The Little Flower Shop Dice Game: Rolling in Knick-Knacks
Craft pleasant floral arrangements surrounded by cozy objects in a retail display for The Little Flower Shop Dice Game.
Although I’m not one to pick up every solo game with flowers, I was intrigued by the dice mechanics and push-your-luck elements present in The Little Flower Shop Dice Game. Once I saw that some of the knick-knacks were adorable stuffed animals, I was sold! So I quickly got to work learning the rules and preparing my little tabletop shop.
Game Overview
Game Name: The Little Flower Shop Dice Game
Publication Year: 2021
Designer: Steve Finn
Artist: Akha Hulzebos
Publisher: Dr. Finn’s Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Dice provide the central element to matching symbols in order to finish an arrangement. A dash of luck helps to make sure that managing a shop isn’t too straightforward. Specific goals provide a path forward, and the end result is a beautiful assortment of flowers and cozy items!
First Play
November 13, 2022
Complexity
2
Latest Play
November 13, 2022
Expansions
1
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
38
Game Area
20" x 18"
Low Score
0
Making Dice Sets
Gameplay mainly revolves around rolling an initiative die and 5 dice that correspond to flower and vase types. Only a handful of tiles are available to pick from each round.
The solo opponent also has a good chance to take the tiles from the far left and right, so there’s a little tension. Waiting too long can mean the wrong dice will be locked.
Oddly, this rulebook threw me for a loop and I didn’t even see the rules about re-rolling dice during a round. Oops!
Unfortunately, this made the learning process a lot longer than it should have been. I’ll blame myself: I missed it!
A Completed Shop
Once everything made sense, though, things moved along very smoothly. The goal card was a tricky one. I actually couldn’t have any stuffed animals here… How dare you!
Yet I managed to find the right assortment of star values for both rows. My final shop looked quite bright and cozy!
I even had enough money at one point to add a ribbon to my best arrangement. And, apparently, this was the day the teacups added their charm to the top shelf. Ha ha!
Although nice enough, I wasn’t sure if I liked how the goal cards created such strict parameters. Back to the start!
Small Sums, Big Leaps
Not too many money cards were needed for the solo mode, yet there were a lot of decisions. I wasted some actions purchasing wild tokens instead of saving up for ribbons.
A salary was also available during some rounds, although the solo opponent mainly snapped these cards up. I needed my dice to work, and that wasn’t always the case!
I was also a lot happier to stage a photo with a stuffed animal tile. That was worth a win right there. Ha!
Even with some lighter decisions, I still wasn’t sure if the gameplay offered what I was hoping to discover.
Instantaneous Defeat
The solo mode comes with the interesting caveat that if the goal card can’t be completed for all rows and columns, that play immediately ends in a loss. A bit of pressure…
With my next play, I saved up some money to cycle through the tiles on the final round. Good thing I did: I needed a tile of value 6 to complete my last column.
Only, I didn’t realize that all of those tiles showed up in earlier rounds. So I lost. Right here. Due to randomness.
Some have recommended simply playing to beat a personal best score, which seems like a good solution.
The Tricky Nature of Immediate Losses
I’m not opposed to losing a solo game after I meet a certain condition, or miss the mark. Actually, instantly losing can be very helpful when there isn’t a way to actually win. This is often employed by missing milestones after a certain number of rounds. Rather than play on, the quicker defeat helps avoid any wasted time so the game can be reset.
Yet it’s important to note that an immediate loss condition should give me a little agency over it. Meaning that if I’m simply building up my resources too slowly or completely ignoring the main objectives, it makes sense to tell me I’ve fallen too far behind and lost. No qualms there! The trick is that I often know it’s coming, or that I’m right on the edge.
In this case, I immediately lost in the last round because I wasn’t counting everything in the discard pile. I technically lost several rounds before, but I would have only known had I been keeping a close eye on every tile. My fault? Possibly, yet for such a light title, keeping track of everything felt like a lot of extra work for a playtime of about 10 minutes.
That’s why I think it might be nicer to simply chase a high score with a few scoring tiers. I almost felt like I needed to be very familiar with all of the goals and tiles available in the game in order to do well with the solo mode. Learning the game threw me right into a world of keeping track of a lot of secondary things when I hadn’t mastered the rules.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 38 and 0 (1 Win and 1 Loss)
My best arrangement was still quite lovely! That ribbon added a single victory point, but that was meaningful. I had a nice time rolling the dice and trying to get exactly what I wanted before the solo opponent took the tile I wanted. Yet even disregarding the instantaneous defeat, I had just enough minor quibbles to determine it wasn’t a game for me. As always, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game, and I hope my copy will go to a happy new home!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
4
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
4
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
5
+ Pros (Positives)
- There is a very whimsical and airy feeling to the artwork, which adds a cozy element to the game’s setting.
- All of the iconography is clear and easy to understand during the first play, although there’s also a goal reference.
- Different options provide some interesting decision points for how to use accumulated money during play.
- Push-your-luck elements are still pretty lightweight so that there’s a little tension, yet it’s far from too much.
- Tile variability is great with different values, flowers, vase types, and knick-knack categories on both sides.
- Arrangements go into the open shop area where placement matters, and the final assortment looks very pretty.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Although it can easily be modified, the threat of an instant defeat purely due to luck doesn’t provide a fun time.
- Gameplay is pleasant enough, yet there isn’t necessarily anything that sets the game apart from other light titles.
- Everything the solo opponent does is based on luck, so it’s hard to plan ahead except to aim for a middle tile.
- Some parts of the rulebook feel a little difficult to understand, especially with very limited visual examples.
Victory Conditions
Complete the Entire Goal Card
- Overall Goal Progress 50%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 30 points.
Score at least 40 points.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about The Little Flower Shop Dice Game? Do you have any other cozy games that feature dice? I think this one could work for the right audience, yet I may have gone a little overboard with similar games over the last year… My own fault! The artwork was lovely, and I’ll have to keep on digging through all of my unplayed solo games!
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