Marvin’s Gardens: 

 

The best deck building garden defense game this side of Gnomomia (gnome-ohm-ee-ah).

 

Some like to go adventuring in perilous dungeons.  Others enjoy an adventure by boat at sea.  While others…..well….wait a second.  If everyone is off adventuring, who is supplying the adventurers?  Who is tending the flocks?  Or better yet, who is taking care of the gardens?  

 

Marvin’s Gardens are, once again, endangered!  Welcome to Gnomomia, where great adventure does await for those who dare take up a shovel, rake or hoe.  It’s not easy being a gardener in a land fraught with peril, both from the forces of nature and from evil creatures that roam the realm.  You are a great gardener! Yes, it is true! And that’s why you have chosen to enter the contest to become crowned the ultimate garden defender of the largest and most pristine gardens spread throughout Gnomomia: Marvin’s Gardens!  It will be your task to deploy your allies and resources to ensure the highest quality and quantity of produce so that others may be able to enjoy the fruits, grains, nuts, seeds and vegetables of your labor.  It is not an easy task. Nor, is it for the faint of heart as some gnomes and fairies spend a hundred years or more cultivating enough courage to take part in this quest.  But you can do it! You could even earn the coveted Golden Gnome to place in your own garden at home!  And, on top of that, you could be crowned the ultimate garden defender!

 

Game Setup:

1. Each player receives 10 starting cards of the same color.

2. Each player shuffles these 10 starting cards and places them face down in their play area.

3. Determine the starting player 

4. Build the Garden Deck

 

Determining the Starting Player:

1. Fan numerous cards out on the table - (Do not include any of the starting cards or Golden Gnome in this process.)

2. Each player selects and card and reveals it.

3. The player that selects the card with the highest honey/victory point value goes first. If players with the highest values tie, they redraw till someone wins.

4. Play then proceeds clockwise.

 

 

Building the Garden Deck:

 

Build the Garden Deck by determining the approximate game length for the number of players with the chart below. Shuffle all the Garden Deck cards. Then, put that many cards into the Garden Deck and shuffle in the Golden Gnome. Put the rest of the cards back into the box for future games. 

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Turn Sequence:

1. Draw your hand (5 cards) and place them face up, revealing them, in front of you

2. Draw the Garden Zone (For the first turn, draw 6 cards. Replace cards in subsequent turns to replenish the Garden Zone, bringing it up to 6 cards. In the event that an additional card is drawn in to the Garden Zone due to a following the directions on a card and no cards leave the Garden Zone on that player’s turn, The next player/s will have seven cards in the Garden Zone).

3. Heal the land (if needed) (You can discard all 5 cards thereby ending your turn without doing any purchasing/gardening/combat to heal 1).

4. Resolve Garden Zone affect cards like Death & Decay and Cornucopia cards

5. Purchase & Gardening/Combat Phase.

6. Discard the NON-GARDENING/COMBAT Garden Zone Effect cards like Astronomical, Geological, Meteorological, and Disease cards from the Garden Zone; taking/healing damage as applicable

7. Permanently remove a card from your discard pile if applicable

8. Discard all used and unused cards from your hand.

9. End your turn.  Play proceeds to the next clockwise player.

 

All garden zone effect cards except ones for purchase or gardening/combat are discarded at the end of each turn after a player suffers damage or receives benefits.

 

Image Identification:

 

Garden/Land Health (This is NOT your health as you do not die nor does the land.  It just become incapable of growing crops when its at zero (0))

 

Purchase Price/Purchase Power (This is what it costs to buy.  It also gives you the ability to buy something else.)

 

The shield with the pick and shovel = gardening/combat strength = how much you have to fight something or how much it takes to fight something (You and your allies are not fighting but repairing the damage that was done)

 

Special Card Abilities:

 

Many cards have special abilities that impact players positively and negatively.  Unless otherwise stated on the card, these abilities are only activated and  used once per turn.

 

Example 1: The Sheers allow players to discard 1 Non-Special Effect Garden Zone Card for 2 gardening/combat points. A player may do this or use the gardening/combat point against other cards in the Garden Zone.  If a Player does this, they then redraw 1 card into the Garden Zone and they may discard Sheers into their personal discard pile as its gardening/combat points have been used/exhausted. A player may not pay an additional 2 gardening/combat points to discard another card from the Garden Zone this turn.

Note: If the card drawn would cause non gardening/combat damage to the player, the player may put that card into the Garden Zone Discard Pile instead of the Garden Zone.

 

Example 2: Humble Abodes allows a player to reduce/restore one health to their garden.  Also, the player may use 3 gardening/combat points to reduce the purchase price of a single boon by 5.  They cannot use 6 gardening/combat points to reduce the purchase price of a boon by 10. Nor, can they use another 3 gardening/combat points to reduce the purchase price of a different boon by 5.  They may, however, still use the other 3 gardening/combat points and any remaining purchase power after their purchase of the boon.

 

Example 3: Dangerous Drought allows a player to reduce 1 health damage to their garden’s health for 8 purchase power or 8 gardening/combat.  This can only be done once. 

 

Example 4: Black Spot Fungus allows a player to spend 4 purchase power or 4 gardening/combat to reduce damage by 1.  It also allows a player to spend up to 8 purchase power OR 8 gardening/combat OR 4 purchase power and 4 combat to eliminate all damage.

 

Garden Zone Effect Cards:

Dangerous Drought and Black Spot Fungus are examples of Garden Zone Effect Cards.  These cards often impact the Garden Zone or a player negatively.  However, there are some beneficial ones as well.  They often cause or heal damage without a player doing any gardening/combat.  Players can sometimes use their purchase power and/or gardening/combat points to reduce damage done. These cards are teal green in color.

 

The Golden Gnome:

This coveted statue is sought by many and obtained by only a few.  During the competition, players will have the opportunity to purchase this statue and then place it in their personal gardens. The purchase price of the Golden Gnome varies according to the number of players and is printed on the card. However, players will need to acquire a certain number of victory points from gardening/combat in order to purchase this trinket. 

 

Note: The Golden Gnome is shuffled back into the Garden Deck after each player’s turn if they were not able to purchase it. If there is even one card left in the Garden Deck, shuffle it with the Golden Gnome and play continues. If there are no other cards left in the Garden Deck, then the game will end if the Golden Gnome is not purchased by that player at the end of their turn.

 

Note: The purchase of the Golden Gnome ends the game immediately after that player’s turn. However, purchase of the Golden Gnome does not necessarily indicate that this player will be crowned the ultimate garden defender.  Players still count their victory points to determine this.

 

Ending the Game:

The game will end after one of the following two scenarios:

1. The Golden Gnome is purchased

2. The Garden Deck is exhausted. The last player draws up to six cards into the Garden Zone.  On this last turn, there could be less than six cards due to there not being enough cards in the Garden Deck.

 

Crowning The Ultimate Garden Defender:

1. After the game ends, all players count their honey/victory points.

2. The person with the highest number of honey/victory points wins.

3. In the case of a tie, the person who purchased the Golden Gnome wins.

4. In the case of a tie and no one purchased the Golden Gnome, shuffle 20 or so cards together.  Fan them out face down on the table. Each player that scored the most points and tied, selects a card and reveals it and adds that to their overall total score.  The player with the highest score then wins.  In case of another tie, make a smoothie and play again.