Herbalism

About this board game

Herbalism is a board game for 3–4 players, released in 2017, with sessions lasting about 30 minutes. Players take on the roles of novice pharmacists searching for a cure to a pandemic plaguing the country.

The key to progress is information. Players must exchange what they know with one another to gain more insight into the ingredients needed for the cure. Every conversation can reveal something valuable, making communication central to the experience.

However, cooperation has a clear limit. Although sharing information helps everyone understand the ingredients more fully, only one player can earn the title of “God Farmer”. The challenge is to gather enough knowledge while deciding how much of it to reveal.

This creates a competitive atmosphere built around careful information sharing. Players are part of the same urgent effort to overcome the pandemic, yet each also wants to stand above the rest. Knowing when to exchange information—and when not to give away everything—forms the heart of the game.

With its focused premise and short playing time, Herbalism presents a contest between collective discovery and individual ambition. The result is a game where the search for a cure is shared, but the final distinction belongs to only one novice pharmacist.