Gamehelpphotosynthesis

Objective

Help your species of tree out-compete the others in the forest to absorb as much sunlight as possible over the course of three (or four) full rotations of the sun. When a tree reaches the end of its lifecycle, you will earn points based on the richness of the soil it was growing in.

Components

Each player has their own personal Player Board from which they can purchase new seedlings and trees of various sizes. The costs of purchase are indicated next to each space, and items must be purchased from the bottom up (cheapest first). Any items purchased are stored next to the board, to the right hand side. This supply represents seeds and trees that are available for planting.

In the centre of the table is a map of the forest, which is split into 4 zones differentiated by the number of leaves printed in each hex. The further towards the centre of forest, the richer (and more valuable in terms of points) is the soil.

At one corner of the board is a "Sun Segment". This indicates the direction that the sun shines from on any given round. During the game it will rotate around the board three times (four in the long game), taking 6 rounds to make each full rotation around the board.

Setup phase

Players take turns to place one of their available small trees onto the edge of the main board, in the "one leaf" zone. This is then repeated until every player has placed two of their small trees.

Playing a round

Each time the sun is in one position, a round of two phases is played.

Photosynthesis Phase (collecting "light points")

Except for the first round of the game, the current first player will rotate the Sun Segment clockwise around the board to its next position. Every player receives light points based on the size of their trees (see table below) unless they are being shaded by any other trees in the forest. Each player is limited to 20 light tokens at any given time.

Shade

Any tree will cast a shadow behind it (i.e. in the direction opposite to the sun). A seedling or tree that is in shadow will not generate light points unless it is at least one size category larger than the tree casting the shadow. The species of tree casting the shadow is not relevant (meaning a player can affect their own trees).

The length of shadow each size of tree casts is shown in the table below.

Tree Size	Light Points Generated / Length of Shadow / Seed Throw Distance / Growth Costs
Seedling	0
Small	1
Medium	2
Large	3

Life Cycle Phase (spending light points to perform actions)

Starting with the first player, players can spend their light points on one or more actions. Any unspent light points can be saved for future rounds, up to a maximum of 20.

Where an action involves activating a tree, note that each tree's space may only be activated once per round. This means that you cannot grow the same tree more than once per round, or throw out a seed from and grow the same tree, or grow and collect the same tree on the same round.

i. Buy new items

Spend light points to purchase items from your Player Board for the indicated costs. Items may be purchased from any column but must be purchased from the bottom up (i.e. cheapest first). Purchased items are placed to the right of the Player Board to denote that they are available to be planted.

ii. Plant a seed

So long as a seed is available to the right of the player board, that tree can be activated (using the ^ icon) to throw out a seed into a nearby empty space. The distance a tree can throw out its seeds is based on its size as shown in the table above.

(NB - under the Heavy Shadow variant, the planting action is not available while the source tree is in shade.)

iii. Grow a tree

So long as the next size of tree is available to the right of the player board, a planted seedling or tree can be activated (using the ^ icon) to grow to the next size. The original token is then placed back onto the Player Board in the topmost available space of that type. If no space is available, then the token is removed from the game.

(NB - under the Heavy Shadow variant, the growth action is not available while the tree you wish to grow is in shade.)

iv. Collect scoring tokens

A large tree can be activated for 4 light points (using the ^ icon) to end its life cycle and collect a scoring token from the top of the pile corresponding to its soil type. If the pile has already been exhausted, then the player would receive the topmost token from the next lowest available pile of tokens.

The tree itself is removed from the main board and returned to the Player Board as per the removal rules under "Grow a tree" above.

Although the collecting player may not activate the space again that round, the vacant space may be used by other players to plant a new seedling later in the same round.

End of a round

When all players have had a turn, the first player passes in a clockwise direction and a new round begins, starting with the rotation of the sun and the photosynthesis phase.

Once the sun completes one full revolution of the board, the top Sun Revolution token is removed from the game.

End of the game

Once the Sun Revolution tokens have been exhausted (i.e. after 3 full rotations - or 4 in the variant rules) the game will end. Players count the value of their scoring tokens and add 1 point per 3 unspent light points (round down). The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most seeds and trees on the main board is the winner. In the case of a further tie, all tied players win.

Variant rules

Long Mode

Add a fourth Sun Revolution token, extending the game length from the standard 18 rounds to 24.

Heavy Shadow

Players cannot activate trees in shade to perform the "plant a seed" or "grow" actions.