Pergola: Review
Information:
Player Age: 10+
Player Count: 2 - 4 Players
BGG Weight: 2.08
Time to Play: 45- 60 Minutes
Year Published: 2025
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the VR Distribution
Introduction:
Pergola, once familiarised, is a relaxing point salad game about creating an ecosystem. Instead of large animals, players are focusing on insects in their natural habitat of a garden. Players will be gaining two items a turn from drafting tools. This, along with comboing the action of the location the tool is in to gain a foray of insects for end game scoring. For your first game I would focus on one plant and its matching insect until around mid-game when you are further familiarised. Each player will have exactly 15 turns which is easily monitored through the filling of the tool pot.
Game Anatomy:
Tools:
There are four tool styles, with the player count being equal to how many tools are used each game, i.e. two players will means two types of tools being used. There will be two icons on each tool to represent the items the player will gain when they select this tool.
The position of the tool will also determine an action that the active player will perform this turn. At the end of every player's turn, they will place the tool into their holder to determine how many turns they have had so far. Each player will have 15 turns in total.
Lanterns:
Lanterns are gained from certain tools and will allow players to either activate a second occurrence of specified actions, change the associated tool action or gain more insects. The lantern needs the player to activate that action or gain that insect in order to duplicate it. There is also a specific honeypot that, if filled, will score one point for every lantern the player has.
Plants:
The main methods players will use to gain points are via their plants and insects.
Hollyhocks:
Hollyhocks will create individual stacks of three colours; red, blue, and yellow. These will score depending of their level. This flower wants the stacks to be equal between the colours so one colour equals one point, two colours equals three points and all three colours equals six points. This is for each level so if there are two levels complete and the third level has one plant higher then the player will score 6+6+1 point.
Magnolia:
Magnolia includes two types; one with one flower and another with two. The magnolia works like a reverse pyramid and each new flower will be added to the top of the existing flowers. Each of the tokens (not the individual flower count) will score at the end of the game based on the height. They score one point for the first 3 levels, two for the 4th level, and three points for any of the magnolia tokens higher than level 4.
Buttercups:
Buttercups come in two colours; pink and blue. Each colour can hold either one bee or two bees respectively. The players will score three points for each set of Buttercups, where a set consists of one pink and one blue. .
Lavender Leaves:
Lavender Leaves are worth two points each. When combined, the player will immediately have a choice to gain a safe dragonfly worth one point or a lavender flower that is worth no points on its own but has the capacity to hold three bees.
Leaves:
Leaves are not gained from the tools but are instead gained through a specific action. Each leaf contains one insect that the player will collect and a background colour from five different options. Some of these leaves also contain a movement symbol that allows the player to move one of their insects into a new valid space. At the end of the game, each different coloured leaf is worth one point.
Insects:
Insects will fill the vacant spots present on the plants. Each insect can enter the player's board even if there isn't an available location for them. However, they aren't worth much until they attach to a plant.
Butterflies:
Butterflies will score based on how high in the hollyhock plant they are. Level 1 is worth one point, level 2 and 3 are two points, and anything higher is worth three points.
Ladybugs:
The ladybugs will go on the magnolia plant and will score based on how many ladybugs are on the same level. For each ladybug by itself, the player will gain one point. For a pair, they will gain two points per Ladybug, and a group of any larger will score three points for each ladybug.
Bees:
Bees only score if the buttercups or lavender flowers they are sitting on are ‘full’ of bees. A full pink buttercup is two points, a full blue buttercup is four points, and a full lavender flower is eight points.
Dragonfly:
Besides the small dragonfly worth one point, the medium and large dragonfly (3 and 5 points, respectively) can only be gained by having at least four of the plant types shown on the dragonfly and landing on that space with the player's frog. These insects don't need a home and fly around instead (except for the smallest one pointer that hangs with the lavender leaves).
Honeypots:
Honeypots unlock different end-game scoring. Throughout the game, all players can activate a maximum of three honey pots. Honeypots are gained by having a certain number of bees filling the buttercups. Once a player reaches four, seven, or nine bees for the first time on the buttercups, they can choose one honeypot to flip to the scoring side. These bees can then be moved through other actions to score lavender flowers in end game scoring.
Setup:
Board Setup:
- Take out the tools and place them in the tool holder in the order as based on player count.
-Place the leaf board in the play area then shuffle and stack three separate leaf piles.
Player Setup:
- Each player gains a point reference board.
- Each player receives two water drops at the top of their cascade, four honeypots on the empty side, a frog, and a birdhouse.
- Each player will gain their tool pot.
How to play:
Each player will have 15 turns then the game will end. after each turn, the gained tool is placed into the player's tool pot to help as a visual reminder of when the game is ending. Each turn, the active player will select one of the four tools, gaining the two items on that tool. They will also activate the action below the tool on the board.
Then all tools will progress to the right and a new tool will be drawn (new tool colours will be drawn after one tool colour is depleted). Whichever player has the highest score at the end of the game is the winner.
Actions:
There are four actions associated with the board; move insects, bird flight, water drop movement, and frog jump. Remember that lanterns can be flipped to perform actions a second time when the action is taken.
Move insects:
This action allows the active player to move two of their insects into a new valid location.
Bird Flight:
Using this action the active player can take one leaf out of the three piles, gaining the insect and moving one insect for free (if the leaf allows).
Water Drop Movement:
When moving water drops the active player can move one down the cascade and gain the insect depicted. If a water drop reaches the bottom of the board they will gain any insect then choose an end game scoring bonus. These may be scoring points for each set of insects, each honeypot, or each dragonfly.
Frog Jump:
This action allows the frog to be placed or moved on the pond board. The pond has a lily pad for each insect type, as well as four Dragonfly groups. The active player will gain the insect that the frog lands on. To unlock the Dragonflies, however, the player must have four of the plant type indicated on the dragonfly.
Final Thoughts:
- Wide array of strategies with tactile gameplay based on the tools available.
- Challenging balance to the insects and plants.
- Like other point salad games, the variety of possible ways to gain points can be overwhelming for first-time players.
One of my favourite types of games lately is what I call ‘Ecosystem’ games. They require a fine balancing of both flora and fauna to optimise scoring. Pergola is a great addition to this kind of game, focusing on the smaller scale of insects. Each turn players are drafting a tool containing mostly plants (some feature insects) and performing an action associated with the tool position that mainly focuses on gaining insects and alternate end game scoring. Finding the balance between the two aspects to gain the ecosystem you want is the challenge. As this is a sandbox in its point salad, everything scores you points. In fact, if you focus on the bees and water enough you can add new scoring methods. If you're already a fan of this kind of nature game then you’ll find yourself gravitating towards it simply for the immersive table presence. It's a keeper for me and getting a Go-To Golden Seal, as I enjoy the vast array of scoring possibilities and tactile decisions.
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