ORCHARD



OBJECTIVE OF ORCHARD: Harvest the most fruit possible

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1 player

NUMBER OF CARDS: 9 orchard cards, 5 red D6 dice, 5 yellow D6 dice, and 5 purple D6 dice, 2 tokens

TYPE OF GAME: Solitaire print and play card game

AUDIENCE: 14+


INTRODUCTION OF ORCHARD

Orchard is a print and play solitaire card game in which players are trying to place cards and dice to harvest as much fruit as possible.  Cards will be place horizontally or vertically so that at least one tree overlaps a tree of the same color already on the table.  Every time a player successfully does this, the die value for that tree is increased and more fruit is harvested.  The goal is to harvest as much fruit as possible before the game ends.

MATERIALS

With two sheets of paper and a colored printer, print off the double sided cards and rule book.  The game also requires 15 dice.  All of the dice are six sided and color coordinate with the fruit on the cards.  The 5 red dice are apples, the 5 yellow dice are pears, and the purple dice are plums.  The two tokens represent rotten fruit.  Of course, using dice of different colors is fine, but each fruit is only allowed to have five dice available.

SETUP

 Place all of the dice and tokens in a pile, so they are easily reached.  Shuffle the cards and place them in a pile.  Draw the top card and place it face up to begin the orchard.  Draw two cards to form your hand.

THE PLAY

During each turn, you will complete three actions: play a card, place dice, and draw a card.

PLAY A CARD

You will play one card from your hand.  In order to play the card, it must have a tree color that matches a tree in the orchard.  The card must be placed so that it covers another card in the orchard.  It can cover trees from different cards.  The card can be oriented vertically or horizontally, and the trees must match the ones they are covering.

PLACE DICE

After playing a card, you can place a die on any tree on that card that is covering another tree.  If there was not already a die in place, grab one from the pile that matches the color of the tree and place it with the 1 side face up.  If there are no more dice of that color, you do not get to place one.

If there is already a die on the tree that you are covering up, place it on top of the new card and change it to the next score value.  If the die is at 1, change it to 3.  If it is at 3, change it to 6.  If the die is already at 6, leave it at that value.  The value on the die displays how many of that fruit you have harvested.

DRAW A CARD

End the turn by drawing a card from the draw pile and adding it to your hand.

Twice during the game, you are allowed to place a card so that the trees don’t match.  For example, if you were to place a card that has an apple tree so that it covers a pear tree, those trees do not match.  If there was already a die on the pear tree, remove it from play and add it to the pile.  Place the rotten fruit token on top of the new tree that did not match.  Once a tree has produced rotten fruit, it cannot be removed.  No more cards can be placed on that tree.

ENDING THE GAME

The game ends once every card has been played or until a card can no longer legally be played.

SCORING

Add up all of the dice values to determine your total score.  Deduct 3 points for each rotten fruit token in play.

WINNING

How well you play is determined by the following scores:

Less than 25 points = Pal-tree

25 – 29 points = Forget-apple

30 – 34 points = Satisfac-tree

35 – 39 points = Remark-apple

40-44 points = Tree mendous

45-49 points = Plum-believable

50 or more points = Pretty Pear-fect

Mark Ball
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