Samurai Gardener

About this board game

Samurai Gardener is a tile-laying game for 2–5 players that takes about 15 minutes to play. With its historical Japanese theme, it challenges players to construct gardens as impressive as possible.

Each building card is divided into six sections showing several types of areas, including ponds, floors, and gardens. Players place cards side by side or overlap them, shaping their layouts while working to create long rows of matching area types.

• Lay cards beside one another or overlap them.
• Connect sections representing the same type of area.
• Score matching rows and columns during each round.

The scoring focus is on rows and columns of the same area type. At the end of each round, these connected lines earn points, making the arrangement of every card an important part of building a successful garden.

The game continues until all building cards have been depleted. The player with the most points at that time wins, so each placement contributes to the final result.

First published as Edo Yashiki, Samurai Gardener offers a compact way to explore card placement, overlapping layouts, and garden construction. Its short playing time makes the process of creating and scoring a garden easy to return to for another game.