Theme: Gardening

From the award-winning designer Bruno Cathala, Ishtar is a game in which you play the role of a gardener aiming to transform the dry desert into the Lost Hanging Gardens of Babylon. To accomplish your mission, you will have to plant flowers, which, if you place them well, can help you gather precious gems and activate actions. Whether to buy Trees (which will block the link between two Flower spots, as well as earning you points) or to purchase upgrades (such as getting two more points per Tree card at the end of the game), collecting gems will be a crucial part of the game. Get them before your opponents, recruit apprentices, send them to earn points in the copses of flowers you have created, block others and think carefully of the upgrades to purchase if you want to become the best gardener at the end of the game!

—description from the publisher

In Blossoms (original title Kwiatki), players compete to create the most beautiful flower bouquet. The longer the flowers, the higher they score!

To set up, give each player two random face-down cards and three action tokens. Place the flower pots in the center of the playing area with space above them for the growing flowers. Place four different flower cards, one in each pot. Take one card from the draw pile and place it aside face-down.

Players alternate taking turns, trying to make the most valuable combination of flowers possible. On their turn, a player can conduct any number of actions, which are:

Growth — Draw one card from the deck and place it in any pot that has the same flower type.
Cut — Cut down one pot of flowers to score points; this ends your round.
Special — Use your action tokens to perform one extra action depending on which pot you choose.

A player's turn ends when they decide to cut flowers, pass, or when they have BAD LUCK. The game ends when the last card from the deck is drawn. Points are then scored by the size and diversity of sets you have planted. Whoever has the higher score wins!