Objective

Gather Seeds from the Field to grow the largest possible Harvest while minimizing Spoils and Burrow Penalties. The player with the lowest score at the end of the game wins.

The game can be played in one of two ways:

• Cooperative Play: 1–2 players work together to reach the Burrow and have the largest Harvest and smallest number of Spoiled Crops. Players start with 1 shared Crop stack.
• Competitive Play: 2–4 players compete to have the largest Harvest and smallest number of Spoiled Crops by the time the Burrow is reached. The number of Poachers and Otters should match the number of players. For example, with 3 players, use 3 Poachers and 3 Otters in the playing deck. Players start with their own Crop stack.

Terminology

• Field: Area of play.
• Seed Pile: Facedown deck of Seed cards.
• Seed: A card drawn from the Seed Pile or a card in the Field. Seeds are ordered 2–10, J, Q, K, A. A is adjacent to both K and 2, allowing the sequence to wrap around: K→A→2 or 2→A→K. There are two other types of Seed cards with special functions: Otters and Poachers.
• Gather: Move one visible Seed from the Field onto any current player's Crop stack whose top card has the same value or a value ±1 as the Seed.
• Burrow: A special goal card placed on the bottom layer of the Field.
• Crops: Stacks consisting of Planted Seeds removed from the Field.
• Harvest: The current largest Crop stack that has not been spoiled.
• Spoiled Crops: All other Crop stacks that are not the Harvest. Spoiled Crops count against you at the end of the round.
• Poacher: A special Seed card that can spoil your Crops or add Seeds to the Field.
• Otter: A special Seed card that can act as a wild card. Once a value is assigned to an Otter, it cannot be changed during the round.
• Walk About: When no Gather is available, you may move top cards between Crop stacks one at a time if they have the same value or a value ±1. After each move, check the Field for a valid Gather. If one exists, stop the Walk About and Gather it.

Setup

Place the Burrow card face up in the center of the Field. Place Seeds atop the Burrow in four layers called Seasons. Plant them in this order: Fall → Winter → Spring → Summer.

• Fall: Place 8 Seeds face-down in the Field.
• Winter: Place 9 Seeds face-down in the Field.
• Spring: Place 14 Seeds face-down in the Field.
• Summer: Place 9 Seeds face-up in the Field.

If any Poachers are visible in the Field at the beginning of the game, see Poachers in the Field/Seed Pile.

Each player draws an initial Seed card from the Seed Pile and places it in front of them to create their first Crop stack. If the starting card is a Poacher, remove it and draw another Seed. If the starting card is an Otter, pick any value for that card.

How to Play

1. Start your turn.
2. Gather if possible.
   1. Scan the Field for a face-up Seed whose value matches, or is ±1 from, the value of the top card in one of your Crop stacks.
   2. Gather it by removing it from the Field and placing it on top of the Crop stack.
3. If no Gather is possible, choose ONE of the following:
   1. Draw a Seed from the Seed Pile.
      • If the Seed can be played on an existing Crop, you may place it directly on that Crop.
      • If it cannot be played on an existing Crop, start a new Crop stack near your other Crops.
      • If the Seed is a Poacher or Otter, follow the special-card rules below.
   2. Walkabout.
      • If you have multiple Crop stacks, transfer one Seed card between Crops where there is a valid move (cards match or are ±1 from each other).
      • Examine the Field for a Seed that can be Gathered.
      • If there is a valid Seed in the Field, Gather it into your Crop stack and proceed to the Reveal step.
      • If there is no valid Seed in the Field, repeat the Walk About process.
      • If you fully merge your Crops, end your turn.
      • If you cannot continue Walking About and there are no valid Seeds in the Field, end your turn.
   3. End Round (cooperative only). See End of Round conditions.
4. Reveal exposed Seeds and resolve Poachers and Otters. Flip over any Seeds in the Field that are not covered by another Seed. If the revealed card is a Poacher or Otter, resolve it using the special-card rules.
5. Check for end of round. The round ends if one of these conditions is true:
   • The Burrow is completely uncovered: If all cards covering the Burrow are Gathered, the round is over. Remaining Seeds in the Field count as a Burrow Penalty against the player who Gathered the Seed that uncovered the Burrow.
   • The Seed Pile is empty: When the last card from the Seed Pile is played, the round is over. Remaining Seeds in the Field count as a Burrow Penalty against the player who drew the last Seed card.
   • No Gather available (cooperative game only): If there are no more Seeds that can be Gathered from the Field, cooperative/solo players may choose to end the round rather than starting a new Crop stack.
   If any condition is true, proceed to scoring.
6. End your turn.

Poachers & Otters

Poachers in the Field / Seed Pile

If a Poacher card is in the Field, immediately replace it with 3 Seeds from the Seed Pile and set the Poacher to the side.

If a Poacher card is drawn from the Seed Pile, place it on top of the Harvest stack (the Crop stack with the most cards) to indicate that it is now a Spoiled Crop. No cards may be added to or taken away from this stack until the end of the round. The next largest Crop stack now becomes the Harvest stack.

If you have no other Crop stacks, draw another card from the Seed Pile and end your turn. If your only Crop is already spoiled and you draw another Poacher, place the second Poacher card on top of the other Poacher.

Otters in the Field / Seed Pile

If an Otter card is visible in the Field, it can only be Gathered when there are no other Seeds that can be Gathered.

If an Otter card is drawn from the Seed Pile, it must be played immediately on any Crop, unless that Crop is Spoiled. In competitive play, this concludes your turn. If there are no Crops or all Crops are Spoiled, begin a new Crop and assign any value to the Otter.

Scoring

When the round is over, tally scores as follows:

• Harvest: Set aside the Crop stack with the most cards that is not frozen by a Poacher. These cards do not count against the player's score.
• Spoil Score: Number of Spoiled Crops × total cards in those Crops. If the player has no Spoiled Crops (only a Harvest stack), the final Spoil Score is 0. If a Crop was frozen by multiple Poachers, multiply the number of cards in that Crop by the number of Poachers. Example: a Crop frozen with 8 cards and 2 Poachers = 2 × 8 = 16.
• Burrow Bonus: If a player exposes the Burrow and there are no Seeds in the Field, the player earns a −5 point reduction to their score for the round.
• Burrow Penalty: If Seed cards remain in the Field when the Burrow is uncovered or the Seed Pile is emptied, those cards count against the player who removed the last card. The penalty is the number of remaining cards × 10. If no Seed cards remain in the Field, the penalty is 0.

End of game

The game is over when one of the following conditions is met:

• Cooperative Game: Total score of 100 points.
• Competitive Game: Any player reaches 150 points. The player with the lowest score wins.