Verdant Board Game Review

There are truly plenty of board games on store shelves today. The selection of mechanics, styles, and themes is endless, and people of all ages look for fun in them. Some catch your eye the moment you see the box, while others you might not even notice. This board game called Verdant hides much more than it might seem.

Verdant was published by the well-known studio AEG together with Flatout Games, the team behind titles like Cascadia or Calico. In Czech, the game was released by Mindok. It is designed for 1–5 players aged 10 and up, with a playtime of about 30–45 minutes. Inside the beautifully illustrated box, you will find a combination of cardboard and wooden tokens, playing cards, a cloth bag, and the rulebook. The rules are clearly written across 18 pages and are supplemented with in-game illustrations.

What is the game about?

As the name suggests, in Verdant, you will be growing various houseplants. You must ensure they have ideal conditions, water them, fertilize them, and then plant them in a pot. If you think this game is only for the fairer sex, don't be fooled—read the article to the end.

How do you play?

Verdant does not contain a game board. You create it yourself during the game, similar to Cascadia. Setting up the game is simple—within a few minutes, you prepare the card decks, pot components, and equipment, which you place into the cloth bag. There are 2 decks of cards in the game. The first deck contains 60 cards of various plant types, such as succulents, flowering, leafy, vining, and rare plants. All are color-coded. The second deck contains 60 cards of various rooms, which are also color-coded.

From 4 drawn cards from each deck, you create an initial market along with the equipment tokens. Then, each player draws one plant card and one room card from the deck. Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, players take turns. On your turn, you always take a combination of one card and one token from the market. It is up to you whether you pick a room or a plant. From these cards, you will create an organized 15-card grid, consisting of 3 rows of 5 cards. In this layout, you must always alternate between a plant and a room. You can never have the same type of card next to each other.

On a plant card, you can see the type of plant, the light it requires, how long it will take to grow, and how many points you get for it. Rooms contain different light conditions on each side. If you place a plant next to your room card in a position matching its required light conditions, you gain one growth token. Once there are enough tokens on the card, the plant is fully grown, and you can place it in a pot. Verdant is a puzzle where you use logic to try and grow as many plants as possible while improving your rooms with equipment. It is not always an easy task, and only one can win. If you have already played a few games, you can expand the experience with 3 goal decks included in the game. These determine what you get additional points for upon completion. But that's not all.

The game also offers a solo and family mode, achievement tracking, and even a series of scenarios. The solo mode is a classic system where you try to score as many points as possible and compare your score with a table. The family mode simplifies the game for the youngest players. Achievement tracking is designed for up to 4 players who while playing track their results over the long term. For every success, you color in a leaf in the rulebook, and the first one to color all the leaves is the winner. Finally, the game offers a series of scenarios that slightly tweak the rules and make your path to victory more challenging.

Our impressions?

• Beautiful, subtle card illustrations by Beth Sobel (who also illustrated Cascadia and Calico).
• The whole game feels calm and relaxing.
• Beginners and children will understand the rules quickly.
• Even though it is a logic game, you won't feel tired after playing; quite the opposite. You will relax nicely and clear your head after a busy day.
• Each card contains text describing the plant, so not only will you have fun, but you will also learn something.
• Building your layout is intuitive, and the game moves quickly. However, if a player wants the most points, they will have to think a little about placing cards so their plants can grow.
• There is practically no player interaction, other than taking a card from the market that an opponent might want. Everyone is playing in their own sandbox, which doesn't hurt the game at all.
• More demanding players will especially appreciate the expansion with goal cards or using one of the modes.
• Thanks to the additional modes, the game definitely won't get old, and you will be happy to return to it.

Rating

Let's be honest. Growing plants isn't for everyone, but that can't be said about Verdant. I am pleasantly surprised that a game about growing plants is this much fun. I can hardly find anything to criticize. Verdant is clear proof that even if the theme didn't captivate me initially, the game completely absorbed me after playing. A simple theme, easy rules, many expansion modes, and huge replayability. If you are looking for a logic game for the whole family where you can also relax, Verdant is exactly for you. After all, what could be better than escaping reality for a bit after a hard day by growing beautiful plants from all corners of the world? So, get your pots ready, Verdant is waiting!

author: Daniel Korčák