Sometimes you want a cutthroat, no-holds-barred board game that lets you beat your opponents into a pulp and claim victory over their fallen corpses. Other times, you want to keep your friends. Floriferous is a game for fostering friendship. It’s a gentle wander through a lush garden on a sunny day. Do you want to earn points by collecting bouquets, or placing unique statues? Will your garden be known for its yellow lilies or its pink dahlias? Will it attract the best butterflies? And who will earn the coveted cup of tea card? Just because it’s gentle, doesn’t mean Floriferous, a card game for 2-4 players by Pencil First, isn’t compelling and entertaining. Wander over, grab your watering can, and enjoy a stroll through the flowers.
Gameplay Overview:
The goal of Floriferous is to prove you are the best gardener in the bunch. The game is played across three rounds, or days spent tending the garden, and at the end of the third round the player with the most victory points wins. Points are earned by clearing stones from the garden, creating beautiful flower arrangements, having a wide variety of sculptures, and completing two different types of objective cards: collective bounty cards that everyone can score, and personal desire cards, which individual players claim. The gameplay is fairly straightforward, and you aren’t likely to be surprised by a twist outcome. That doesn’t mean that the game lacks a competitive edge, however.
The bounty cards are laid at the top of the field, a grid of cards is arranged in the middle of the field, and desire cards reside at the bottom. Players take turns moving a pawn across the grid, claiming either a flower card or a desire card as they move through the rows of the grid from one side to the other. You need to choose which cards you select wisely to maximize your point potential. Flowers have a color symbol and a flower type symbol, and some also have special bug symbols included. At the end of the round, the first player who has achieved the combination of symbols shown on one of the bounty cards along the top gets to claim the most victory points. Desire cards have scoring objectives individual to the player who claims them, such as gathering multiples of specific bug types or matching sets of flowers. Players score their desired cards at the end of the game.
Players may also collect sculpture cards, which reward whoever gathers the most with bonus points, or arrangement cards, which reward players who can collect cards that match the symbols they feature by the end of the game. Stones, which are laid in a set pattern on top of cards in the field, garner extra victory points, and the player who collects the most stones by the end gets the Cup of Tea card, which has its own VP bonus.
Game Experience:
Gameplay in Floriferous relies on balancing your strategy. Being aggressive about collecting flowers to claim the top rewards on bounty cards will earn you early victory points, but if you wait until the third round to start taking desire cards, your choices will be limited. Spending your turn claiming a white tulip might help you complete an arrangement, but letting another player collect the exact bug they need for their own desire card without blocking them might seal your loss. While the gameplay isn’t necessarily cutthroat, there are plenty of opportunities to undermine the plans of your fellow players. Turn order is determined by who claims the card in the top row each turn, which can create tension if multiple players are in need of the same flower. The rules include an additional competitive alternative for play that makes bounty cards more contentious. In general, though, if you like your games to incite table flipping rage this one isn’t going to get your players riled up.
If you’ve played other Pencil First card games like Herbaceous or Sunset Over Water, Floriferous will feel familiar to you. The designers reliably deliver easy to pick up, compact games with painterly art and gentle vibes. Each has unique mechanics, but you can count on them for a quality hour of soothing gaming and art. Floriferous and Herbaceous are very similar games, in different color palettes. For my money, I prefer Floriferous, but if you didn’t enjoy the company’s other games, this one likely won’t be radically different enough to sway you.
The watercolor style in Floriferous is lush and pretty. I particularly liked the variety in the statue cards, from happy gnomes to happy turtles to happy Grecian busts. The cards themselves have a nice finish, and the tokens create a tranquil color palette for the game. It’s a well-put-together product, with a clear and concise rule book to accompany it.
Floriferous also has a solo mode, where a crow harasses you as you try to relax in your garden. The pesky guest has a deck of action cards where he will drop stones in your garden to block you or mess with the arrangement of your garden grid. He’s a delightfully annoying opponent, and perfectly themed for a garden game.
Final Thoughts:
I’m a fan of relaxing card games, and have multiple garden-themed products in my collection. Floriferous is the crown jewel, though. It’s the perfect game to play out on the patio on a nice summer day, mimosa in hand. It’s simple enough to learn that it can be played with gamers and non-gamers alike, making it great for family gatherings and casual game nights. Floriferous is beautiful, well-designed, and fun to play. While it may not be cutthroat enough for some, others will thrive in it’s gentle atmosphere.
Final Score: 4 Stars – It’s a calming and inviting filler game that is well put together.
Hits:
• Lovely art and high production quality
• Simple to learn but complex enough for thoughtful decision making
• Excellent solo mode included
• Symbol coding is colorblind friendly
Misses:
• May be too simple for many players
• Fairly similar to other games by the company
