Gardlings... Gems Grow on Trees!

Take a stroll through the garden as we dive into Gardlings. This game is a tile placement strategy game that combines tile placement with bag building to create a unique fast paced play experience of whimsical fantasy and gemstones.

I originally came across this game while doing some research on new games on Board Game Geek as I was looking for something new to try. This game intrigued me initially due to its short description as it describes it as "building gardens of weird creatures and disturbing amount of gems" which I felt was worth exploring.

First Impressions

Upon receiving the game the first thing that stood out to me was the vibrant artwork on the front of the box of the fun cartoon style creatures flourishing in the garden which definitely appeals to people who enjoy this cute style of art and families with kids. The lettering for the wording was aesthetically pleasing as it made the title really stand out with the rimmed edge of the letters having a brighter highlight and the shadows in the recesses allowing really made it to pop off the front cover. The back of the box is clear and concise with a nice amount of informative images explaining how the game plays on a simple level which I really like as it allows you to know what you are expecting from the game. Upon opening the box the components are all made of good quality cardstock and the green bags for each player are well made. The rulebook is nice and light with it only being a couple of pages and is very clear and concise which makes it easy to learn and get to the table.

Game Play Overview

Gardling is tile laying bag building game that is played over several rounds where players will assemble their gardens and then purchase new tiles for their garden. While trying to avoid getting too many pesky gnomes in their garden as they will steal your precious gems if you have too many. The aim of the game is to be the first to generate enough gems to buy the victory tile.

Each round begins with the Build Your Garden phase, in this phase you will draw tiles from your bag simultaneously with the other players and assemble your garden in front of you. Tiles must be drawn one at a time. Each tile after the first must be placed adjacent to the first and all edges bordering adjacent tiles must match. You may stop drawing tiles at any time because if you draw more than five gnomes on your turn, your turn ends and the gnomes will steal some of your gems.

Once all players have stopped drawing tiles you then move onto the Buy a New Tile phase. In this phase you count up the total number of completed gems in your garden and subtract any gems stolen by the gnomes and then you buy a tile from the supply that is equal to or less than the value of gems you have. If you do not have enough gems to buy a tile you can always buy one Pity Pig tile and gain a coin. Coins can be used to increase your buying power by one for each coin spent in a future Buy a New Tile phase.

You will repeat these two steps for several rounds until one player earns enough gems to buy the Victory Tile, this tile cannot be bought using coins, only gemstones are allowed to be used to purchase it. The first player to buy the Victory tile is the winner.

Pros and Cons

After playing this game several times I have found it very enjoyable with a great amount of replayability. The game has an easy entry point with additional rules to make it more complicated once you are used to the base game which I really like. The game is very easy to learn and play with a limited window of strategy which could be a downside for some people though I really like the puzzle element and how the purchasing of new tiles can influence the game. One of the best things in my opinion with this game is the choice to add bag building as a mechanic as it really separates this in my opinion from many other tile laying games and the creatures all have different abilities which allows you to try and create some fun combos.

Final Verdict

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing this game. It has a nice level of strategy, is quick to set up and play and the bag building offers an element of randomness that keeps every turn interesting without it dominating the game. I can see a lot of people enjoying this game from people new to the hobby to those who are experienced gamers who are looking for a game that is quick to play and get to the table. The rules are really clean and tidy making learning the game very easy and it is a lot of fun to play. If you enjoy tile laying games like Carcassonne and Beacon Patrol I would suggest taking a look at this game and see if it is for you.

In conclusion, we would rate this game a 9.3/10

Gardlings

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