Community Garden is an easy-to-learn, strategic board game for 2 – 4 players that takes about 45-60 minutes to play. In the game, players will use Gardeners to gather resources like water and compost, and then they will play cards ranging from Dill to Strawberries to Butternut Squash. The player who has scored the most points through growing their garden and collecting Harvest cards wins the game.
Despite the competitive focus, with the goal being to finish the game with the most points at the end of 7 rounds, players can help others acquire the resources and tools they need to make their plots prosper as well. In fact, the only way to interact with other players is by helping them.
On their turn, players will place one Gardener on the board to gain resources (water, compost, trowels, or seedlings) or draft Garden cards. Once a Gardener is placed, it remains in that space for the rest of the round. Sometimes players may want to share a space that other players are already in. In that case, they’re not blocked – but will need to spend Green Thumb tokens to join players in a busy location. Players can also place their gardener on a Tool card (like Garden Gloves or Hand Weeder), using the unique effect listed on that card. This might allow for trading in resources for ones they need, take an extra turn, or create a fun combination of effects. On each player’s turn, after they’ve placed a gardener, they’ll be able to spend resources they’ve collected to plant Garden cards from their hand – placing it into their “plot” in front of them and scoring points by doing so. Played Garden cards will also provide instant bonuses. And if a garden card’s bonus benefits all players, it’s worth even more points.