Total Landscaping

In this Death Match, play cards and plant flowers in a garden that continuously evolves.

Designer(s): uriquack	Match Type: DM (for 2 players)
Featured in: The Genius: House of Larks

Total Landscaping

In Total Landscaping, players plant colorful flowers in two magically-growing gardens.

General

This game is played in three bouts; each bout is played to a maximum of 25 rounds.

Players begin with a hand of seven cards–one for each color. Each flower has its own special effect as denoted in the Flowers section of the rules.

Flowers are planted in two gardens: the Eastern Garden tended to by the Elimination Candidate and the Western Garden tended to by the Death Match Opponent.

Each round, players play a card and plant flowers, acting based on an evolving win condition. Each round consists of two parts: Card Play and Planting. In Card Play, players select a card in their hand to play. The played cards are then revealed, and players move on to Planting, where they select a tile in either garden to plant their flower in and trigger their cards’ effects.

Card Play

In Card Play, players select a card in their hand to play. The played cards are then revealed and discarded, and players move on to Planting.

When there are no more cards left in your hand, you will receive a new set of seven-colored cards at the end of the round.

Instead of playing a card, players may also select the alternative action of hoeing, which destroys two named adjacent tiles in their own garden where something is already planted. Hoeing will always happen strictly at the very end of a round. If your opponent plays a card, the flower will always be planted an its effect will always trigger, unless it involves the tiles selected by the hoe. Hoeing your garden clears green grass.

Flowers

There are six types of flowers and one non-flower (Green Grass) in this game. (During the game, they will be referred to by their colors.)

Red (Rose) - Plants a red flower during Planting. Name two cards in your hand (during Planting); delete them from your hand.

Orange (Tulip) - Plants an orange flower during Planting. Exchange your hand with your opponent’s at the beginning of next round.

Yellow (Dandelion) - Plants a yellow flower during Planting. Name an adjacent (empty) tile; it will also gain an additional yellow flower if your opponent does not plant there this round.

Green (Grass) - Plants green grass, which is not a flower and thus cannot be withered, during Planting. You may plant flowers on top of existing green grass tiles. A flower that grows in green grass will not wither, even when bordered by colors that wither it.

Blue (Hydrangea) - Plants a blue flower during Planting. If both players plant on the same tile, the blue flower will take priority.

Purple (Crocus) - Plant a purple flower during Planting. If there is an existing adjacent flower tile, you may change the color of an existing adjacent flower tile to purple.

White (Lily) - Plants a white flower during Planting. Negate the ability of the card your opponent plays this round. (While the planting of a white flower can be withered, the White Lily’s effect will always trigger.)

Planting

In Planting, you select a tile in either garden to plant the flower the color of your card during Card Play that round and trigger the card’s effects.

During Planting, you can choose to plant in your own garden or plant in your opponent’s garden, which must be specified.

Tiles are named according to notation of letters on the visual graphics of the boards.

If both players plant in the same tile, if a Blue Hydrangea is planted, it takes precedence; then, if one color withers the other, the color that withers the other takes precedence. If neither card’s color is Blue nor withers the other, nobody plants in that tile and the tile cannot be selected for planting in the next round.

Withering

Flowers automatically wither when an adjacent flower tile has a color that withers it.

Orange withers next to Red.

Yellow withers next to Orange.

Blue withers next to Yellow.

Purple withers next to Blue.

White withers next to Purple.

Red withers next to White.

Excluding Grass (Green), a non-flower tile, every flower Withers the flower listed below it, i.e. Red > Orange > Yellow > Blue > Purple > White > Red.

Played cards can also enact a withering effect: if within a round you play a card color that withers your opponent’s playing card, your opponent’s playing card effect fails to trigger (although is flower is still planted), with the exception of Green Grass (which cannot be withered) and White Lily (whose effect cannot be negated).

All withering parses after Planting and ability triggers. Within a round, all withering effects parse simultaneously. If, for example, Player A plants an orange flower beside a yellow flower tile and Player B plants a red flower beside the orange flower, both the orange flower and yellow flower wither.

Gardens and Garden Sizes

Gardens take a different form depending on the stage of the game. During Rounds 1-8, gardens are LVL 1 in size, and appear as such:

During Rounds 9-16, gardens are LVL2 in size, and appear as such:

During Rounds 17-25, gardens are LVL3 in size, and appear as such:

If on Round 25 the number of Blue Hydrangeas in each garden is tied, the Death Match Opponent wins the bout.

The player to first reach two bouts won wins the Death Match.

Administration and Time Controls

In this game, all submissions are privately made.

During the Card Play phase of a round, players have 90 seconds to submit a card.

During the Planting, players have 2 minutes to submit their Planting tile and ability triggers.

At the beginning of each bout, players will receive 3 minutes of reserve in six 30 second periods.

Win Conditions

On the 25th round, the player with the greater number of Blue Hydrangea flowers in their garden is the winner of the bout.

However, players may end the bout prior to the 25th round according to the size of their gardens.

Win conditions are always checked at the end of a round, after all Planting and withering.

LVL 1 Garden Win Condition - During the first 8 rounds, be the first player to plant all 6 flower types in your garden; they must all be connected. If both players fulfill this condition in the same round, this condition is not fulfilled. At the end of Round 8, both players’ gardens grow to LVL 2 size.

LVL 2 Garden Win Condition - Have the biggest flower patch (consecutively colored tiles of the same color) in your garden after 16 rounds. If this is tied, this condition is not fulfilled. At the end of Round 16, both players’ gardens grow to LVL 3 size.

LVL 3 Garden Win Condition - At the end of Round 22, have more flowers growing in your garden than your opponent. If this is tied, the condition is not fulfilled.

If on Round 25 the number of Blue Hydrangeas in each garden is tied, the Death Match Opponent wins the bout.

The player to first reach two bouts won wins the Death Match.

Clarification: For submissions, the last valid submission (within the normal time controls period) will be taken. After entering reserve, the first valid submission will be taken instead.

Clarification: For notation, use the hexagon board tiles' corresponding letters.

Clarification: All submissions are privately made; however, all actions taken in a given round, including all Planting and ability triggers, will be revealed by the end of the round.

Clarification: Improper wording for the below rule:

If both players plant in the same tile, if a Blue Hydrangea is planted, it takes precedence; then, if one color withers the other, the color that withers takes precedence. If neither card’s color is Blue nor withers the other, nobody plants in that tile and the tile cannot be selected for planting in the next round.

The color that withers the other takes precedence, meaning, if Red and Orange flowers are planted on the same tile, the Red flower will be planted. It will be reworded above to reflect this.

Total Landscaping

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