Last Updated on October 9, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

Welcome to the enchanted garden of Paint the Roses, a clever cooperative deduction game where you and your teammates take on the roles of gardeners racing to keep the Queen of Hearts happy. Your objective is simple: correctly plant the colorful roses to match the Queen’s secret gardening rules before the dreadful A-Bomb Abomination reaches the castle. Success requires sharp logic and careful teamwork to deduce the Queen’s unique garden rules and master how to play Paint the Roses and its specific Paint the Roses rules.

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How to Play Paint The Roses

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Overview

Paint the Roses is a cooperative deduction game where players work together to complete the royal garden before the Queen of Hearts catches up and shouts her famous decree: “Off with their heads!”

Each player secretly holds a Whim card, representing one of the Queen’s mysterious design preferences — a combination of two features (color or shape) that she wants to see planted next to each other in her garden.

During play, you’ll plant Shrub tiles, each showing a color and shape, to both satisfy and give clues about your hidden Whim. Everyone can talk freely about other players’ possible Whims, but never about their own. By deducing these Whims correctly, your team advances the Gardeners along the score track, staying ahead of the Queen as she speeds up through the game.

If the Gardeners fill the royal garden before being caught, the players win. If the Queen reaches them on the score track, all players lose.

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Components

Main Board & Markers

• 1 Garden Board: The central playing area where Shrub tiles are placed. It includes the score track along its border.
• 1 Gardening Bag: Used to hold all Shrub tiles except the starting ones.
• 1 Greenhouse: Displays four available Shrub tiles for players to choose from each turn.
• 1 Royal Log: Used to record final scores after each game for posterity.

Player & Scoring Pieces

• Gardeners: Track the team’s progress on the score track.
• Queen of Hearts: Begins behind the Gardeners on the track; she ends the game if she catches them.
• White Rabbit: A special marker that adds Flower tokens to the Queen, increasing her speed whenever passed.
• 4 Flower Tokens: Each one permanently increases the Queen’s movement speed.

Cards & Tokens

• 32 Shrub Tiles: Each tile shows one color (red, pink, yellow, or purple) and one shape (club, heart, diamond, or spade).
  • 8 Starting tiles (red-backed).
  • 24 Standard tiles (green-backed).
• Whim Cards (132 total):
  • 20 Easy
  • 40 Medium
  • 72 Hard
• 30 Clue Tokens: 6 per player, used to mark when a Shrub tile satisfies part of your Whim card.
• 3 Notepads: Designed for taking notes about other players’ Whims.

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Objective

Your team’s goal is to fill the royal garden with Shrub tiles before the Queen of Hearts catches the Gardeners on the score track.

To do this, you must deduce each player’s hidden Whim card by observing how and where they place Shrub tiles and where they place their Clue tokens. Each correctly guessed Whim advances the Gardeners forward, while the Queen steadily gains ground.

Victory requires both logic and communication — but remember, no one can ever discuss their own Whim card directly.

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Setup

1. Prepare the Garden Board:
   • Place the Gardeners on space 0 of the score track.
   • Place the Queen on space 44.
   • Place the White Rabbit between spaces 9 and 10.
2. Distribute Player Pieces:
   Each player chooses a color and takes:
   • 6 Clue tokens of that color.
3. Prepare Additional Markers:
   • Place the four Flower tokens off to the side.
4. Set Up the Starting Shrubs:
   • Place the 8 red-backed starting Shrub tiles on the numbered hexes indicated on the garden board.
5. Prepare the Whim Decks:
   • Separate and shuffle the Easy, Medium, and Hard Whim decks.
   • Place them above the board.
   • Each player secretly draws one Whim card from any deck. Only one Easy Whim may be in play at a time. Keep all Whims hidden.
6. Prepare the Greenhouse:
   • Draw 4 random Shrub tiles from the bag and place them face-up in the Greenhouse.
7. Determine the Starting Player:
   • The player who most recently watered a plant goes first and takes the Greenhouse marker.

Examples of Whim cards, each with a different difficulty level.

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Gameplay Overview

The game proceeds in rounds, with players taking turns clockwise.

The player with the Greenhouse marker is the active player and completes all five phases in order:

1. Place a Tile
2. Place Clue Tokens
3. Guess a Whim Card
4. Move the Queen
5. Replenish

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Phase 1: Place a Tile

The active player chooses one Shrub tile from the Greenhouse and places it in any unoccupied space in the royal garden.

This placement may:

• Give clues to other players about your hidden Whim.
• Help you deduce others’ Whims by observing how they respond.

Each Shrub tile contains two symbols — one color and one shape — which are critical for deduction.

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Phase 2: Place Clue Tokens

After the new Shrub tile is placed, every player checks their own hidden Whim card.

If the new tile satisfies part of their Whim — meaning one symbol on the new tile matches one symbol on an adjacent tile according to their Whim card — that player places one Clue token on the new tile.

• A player places one token per matching adjacent tile.
• Tokens are always placed on the newly added tile, never on existing ones.
• Players do not reveal which tile(s) caused their match.

Example:
A new red diamond tile is placed next to three other tiles: a pink heart, a red club, and a purple diamond.

• If a player’s Whim card shows red next to diamond, they place one token.
• If two adjacent tiles both match their Whim (for instance, pink next to diamond and diamond next to club), they place two tokens.

Taking Notes

Players can use the provided notepads to record information about other players’ Whims.
You may never record information about your own Whim.

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Phase 3: Guess a Whim Card

The team must make at least one official guess each round.
You may discuss openly and reason together — but never give away information about your own Whim card.

Making a Guess

• State which player’s Whim you are guessing.
• State the two symbols (color or shape) you believe appear on their card.
• A Whim is only correct if both symbols are guessed accurately.

If the Guess Is Correct

1. Advance the Gardeners by the number of spaces shown on the guessed Whim card.
2. Return all Clue tokens used for that Whim to that player’s supply.
3. Discard the guessed Whim card face-up beside its deck.
4. If the Gardeners pass the White Rabbit, give one Flower token to the Queen and move the White Rabbit to the next icon.
   • Once the Queen has 4 Flower tokens, remove the White Rabbit from play.
5. The team may guess another Whim immediately if they wish.

If the Guess Is Incorrect

• The phase ends immediately.
• The incorrect Whim card remains hidden and unchanged.

Example:
After placing a red diamond tile, the Blue player has placed two Clue tokens. The team deduces the Blue player’s Whim must involve pink (from two matching pink tiles) and diamond (from the new tile).
They guess “pink and diamond.”
The Blue player confirms it is correct, reveals their card, and the Gardeners advance 4 spaces.

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Phase 4: Move the Queen

After all guessing is done, the Queen of Hearts advances along the score track.

• Normally, she moves a number of spaces equal to her current speed.
• If the team made an incorrect guess this round, she moves double her current speed.

If the Queen lands on or passes the Gardeners, the game ends immediately — the Queen has caught you, and everyone is beheaded.

Queen’s Speed

• The Queen begins with a speed of 1 space per round.
• Each time the Gardeners pass the White Rabbit, a Flower token is added to the Queen, increasing her speed by 1 permanently.

Example:
If the team has passed the White Rabbit twice, the Queen has 2 Flower tokens and moves 3 spaces each round — or 6 after a wrong guess.

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Phase 5: Replenish

If the Queen hasn’t caught the Gardeners:

1. Any player who had their Whim guessed draws a new Whim card. Remember, only one Easy Whim may be in play.
2. Draw a new Shrub tile from the bag and place it face-up in the Greenhouse.
3. Pass the Greenhouse marker to the next player clockwise — they are now the active player.

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End of the Game

You and your teammates win if you completely fill the garden with Shrub tiles before the Queen reaches or passes the Gardeners on the score track.

You lose immediately if the Queen catches the Gardeners at any time.

At game’s end, record your team’s final score in the Royal Log:

• Your score equals the Gardeners’ position on the track.
• Subtract 10 points if the Queen caught you.

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Two-Player Variant

Play as normal, with one change:

• Take 3 spare Clue tokens of an unused color.
• Once per round, you may discard one of these to skip the Guess a Whim phase.
  • The Queen moves forward as if you guessed correctly.
  • The Gardeners remain still.

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Expert Variation

For a tougher challenge:

• Use only 4 starting Shrub tiles (red-backed) as shown in the expert setup diagram.
• Shuffle the remaining starting tiles into the main bag.
  This version adds roughly four extra turns and increases the difficulty.

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About Whim Cards

Whim cards determine what kind of adjacency each player must look for on the board.

Difficulty	Combination Type	Examples	Gardeners Advance
Easy	Color next to color	Red next to pink	1–2 spaces
Medium	Color next to color, or shape next to shape	Red next to purple, Heart next to Spade	2–3 spaces
Hard	Color, shape, or color-shape combo	Pink next to Heart, Diamond next to Purple	4–5 spaces

There are two copies of each combination in each deck. Only one Easy Whim may be held at a time.

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Note-Taking System

Players may take notes about other players’ Whims but never their own.

Three types of notepads are included:

1. Medium Whim Sheet – Tracks 20 possible combinations.
2. Hard Whim Sheet – Tracks 36 possible combinations.
3. Placement Order Sheet – Helps record the order of Shrub placements on the board.

When recording deductions:

• Mark X for disproven combinations.
• Mark O for potential matches.
• Eliminate possibilities as new evidence appears.

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Paint The Roses FAQ

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Strategy Tips

• Use notes effectively: Especially on Hard Whims — cross-referencing previous turns can prevent incorrect guesses.
• Track patterns carefully: Pay attention to where players don’t place Clue tokens — this can be just as revealing.
• Prioritize early Whim guesses: The Queen accelerates fast, so early progress buys you time.
• Communicate openly about others’ Whims: Deduction is collective. Always share your reasoning.
• Control the Queen’s pace: Plan guesses strategically to cross White Rabbit thresholds only when ready.