Posted on by Amber Holt

Garden Sabotage! Rules Draft 1

(some of the formatting got messed up from moving it from google docs!)

Game Objective

Compete to have the best garden by planting plants and sabotaging other players with bugs. 

Contents

  • 50 Garden Objective Cards
  • 50 Plant Cards
  • 25 Bug Cards
  • 4 Garden Boards
  • Instructions 

Setup 

  1. Every player selects a Garden Board. 
  2. Shuffle the Garden Objective Cards, Bug Cards, and Plant Cards to form three draw piles, face down. 
  3. Turn over the top 4 Plant Cards and place them in a face-up row next to the deck. 
  4. Turn over the top 2 Bug Cards and place them in a face-up row next to the deck. 
  5. Deal 3 Plant Cards, 1 Bug Card, and 1 Garden Objective Card to each player. Players may look at their cards, but should keep them a secret from the other players. 

The player who owns the most house plants goes first. Play proceeds in a clockwise manner. 

Gameplay

Points are earned by completing Garden Objective Cards, using Plant Cards. Players must plant all of the required plants on their Garden Board by laying Plant Cards on their board, face up. Some Garden Objective Cards are more difficult, and, therefore, are worth more points at the end of the game. 

On Your Turn

  1. Perform Actions

Players perform 3 Actions on their turn. Players may perform the same Actions multiple times, and they can be performed in any order. The 7 Actions include:

  • Draw a Plant Card
  • Plant a Plant in your Garden
  • Draw a Bug Card
  • Sabotage Another Player’s Garden
  • Play a Good Bug Card on your Garden
  • Sweep the Plant Cards
  • Use Pesticide
  • Draw a Garden Objective Card

Draw a Plant Card

Draw a Plant Card, either from the top of the deck or from the row of face-up cards. If you take a face-up card, replace the gap with a new card from the top of the deck. There is no limit to the number of cards a player can have in their hand. 

Plant a Plant in your Garden

Place a Plant Card face-up on your Garden Board. Each Garden Board has two plots, Plot 1 and 2. 

Draw a Bug Card

Draw a Bug Card, either from the top of the deck or from the row of face-up cards. If you take a face-up card, replace the gap with a new card from the top of the deck. There is no limit to the number of cards a player can have in their hand. 

Sabotage Another Player’s Garden

Place a Bad Bug Card face-up on any other player’s Garden Board on one plot. The Bug immediately eats one Plant. The affected player discards this Plant Card. The Bug will continue to eat Plants in the player’s Garden until it is killed with Pesticide. A Bug takes 1 Plant at the beginning of the affected player’s turn until exterminated. Additionally, players cannot meet Garden Objectives when a Bad Bug is in their Garden. Only 1 Bad Bug, in addition to 1 Good Bug, can be placed on a plot at a time. 

Play a Good Bug on your Garden

Place a Good Bug Card face-up on your Garden Board on one plot. A Garden Objective completed with a Good Bug Card applied to it will score additional points at the end of the game. Only 1 Good Bug, in addition to the 1 Bad Bug, can be placed on a plot at a time. 

Sweep the Plant Cards

If you do not like the four face-up Plant Cards, you may sweep them away to get four new ones. Discard all four cards and replace them with the top four cards from the deck. You CANNOT sweep the Bug Cards. 

Use Pesticide

To remove an unwanted Bad Bug from your Garden Board, you must use Pesticide. Remove the Bad Bug from your affected Garden Board Plot and place it in the discard pile. 

Draw a Garden Objective Card

Draw a Garden Objective Card from the top of the deck OR exchange a Garden Objective Card by discarding a Garden Objective Card from your hand and drawing a new one from the top of the deck. NOTE: Players can only have 2 Garden Objective Cards in their hand at a time. 

Completing Objectives

When you have met all of the requirements on a Garden Objective Card, you may lay this card face-up in front of you. Requirements are met when all of the Plant and Bug Cards shown on the Garden Objective Card are placed on one Garden Board plot. All of the Bug and Plant Cards on the plot that fulfill this requirement are discarded. You may complete Objective Cards anytime during your turn and it does NOT count as one of your standard Actions. It is possible to complete more than one Garden Objective Card during your turn. 

  • If there is a Good Bug Card applied to the Garden Plot that completes the Objective, stack this card underneath your completed Garden Objective Card in front of you. 
  • Garden Objectives CANNOT be completed with a Bad Bug on the Garden Plot. Bad Bugs MUST be killed with Pesticide first. 

Types of Cards

There are three different types of cards throughout the game: Plant Cards, Bug Cards, and Garden Objective Cards. The following describes and provides examples of these cards. 

Plant Cards

Plant Cards enable players to complete Garden Objective Cards, which are necessary to earn points and win the game. 

Bug Cards

There are two types of Bug Cards: Good Bug Cards and Bad Bug Cards.

Good Bug Cards

Good Bug Cards are green and feature bugs that will benefit your Garden. 

  • Only 1 Good Bug Card can be placed on a Garden Board Plot at a time.
  • At the end of the game, you receive 2 additional points for every Garden Objective Card completed with a Good Bug on it. 
  • You CANNOT place a Good Bug Card on another player’s Garden Board.

Bad Bug Cards

Bad Bug Cards are red and feature bugs that will harm other player’s Gardens. 

  • When a Bad Bug Card is placed, it immediately eats 1 Plant Card. That card is then discarded. 
  • A Bad Bug eats 1 Plant at the beginning of the affected player’s turn until exterminated. 
  • Only 1 Bad Bug Card can be placed on a Garden Board Plot at a time.
  • You CANNOT complete Garden Objectives with a Bad Bug on your plot. Bad Bug Cards MUST be killed using Pesticide before an Objective can be completed. 
  • You CANNOT place a Bad Bug Card on your own Garden Board. 

Garden Objective Cards

Garden Objective Cards are necessary to earn points and win the game. Garden Objective Cards are completed by obtaining and planting all of the required plants on the card. 

Garden Boards

End of Game

The player who reaches 7 objective cards first triggers the final round. The remaining players get one last turn to try to complete objectives in order to earn points. The player with the most points tallied up from their completed objective cards wins. 

  • Tally the points from only the COMPLETED objective cards 
  • Add an extra 2 points for every Good Bug that you completed a Garden Objective with 

5 Replies to “Garden Sabotage! Rules Draft 1”

  1. This is all very interesting, I love how you included samples as to what you plan to have everything look like. I have loved this game idea from the start, I think you should continue with this idea.

  2. This game has potential for some fun design! I love the depth of thought you have put into this! From the mechanics to this rule set, it’s very comprehensive.

  3. A neat concept for this game could be a bird card, that could remove some bugs from your garden if you are lucky enough to pull the card.

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