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Gift of Tulips
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Description
In Gift of Tulips, tulip enthusiasts explore Amsterdam's tulip festival to build colorful bouquets, give tulips to others (scoring points in the process), and manipulate the value of the market.
The deck includes tulips of four colors, with values 2-4. Lay out four festival cards based on the player count, with these cards showing the number of points scored for giving away tulips, keeping tulips, and having a majority of certain colors at the end of the game. Draw two cards of different colors, and place them under the festival cards in first and second place based on their value. Deal two cards to each player; keep one card face up in front of you and add the other face down to the "secret festival" pile.
On a turn, draw a card from the deck and KEEP/GIVE/ADD it, then draw a second card and take one of the actions you didn't just take. The actions:
KEEP: Place the card face up in front of you, scoring points for it if that color is currently ranked third or fourth in the festival.
GIVE: Give the card to another player, who places it face up in front of themselves; you score "giving" points based on the current ranking of that color in the festival, plus points equal to the value of that tulip.
ADD: Place the card face down in the secret festival or add it face up to the festival, altering the ranking of colors if needed so that the color with the highest sum is first, etc.
When the deck runs out, shuffle the cards in the secret festival, then draw five at random and add them face up to the festival, adjusting the ranking as needed. (If fewer than five cards are in the secret festival, add all of these cards to the festival.) For the three highest ranked colors in the festival, whoever has the most and secondmost cards in these colors scores points as listed on the festival cards; in games with five and six players, the player with the thirdmost cards of a color also scores points. In case of a tie for card count, the tied player with the higher value of a color wins that tie. Whoever has the most points wins.
I like open information games, I like market manipulation games, I like small card games with lovely art, so I should love Gift of Tulips from Weird Giraffe Games. Please read on to find out if this game blooms in the sun or withers in the cold.
I Bought This Gift For You…
In Gift of Tulips you have two actions per turn out of a possible three and you can’t repeat the same action during your turn, so you can learn and teach this game in about five minutes. On each of your turns you will first draw a card and then carry out one of the following actions:-
- Gift a tulip to a competitors hand (Bouquet which sits face up on the table) and then score the value of the tulip plus additional points depending on where the tulip currently sits in the market (Festival)
- Play a tulip into your hand and you score points if that tulip is currently in third or fourth position in the market
- Place a tulip in either the open market and adjust that tulips score and move it up the market so that it places ahead of any other tulip with the same or lower score (moving the other tulips down the market). Or place it in the secret market face down.
The aim of the game is to score the most points when the deck of cards runs out. You will keep track of your score as you gift tulips to competitors as well as playing lower ranking tulips into your hand. Then at the end of the game you will shuffle the secret market and take five cards and play them one at a time to manipulate the open market. Then for each of the top three positions in the market you will award the player with the most cards in their bouquet matching each tulip the majority points (in a three or four player game there are also points for the second most cards and with a five or six player game there are points for the player with the third most cards).
You Give With One Hand & Take With The Other
For every positive thing this game does it seems to counteract it with a negative. Take the artwork which is so vibrant and colourful. I really like the back of the cards, the market cards and the actual tulip pictures themselves but they are repeated on every card. You would think the two value orange tulip card would look different to the four value orange tulip card but it doesn’t.
The components are so cute and twee but have no weight (due to their size) so they can’t be relied upon to stay in position if a player accidentally knocks the table.
Then there is the game itself which is very simple and easy to understand but when the final card is played and majorities are calculated it feels like an anti-climax as everyone could work out who was going to win by simply looking at each other’s bouquets and the market. There is no real suspense or surprise as the final scores are calculated.
A good player will work out quite quickly how to flood the secret and open market with the cards they want to win the majorities whilst not ignoring their own bouquet and gifting the odd tulip to their competitors.
On a more positive note the rule book is well written and easy to understand and provides good examples of play so that only one read through is all that is needed to understand the game. However there is also a problem that with such a simple game you will need a ‘hook’ to keep you invested if you play numerous times, and with Gift of Tulips the ‘hook’ just isn’t there.
Final Thoughts
This is one of those games that just didn’t hit the right spot for me and I think that is mostly due to the end game scoring. I would have liked the game to have more ways of scoring at the end or maybe all of the secret market cards being introduced rather than just five, this way it would have been more of a surprise which tulip was crowned first place at the festival (market).
I will always happily play this if someone asks me to but I wouldn’t be the one getting the game out in the first place.
I do appreciate the artwork, positive player interaction and price point for Gift of Tulips however it is a shame that it doesn’t get me all excited when I play it and I worry you will see all the game has to offer within a few games.
Back to the (Board Game) market for me as I need some new stock.
Zatu Score
You might like
- Market manipulation game in twenty minutes
- Artwork is very pretty
- Lots of player interaction
- Good quality cards
Might not like
- Anti-climax at final scoring
- Components are too light and can be knocked over very easily
- Might have seen all the game has to offer after a few plays