Last Updated on April 14, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

Strawberry Sunset is a serene and strategic card game where 2 to 4 players compete to grow the most beautiful strawberry garden before the day ends. Layer cards to build patterns, collect features, and score points as the sun moves from sunrise to sunset.

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How to Play Strawberry Sunset

Objective

In Strawberry Sunset, your aim is to design the most beautiful and high-scoring strawberry garden by the time the sun sets. You’ll carefully layer cards to create patterns, match features, and build a vibrant garden. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Number of Players

2 to 4 players

Components

48 Garden Cards (divided into sunrise, noon, and sunset phases)
4 Player Reference Cards with scoring details

Overview

Strawberry Sunset is a visually engaging, quick-playing game where players take turns drawing and layering cards to grow their own gardens. The deck is split into three sections representing sunrise, noon, and sunset, giving a sense of progression as the day—and the game—unfolds.

As you play, you’ll place cards on top of one another to form your garden, with each card adding new elements like flowers, vines, trellises, and strawberry patches. Strategic placement is key—certain combinations and layouts score more points, and your choices will shape how your garden grows.

Use the player guide to learn which features are most valuable and plan accordingly. Whether you’re aiming for elegant rows of trellises or sprawling clusters of berries, there are many ways to earn points and express your garden-building creativity.

Setup

Sort the Deck: Divide the 48 Garden Cards into three separate piles—sunrise, noon, and sunset.
Shuffle Each Pile: Shuffle the cards in each phase individually.
Stack the Deck: Place the sunset pile on the bottom, noon in the middle, and sunrise on top. This stack becomes the draw deck and simulates the passage of time throughout the day.
Deal Starting Cards: Each player is dealt one card face-down to start their garden.
Designate a First Player: The first player is the one who most recently ate a strawberry (or choose randomly).

Gameplay

On your turn, follow these steps:

Draw Cards
- Either draw two cards from the draw pile
- Or draw one card from the face-up compost pile (discard pile)
Play a Card
Choose one of the cards in your hand to add to your garden. The other card is discarded face-up into the compost pile for future players to access. Garden-Building Rules:
- All cards must be placed vertically.
- Each new card must overlap at least one-quarter of an existing card in your garden.
- You may not place cards diagonally or sideways.
- Cards must form one continuous garden—no separate stacks or islands.
End Your Turn
Once you’ve played a card and discarded the other, your turn ends and play passes to the next person clockwise.

Play continues with each player layering cards in their garden. As the deck progresses from sunrise to sunset, the visuals and features on the cards evolve, giving the feeling of a full day passing in the strawberry fields.

Scoring

Once all cards from the draw deck have been used and no more cards can be drawn, the game ends. Players use their Reference Cards to score their gardens.

Scoring is based on:

Patterns and combinations of trellises, strawberry patches, and other features
Rows and clusters of matching elements
Special layouts described on the player reference card

Take your time to assess your design. Each visual element contributes differently to your score, so strategy and placement throughout the game are crucial.

End of the Game

After tallying up scores using the Reference Cards, the player with the most points is declared the winner—the proud creator of the most picturesque strawberry garden. In case of a tie, the tied players can enjoy the shared glory, or agree to play another round to determine the ultimate winner.