Gift of Tulips

I like open information games, I like market manipulation games, I like small card games with lovely art, so I should love Gift of Tulips from Weird Giraffe Games. Please read on to find out if this game blooms in the sun or withers in the cold.

I Bought This Gift For You…

In Gift of Tulips you have two actions per turn out of a possible three and you can’t repeat the same action during your turn, so you can learn and teach this game in about five minutes. On each of your turns you will first draw a card and then carry out one of the following actions:-

1. Gift a tulip to a competitors hand (Bouquet which sits face up on the table) and then score the value of the tulip plus additional points depending on where the tulip currently sits in the market (Festival)
2. Play a tulip into your hand and you score points if that tulip is currently in third or fourth position in the market
3. Place a tulip in either the open market and adjust that tulips score and move it up the market so that it places ahead of any other tulip with the same or lower score (moving the other tulips down the market). Or place it in the secret market face down.

The aim of the game is to score the most points when the deck of cards runs out. You will keep track of your score as you gift tulips to competitors as well as playing lower ranking tulips into your hand. Then at the end of the game you will shuffle the secret market and take five cards and play them one at a time to manipulate the open market. Then for each of the top three positions in the market you will award the player with the most cards in their bouquet matching each tulip the majority points (in a three or four player game there are also points for the second most cards and with a five or six player game there are points for the player with the third most cards).

You Give With One Hand & Take With The Other

For every positive thing this game does it seems to counteract it with a negative. Take the artwork which is so vibrant and colourful. I really like the back of the cards, the market cards and the actual tulip pictures themselves but they are repeated on every card. You would think the two value orange tulip card would look different to the four value orange tulip card but it doesn’t.

The components are so cute and twee but have no weight (due to their size) so they can’t be relied upon to stay in position if a player accidentally knocks the table.

Then there is the game itself which is very simple and easy to understand but when the final card is played and majorities are calculated it feels like an anti-climax as everyone could work out who was going to win by simply looking at each other’s bouquets and the market. There is no real suspense or surprise as the final scores are calculated.

A good player will work out quite quickly how to flood the secret and open market with the cards they want to win the majorities whilst not ignoring their own bouquet and gifting the odd tulip to their competitors.

On a more positive note the rule book is well written and easy to understand and provides good examples of play so that only one read through is all that is needed to understand the game. However there is also a problem that with such a simple game you will need a ‘hook’ to keep you invested if you play numerous times, and with Gift of Tulips the ‘hook’ just isn’t there.

Final Thoughts

This is one of those games that just didn’t hit the right spot for me and I think that is mostly due to the end game scoring. I would have liked the game to have more ways of scoring at the end or maybe all of the secret market cards being introduced rather than just five, this way it would have been more of a surprise which tulip was crowned first place at the festival (market).

I will always happily play this if someone asks me to but I wouldn’t be the one getting the game out in the first place.

I do appreciate the artwork, positive player interaction and price point for Gift of Tulips however it is a shame that it doesn’t get me all excited when I play it and I worry you will see all the game has to offer within a few games.

Back to the (Board Game) market for me as I need some new stock.