largest continuous group of matching pumpkins that contains no other crow. Matching pumpkins are pumpkins that have the same number. This entire group of pumpkins is now blocked.

• If the crow's movement would cause the entire board to be blocked, then it leaves play for the turn instead.
• If crow is already inside the largest continuous group of matching pumpkins, it moves to the next largest continuous group of matching pumpkins.
• The scarecrow is considered a unique numbered plot.

Shy Crow: Moves into any space that your first crow moves away from.