Verdant Arizona

A cactus-collecting game by Robin David

Please do not redistribute this file.

This is a late beta, so please get in touch and share your experiences:
robin.david.games@gmail.com | @robinwriting | robin-david.com

Two players are each owners of fine If a card has an image of a coin on it,
botanical gardens and wish to create place a coin token on that card.
the best cactus displays. When a new
shipment of cacti come into the city’s Randomly determine a start player.
flower markets, they both must race to
Player 1 takes the car token and places
gather the best samples and then find
it on the grid between any 2 cards or
the most elegant way to display these
along the outside edge. If they place the
plants in their gardens. Unfortunately,
car in a vertical space, they must
budget cuts in the Parks Department
orientate it North or South. If they place
mean they must travel around the flower
it in a horizontal space, they must
markets in the same car!
orientate it East or West.
Verdant Arizona is a game for 2 players.
You are now ready to play.
It uses a highly interactive drafting
mechanic while offering a fun and tricky
puzzle. The player who best negotiates
these two elements will have the most
appealing display and will win the game.

Contents
• 40 cactus cards
• 15 coin tokens
• 1 car token

Set Up The 3x3 grid. The car tokens each show

an example valid start location. The car is
placed not on cards, but between them or
Shuffle the deck of cactus cards, face- along the outside edge of the grid. The
down. Then deal 9 cards into a face-up car token must be facing in one of the
3x3 grid. cardinal directions.
Gameplay • Turning the car 180 degrees.

Player 2 takes the first turn.

On a player’s turn they will do three

things in this exact order:
1. Move the car
2. Collect a cactus
The car cannot leave the bounds of the
3. Display that cactus
3x3 grid (although it can move around
Then the other player takes their turn the outer edge) and it must end its final
following the same procedure. movement next to a face-up card.

If the car cannot reach a face-up card in

2 moves, players will first need to
Move the Car update the board before any
movement is made. See that section for
The car moves between the cards on more details.
the 3x3 grid and/or around the outside
edge. The player may move the car up
to two times. All the following are
considered a move: Collect a Cactus

• Moving the car 1 space in the When the player has finished moving
direction it is currently facing. the car, they must take a face-up cactus
card adjacent to the car. Players cannot
take face-down cards.

If that cactus has a coin on it, that coin

goes into the player’s collection.

Replace the cactus you have taken with

a face-down card from the cactus deck.

• Turning a 90 degree corner and

moving one space.

The player has moved the car along the

outside edge of the board and finishes
it’s movement by the blue “4” face-up
card. They take the face-up card and put
a face-down card from the deck in the
vacated space.
Display that Cactus the active player moves the car.

The player places the cactus they have The ONLY time players can update the
just collected face-up into their personal board is if reaching a face up cactus in
tableau. The first cactus is simply 2 moves is impossible. If they can reach
placed to start the collection. another cactus in 2 moves, they must
do so rather than updating the board.
Every subsequent cactus the player
collects must be placed adjacent to an To update the board:
existing cactus.
• Place a coin on all face-up cards.
A player’s tableau cannot at any point • Flip over all face-down cards in the
be larger than 4 cards high and 4 cards 3x3 grid.
wide.
• Continue the active-player’s turn as
normal.

Coins
Some cards will have a coin on them,
which a player collects along with the
card.

When moving the car, a player may

spend a coin to move the car an
additional space.

More than one coin can be spent to

In this example, the player’s tableau move even more spaces.
already has the 5 face-up cards. Te
check-marks show valid places where a Spending coins is never compulsory.
new card can be placed. The crosses are
example invalid locations. One cross is
not adjacent to another face-up card. The
other cross would cause the tableau to be
more than 4x4 in size. Game End
The game ends when both players have
Then the other player takes their turn,
a complete 4x4 personal tableau.
following the same 3 steps and using
the same car from its current position. At this point, move on to scoring.

Update the Board

If both players agree that the current
player cannot reach a face-up cactus in
2 moves, they update the board before
Scoring
At the end of the game, each player
scores their own 4x4 tableau.

Rows and Columns

Each row and column score if the four
cards that make up that row or column
are in ascending or descending order. If
so, that row or column scores 4 points.
In determining if the row or column is
ascending or descending, numbers can
be skipped and may be of any colour. 2,
7, 33, 34 is a valid order. 7, 2, 33, 34 is
not! This player has got 1 valid quadrant, with
all 4 cards in it being of the yellow type.
They will score 6 points for this quadrant.

Stars
Any card with a star on it, regardless of
its position, scores 1 point.

This player has 4 valid rows and 2 valid

columns. Their score for rows and
columns will be 24 points. (4+2) x 4

This player has 3 stars in their tableau,

Quadrants scoring 3 points. Thus their total score is
24 + 6 + 3 = 33 points. Their remaining
A quadrant is the four cards in each coins will act as tiebreakers.
corner of the tableau. Each of the four
The player with the highest score is the
quadrants will score if all four cacti in
winner. In the case of a tie, the player
that quadrant are of the same type
with the most coins is the winner. If the
(colour). If so, the quadrant scores 6
score is still tied, the game is a draw.
points.
Designer’s Note 6. Check out some of my other games!
Tag City is an award-winning roll-and-
1. This game simulates owners of write game with a stunning production.
botanical gardens collecting cacti from The rules are straightforward - so
legitimate cacti markets. Please please anybody can play it - but underneath
please, never collect wild cacti! that simplicity is a highly interactive and
tactical game. You can easily buy it in
Cacti are amazing plants that take the US, UK, and elsewhere.
decades the grow and form an
important part of their ecosystem. Cacti
poaching can be a huge problem, which
both harms the ecosystem and denies
these beautiful plants to everybody else.

If you want to know more, you can read

about it here:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arc
hive/2016/02/cactus-thieves/470070/

2. Thank you, Elizabeth Hargrave, for

enlightening me about the world cactus
poaching.

3. Thank you, Glenn Flaherty, for

coming up with the name, Verdant
Arizona.

4. Can I now go on holiday to Arizona

and call it a business expense? Letterpress is a card-drafting word
game from Osprey Games. Craft the
5. Cactus images are public domain most impressive words and win first pick
and found in, The Cactaceae: of letters to add to your collection.
descriptions and illustrations of plants of Choose wisely, as your opponents can
the cactus family v.2, Washington: grab your leftovers. The player who
Carnegie Institution of uses their stored letters to greatest
Washington,1919-1923. effect will spell victory. Find it here!
Many thanks to the Biodiversity Heritage
Library for hosting the above book.
Cards. Print all following pages, single sided, and cut along the card boarders. This will make 40 square cards.

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