Board With Each Other
A podcast that looks at Board Games / Tabletop Gaming through the lens of playing as a couple or with a regular gaming partner. Hosted by Al & Hannah, We review a game each episode.
Board With Each Other
Episode 10 - Planted: The Hobby Venn Diagram
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Welcome back to our tenth full episode! This month we review Planted, the houseplant collection game by Sushi Go designer Phil Walker-Harding.
We talk about Hannah's excitement at combining two of her hobbies, wax lyrical about some components and apply our usual scoring criteria. As always we round off at addressing how well it plays as a two player experience.
Hello everybody and welcome back to Board with Each Other. This is episode nine, and we are the podcast that looks at board games and reviews board games through the lens of playing as a couple, whether that be with your partner or a good friend or a houseplant you are desperately trying to nurse back to life through the joy of board games. I'm your host, Alistair Simpson, and I'm joined as ever by my wife, my gaming partner, my player too, Hannah Kelly.
SPEAKER_01:Hi guys.
SPEAKER_00:So today we are reviewing Planted. It is a board game by the designer Phil Walker Harding, who some of you may know as the designer of Sushi Go. And the the basic theme of the game is you are growing houseplants and tending to and keeping the houseplants, you know, alive, making them grow, and uh creating the best field of houseplants on the table. The way you do that is you basically start with a starter plant, which is sort of randomized from I think there's six of them, and you have a board, and you start with a hand of cards, I think in the two-player version, I can't remember quite off the top of my head, but I think yeah, I think it's ten. So you start with ten cards each, uh, which are drawn from a mixture of resource cards and tools. On your turn, you play a resource card to either get a resource, which is water, sunlight, or plant food, uh, or you play a tool. Um, you have a board which has your field of house plants, you gain resources and place them onto your board during the turn, or you place plants in their respective slots underneath underneath your your player board. The purpose of the resources is to allow you to grow your plants at the end of the round, of which there are four. So at the end of the round, you tally up all your resources, and each plant has different requirements as to how they grow. The larger they grow, the more victory points they're worth at the end of the game. On your turn, instead of playing a card, you can forfeit whatever is on that card to instead shout nursery, and when you shout nursery You get to go shopping.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:You get to go shopping. So there's a field of fork or four or five, four or five plants out on the main board, and you get to purchase one of those and put them into your field, of which there's a maximum of five. So five plant maximum, four rounds to the to the game. Much in the same way as Sushi Go, once you finish your turn, you pass your hand to the player on your left, or the person in front of you if you're playing two players, and then you work with that hand. Um, so basically it's that it's an incredibly simple light game, that's all there really is to it. Um the the depth where there is any basically comes from uh choosing what to do on your turn, whether you, you know, there's a pushball mechanic, whether to play a tool. The tools usually either give you more victory points at the end of the game due to certain conditions or just flat out. Yeah. The plants also have types, so there's hanging baskets, floor plants, and uh pot plants, I think, or the three the three types. And you'll get tools that will give you bonus victory points depending on how many of those types you have at the end of the game. So there's sort of a bit of a bit of theming there.
SPEAKER_01:Or you get um a tool that will allow you to gather more resources, so every time you get a fertiliser, you get an additional fertiliser or so on and so forth.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, so they they're either resource boosting or they sort of play a pay it forward victory point gainers at the end of the game. You also have green thumbs, which are like a wild resource, so you can use uh two green thumbs to count as any one resource, either water, sun, light, or plant food. Um at the end of the game, any un not at the end of the game, sorry, at the end of the round, any unused resources you can use to convert to uh growth counters Monstera Leaf. There you go, Monstera Leaf. Uh and those are used for uh victory points at the end of the game as well. So there's a there's a number of different ways to basically score once you get through it, and I think that's pretty much it. The hand size changes depending on how many players you're you're playing with, so more players you have fewer cards in play. Um, but everything else remains pretty much the same.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and scoring is done, there are four different categories for store sc for scoring, um, and then obviously you tally it up to the end, so you might score quite low on something but score higher elsewhere.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think it's plants, tools, growth counters, and perhaps something else. Um so that is pretty much planted in a nutshell, that's how you play. I imagine from the uh higher than usual interjections, you can you could possibly uh judge that this theme is more in one of ours wheelhouses than the other. So I'll let the plant queen take it away.
SPEAKER_01:Um so you bought me this as a surprise present, and it was a really, really lovely. So if there's like a Venn diagram of things that Hannah likes, you can put board games on one side and then also house plants on the other. So this is like a perfect little combination of all the things that I love. Um, and so I was very excited when I got to open it. And I didn't even know it existed until you you plubbed it down on the table.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, I think I think it's fair to say that every payday there's an arms race in our house, depending on whether more new plants or new board games pitch up randomly.
SPEAKER_01:Sometimes both.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, sometimes both. I mean, hey.
SPEAKER_01:Um for those of you, I and I imagine that I'm quite a small niche out there, but for those of you who do also like uh board games and plants, one of the most amazing things that I love about this is when you go to the the shop, the nursery, and you get to buy plants, each of the plants you level them up and you grow them, are based on actual true life things. So your string of pearls really like sunshine, and that's what it takes to like embolve the plant. And I have to say that I'm just sound like a massive nerd right now.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you are a massive nerd, you're making a ball gaming podcast as we speak.
SPEAKER_01:But the excitement that's what happens!
SPEAKER_00:That's what you need to do, is just you get plants and they grow, cool. Um but yeah, I mean I'm I'm I'm sure you can tell from the enthusiasm that this is definitely in theme, anyways, in Hannah's wheelhouse. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you so excited about something that's not fantasy themed. This is the first time you've got a diet note. Is this gritty realism?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, quite possibly, although my plants die an awful lot more frequently than these plants.
SPEAKER_00:That's where the gritty of the realism comes from.
SPEAKER_01:There's no death, don't worry, there's no death. Yeah, no, no, no plants die in this.
SPEAKER_00:Nobody's upset. Yeah, they just fail to thrive. So, how long do you reckon this takes us to play most of the time?
SPEAKER_01:I think probably 20 minutes. Yeah, I think 20 minutes max, actually.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, half an hour's generous. I think most of the games run about 20 minutes. It's very fast, very snappy, very similar in feel to if you play Sushi Go where you're just constantly sort of shifting your hand around. So, yeah, I I bought this one pretty blind. I didn't really look up anything, I just got very excited that there was a a board game that uh existed in your in your hobby, so I thought I'd combine the hobbies.
SPEAKER_01:And you did very well.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you very much. Um so shall we get on to some scoring?
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, do you want to kick us off?
SPEAKER_01:So, as always, we have two different sets of scoring criteria. So, first is the overall game, um, just general gameplay, and then we look at the two-player uh perspective. Our first category within the general general section is components. That's looking at things like the actual parts and also uh setup and strip down. I don't think I can rate this game highly enough in terms of its components, it is beautiful, and I I don't say that lightly. So, to start with just the general aesthetic, it is absolutely beautiful. So, all the cards that come with it are really well illustrated, it creates this really cozy and warm aesthetic. Um, all the plants are instantly recognizable, so I can tell exactly what they are from. You can.
SPEAKER_00:I take your word for it. Like, we got that in our house!
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but I think that's the whole point though, isn't it? Yeah, that's what makes it so beautiful. Um, and if you're a plant enthusiast like me, that's a big massive selling point.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um the components themselves are absolutely deluxe.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it feels like the kind of thing that you would find as a deluxe on Kickstarter, but just in the normal, in the normal package.
SPEAKER_01:I mean you've got wooden components for your green thumbs and for your Monstera leaves and your fertilizers, and then you have these beautiful little plastic, and yeah, I'm gonna have a little bit of grumble about the fact they're plastic, um, suns and waters. And what's amazing about the waters is they all stand up on end. Um, so they're that they're just really well putting it.
SPEAKER_00:They're translucent water drops, though.
SPEAKER_01:They're the most aesthetically beautiful water drops I think I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I really want to nick them for June Imperium, but anyway.
SPEAKER_01:Um so I think, and also you get these four or maybe five beautiful little Hessian kind of hemp bags, yeah. Baggies to put all your uh tokens in, and I just it's just exceptional production value.
SPEAKER_00:And the uh scoring pad comes in a seed packet.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, it does.
SPEAKER_00:Uh exceptionally well done, I thought.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I mean I have to I have to echo you there. It it's a game that I I was genuinely taken aback by by the the production values on it. Um I I was very, very much surprised, particularly given the price point. Um it was not a terribly expensive game, and uh yeah, it's just incredibly well made. Um as you said, the aesthetic is really, really pleasing, it looks really nice on the table when you're playing it. Um the cards I think could be a little bit better. The car I think if they've they've cheaped out anyways on the the cards themselves, particularly the resource cards, they're a bit sort of flimsy, and the amount of shuffling and passing around that you have with them, I imagine they can get quite frayed and doggieed quite quickly with repeated plays. But that is a very minor quibble in what is an exceptionally well-produced package.
SPEAKER_01:In terms of setup, it's really, really quick. You just literally pour out tokens onto a table. Um and uh cars, it's just a case of shuffling, really.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I would I would say it takes longer to strip down just because you've got to get everything back in the bags than it does a setup where you just sort of if you like others, you just sort of pour them out onto the table. I mean, that's more about us, but you know. So yeah, well excuse me, what would you ten.
SPEAKER_01:I'm not sure that I have any faults. It is beau I mean honestly, I cannot emphasise this enough. It is beautiful. Even if you look at the box, and hopefully you'll see on our cover art, like it's absolutely stunning this box. And in fact, when it arrived, I was going, oh we've got one of those, and those, and those, and it's just it's it's absolutely stunning, guys. Like it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00:Um yeah, I gave it an eight. Um I I think it's an exceptionally good package. I mean, it doesn't have any like you know, miniature. Painted miniatures. I mean, what do you want? No, I'm I'm I I I jest. The reason I've given an eight is because I think the cards could be a little bit better. Uh particularly the resource cards. I don't I I I think they're a little bit I I I I think it could be higher quality, but you know, eight is a very, very high score, Hannah. Oh, okay, well now. Um it is a very, very nice uh package. So, complexity. So as as we always say, our complexity score is based on how well the complexity of the game serves it. So how well does the do the mechanics work in terms of what the the game wants to accomplish or you know the enjoyment you get out of it. Um it is not a complex game at all. In fact, I'd say it's probably one of the lighter games that we have. Um it is very, very easy to to pick up and and and and learn. Um the easiest way I can describe it is sushi go with extra steps. It it's that it's that quick and snappy and fast, and you know, you you pick a card, you pass, you pick a card, you pass. How do you find it in terms of complexity?
SPEAKER_01:So I think we often fall into the trap, or I often fall into the trap, of comparing it to other similar games, and I'm trying hard not to do that. But one of the things that I will say with Planted is that because of how beautiful the components are, and because of the fact you have things like player mats and you have like a central board where you have your nursery and you play from, I think a part of me feels like I had higher expectations from it in terms of levels of complexity.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Like, how is it that much different to sushi go? And it and it is because you have your resource cards, so that has an impact on your end game scoring and also your resources available to you in turn, but I don't feel like it added enough depth to make it that much of a longer and longer game.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And also the unboxing element and the setup and the strip-down part of it.
SPEAKER_00:It's I I absolutely 100% agree with you. It looks like more than it is.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Um and I don't know how else to describe it. I've been thinking about this a lot, and I think the best way I can describe it is it feels like it's missing a dimension.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like there's what it's one mechanic away from being right.
SPEAKER_01:So I was thinking about this a lot, um, particularly on the way home today. Um and there's something about also the cast that you start off with a starter plant, and they're all fairly generic, you'd all come at the same points out of it at the end of the day when you evolve it. But what I've also noticed is that your some of your plants are a lot more difficult to evolve. And what happens is you end up with all of those sitting in the middle in the nursery for me to for you to buy from. And there's always that reticience to to buy them because you know that they're gonna be quite difficult to evolve, but you don't necessarily get any additional advantage, so you might get one or two extra victory points, but the payoff doesn't really seem worth it. And I feel like that's perhaps maybe one of the missing elements. I I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, also either that or I feel like there could be mechanisms attached to plants perhaps that give you some sort of bonus, or perhaps interact with the other player because there's there's no real interactivity between the two. It's your it's your typical solo game you play together, really, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, but I just think that there could have been it feels like if they'd taken one step further.
SPEAKER_01:We don't have to apologise. We've got a new cat and she's very, very.
SPEAKER_00:Um I I feel like there should be if there was just one step further, there was one more mechanic. This was this this would get into really good territory for me. Yeah. But at the moment, I feel like now, does complexity serve it? Yes, it it does to a certain extent, but it does, it does feel like it's missing an element. But again, we we we tend to like our ball games heavy, so maybe that's an us issue.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I was also thinking about this again when we come to score it later on, and maybe I'll come back to it, but I I also think you know, we do when we play a game, we we play a game.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and therefore, maybe the mechanics feel a slightly like I just I'll touch on that in the next category, but uh but again, I think I compare it to something like Sushi Go.
SPEAKER_00:I think I think there's about expectation as well. You know, you crack out Sushi Go and you you're there for like a 10 minute, like ha ha ha, let's chuck some cards around, you know, fine. But I think you you know you get three boards down, you start pouring out resources. Almost sets an expectation on my mind that there's more to it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um so while it looks beautiful, I'm not sure it it I'm not sure it it it it's it's it's it's a vacuous looker. It's Instagram influences or more games. Um style over substance. Yeah, I don't think it is.
SPEAKER_01:It's still a really good game, and it's not that it lacks substance, I just think it sets expectations higher than it delivers on. And I think that the bunk is the worst way of doing things because you can feel a little bit so short.
SPEAKER_00:And I just feel it could be so much better if there was just a little bit more to it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So with that in mind, I've given it a five for complexity.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, so I gave it a six.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah enough. I think you know it's how well does a complexity score support the game? Average. Average, yeah. Right. Uh so the next one, you want to talk us through that?
SPEAKER_01:So our next category is shelf life. So we talk about things like value for money but also the replayability aspect of it as well. Um I mean, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's definitely niche.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah. Yeah. In terms of theme, I mean, some people are very theme agnostic that they'll play anything. I mean, I think I'm one of the I get more excited about things that I'm into the theme for, but um, you know, I'll give anything a crack. Um yeah, I mean, uh get the value for money aspect out first, I think, from my perspective. I think it was around about 30 quid I paid for it.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Which I think is absolutely fair as a price point given the components. It depends what value of money means to you. If value for money is the components, fine. I would give it a solid seven or eight, I think, in that regard, because I think it it it I if anything, I given if you have a look at the components, you'd expect it to be more expensive. Um where this falls for me is Shaft Life, is is is replayability. I think um there's just not enough depth there to make me want to go back to it. We've had our standard six plays of this, and I'm sure I will play it again when the mood takes me, but it's not something I reach for.
SPEAKER_01:But I suppose that's the question, isn't it? Like, where does this sit on our shelf? So we have Sushi Go, which is a really nice warm-up taste again. Like it's the theme we might play when we know we don't quite know what to play and when working out what it is we fancy. Whereas because this one's a little longer, and because you've got a setup phase, I feel like it kind of treads that line a little bit. So, where does it fit in our evening gaming? And that's about our lifestyle. For people that don't have such pressure perhaps time constraints, then maybe that fits perfectly. And again, I want to get onto it when we talk about like scalability in FOMO, like later on in two player. Um, I just I do feel like because you don't have that added depth factor, the fact that it pushes that 20 minute thing, it it kind of the the reward payoff doesn't really Yeah, it's too shallow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's too shallow, it's too useful but shallow. I mean I I'd I would happily play a 20-minute game with setup if there was more depth there, but I think it it doesn't scratch any of the itch's I usually have around this, you know what I mean? I think that's the problem. If I want something really, really quick, I've this I I'll go to other places. If I want to play a board game ass board game with setup and you know tokens and whatever you there's other places I'll go. Um, and I think that's the problem. I find it very it it just doesn't leap out of the shelf. I don't think about it and go, ugh, I don't want to play that. It's not that at all because I it's you know it's a really good game, it's really well balanced. We'll come on to that in the next category, but it yeah, I just I I I've it it's not finding its niche in our shelf, it's not finding its place. Um and for that I've scored it quite low, I've scored it a three.
SPEAKER_01:So I've called it scored it a six because I think if we're talking about general gameplay, I think it absolutely has a place. Um maybe just not as two player, which we'll come back to.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we will come to that.
SPEAKER_01:Um and I d I do think that actually this is probably a game that you could quack out at quick Christmas is coming, like you could crack it out at Christmas, you could crack it out with family members, it's very easy to pick up and it's I think it has a place.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's a very good point. I think if we if if our lives were at such a place that we encountered casual board gamers quite a lot, I think it would actually have a much bigger imprint. That score would probably go way up because I imagine we'd have quite a lot of fun with it. Um and again, maybe this is just sort of where we are in our lives that we either if we either have friends that come around that are board gamers with a capital B and we'll crack out nemesis, or we'll have people that have never played a board game in their lives, in which case we crack out Sushi Go. I don't think we have people in our lives where this would hit the table regularly.
SPEAKER_01:I see this is a great family game.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. As a family game, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So our kiddo, maybe in a year or two, yeah, we've grounded.
SPEAKER_00:Which is why I'm I'm not going to get rid of it because I think she'll she'll really enjoy it. But just right at the moment, it's a three for me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I scored it a six. I completely acknowledge that I am a little bit bored with it, and I'm probably not gonna pick it up because it lacks that depth, but I also think there is value in it that we just haven't explored.
SPEAKER_00:The mind, yeah, fair enough. So I think that leaves us perfectly on because I think we've wanted to talk about this for a while. Is it is is it fun? It's kind of fun.
SPEAKER_01:Do you know? I found this really hard to score because on the one hand, I absolutely love it. I love turning over the new cards and seeing what's in the nursery. I I love the i I mean, I am I I feel targeted by this game. I feel like they sort of my opponent on Instagram.
SPEAKER_00:It's like the algorithm it's like the algorithm has found you.
unknown:So it's okay.
SPEAKER_01:So I do, I absolutely love it. I also think one of the things that's more fun when we play together is that I I I just roleplay as me. I'm like, I'm going to buy this plant because I want it. Not because it'll make me win, but because I really like these plants. Fair enough. And and so I I I I do have a lot of fun. I do really. Enjoy it and yet I'm a bit of a bored with it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, fair enough. I mean there's no if I i i I I'm not nearly as into the theme as Hannah is, obviously. So if I look at it just as a game, it's fairly fun. It's it's good. Um as I alluded to before, I think it lacks strategic depth. I think it lacks an element of control that I like in terms of controlling what's Yeah. What what controlling what you're doing. I there's an element of it, and as we played, I've started to realise how powerful some of the the tools are.
SPEAKER_01:Um but also there's a real push-pull mechanic, and you don't really know what you're gonna get because you know whether you play a tool which you can use to buy a new plant, or whether you play it, but actually, well, you know that water is really a rare resource in terms of what you've got in your hand, therefore it probably makes sense to cash in all your water cards. I think quite often what happens is we end up cashing in tools towards the end when we've reaped all the good resource cards.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, to a certain extent, yeah. Sometimes I see something I'm just gonna go, I'm gonna leave with that. Um so I think there is some depth there, and there there definitely is strategy there. Like somebody who knows what they're doing would probably be somebody who doesn't, which is the always the yardstick, isn't it? Um but there's not quite enough for me.
SPEAKER_01:There's not qu there's not quite enough strategy there, there's not quite enough that you can control, and you've got that fun time sushi go thing of swapping hands all the time, and it's very quick and very fast, whereas actually this is a bit more considered and it's a bit slower because you have to tally up your resources at the end of it and spend it, etc.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um I do have fun playing with it, but I it also feels uh the word that comes to mind all the time to me is scatter shot. It feels very much like I'm kind of chucking things down because that's what's in the hand, and I'm I'm making very short-range decisions because I don't see the benefit in making long-range decisions.
SPEAKER_01:I also think what's really interesting is and again I don't want to compare it to Sushi Go, but I mean it it is it is like a Sushi Go enhanced really.
SPEAKER_00:Same design, though, it's it's definitely based off of it.
SPEAKER_01:And yet with Sushi Go, I'm so much more conscious about having to think about and memorising hands and what's in different hands.
SPEAKER_00:I take more time on my turns to Sushi Go than I do in this, and I don't know why that is.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, see, it's interesting because again, I d I don't, I think I'm very much focused on maybe because I have an objective. I I I don't know, but I my turns do play quite differently.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um I don't necessarily focus on memorising hands.
SPEAKER_00:What's in the other hand so much, yeah. No, that's what I mean. I think that's why my turns and this are quicker with sushi go. I actually really think about it. I get weirdly competitive in Sushi Go. I'm like, oh I know what's in that hand, but I'm gonna do this, that, and the other. Whereas this, I'm just like, yeah, uh son, yeah, I'm just gonna play another card. Um I don't know why that is, maybe it's just a me thing the way I approach the game.
SPEAKER_01:But I also think it's part of the aesthetic as well, you know, sushi go very pop, vibrant, kind of it's meant to be played really snappy. Whereas this it is just a bit more like everything's a little bit muted. I score it, you know, very soothing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Anyway, so I scored it as six. I couldn't score at a lower score because I just I couldn't. I couldn't because I do love it.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, me as the more objective person, theme independent, scored it at five, so fair enough.
SPEAKER_01:Alright, fair enough.
SPEAKER_00:Um I do have fun when playing it, but yeah, I just I I I just I wish there was one more mechanic. Yeah. One more mechanic. Yeah, one more. I would be all over this. Uh okay.
SPEAKER_01:Scores and drawers. Doors.
SPEAKER_00:So that gives us an overall game rating of six, which sits about right for me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I stand behind that. I think yeah. I I think it's slightly above average in general when you look at the whole package. So on to our two-player slash couples ratings. The first category is table talk. So this is around interactivity at the table, how much conversation it causes, you know, how much back and forth. Um short answer is none.
SPEAKER_01:No, not a lot. So again, if you're thinking about and if you've played Zushi Go and you elaborate it, it is very much a turn, you you parse your cards, you play your cards, and you move on. That said, again, I think there is an element that we play a game and we we we play that game.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I kind of think that it is a very gentle and very relaxed game. And actually you don't have to play it that way. And I think, you know, you you could quite happily have a discussion and a conversation whilst you were playing it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you could, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's just that's not what we do because we're bored of talking to each other. We're we're bored of each other.
SPEAKER_00:She said the thing.
SPEAKER_01:Um Yeah, but I think it would be a really lovely game to play like on a date. Maybe not a first date, but like as you first start casually dating somebody and you kind of want Yeah, I hadn't thought about that aspect of it to be honest.
SPEAKER_00:Um it gives it gives room for that, doesn't it? To have like another conversation while you're playing, I guess. Um which the complexity of it then the the the gameplay allows. Um in terms of interactivity, there is none. No, there is there is no interactivity between the players. It's very much a solo tableau builder um that you play together. Um which I feel like we've we've come across a fair fair few of them.
SPEAKER_01:Mystic Veil is another one, it's another really good example of you know um and I funny enough read recently that the guy that did Mystic Veil was like the idea was it's like a s solitaire solitaire, joined solitaire and there is that element to it, but I also think again because it's unlike Soushe Go, which is very much boom boom boom boom boom, it is a little bit slower because you have to then gather your resources and stuff. So, you know, it it could allow for that if that's how you want to play and if that's how how you play or where you are as you know a couple.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. Okay, I mean fair enough. I rated it quite lowly for table talk, I rated it three.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I still rated it as three because I mean fundamentally that's what it's about.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there's very little sort of interactivity between them.
SPEAKER_01:But I do think there is scope, and again, that's about how we feel. Other people may feel differently.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, absolutely, always. Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um, so then next is our competitiveness slash co-op uh rating. So how does it fit either as a competitive or or or co-op? I think we kind of almost just said it really, which is the idea that you kind of are playing against yourself, really. There is an element of of of competitivity. Um we have both tried to snap for the same uh nursery plants. Yeah, yeah. Um, but I mean at the end of the day it doesn't really massively matter. It doesn't feel like I'm playing opposite you, doesn't feel like I'm trying to beat you to the post, doesn't feel like I'm trying to No, it doesn't feel like a very competitive game.
SPEAKER_00:I mean there again to to mention Sushigo again, you stop mentioning Sushigo, but it is very much a similar mechanic. There is an aspect of knowing what your opponent needs and almost Thwarting them. Very straight as a very strong term, but but hate playing cards where you like you play a card that you don't really need but you know your opponent really does.
SPEAKER_01:But that's not the game though. That's what the feel of it, that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I want to make it the game. No, I'm kidding. Um there is an element of that. You you can be a little bit competitive depending on that.
SPEAKER_01:It's not a game that you want to play if you want to have a nail binding competitive. It's not.
SPEAKER_00:It's not. But maybe halfway through the game I decide I do. And there is a mechanism to do that. I think that's the point I'm trying to make. You can you can basically um play cards that you know your opponent needs, particularly later on in the game. You can do that. So I think that's worth mentioning. So there's that that side of things, but that's the only way you really interact with the other players' board state, as such. Um, but no, nothing nothing about this game screams competitive set to you know, I'm going to beat you. I think you very much want to beat me because it's about plants and you can't stand me winning.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, do you know it really freaking irritates me that actually, particularly recently, you've got really good at it. And it annoys me that you beat me at at you you can water your monkey mask here, but yeah, our monkey mask is dying in the corner of the room.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, I'm gonna need Paul to Kov podcast where we're going to have a domestic. But no, that it it is it is not a game that lends itself to competitiveness, really.
SPEAKER_01:It's a game you play side by side, and hence why I think again that idea of you know, if you were in a beginning of a relationship and you wanted to play it, like it would be a really lovely, fun, casual game to pick up. Well, yeah, fine, you're playing competitively, but I mean no one's no one's gonna turn the table.
SPEAKER_00:There's gonna be no hurt feelings here unless you're very, very sensitive. Which I am quite sensitive. Yeah, I know. It's just plants things like they're very important to you.
SPEAKER_01:Obsessedly you're able to nourish the string of pearls in a way that I can't.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah. Um so on the on on that basis I have given it a four or competitive.
SPEAKER_01:So I gave it a five because it's neither, it's neither cooperative, particularly, or competitive.
SPEAKER_00:It's just again that's not how the scoring category works, but okay. It's a competitive game, how competitive is it? Oh if it's a co-op game, how cooperative is it?
SPEAKER_01:You know what? Let's just not uh my weird scoring and how it's scoring is persisted throughout this entire podcast. It's fine. Five.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Alright, so the final one is scalability and FOMO, basically.
SPEAKER_01:So here's the thing. I think that actually as a two-player game, it works really well and it's fine and it's good and that's great, but I actually think its place is probably in a three-player plus.
SPEAKER_00:Three, four, or five. Um, it does play up to five, which is interesting. There's so many ball games out on the market now which play up to a maximum of four, um, which is a bugbear for a lot of people. Uh this does play up to five, which is great. Um, I can say fairly confidently, same as Sushi Go, this is not meant to be a two-player game. This is not designed as a two-player game. Um it obviously is crying out for more players. Um, I think it would be a very, very different experience, and probably a much better experience of more players.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think it would be that much of a better experience. I don't think it would add an element of depth. All the things that we originally critiqued it for back in, you know, you know, in category one or whatever. Yeah. I don't think it would necessarily add that layer of depth. It would make it less of a memory game, yeah, and more luck-based, and it would keep things a bit fresher, I think.
SPEAKER_00:It might make a bit more fun.
SPEAKER_01:And perhaps maybe increase its fun, but I don't think you know it it changes it, whereas you know, there are other games that absolutely do completely change dynamics when you fair play.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, definitely, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but again, as as we alluded to earlier, I think this would be a great thing to crack out as a family game. Yeah, you know, like you have I will be cracking this out in Christmas. You have a nine-year-old and you have granddad there for Christmas or whatever, you know, it it's the perfect thing to pull out there because it's so it's so light and easy to learn. Everybody can get on the same page. I think there's enough luck introduced at the higher player counts that everybody will probably be operating on um an even keel, you know, and I think that's where it will really sing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, on that on that basis, I've given it a three because I do think it definitely needs more.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, absolutely same game.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, okay. Great. So that gives us a two-player rating of 3.5. As always, we round, so that's a four.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I would say probably four is generous. I think three is a few.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think three is probably more where my my my heart sits. So let's just wreck on it into a three. As a two-player game, it doesn't work that well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um definitely beautiful, absolutely standing beautiful game.
SPEAKER_00:But definitely better played with with more people.
SPEAKER_01:And it's definitely, I think, it's niches with with more people.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, yeah, fully agreed. So that is it. That was Planted. Thank you very much for joining us. Um, as always, we have all our social medias up, uh so Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Um if you enjoyed the episode, I'd we'd very much uh appreciate you giving us a review on your podcast.
SPEAKER_01:A green thumbs up.
SPEAKER_00:A green thumbs up on your podcast uh medium of choice. But until next time, thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01:Um be good to each other and play lots of games.
