Botanical Bliss
- Board's Eye View
- 21 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Not to be confused with the similarly named roll&write game from Whirlwind Media, in Botanical Bliss from Tactic Games the 2-4 players are playing cards from their hands to claim the matching spaces on the board. Players place out tokens representing blooms and are racing to be the first to complete a flower arrangement of a square (2x2 pattern), straight (orthogonal or diagonal line of flowers, a T shape or, in a two- or three-player game, a cross.
Tho' there's a botanical theme, the mechanics of the game are very similar to the game Sequence (Goliath), which is played with standard playing cards. Indeed, Botanical Bliss could just as readily have used standard playing cards because its cards are two decks comprising 13 cards in each of four suits, plus a total of four jokers. Sequence has special rules governing Jacks. There's no direct equivalent in Botanical Bliss but the board does include blank spaces that can be claimed with any card when that space is the last one needed to complete an arrangement. In addition, every player has a joker that can be used once per game to place a bloom out at any location or to replace an opponent's bloom at a location. The main difference with Sequence, however, is that when a player succeeds in completing a flower arrangement, all the other bloom tokens are removed from the board. It's this key rule that provides the game's creative tension as it becomes a race to be the first to compete a flower arrangement. It also means that if another player is within one placement of completing an arrangement you may well have a push-your-luck choice over whether to continue to play for your own direct advantage or whether instead you play to try to block that player.
The special rule over the board's blank spaces mean there's obvious advantage in taking the spots adjacent to them but otherwise the main judgement call in Botanical Bliss is over when to play your single-use joker. You can play it at any time, including to block an opponent, but it's almost always best to use it to complete your own arrangement. Problem is, when you've used your joker you are much more vulnerable to blocking because your opponents no longer fear having their blocking bloom 'converted'...
If you've an eidetic memory or if you're just skilled at card counting you'll be in your element playing Botanical Bliss, but most folk will play it as a light family game. It's attractively produced by Tactic but it's unfortunate that the blue and purple blooms are so similar in colour. That's not a problem in a two- or three-player game because you can just avoid using them, but if you're playing with a full complement of four players you'll need good lighting to avoid any confusion.
