Welcome to the Photosynthesis Game!

How to Play:

Hey there! Are you excited to learn all about photosynthesis? Well, you’ve come to the right place! In this game, I’ll guide you through the amazing world of plant energy production.

Objective:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to help a plant convert sunlight into energy. To do this, you need to make wise choices that will boost its energy production and ensure its survival.

Gameplay:

When you start the game, you’ll be presented with different environmental factors that can either help or hinder a plant’s energy production. It’s up to you to make the right decisions!

Each factor will have an impact on the plant’s energy production. Some factors will provide benefits, while others might create challenges. You’ll need to carefully consider each one before making your decision.

For example, one factor might be the amount of sunlight the plant receives. More sunlight can increase energy production, but be careful not to overexpose the plant, as it can lead to damage.

As you progress through the game, the choices and consequences will become more challenging. Your decisions will directly impact the plant’s ability to generate energy and survive.

Winning the Game:

The ultimate goal is to keep the plant alive and thriving by maximizing its energy production. You can achieve this by making smart choices and adapting to the ever-changing environment.

Remember, the key to success is finding the right balance. Harness the power of sunlight, water, and nutrients to fuel the plant’s energy production. Take care of it, and you’ll triumph!

Are you ready to dive into the captivating world of photosynthesis and test your decision-making skills? Let’s play the Photosynthesis Game!

In this little forest, many different trees fight to grow and scatter their seeds. Each tree grows and absorbs sunlight, collecting Light Points and casting shadows on the smaller trees nearby. When a tree reaches the end of its life, players earn points based on the quality of the soil it grew in.

Elements

• Here’s what you’ll find inside the box:
• Illustrated Rules
• 1 Game Board
• 1 Sun Segment
• 4 Sun Revolution Counters
• 4 Player Boards
• 1 First Player Token
• 24 Scoring Tokens
• 4 Light Point Trackers
• 24 Seed Tokens (6 of each variety)
• 32 Small Trees (8 of each variety)
• 16 Medium Trees (4 of each variety)
• 8 Large Trees (2 of each variety)

This is what you’ll find when you open the box:

– A set of illustrated rules to guide you throughout the game.

– A game board where all the action takes place.

– A sun segment that you’ll use to keep track of the sun’s movement.

– Four sun revolution counters to mark the progress of each player.

– Four player boards where you’ll manage your resources and plan your strategy.

– The coveted first player token that gives you the advantage.

– Twenty-four scoring tokens to keep track of your points.

– Four light point trackers to monitor the brightness of your trees.

– Twenty-four seed tokens, with six different varieties to choose from.

– Thirty-two small trees, eight of each variety, to populate your forest.

– Sixteen medium trees, four of each variety, to add height and diversity to your woodland.

– Eight large trees, two of each variety, to make your forest truly majestic.

So open the box and let the exciting journey begin!

Let’s Play the Tree Game!

Hi there! Are you ready to embark on a journey with me? Using your magical light points, we’re going to guide our trees through all stages of life, from tiny seedlings to magnificent giants. Along the way, we’ll collect Scoring Tokens that reflect the lushness of the soil our trees grow in. Exciting, isn’t it?

Getting Started

First things first. Let’s set up the game so we can dive right in.

A) Take the main board and place it right in the center of the table. That’s our starting point.

B) Each player will need their own Player Board, Light Point Tracker, 6 Seeds, and 14 Trees. The Trees are divided into 3 sizes: 8 small, 4 medium, and 2 tall. Make sure the tree variety on your Player Board matches the trees you have.

C) Now, let’s set up the Scoring Tokens. Stack them in 4 piles based on their shade of green and the number of leaves. Place them next to the board, with the highest-scoring tokens at the top of each pile. We want a challenge, right?

D) On your Player Board, place 4 Seeds, 4 Small Trees, 3 Medium Trees, and 2 Large Trees in the corresponding open spaces. This is where your forest begins! Don’t forget to set your Light Point Tracker to “0.” It will come in handy as we progress.

Alright, everything’s ready! Shall we begin this awe-inspiring journey of growth and discovery? I can’t wait to see what wonders await us!

Alright, let’s get started! You’ll need some seeds and trees for the game. Place 2 Seeds, 4 Small Trees, and 1 Medium Tree next to each Player Board. These will be your starting resources.

The game begins with the youngest player going first. Make sure to grab the First Player Token.

Now it’s time to place your trees! Each player will take turns placing their available Small Trees on the outer edge of the main board, known as the “1 leaf zone”. Start by placing one tree, then take another turn to place a second tree. These trees will help you gather Light points during the first Photosynthesis Phase.

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So, here’s what you need to do. First, put the Sun Segment on the sun symbol printed on the board. Make sure you have enough space around the board so you can move the sun to each of the 6 positions freely.

Next, to keep track of how many times the sun has revolved, put the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Revolution Counters on the edge of the board in numerical order. If you’re playing the advanced version, then leave the 4th counter in the box.

2 player game: As we start playing, let’s keep the 3 darkest green Scoring Tokens with 4 leaves in the box, we won’t be using them. Remember, when we collect Scoring Tokens from the middle 4 leaf space, we’ll actually be taking them from the 3 leaf stack instead of the 4th counter in the box.

Playing A Round

In Photosynthesis, the goal is to make our trees grow as much as possible while the sun completes three rounds around the board. Each round consists of two phases:

1. The Photosynthesis Phase (collecting light points)
2. The Life Cycle Phase (using light points to take actions)

I. The Photosynthesis Phase

Now, I’ll start by moving the Sun Segment clockwise to the next angle on our hexagonal board, since I have the First Player Token.

Note: I won’t repeat this during the first round of the game, so pay attention!

Your light points are calculated based on where the sun is shining. You earn light points for each tree that isn’t hiding in another tree’s shadow. To keep track of your light points, use the Light Point Tracker on your Player Board.

Your light points add up as the game goes on, but remember, you can’t have more than 20 light points at once. If you earn any additional points beyond that, they won’t count and you can’t use them. Here’s how light points are scored:

• A Small Tree gets you 1 point
• A Medium Tree earns you 2 points
• A Large Tree rewards you with 3 points

Seedlings, unfortunately, don’t earn you any points. So focus on growing those trees if you want to shine brightly!

Types of Shadows:

Did you know that trees cast shadows on other trees? It’s true! When a tree is in the sunlight, it creates a shadow on the side opposite to the sun. But not all trees are affected by shadows in the same way. Let me explain.

First, let’s talk about the different sizes of trees. We have small trees, medium trees, and large trees. Each size of tree casts a different size shadow. It’s like they have their own special power!

• Small Trees cast a shadow that covers 1 space
• Medium Trees cast a shadow that covers 2 spaces
• Large Trees cast a shadow that covers 3 spaces

Imagine there’s a group of trees in a field. The sun is shining down on them, creating a beautiful landscape. The orange trees are small, the blue trees are medium, the green trees are large, and there’s one special yellow tree.

Now, let’s see how many light points each tree earns. The orange trees and the blue trees are in the shadow of the green trees. They don’t get as much sunlight, so they earn 4 light points each. The green trees, being large, cast big shadows. They only earn 1 point each. And finally, the yellow tree is so tall that it’s not affected by the other trees’ shadows. It receives full sunlight and earns 1 point.

II. The Life Cycle Phase

After tallying and recording all the light points, the round proceeds in a clockwise direction, starting with the person holding the first player token. Then, you are free to use your light points for various actions. You can choose to spend all of them or save some for future rounds. It’s up to you! Before moving on to the next player’s turn, make sure to complete all the actions you want to take during your turn.

Remember: You can only perform one action on a specific space on the main board during your turn. Once you’ve taken action on a particular space, it becomes activated and unavailable to you for the rest of your turn.

Possible Actions

Buying

Hey there! Have you heard about this awesome game called “The Garden”? It’s super fun and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! In the game, I can use my light points to buy seeds or trees. The numbers next to them show how many light points they’re worth. But here’s the catch – I have to start from the bottom of my player board and work my way up, buying things in any column from least to most expensive. It’s a bit tricky, but totally worth it!

Once I’ve bought all the pieces I need and subtracted the right amount of light points using the tracker, those pieces go to a special area next to my player board. And there you have it – I’ve successfully bought some new plants for my beautiful garden! It’s really cool how the game lets me build up my garden step by step. I just love watching it grow!

Note: You have 2 Seeds, 2 Small Trees, and 1 Medium Tree remaining in the available area for future rounds. These can be planted without purchasing. However, any other seeds or trees you wish to use from your Player Board must be bought and then placed in the available area.

How to Plant a Seed

So, you want to plant a Seed, huh? Well, you’re in luck! Here’s what you gotta do: You can plant a Seed around one or more of your trees by using one light point for each Seed. Pretty simple, right? Now, here’s the fun part: The distance at which you can plant a seed is determined by the size of the tree it comes from. Cool, huh? Trust me, it gets even better. You can plant your seed in literally any direction you want, even if it’s not a straight line. Just make sure that the spaces connect. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

• A Small Tree can be one space away from it
• A Medium Tree can be up to 2 spaces away
• A Tall Tree can be up to 3 spaces away

When you plant a seed, you activate the space of the tree it came from, as well as the space where you put the seed. This means that during your turn, you can’t plant more than one seed from the same tree. You also can’t make a tree grow to the next size and then plant a seed using that same tree as the origin.

Growing A Tree:

A seed or tree can only be replaced by a tree that is one size larger.

Growing a small tree from a seed is easy. It only costs 1 light point. But if you want your small tree to become a medium tree, it will cost you 2 light points. And if you really want to grow a large tree, you’ll need to spend 3 light points.

To grow a tree, you can only take it from your available area and place it on the main board. Any trees or seeds that you remove from the main board go on your Player Board. Just stack them on the topmost space. If there’s no room left on your Player Board, you’ll have to get rid of the trees or seeds by putting them back in the box. But remember, once they’re in the box, you can’t use them for the rest of the game.

Collecting

Here’s how you can collect Scoring Tokens in the game:

First, you have the option to collect Scoring Tokens by ending the life-cycle of your Large Trees. To do this, it will cost you 4 light points for each Large Tree.

When you choose to collect a Large Tree, you remove it from the main board and place it on the topmost available space of your Player Board.

Next, you get to collect the Scoring Token that matches the soil type where your Large Tree was rooted. This token is on top of the pile.

If there are no tokens left in that pile, don’t worry! You still get to take the top token from the next pile. For example, if the 3 leaf pile is gone, you can take a token from the 2 leaf pile.

Remember, once you have collected a tree, other players can plant in that space during that round. So be strategic!

Reminder: Remember that all of the actions mentioned above, except buying, activate a space on the main board. This means that once you perform an action, you cannot do it again during your turn.

So, during your turn, you can’t plant a seed and then grow it, grow a tree and then use it as a starting point for a seed, use a tree as a starting point for a seed and then grow it, or collect a tree and plant a seed in its space.

Now, let’s talk about ending a round. After every player has taken their turn, the First Player Token is passed clockwise to the next player, and a new round begins with the Photosynthesis Phase.

Once the sun has completed a full revolution around the board, the top token from the Sun Revolution Counter pile is drawn and placed in the box.

Finally, let’s discuss the end of the game. There are a few conditions that can trigger the end. If the last token from the Sun Revolution Counter pile is drawn and placed in the box, or if all the spaces on the main board are occupied with trees and no more trees can be planted, the game ends. At that point, players calculate their scores to determine the winner.

In the game, the sun completes three full rounds around the board before the game ends. You know it’s the end when the last Sun Revolution Counter gets drawn.

A complete game consists of 18 rounds, and the final round takes place when the sun reaches the sixth position (right before the sun symbol on the main board). At the end of the game, players tally up the points on their Scoring Tokens. They also earn an additional point for every three unused light points. Keep in mind that zero to two light points don’t score any extra points.

The player with the highest number of points emerges as the winner. In case of a tie, the player with the most seeds and trees on the main board becomes the winner. And if the tie still persists, both players are declared winners.

An Exciting Twist

Once you’ve got the hang of the basic rules and you feel confident playing, let’s spice things up with an advanced variation. You can choose to add one or both of the following rules:

• Introduce the 4th Sun Revolution Counter, which means the sun will make an extra revolution around the board.
• Now, here’s the tricky part! You cannot plant a seed or grow a tree if it’s in the shadow of another tree. You’ll need to strategically plan your moves to ensure no tree blocks the sunlight from reaching another!