Cherry Picking

About this board game

Cherry Picking is a 2014 game for 2–6 players that takes about 30 minutes, combining simultaneous choices with changing harvest opportunities.

Six trees and shrubs bearing fruit are laid out on the table. Beneath them, six cards show fruit, ladders, and baskets, each with different values. Players simultaneously play one card from their hands to indicate which plant they want to harvest.

However, the harvest does not always go exactly as planned. Played cards replace the cards that are harvested, so your position in the player order can determine whether you receive the card you wanted—or a card placed there in the meantime. This creates a shifting selection where fruit is not the only thing worth collecting.

• Six fruit-bearing trees and shrubs
• Fruit, ladders, and baskets with different values
• Simultaneous card play to indicate a desired plant
• Changing cards that can make each harvest unpredictable

Collected ladders and baskets may be valuable, adding importance to harvests that do not provide the fruit you expected. The final result depends on building a worthy mixture of fruit: many fruits of the same kind can matter, while collecting all different kinds can also be valuable.

At the end of Cherry Picking, players consider their fruit together with their ladders and baskets, particularly those of high value. The player with the most worthy overall combination wins, making each choice part of a broader attempt to gather the best possible collection from the orchard.