As an avid gardener and foodie, I felt a little like Herbaceous was directly marketed to me. While I’m not usually a fan of push your luck games, its gorgeous, watercolor style art caused me to overlook that in order to get a peak at all the beautiful cards inside. I wasn’t disappointed – Herbaceous is a feast for the eyes.
This little press your luck style set collection game is geared towards 1-4 players, and games take about 15 mins. The best play seems to be with max players as it really intensifies the nail-biting intensity of each round. The rules are simple enough that you could teach everyone at the table in less that five minutes.
How to Play
On each player’s turn they’ll take one or two steps:
The first step (potting) is optional. Each player has a set of 4 pots in which to plant their herbs. Every pot holds a specific set of cards – different herbs, identical herbs, pairs, or any combination of three. Pots can only be used once per game, so when and how much you plant is an important part of your strategy. To pot, the player collects all the appropriate herbs from their personal garden and/or the community garden and places them under the appropriate pot card.
The second step (planting) is performed each turn. The player draws a card from the stack in the center either places it it face up in their personal garden or the community garden. Another card is drawn and and placed it in the location not selected for the first card.
Play continues until all the herbs have been planted. Each player gets one more turn after that and then points for the pots are tallied.
Opinion
As I mentioned above, it didn’t take much (any) arm twisting to get me to try Herbaceous. What I was particularly happy to discover was that I genuinely like the game play and mechanics just as well as I like the serene herb and potting pictures. Its never taken me more than three or four minutes to completely explain the game to someone else. While game play can occasionally be tense, most turns are both quick and simple enough that you can carry on a conversation easily while playing.
My only complaint would be that it can get repetitive after a few back-to-back plays. To that end I hope to see an expansion in the future.
Most would consider this a filler game or palette cleanser, but its enjoyable enough that I’ve pulled it out just to play a few rounds with the kids. Because of its simple rules and relatively quick play time, it makes an outstanding family game.
Wrapup
If you like games on the lighter side or are looking for an addition to the family game shelf, Herbaceous is a must buy. If you like denser material or dislike filler games, give this a miss.
Herbaceous was designed by Eduardo Baraf, Steve Finn, and Keith Matejka, and published by Pencil First Games. Art is by Beth Sobel and Benjamin Shulman.
Herbaceous Sprouts, a related, stand alone dice game, will be available on Kickstarter this May.
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