Gamehelpdraftcider

At the start of the game, you are each given a board; this is your orchard.

At the start of each round, a set of 3 cards per player (2 when playing with 3/6 players) are placed into the communal hand.

Each turn, each player must select a single card. They then place this in any of their available batches that they are able to.

The first player to select a card is whoever most recently consumed an apple or apple-based product.

At the start of each phase, rotate the player who picks first. The game ends after 4 rounds.

As with most games, the player with the most points at the end is the winner.

The deck appears to have one copy of each combination of color (Green, Gold, Red), height (1-5), and sweetness (1-5). If someone knows for sure, they could update this.....

Single Player Variant

In this version, your only opponent is luck. Your aim is to score as high as possible, despite not knowing which cards you will receive.

The Batches

Monochrome Batch All apples must be the same colour, as indicated by the card. Points are triangle numbers starting at 1. I.e: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, 66 max:78

Apples of a Feather Batch Rule: When you place the second card, it must match the 1st card's Sweetness or Height. Any additional cards must then follow this rule. If a pair of cards have the same Sweetness and Height, you may continue with either attribute based on your next card. E.g. the first card is Sweetness 3, Height 2. The player can place either, but once they place a Sweetness '3', they must continue to do so exclusively Scoring is n(n-1), where n is the number of cards: 0, 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, 56, 72, 90, 110, 132

Special Colour Tree Points 20, but only if no other apples of this colour are outside of the bad batch. Loses 20 if an apple of the same colour is played outside of the bad batch. This card cannot be placed if there is a card of its colour anywhere but the Bad Batch. However, a card of the same colour may be played at the cost of all points for this batch.

Unlucky batch Sweetness must add to 13 or worthless. But the sweetness of the cards must be within 1 of each other! Points: Square of the number of card used, if and only if the result is 13 exactly! E.g. two 4s and a 5 would be 3 cards, so 9 (3x3) points 9, 16 (4x4), 25 (5x5), 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144

Fortepiano Height Batch Points are the difference in Height between each pair * 2. Heights may not be the same. E.g. Heights 1&5=8 points. 2&3=2 Max: 48

Sweet Couple Batch 7 points for each 2 of the same Sweetness. Each pair must have the same Sweetness to be played. Max: 42

Steady Height Batch Rule: Height must be within one of the previous cards each time. E.g 3-3 or 3-2 or 3-4 Points: Odd Prime numbers I.e 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41 Max: 41

Bad batch -1 point for each tree planted here. (0/1 points on easy mode) Max: -12

Tie-Breaker

In the event of a tie, the player with the most cards in different batches wins.