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Welcome to Which Game First where we boldly explore the hilariously huge world of board games. Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out!
First up: We embrace springtime by growing our garden one lovely card at a time in Flourish
Next up: We cram as many eager thrill riders as possible onto our attractions in Dice Theme Park
And lastly: We’re squishing fruit into yummy drinks one matching card set at a time in Draft Cider
Flourish
Designed by: James A. Wilson, Clarissa A. Wilson
Published by: Starling Games (2021)
Players: 1 – 7
Ages: 8 & up
Playing time: 20 – 60 minutes
Flourish is a card-drafting, garden-building game in which players plan and build the garden of their dreams over the course of the growing season.
The game is played as either a cooperative game or a competitive game. If co-op, limited communication rules apply.
Six cards are dealt to each player. You will play three cards each round into your garden. And there are four rounds, so at the end of the game you will have 12 cards in your garden.
Everyone plays simultaneously. Place one card in your garden, then pass one of your cards to the player on your left, and one more card to the player on your right.
Pick up the 2 cars you were given, and then draw another card to bring your hand back up to 6. Repeat this 3 times. This marks the end of a round, and if you played cards in your garden that can be scored, score them. In the last round, just play three cars from your hand (no passing to other players)
If competitive, the player with the most points wins. If co-op, the group scores together and scores against a table to see how well they performed.
Dice Theme Park
Designed by: Adrian Adamescu, Daryl Andrews
Published by: Alley Cat Games (2022)
Players: 1 – 4
Ages: 14 & up
Playing time:75 – 90 Minutes
Dice Theme Park is a dice manipulation board game, where you are the park manager of fairground attractions, trying to create the most successful theme park in the area, by getting your customers on the most rides possible!
Start by choosing 2 of your 6 activation cards, numbered 1 through 6. These two cards determine order of play, and income. Draft a set of three dice (there are one set of 3 dice per player, plus one more set). You may then draft a tile to add it to your park. You may also buy a mascot as well. Mascots have unique abilities. You can also upgrade your park twice.
The dice in the game represent the customers, with hex tiles representing the rides in your park. Once a customer has enjoyed a ride, their dice value is reduced, but they can still continue to enjoy more rides in the theme park until their value drops to 0 where they exit. This means the more efficiently you can move your dice around to activate the most rewarding rides, the more points and money you receive!
There are six rounds of play, most points wins – let’s see who’s park was the parkiest of them all.
Draft Cider
Designed by: Joe Webb, Jason Stanford
Published by: J&J Games (2022)
Players: 1 – 6
Ages: (not listed)
Playing time: 10 – 20 min
Draft Cider is a card drafting game (pun intended) that takes all the excitement of apple farming, and packs it into a simple and easy to understand format. In this game, you and your friends will play as Orchard owners, trying your best to maximize your profits for a year.
Apples are represented by cards, and each apple has 3 qualities: color, height, and sweetness.
We are picking apple cards and placing them into sections of our orchards in combinations that will yield points. Each player’s orchard has eight sections, and each section has unique scoring rules. For example, one section scores by pairs of the same kind of apples. Another section scores by height comparisons.
And folk, there you have the Draft Cider House Rules.