I don’t have much of a green thumb, in fact, I’ve failed to maintain every houseplant I’ve ever owned. Luckily, having a green thumb is not required to play Planted: A Game of Nature & Nurture (2022), designed by Phil Walker-Harding with artwork by Hannah Bailey, as published by Buffalo Games. It seems like every other game on the store shelves is designed by Walker-Harding these days, and although I’m a fan, I balked at purchasing this title the first few times I encountered it because – c’mon, growing plants? How fun could that be, right? Once again, I was served a thick slice of humble pie for judging a game by its theme (I’m looking at you Wingspan)!

Planted Overview

Planted: A Game of Nature & Nurture (herein referred to as Planted) is a set collection game for the whole family. The objective of the game is simple: grow houseplants by collecting resources to score the most points. The game takes place over four rounds and takes about 20-30 minutes to play. 

Components

The game comes with 5 beautifully designed (seriously, stunning) player boards, 1 larger nursery board (the main game board), Resources tokens (Light, Water, Plant Food, Growth, and Green Thumb), 5 bags to hold the resources, and 144 cards featuring Resources, gardening Tools, Decorations, and of course, houseplants. Lastly, the game comes with a colorful score pad.

Setup

 Players position the nursery board in the center of the table within reach of all players. They then place the Resources in homogeneous piles near the nursery. Players each take a player board and place it so that it has a card’s length of room below it and above it. The Resource cards are shuffled and placed in the designated area on the nursery board. The Tool and Decoration cards are likewise shuffled together and placed on their designated spot of the nursery. Each player randomly selects a starter plant; the remaining starter plants are removed from play. A community of 4 plant cards is laid out on the nursery board. Players are distributed 6 cards from the Resource deck and 2 cards from the Tool/Decoration deck. The setup is then complete!

Planted Gameplay

The game is played over 4 rounds. It begins with each player selecting a card from their hand and placing it on the table facedown. Once each player has chosen a card, the cards are simultaneously flipped face up. Players who revealed a Resource card, claim the respective token(s), and discard their card. Players who reveal a Tool or Decoration, slot it below their player board in its designated area. Tools grant players buffs for drafting future resources while decorations offer end of game bonuses. During the flip phase, a player may opt to forfeit their card and draft a plant from the nursery by declaring, “nursery!” The player will then discard the flipped card and then add a plant from the nursery to their hand. If multiple players declare “nursery!”, they refer to a number listed on each card. The draft order is determined by the lowest number acting first and so forth. 

 After playing a card, players pass their hands to a player sitting next to them. In rounds 1 and 3, they pass cards to the left. For rounds 2 and 4, cards are passed to the player’s right. A round concludes when there are no cards left to pass. Players then spend their accumulated resources to nurture their plants. To do this they must satisfy all of the required resources that the plant needs to grow. If the resource requirements for a plant are met, players add a Growth token (shaped like a leaf) next to the lowest point value on the card. Point values increase the more the plant is nurtured. Additionally, players can score points for unused resources by supplying 2 resources to the “propagation jar” on their player mats. These resources are converted into a Growth token valued at 1 point. 

End Game

The game wraps at the end of the fourth round. Using the provided score pad, players tally up the total points for each plant they’ve nurtured (maximum of 6), the number of points earned from propagation jars, and any end of game bonuses granted by decorations they’ve collections. 

Planted Impressions

Planted is a relatively easy game to learn and it is fun to play. There is something satisfying about the simplicity of this game. That is not to say it lacks complexity, but the premise of the game: feed and water your plants to make them grow is decidedly low stakes and leisurely. In that, the game is successful. I found it – relaxing. Plus, this concept is accessible for nearly everyone. 

     Like some other Phil Walker-Harding games, this game felt at times like we were playing “alone together.” Gameplay is not particularly competitive. During our games, we were interested more in seeing how well we could tend our plants than we were at thwarting one another. 

     I enjoyed collecting the Resource tokens and allocating them amongst my plants. The plants were easy enough to grow and score points with, but the end of game bonuses provided by the decorations made a significant difference. I’ve not played enough of Planted to claim this is an imbalance in the game, but there seems to be the potential for it. 

Planted Final Verdict

 This game is beautifully designed. The tokens, a mix of acrylic bits (Light and Water) and laser cut wood (Growth, Green Thumbs, and Plant Food) create a visually appealing play space. The nursery board and player mats are masterfully illustrated. Taken in totality the game creates for a mindful play experience, one which hails its players to slow down and “smell the roses” (though, I don’t believe roses qualify as a houseplant, so perhaps some other adage is more appropriate here). This game is worth picking up if you are 1) a Phil Walker-Harding fan or 2) looking for an easy game night with the fam.

By Robert Van Auken