Do you think the creator of the game was just going for a stupidly long name for the game? Why not just call it the cherry tree that blossoms? Do we need the rest of the title? NO! We do not and that is just one issue with this game but there are more, oh how there are more.....
Let us cover the basics;
Players: 2 - 4
Age: 8+
Time: 20 minutes
What do you get inside the box?
There is no denying that this game does have some incredible artwork, but that does not explain what you get inside;
4 screens
1 bag
3 mastery cards
1 rulebook
18 pink flowers
18 yellow flowers
18 light blue flowers
18 dark blue flowers
18 white flowers
6 black flowers
That is everything! I am confused to why we have two shades of blue, could have had orange, green, neon purple or any other colour they had not used but no they went for a different shade of blue.
Setting up the game
First step is to fill the bag with the flowers you will need, now depending on how many players you have will depend on the number of the flowers you place in the bag.
2 players;
4 black flowers
13 flowers of each colour
Then shake the bag and remove 3 flowers without looking and put them back into the box, how you do this without seeing them at any point is daft.
3 players;
5 black flowers
15 of each colour
4 players;
6 black flowers
18 flowers of each colour
I played the two player version so this is a review for that and the set up, you may need to read the rules again for more players.
Pick a screen and place it in front of you, making sure the screen is stood up so other players can not see what you have behind the screen.
Put the 3 mastery cards in the middle of the table and place them on which ever side you wish to use. For beginners the blue side is the perfect side to pick, in a two player game one of the pink side powers basically needs to be changed to use so avoid the pink side in a two player game, why make your life harder?
Finally the last person who saw a cherry tree blossom gets to go first which is daft once again as who the hell gets to see one of them? No one around here! Just pick some one to start the game.
How to win
The game ends when the last flower from the bag is pulled out and then you need to work out your scores!
In front of the screen;
Group all the flowers by colour that were in front of the screen and then use this chart for EACH colour;
1 flower = -3 points
2 flowers = -1 point
3 flowers = 1 point
4 flowers = 3 points
5 flowers = 5 points
6 flowers = 8 points
7 flowers = 11 points
8 flowers = 15 points
9 flowers = 19 points
10 flowers = 24 points
This means that if you had the following flowers and colours;
1 light blue
1 dark blue
4 pink flowers
1 black flower
6 yellow flowers
You would score
-3
-3
3
-3
8
Giving you a total of 2 points!
For the flowers behind the screen you need to first group any black or white flowers which ever group you want (warm or cold). Once these are placed in the groups behind the screens and everyone is done you raise the screens. Then count how many you have in each group and give each person a position depending who as the most and so on.
Then use the following chart to score;
Warm group;
1st place = 18 points
2nd place = 10 points
3rd place = 8 points
Cold group;
1st place = 16 points
2nd place = 12 points
3rd place = 8 points
If you came in 3rd for the warm group and 1st for the cold group you would receive 24 points in total and then add your 2 from the other scoring phase giving you a grand total of 26 points.
If there is a tie, hope there is no tie because the rules are just stupid, do the following;
Tied first place = 28 points divide by the number of players who tied
2 tie = 14 points each
3 tie = 9 points each
4 tie = 7 points each
Tied second place = 20 points divide by the number of players who tied
2 tie = 10 points each
3 tie = 6 points each
4 tie = 5 points each
Tied third place = 8 points divide by the number of players who tied
2 tie = 4 points each
3 tie = 2 points each
4 tie = 1 point each
The player with the highest overall score wins the game!
Also note that in a 2 player game 1st place scores are ignored and you use the 2nd place scores instead and only 1st place scores, 2nd place gets nothing!
How do you play the game?
This is one of those blind luck games that I normally enjoy but this one seems to miss the ball. I find a lot of the rules just annoying and we are going to cover the rules here.
1: Draw flowers from the bag
The first step is to draw flowers from the bag but there are rules to this;
a) You must draw at least 1 flower
b) You can not draw more than 8 flowers in total c) You can draw up to 3 times from the bag
This means each time you put your hand in the bag you must take out 1 flower or more, you can never go over the 8 limit when drawing over the three turns and you can not draw out more then 3 times. Just seems a little long winded for what it is. 1.1: After each draw make sure you do not fail!
Okay so you can draw three times on your turn but after each draw you need to make sure you have not failed. You fail if you do any of the following;
a) Collect 3 flowers of the same colour (blacks count as any colour and always count towards this bust goal, meaning if you draw 2 dark blue and 1 black you fail even if you have 1 yellow flower as the black will go towards the fail limit and count as a dark blue).
b) Have 5 flowers of different colours.
What you are really hoping to do is to pair up flowers.
You can stop drawing at any time long as you have at least 1 flower and you did not put your hand in the bag and collect nothing.
Even if you fail on this section you still need to move on to the next section!
2: Display flowers
First you need to check if you failed or past and then follow the rules below;
Fail = If you fail you have to do the following;
Put any black flowers back into the bag
Choose 2 flowers of different colours (if they are all the same colour you can only take 1)
Place the 2 flowers (1 if you had the same colour) in front of your screen
Put the rest of the flowers back into the bag
Ask yourself why you are playing this game
Pass = If you did not fail you need to do the following;
Check the mastery cards and see if you match any of the cards with the flowers you have and perform the bonus on that card!
Pick 1 colour of the flowers you pulled from the bag
Put all the flowers from that colour you pulled out this turn behind your screen
Put the rest of the flowers in front of your screen
There is a side rule here, if you do not want to put any behind your screen just bang them all in front of your screen.
That is all you do on your turn! Nothing to the game really, it is pretty straight forward. I just think the rules are a little weird, not sure why but I find the game rules to this one just annoying.
Now I need to quickly cover the mastery cards, these were in the game and we kept forgetting about them to be honest.
Mastery cards:
Firstly black flowers you can count as any colour you wish to meet the requirements to use a mastery card!
If you meet the requirements for more than 1 card you must pick the one you wish to use and only use 1!
Have two pairs of different colour flowers (example, 2 dark blue and 2 pink)
Blue side = Secretly draw 1 flower from the bag and put it behind your screen.
Pink side = Pick another player then take a flower from the ones you picked this turn or in front of your screen and swap it with one in front of their screen, this can not be a black flower!
Have 4 different coloured flowers (you draw from the bag this turn)
Blue side = Take one you drew this turn or one from the front of your screen and place it behind your screen.
Pink side = Draw 3 flowers from the bag and put 1 in front of your screen and put the other two back in the bag. This cannot be a black flower of course.
Have 6 flowers
Blue side = Draw 2 flowers from the bag, then decide for each flower if you will put it behind your screen, in front of your screen or in front of another players screen.
Pink side = Pick 2 players and take 1 flower (different colours) from front of their screens and put them in front of your own screen. This once again cannot be a black flower but I bet you knew that!
That just about covers all the cards in the game and the rules, there are not that many to the game, I just find it really annoying.
Final Thoughts
Is this a good game? Hell to the NO, this is far from a good game in my own opinion of course. Neither of us really enjoyed the game and the luck factor in this game is to high compared to other luck based games.
The rules just felt stupid and I hate the scoring system for this game, why the hell am I doing math's if players tie? Just be a normal game and share the points! Why do I need to be adding and then dividing s**t? I should not need to be doing this! I just found that really frustrating, not because I am bad at math's (I was a store manager and did daily banking and weekly banking and I code) but because it felt unneeded in the game.
The mastery cards even though they were there we forgot about them all the time because we rarely found ourselves able to meet the criteria without going bust and failing.
Draw 3 of the same colour and you fail is near enough what happens every turn unless you take 2 turns and take 1 out each time! I mean I tried taking 1 out each turn and failed then, if you do not like blind luck games this one is not for you, trust me on that one.
Yes the artwork is really nice and it was something different but it is not a game I want to rush to play again, yes I will give it another go hopefully with more players and see if I enjoy it more.
It is just a run of the mill game with no soul to me, I was not excited playing it, I was just annoyed by the game. It does have some potential and like I said it is not a terrible game it is just an alright game.
5/10
