Papillon is an auction based, tile placement game. Players build flower patches to attract beautiful butterflies.
Each player in Papillon is aiming to get their butterflies onto the 3D flowers around the table to score the most points at the end of the game.
Setup:
· Each player chooses a gardener of their choices and starts with 12 butterflies.
· Gnome tokens are then assigned at the bottom of the board to represent the 8 rounds. These gnome tokens are placed one at a time on the board for each round. These can be claimed by players based on the tiles they choose in the drafting phase. Gnome tokens have a numerical value on the back which score players points at the end of the game.
· Randomly choose the first player and they will start first on the bidding track.
· The first player starts with 9 caterpillars and the rest start with 10.
· The 94 garden tiles are placed in a bag and are chosen at random to place onto the board during the beginning of each round.
Gameplay:
In Papillon, there are 8 rounds altogether that consist of 4 actions.
Bidding Phase:
Players bid Caterpillars to determine who will be choosing garden tiles off the board first. This is done by paying a certain amount of Caterpillars (in game currency)
Drafting Phase:
The winning bidder is the first player to choose the garden tiles off the board. Players can take tiles in a vertical or horizontal line. The next player in bid order does the same but there will be some tiles missing off the board. This continues until all players have chosen their tiles.
Gardening Phase:
Players will then build their gardens. Tiles with similar garden features must be placed adjacent to each other. The aim is to create closed gardens of specific flower patches. The more flower patches of a same type you have in a closed garden the better. More on this in the butterfly phase. Some tiles won’t include flower patches but will include open fields which may have butterfly symbols on them. Closing these open field spaces which have butterfly symbols on them gain you points at the end of the game.
Butterfly phase:
In reverse bidding order, players may clip butterflies onto the 3D flowers based on their placed garden tiles. A flower patch that goes across 2 tiles allows a player to place one butterfly on a 3D flower matching the colour of the closed flower patch they have created. If the player’s flower patch goes over 3 tiles, they do the same but if the 3D flower still has a bonus token on it, they can place an extra butterfly.
This phased process goes on for 8 rounds and then points are tallied up in the end game.
Scoring:
Each central 3D flower has a disk around it with 3 numbers. These are worth nectar points at the end of the game. If you have the most butterflies on a certain 3D flower stand, you would gain the highest nectar points from the flower. If you have the least, you would gain the lowest.
As well as the points from the 3D flower stands, you can also gain points based on:
· The number of closed fields you have in your garden that have butterfly symbols on them.
· The amount of caterpillars you have left in your supply.
· You gain points based on the two largest flower patches you own.
· Gnomes.