Flourish is a card game in which we create a
beautiful garden with cards, which are drawn and received during the game. You
will play the game with 1-7 people aged 8+, and the game lasts about 20-30
minutes. In the game you will pass cards to each other, choose new ones from
the pile, and then put them on the table, so that you can score for the
conditions specified on these cards. The player with the most points wins.
Being a gardener is not an easy
task. Just as it will be difficult to prepare all the elements needed for the
game! In a medium-sized box, in addition to a large deck of cards, you will
find 7 scoring boards, 7 garden walls (in 3D!), a lot of tokens, and 3
instructions (multilanguage). So what is there to prepare? Well, the game Flourish also contains two small
expansions, and for preparing one of them, we must squeeze a lot of elements
from the moldings, and put together small buildings. It will be easy for people
with handy fingers, but as some parts are very small, this may be a bit
problematic for some people. Fortunately, these buildings only need to be put
together once. After you finish the game, you can put them in their separate place
in the box. Flourish is very neat
game - it has beautiful illustrations, that are eye-catching, and the rest of
the pieces are durable and solid.
Let's create our dream garden! First, shuffle the deck of cards and deal 6 of
them to everyone. Take a scoreboard as well, and put a cardboard wall between
the players. You are ready! The game is played over 4 rounds, and in each round
you need to put 3 cards on the table during your turns. Interestingly, player
turns are performed simultaneously - you take the steps described further in
the same time. On your turn, you choose 1 card to play in your garden, and two
to pass to your neighbors. Put these three cards face down on the table. To the
garden –on the table in front of you, to the neighbors - behind a cardboard
wall, just to clearly distinguish which card you are handing over. Then you
reveal the cards in front of you, and draw the new ones your neighbors gave
you. You also pick one from the general pile, so you have 6 cards in your hand
again. Continue to play this way, until 3 cards are laid out in front of you.
Then the so-called scoring after the round must be performed, and additionally,
once the fourth round is finished, the final scoring takes place. It is worth to
mention, that each card has the appropriate symbols and scoring conditions that
must be met. Moreover, the scoring conditions for cards played in subsequent
rounds, also work with the cards played in earlier rounds. Therefore, it is worth
adding cards with the same symbols, to create mini-combos. The person with the most
points is the winner.
Flourish is a great card game that you can play
both against each other and in co-op! Another argument stating, that this is the
game for everyone! If you don't like racing for points - try to get the highest
score together! A very interesting mechanic in the game is drafting cards into
your hand. You get one from the common pool in the middle of the table, but you
get two cards from the neighbors. You also give your cards to your opponents.
Sometimes it is worth to reconsider giving away a given card, because each card
may be worth a lot to us sooner or later. What adds spice to this mechanic is
the fact, that we have no idea, whether we will help our opponent or not - it
may turn out, that our card works perfectly with another one, that he/she already
has in his/her hand.
Flourish is a card game with card drafting
and a set collection mechanics, in which we build our beautiful garden. The
gameplay is quite short, but what is more important – the game is very good.
Due to the short game time, you will want to play a few games in a row. We
recommend the game for people who like card games, in which you have to take
certain risks, collect appropriate cards, and look for a solution, that will
give you a lot of points after playing specific card. We strongly recommend playing
with more people. Check it on your own!
Name: Flourish
Publisher: Starling Games
Publication Year: 2021
Thank you Starling Games for sending this game for review!
