Official Planted Rules

Last Updated on January 22, 2026 by The Official Game Rules Team

Planted invites you to cultivate your own urban jungle! This strategic and relaxing board game puts you in the role of a plant enthusiast, carefully curating a collection of thriving houseplants. By strategically placing cards representing different plants, you’ll optimize their growth, manage your limited space, and create a beautiful and harmonious indoor garden. With its calming gameplay and satisfying sense of accomplishment, Planted offers a tranquil escape into the world of greenery and growth.

Number of Players: 2-5 | Ages: 10+ | Game Time: 20-30min

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How to Play Planted

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Objective

Create the most beautiful and thriving indoor garden by feeding your plants the right combination of light, water, and plant food. Earn bonus points from decorations, propagation jars, and fully grown plants. After four rounds, the player with the highest score is declared the winner and crowned the game’s biggest green thumb.

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Components Overview

Planted includes:

• Resource cards (light, water, plant food, and green thumb)
• Plant cards featuring various plant varieties such as croton, zz plant, and monstera
• Tool and decoration cards
• Resource tokens and growth tokens
• Player boards and a central nursery board
• Propagation jars and designated areas for tools and decorations

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Setup

1. Place the nursery board in the center of the table.
2. Each player takes a player board and places it in front of them.
3. Separate the resource cards from the item cards and shuffle each into its own draw pile on the nursery board.
4. Shuffle the beginner plant cards and deal one to each player, placing it face up above their player board.
5. Shuffle the remaining plant cards and place four face up in the nursery row.
6. Sort all resource tokens and growth tokens into supply piles near the nursery board.

You’re now ready to grow.

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Gameplay

The game is played over four rounds, with each round made up of eight simultaneous turns.

Drafting Cards

At the start of each round, every player draws:

• 6 resource cards
• 2 item cards

Players secretly choose one card to play and place it face down in their play area. The rest of their hand is passed to a neighbor—left in rounds 1 and 3, right in rounds 2 and 4. Once all players are ready, everyone reveals their chosen card and resolves its effect.

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Card Types and Actions

Resource Cards

Playing a resource card lets you collect resource tokens matching the icons shown. These represent the light, water, or plant food needed to nurture your plants. Green thumb tokens act as flexible resources later.

Tool Cards

Tools stay in play and improve efficiency. Some tools reward extra resources when you collect certain icons, helping you meet plant requirements more easily as the game progresses.

Decoration Cards

Decorations don’t help during the game, but they provide valuable bonus points at the end. Collecting the right decorations can dramatically boost your final score.

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Buying New Plants

Instead of using a card’s normal effect, you may choose to buy a new plant from the nursery row. Announce “nursery,” place your card without resolving its action, and select a plant. If multiple players buy plants at once, order is determined by the number printed on the played cards.

Players may have up to six plants in their own collection.

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Feeding Your Plants

After all eight turns in a round are complete, players simultaneously feed their plants.

• Each plant card shows its required resources.
• If you have the full set of required tokens, discard them to the supply and place a growth token on the plant.
• Each plant can only be fed once per round.
• Growth tokens score points based on their position at the end of the game.

Two green thumb tokens may substitute for any one missing resource.

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Propagation Jars

Any leftover resources can be used in propagation jars. Spending any two resource tokens earns a growth token worth one point at the end of the game. This is a great way to convert excess resources into steady points.

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Example of a Game

1. Plant cards are kept above the player board. This player started the game with the
   Snake Plant beginner card and has since bought 2 more plants.
2. When you feed a plant, a Growth token is placed on the lowest vacant growth space.
   This player has fed the Snake Plant twice and Burro’s Tail once.
3. The player has also fed their propagation jars twice and earned two Growth tokens.
4. Resource tokens you collect are placed on your player board.
5. Each turn, cards are played below your player board in the “play area”.
6. After playing your card, you place the rest of your hand face-down to the left of your
   player board (in rounds 1 and 3) or to the right (in rounds 2 and 4).
7. Your Tool cards are kept here. You might like to place copies of the same card in a
   splayed column to save space. They will stay here for the duration of the game.
8. Your Decoration cards are kept here. They will stay here for the duration of the game.
9. At the end of the game, use the score pad to add up each player’s points.

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End of the Game and Scoring

After the fourth round, players total their points from:

• Growth tokens on plant cards
• Growth tokens in propagation jars
• Decoration cards
• Fully grown plants and tools (if applicable)

The player with the most points wins. If there’s a tie, the player with more growth tokens on plants wins. A further tie means shared victory.

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Tips for New Plant Parents

• Draft with intention. Watch what resources your plants will need later.
• Tools early can pay off repeatedly across rounds.
• Decorations are powerful, but only if they match your plants.
• Don’t overbuy plants unless you can realistically nurture them.
• Green thumb tokens are best saved for tight resource situations.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Conclusion

Planted is a thoughtful, visually soothing board game that rewards planning, flexibility, and smart drafting. Whether you’re growing a fiddle leaf fig, managing propagation jars, or chasing bonus points through decorations, every choice matters. With approachable mechanics and charming presentation, Planted is a perfect fit for players who enjoy relaxed strategy and nurturing their own little garden to victory.