A Pleasant Return to the Indoor Landscapes of Verdant
Arrange houseplants and rooms in a wash of green with cozy elements and the ideal lighting conditions with Verdant.
It’s been an interesting experience for me with the trilogy of Calico, Cascadia, and Verdant. One left my collection long ago, another one has reached the end of its run, and the last one was what I expected to be my least favorite… Only the last one is the final one remaining! I decided to return to this land of greenery and its unique decision space. Would it work for me?
Game Overview
Game Name: Verdant
Publication Year: 2022
Designers: Many (5 Credited)
Artist: Beth Sobel
Publishers: Alderac Entertainment Group & Flatout Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
The goal is to create an alternating pattern of plants and rooms in a grid. Lighting conditions offer ways to nurture growth, while tokens can provide additional tools or even decorations to improve the rooms. The spatial puzzle takes a bit of thought, but offers many interesting choices.
First Play
December 8, 2022
Complexity
2
Latest Play
July 30, 2026
Expansions
1
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
13
Play Time
20 Minutes
High Score
93
Game Area
30" x 18"
Low Score
64
Beautiful Artwork
I think this one has often slipped beyond my interest due to its somewhat abstract nature, particularly with the rooms… Which aren’t more than colors that match the plant types.
However, such a bright color scheme! Getting back into the rules, I was rather excited to revisit this one. I labeled it as too complex and fiddly in the past, but I think I was wrong.
There are more decision points, like with the market and choosing a token and just one card from a column.
What a puzzle! I started to wrap my head around it and saw a lot more that I liked. Guess my preferences have shifted!
Small Beginnings
This is it… Just a couple of cards to start filling in a grid with a checkerboard pattern. Note the lighting preferences on the plant card, and the icons on the different sides of the room.
Matching this adds verdancy, or growth, ideally up to the maximum so that the plant can be potted!
Placing plants and rooms of the same type adjacent to each other also offers other scoring opportunities. Very abstract!
But at the same time, it’s a cozy sort of puzzle. Luck plays a role, although green thumb tokens help with mitigating the worst. Play time flies by, too, making it easy to reset.
Completing the Grid
So pretty! I was very pleased with my first outing. There are additional scoring cards that offer different goals, especially when following along with the solo scenarios.
One of my favorite visual elements are the pots. They blend in so nicely that I use the side with the point values!
Terra cotta pots aren’t worth any points, but see if you can quickly spot it at a glance here. That’s not part of the card art. Really lovely little visual touch to keep it seamless.
At the same time, I sometimes struggled to find a few elements, like the items, but it was a small inconvenience.
Solo Scenario List
Yeah for these solo scenarios! The first few are designed to be pretty easy to win, and I didn’t feel like the difficulty really ramped up until about the seventh scenario.
But it did… So much! There were some strategic nuances to keep an eye out for, like understanding how to arrange the rows in the grid. Only one way to get 8 items out there…
Very fun times! I liked the challenges and could see how the later scenarios would be particularly difficult to win.
“Have no pets” might be impossible with the way I like to play and can’t resist adding a bird, cat, or dog. Ha ha!
Unraveling What Makes Something Complex
Originally, I labeled this one as something that had a lot going on, both visually and mechanically. I didn’t really “see” how I could easily parse the information on the cards. However, returning to it made me realize I only had to look at certain areas of each card. And it wasn’t necessary to look at the big picture all the time: I could focus on building one area.
I think the busy play area made me imagine this was more complex. Matching lighting conditions is much easier than I expected, although it’s often hard to achieve a perfect balance. Still, I found myself taking my time and enjoying the puzzle. There were a few very tough plays! I can see how the rest of the solo scenarios can be even more challenging, and fun.
Neatly Arranged
The most important thing is to align lighting conditions as often as possible to complete the verdancy requirements on plants, thereby scoring the victory points. It’s a nice puzzle!
Aligning rooms next to matching plants or placing matching items are often bonuses, yet I love how neat and orderly the area can end up. Can you spot the pet bird?
This color pattern isn’t common, yet with a goal that looked for rows with the same color rooms, I had a new strategy!
I was surprised by the decision space. Although abstract, I thought the challenge was very enjoyable and not complex.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!
During another play, I think I stumbled across the cutest plant in the game! Look at this little Chia Sculpture! It comes from the expansion, which has already potted plants.
Verdancy instead offers green thumb tokens, which can be used in a variety of ways. A very nice new layer of choices.
Scenario 7 gave me plenty of trouble with its requirement of 8 unique items. I needed the right number of rooms, and a bit of cooperation from the token bag. In the end, I did it!
I can appreciate that this won’t be right game for everyone, but I’m glad I returned to find out how much I like it!
Session Overview
Play Number: 9-13
Expansion: Verdant: Potless Plants Mini-Expansion
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Scenarios 5, 6, & 7
Outcome: 90, 87, 70, 87, 90 (3 Wins & 2 Losses)
Delightful! I really enjoyed the decision space and the way I could parse the information on the cards. This does have a busy play area and some elements can blend in too much, but I loved the scenarios. It was a great time, and goes to show how I tend to find enjoyment in some unexpected solo games. Looking forward to moving onto more scenarios!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
6
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Every plant card is unique with beautiful artwork and a shape that fits any of the plant tokens in a delightful way.
- Choosing 2 of 3 options in a market column offers plenty of strategies without feeling too overwhelming.
- Play time moves quickly with almost no downtime, aside from managing the market and refilling it each round.
- Figuring out how to achieve goals and score well with the plants and rooms is a nice puzzle that isn’t too difficult.
- A final checkerboard arrangement looks rather nice and helps to highlight the plant artwork that looks charming.
- Green thumb tokens and items provide additional strategies to find the right card or further the growth of plants.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The play area can look rather busy with tokens that blend in a little too much, so scoring can involve more work.
- Some luck is needed to get everything to work out nicely, although there are a few ways to refresh the market.
- It takes several plays to feel comfortable with the rules, particularly the scoring criteria and how to play optimally.
- Although the flavor text is a nice addition, it’s very small and breaks up the clean appearance of the plant cards.
Victory Conditions
Meet the Scenario Requirements
- Overall Goal Progress 50%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 80 points.
Score at least 90 points.
Complete every solo scenario. (7 / 15)
Score at least 100 points.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Verdant? Which solo scenario have you made it up to? I honestly thought this might be my last session with the game, but it was a pleasant surprise! The choices were interesting and I had a lot of fun arranging the plants and rooms. Hopefully, I’ll be able to remember some of the important strategies for the harder solo scenarios!
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