Starling Games announces Flourish, a fast card drafting game from the designers of Everdell

Starling Games and designers James A.  and Clarissa A. Wilson (Everdell) have announced a new card drafting game Flourish. Flourish plays 1-7 players in 20-30 minutes and is themed around creating the most beautiful and varied garden. The deck of cards in Flourish contains 5 colored suits of flowers, plus themes such as paths, yards and beehives. Players strive to gather sets of flowers and follow the scoring on the cards played.

The idea behind Flourish was to create a drafting game where the player gets to keep most of their hand. Players have 6 cards each round, play one, then pass one to each of the players on either side. Since game play is simultaneous, games are fast regardless of player count. A round lasts through the playing of three cards, after which players score. After 3 rounds, players can play 3 cards from their hand at once to really clinch their scoring. Some cards have abilities at the top, scoring specific card types, and several rely heavily on what your neighbors have played, so the passing of cards can be to get rid of garbage, or more likely, to tempt your neighbor to play cards that score for you.

Much like Everdell, Flourish will be available initially in a signature version, including the Friends and Folly Expansions. The game comes with deck of cards lovingly illustrated by April Borchelt, Dann May, Christina Qi, and Naomi Robinson, cardboard walls to separate players’ gardens, and scoring wheels. Flourish also includes solo play versus an automa deck, as well as optional coop play where you try to reach scoring thresholds for medals. Look for Flourish in fall 2020.