I don't have a green thumb. The only things I plant are Lego botanicals, but when it comes to board games, I can somehow manage to keep a tabletop garden thriving! The artwork was the first thing that drew me to Sky Bloom: The Cozy Rooftop Gardening Board Game. You start with a clean canvas and race to turn it into a garden by collecting seeds, growing blooms, and attracting pollinators, and yes, there are bees.
Beware, you may not be able to pronounce everything. All the names are real species. It gives the theme a little more to it than simply putting pretty flowers on a board.
What Is Sky Bloom?
In Sky Bloom, each player is building their own rooftop garden. You'll collect different Seeds, plant them in your Planters, grow Blooms, and attract Pollinators to earn bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies.
You can hold up to eight Seeds at a time, and there are a few ways to turn what you have into an engine. Three matching Seeds can be traded for a Wild, while five matching Seeds can become a Bee. You can also spend either of your actions buying a Cultivator, which gives you another way to improve your garden and scores points at the end of the game.
The main goal is to complete your bouquet called Bunch card. This gives you five specific sets of blooms to work towards. If you complete your Bunch before your opponents, you win immediately. This is where I think Sky Bloom really shines!
Sky Bloom is a race, but you also have to be strategic about how you approach that race. First Frost is waiting at the end of the Forecast deck, and if it arrives before anyone completes their Bunch, the game ends and points determine the winner. Soooooo, you're constantly weighing that decision: do I push toward finishing my Bunch, or do I spend my time building up my garden, collecting bees, and setting myself up in case the season ends first?
How It Plays
Each turn, you get two actions.
- Take Seeds: You can take two Seeds from the available supply or draw three random ones from the bag. Drawing from the bag is a little bit of a gamble, but it can also give you more options than what's currently available.
Plant Seeds: Plant Seeds into your Planters. Once you complete the requirements, your Planter produces a Bloom. - Buy a Cultivator: Cultivators give you additional ways to improve your garden and score points. As you start producing Blooms, those can also help discount your Cultivators, so the things you're already doing can make future turns more productive.
There is limited space, so deciding what to plant and when to harvest matters. You can have up to three Planters at a time, which means you can't just plant everything and figure it out later. You can hold up to eight Seeds, and matching Seeds give you some flexibility. Three of the same Seed can be traded for a Wild, while five of the same Seed can be traded for a Bee. That helps take some of the sting out of drawing something you weren't necessarily looking for.
Once you start producing Blooms, they become useful in more than one way. They can help you complete your Bunch, but they can also help you get discounts on Cultivators. Your Blooms can also help you attract Pollinators, which require three Blooms from a specific color combination. If you complete more than one qualifying set, you can collect multiple Pollinators (this is great when it happens to you, only)
Every turn begins with one more Planter and Cultivator card than the number of players, five Seeds, and a Forecast card that can help or hinder. You can also see the next two Forecast cards, which gives you some warning about what's coming so you can adjust your plans instead of getting completely blindsided There is some luck involved, especially when you decide to draw random Seeds, but I never felt like I didn't have anything to do about it. You can take the Seeds you know you need, push your luck with a random draw, trade duplicates, or change your plans based on what your opponents and the Forecast is doing.
The game ends when someone completes their Bunch card or when First Frost arrives. If someone completes their Bunch first, they win immediately. If First Frost arrives before anyone finishes, then the player with the most points wins.
Who Is This Game For?
If you like cozy games that still give you something to think about, Sky Bloom is worth checking out. It's primarily a game about optimizing your own garden rather than messing with your opponents, so if you want a highly interactive game, this probably isn't it.
The game is all about building your garden over the course of the game and gradually making your turns more productive. The gardening theme is a big part of the appeal, but underneath all those flowers and bees is a game about managing limited space, planning ahead, and figuring out which opportunities are worth pursuing.
The race to complete your Bunch adds another layer because you can't just focus on building the most efficient garden possible. You have to pay attention to what your opponents are doing and decide how aggressively you want to chase the finish before First Frost arrives.
The game does not have a ton of player interaction other than maybe taking a card you wish was still available during your turn. This is very much a solitaire game where you are trying to do the most with the options given and ensuring you pay attention to your surroundings to calibrate how you are doing compared to your opponents.
What I Liked
- Theme and gameplay actually connect
- The Forecast keeps things moving
- Interesting race to the finish
- Luck without feeling helpless
- Multiple ways to build your garden
- Beautiful table presence
Considerations
- Though the game says 45 minutes, this felt more like a 20-30 minute game
- There is some luck, but you have ways to manage it. Seeds and other available options aren't completely under your control, especially when you decide to draw randomly from the bag. But the trading system gives you ways to turn duplicates into something useful
- You need to keep an eye on the season. You can't spend the entire game slowly building the perfect garden. First Frost is coming (read that as in Game of Thrones)
- Two-player turns could use a bit more clarity. While the two-player mode works well, the rulebook wasn't super clear on how turn order flows. We ended up playing it like Sagrada using a snake draft style: you go, I go, I go, you go
- The Pollinator icons took me a minute. The iconography throughout the game is really clear, but I initially had trouble distinguishing the Pollinator icons from the regular Seed icons because they use the same basic symbols. My wife grabbed the first Pollinator and I immediately had a Splendor moment of wishing there was a distinction to identify at a glance. It's a small thing, but it did trip me up the first few times
- This is a preview copy. The Kickstarter page notes that components, materials, artwork, and other details can still change before production, so what I'm playing isn't necessarily exactly what backers will receive
Bottom Line
Sky Bloom ended up being a really pleasant surprise. I went expecting a pretty gardening game, and while it definitely delivers on the pretty part, there's enough decision making underneath it to keep me interested. The part I didn't expect was how much the game makes you weigh the race against the points. I can rush my Bunch because finishing it first wins the game, but I also have to consider what happens if First Frost arrives before anyone gets there. Do I push for the immediate win, or spend my time building a more efficient garden and collecting Bees in case the season ends first?
