Unbeetable
Unbeetable Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Set Up
Keep the seasonal cards separate. Check the backs of all the other cards to divide them into three decks: a deck of spring cards, summer cards and autumn cards. As part of the spring deck, you will find eight cards with a start-plant card symbol. Each player gets two of these cards and places the plants on the table in front of them on phase 1 to start their (kitchen) garden. Any left over start-plant cards are added back to the spring deck.
During the game you will play your plant cards in a grid format. The maximum size of your garden depends on the number of players. With two players, the grid maximum is 3x3 plant cards. With three or four players it's 2x2 plant cards.
Now shuffle each of the seasonal decks but keep them separated from each other. Each player is dealt five cards from the spring deck. Then take the seasonal card 'summer' and shuffle it in with the last ten cards of the spring deck. Shuffle the 'autumn' card in with the last ten of the summer deck, and the 'winter' card with the last ten of the autumn deck. Throughout the game, the three decks are separate from each other and at the start of the game, players can only use the spring deck. The spring seasonal card is put open on the table.
Determine who begins and start the game.
Card label (as printed on the start-plant card illustration): "Start-plant card".
Player Turn
Every player turn is made up of three steps:
- The seasonal action
- Playing cards
- Replenish your hand
Seasonal Action
Every season has their own seasonal action, or effect. In spring the weather makes for easy growing, you therefore must grow one plant in your garden one phase. In summer the weather still makes for easy growing but harvesting is quite easy as well, you therefore must grow one plant one phase and then harvest all plants in your garden. In autumn the focus is on the harvest, you must therefore harvest all your plants. The seasonal cards have symbols to remind you of the seasonal action.
Icons printed beside the seasonal action text: "Grow 1 plant 1 phase" (watering can icon) and "Harvest all plants" (sun icon).
Playing Cards
You can play up to three cards from your hand or discard your entire hand of five cards at once. If you decide to play cards, note that plant cards can only be added in your own garden but action cards can be played on any garden. Both types of cards are explained later on.
Replenishing Your Hand
You now replenish your hand to five cards by taking cards from the seasonal decks. Initially you can only take cards from the spring deck, until the next seasonal card is drawn. Did you draw a seasonal card? You have to immediately put it face up on the table, covering the previous seasonal card. This signals that the seasons have changed, including a new seasonal action. You then still replenish your hand to five cards.
From the moment the summer seasonal card is drawn, you can also draw from the summer deck. When the autumn seasonal card is drawn, you can also draw from the autumn deck. You can take your cards from a deck from a previous season as long as they are available.
Play now continues with the player to your left.
Game End
The game immediately ends when the winter seasonal card is drawn. The winner is the player with the most points. In case of a tie, the player wins who's garden is worth most points at that moment.
Plant Cards
Component labels from the plant card illustration: Plant card, Action card, Backside of the plant and action cards.
There are different plant species, but every plant has four phases depicted on the card: 1) start, 2) growth, 3) maturity, 4) withered. Dependent on the species, harvesting the plant results in a specific number of (minus)points.
Every plant takes up one spot in your garden grid and can host one action card per action card type. Plant cards can only be played in your own garden. When you play a plant card, it always starts in phase 1. A plant card is permanent and can only be removed with action cards.
Phase illustration: Phase 1, 0 points; Phase 2, +1 point; Phase 3, +5 points; Phase 4, -2 points.
Growing
Plants can grow due to of the seasonal action or action cards. When a plant grows, the card is turned a quarter turn counterclockwise to the next phase. A plant in the fourth phase (withered) cannot grow further and will remain in this phase.
Harvesting
Plants can be harvested due to seasonal action or action cards. When you harvest a plant, you receive the number of (minus)points of the phase it is in at that moment. Harvesting a plant does not mean removing a plant card, the plant remains (in the same phase) and can therefore be harvested more often.
You keep track of your points by taking cards from the discard pile and turning them face down. On the back, you can see point indicators at the top and bottom of the card. Indicating one or two points. You can make a row of these face down cards to keep track of your points. You cannot fall below zero points. In the exceptional case where there are no cards in the discard pile any more, you can turn face down cards in your point row a quarter turn (across the row) to indicate that this card counts as five points.
Score pile: 10 points.
Action Cards
There are nine different action cards, of which four are one-time actions, four are permanent effect and one is weeds. Permanent effects are slid under a plant card, with the bottom sticking out to show what effect there is on this plant. An action card can be played in any garden, including your own.
One-Time Actions
- Watering can (Grow one plant one phase.)
- Spade (Remove one plant card or one weed.)
- Sun (Harvest one plant.)
- Flood (Remove a full row or column of plant cards (and weeds) from a garden.)
Permanent Effects
- Ladybird: Protects this plant from aphids. Play an aphid on a plant with a ladybird and remove both action cards. Play a ladybird on a plant with aphid and remove both action cards.
- Aphid: Blocks this plant. Growing and harvesting is not possible, removal with action card is possible.
- Hail: Adds one minuspoint to this plant in harvest.
- Compost: Adds one point to this plant in harvest.
- Weeds: Weeds block a spot in a garden. This action card can be played in any garden if there is an open spot in the grid. Weeds can only be removed with a spade or flood.
Example: a Phase 3 plant (+5 points) with Compost (+1 point) and Ladybird protection totals +6 points.
Removed Cards
If a plant card with permanent effects is removed, both the plant and the action cards are discarded to a discard pile. Plant cards without permanent effects and removed or used action cards are also discarded.