SOW

About this board game

SOW is a Mancala-inspired gardening game for 2–4 players, with games taking about 25 minutes. Players redistribute seeds and flowers in a shared garden, aiming to collect the bouquet that earns the most points at the end.

On each turn, a player must redistribute a row in the garden before taking any applicable actions. If the last card placed is a Seeds Card, it flips over into a Flower, along with all other matching Seeds Cards of that color. Flowers can then be collected in a player’s Wheelbarrow, where they become part of a developing bouquet.

Two types of Garden Action Cards can create additional opportunities when placed in the same row during the same turn. One action changes the windmill direction, affecting card redistribution on future turns. Another can either discard all flowers of a certain type through the Gopher action or collect a flower in the Wheelbarrow with the watering can.

• Redistribute a garden row each turn.
• Turn matching seeds into flowers.
• Use Garden Actions to influence the garden or your Wheelbarrow.
• Reveal your favorite color for end-game scoring.

At the end of SOW, players reveal their favorite color and score their flowers. Each flower matching a player’s favorite color scores 3 points in the Center portion and 2 points in the Outer portion, while every flower without that favorite color scores 1 point.

With its blend of secret goals, set collecting, and Mancala-style redistribution, SOW challenges players to plan their garden moves while shaping a rewarding final bouquet. It is number 15 in the Pack O Game series.