Cultivate!

Overview

Cultivate! is a strategic board game that combines the classic sowing mechanics of Mancala with modern worker placement and engine building. Players take on roles in a community garden, planting seeds, growing relationships, and working together to create a thriving shared space across four seasons.

Theme

Players are neighbors collaborating on a community garden. Each has a unique role and perspective, but everyone works toward both personal goals and shared community objectives. The game captures the rhythm of gardening through seasons - planting in spring, tending through summer and fall, then celebrating the harvest in winter.

Components

Game Board Layout

Board Features

• 12 Pits: Traditional Mancala layout for seed sowing
• 12 Plot Spaces: Adjacent to each pit, holds up to 2 Plant cards
• 2 Store Spaces: For purchasing plants and accessing seed cards
• 6 Seed Card Spaces: 3 adjacent to each store (placed off-board), containing half-sized seed cards
• Seasonal Track: Marks game progression through Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter

Core Player Roles

Each role has one always-on Power and one Goal, checked at every seasonal scoring. While a goal is met, every seed on that role's goal card scores 2 points instead of 1 — for everyone. That threshold rule is the community benefit: completing your story makes investing in you worthwhile for the whole table. Unchosen roles sit beside the board as Community Goals with the same rule.

New Roles Expansion

These new roles expand the community garden experience with advanced mechanics and deeper collaboration

Integration Guidelines

Role Synergies

Card Examples

Complete Rules

Setup

1. Each player chooses or is randomly assigned one of 6 available roles (roles are unique)
2. Unused roles are placed near the board as Community Goals
3. Fill each of the 12 pits with 3 seeds from the bag
4. Each player takes a personal reserve of 12 seeds in their color; the bag keeps 12 for refills
5. Deal 4 Plant cards face-up as the plant market

Game Structure

The game progresses through 4 seasons:

Active Seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall)

• Players take turns using Mancala sowing mechanics
• A season lasts 4 rounds — each player sows 4 times (adjustable 2–6) — and ends early if every pit runs dry
• All players retrieve their seeds from goals/plots and refill pits

Winter (Final Season)

• Each player gets one free activation at any location (no sowing)
• Plots and goals score one final time, plus +5 if your own role's goal is met
• Game ends with final scoring

Turn Sequence

1. Choose a Pit: Select any pit containing seeds (regardless of color)
2. Sow Seeds: Pick up all seeds and distribute clockwise, one per space (pits and stores alike)
3. Activate Final Location: Take action based on where the last seed lands:
   • Plot Spaces: Cultivate the plot (place 1 reserve seed on it) OR plant a market card there (pay its cost into the bag; max 2 plants per plot; a free seed rides along if you have one) OR pass
   • Store Spaces: Harvest every seed in the store into your reserve — Store A adds 1 bonus seed from the bag; Store B also lets you plant onto any plot with space — then optionally place a seed on any role goal (cultivate a relationship)

Seasonal Scoring

End of Active Seasons

1. Score Plot Development - Each of your seeds on a plot scores that plot's total plant value (Cook/Florist powers add +1)
2. Score Role Goals - Each of your seeds on a role goal scores 2 if that goal is met, 1 if not (Activist adds +1 on their own goal seeds)
3. Community Goals - Unused roles' goal cards score by the same met/unmet rule
4. Seed Return - All players retrieve seeds; pits refill to 3 seeds from the bag (plants stay)
5. Market Refresh - The market is discarded and 4 new Plant cards are dealt

Winter Scoring (Final)

1. Free Activation - Each player activates any one space, no sowing
2. Final Tally - Plots and goals score exactly as in seasonal scoring
3. Role Completion - +5 points if your own role's goal is met
4. Victory - Highest score wins; ties go to the most relationship seeds placed all game

Reference Values

Pinned by the digital edition and kept in sync with playtesting: pits start and refill at 3 seeds; each player's reserve is 12 seeds; the bag starts at 12; the market shows 4 plants. The 24-plant deck has 6 of each type — Herbs and Flowers cost 2 and score 2 per seed, Vegetables cost 3 and score 3, Roots cost 4 and score 4. Flowers come in three colors (two each of yellow, red, pink) for the Florist.

Strategy Tips

• Early Game: Establish plant combinations that support your role
• Mid Game: Balance personal advancement with community goals
• Late Game: Maximize final scoring with strategic winter activation

Alternate Box Art

Explore different artistic visions for the Cultivate! game box design. Click any image to view it full size.

Box Art Variation 1

Box Art Variation 2

Box Art Variation 3

Box Art Variation 4

Printable Rules

Get a printer-friendly version of the complete rules for easy reference during gameplay.

What's Included in the Printable Version

• Complete game rules and setup instructions
• All 6 role descriptions with powers and goals
• Detailed turn sequence and scoring guide
• Strategy tips and game variants
• Component list for easy inventory check