Very rarely, we’ll purchase a game based on the theme, mechanics and artwork. Frosted Blooms was one of those games that we bought on impulse. Erin’s favorite flowers are tulips and we both love puzzley tile placement games. This game was designed by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc, a duo that has some big hits in the hobby. In Frosted Blooms, each player is drafting and creating their own tulip garden over the course of ten rounds. Let’s dig in and see if this impulse purchase was a hit for our game table.
Tip-Toe Through the Tulips
Frosted Blooms features large polyomino tiles in various shapes that contain all three flower types and water features. Players begin with a single garden piece and will build from there each round. Turns are very simple as you craft a new shape from the pieces around the central board, add them to your garden, then chose a card from your hand to score.
When you’re the active player, you can draft the new shape immediately in front of the tulip marker, OR pay a coin for each shape you want to skip over. You’ll have a couple coins to start the game and can earn more as you play. This newly drafted tile has to be placed into your garden with at least 1 adjacent side touching a previously placed piece. You score the most by grouping together the same color flowers or connecting water segments to make a large body of water.
After you add this new tile, you must score a card from one of the three in your hand. All players have the same identical ten cards in their deck but they will appear at different times during the game since you’ll only have three cards at a time. A card with a single flower type will award you two points per flower while the split cards will only award you a single point for the two different flower (or water) types.
You’ll move your scoring marker up immediately and replace the missing piece in the central display to give the next player 5 options.
A Tricky Puzzle
There are two optional actions that can take place on a players turn in Frosted Blooms. If you’ve met one of the goal cards on the central board, you can claim it at the end of your turn. These are first come, first serve and they are randomly drawn during the games setup.
You can also add a new feature if you’ve created an gap in your garden. This is where Frosted Blooms messes with your brain a little bit.
While most tile placement games will award players that make seamless puzzles, Frosted Blooms awards players for creating specific sized gaps in their garden. Small gaps will host a worker that is worth three victory points and earns you a coin. The barn will give you ten victory points and the windmill earns you a smooth twenty-five victory points. Players need to plan to make these gaps in their garden in order to maximize points and claim some of the goals on the central board.
The game benefits players who group their flower types well but also leave large spaces as they build. I really appreciate the player aid card in this game because it clearly lays out the various spaces you want to create and what feature it awards you.
Am I Missing Something?
In our first game of Frosted Blooms, my Mom was really proud of the garden she had built. The water tiles connected together, everything fit together so well. Almost too well.
As we came to the last couple rounds of the game, we kept reminding her that leaving large gaps and spaces in the garden was encouraged. This is how you get all those fancy wooden tokens and end game points. It almost feels wrong as you intentionally leave opens spaces in your garden. Each time we teach this game, we remind people that these missing spaces are vital to a good score in the game.
The scoring of connected flowers and continuous water pieces all feel common and expected. Utilizing the negative space in your garden and planning out gaps really adds something special to an otherwise plain game.
Before we played our first game, I remember finishing the rulebook and saying “that’s it?”. Frosted Blooms feels like a game that you’ve played before, but everything about the gameplay is so smooth and polished. The first couple rounds feel familiar and relaxed. As you approach the seventh round, the analysis paralysis really kicks in.
You should be planning a strategy around the cards you haven’t drawn yet while still creating open space for these point scoring features. Lack of planning can lead you to only gaining a couple points off the cards that you play in these final rounds of the game.
Final Thoughts
Frosted Blooms is simple and just challenging enough that I’d easily introduce this to both my gaming and non-gaming friends. The gameplay is simple yet offers a nice puzzle in the late game. While the game doesn’t have any player interaction, you have to keep an eye on everyone else that might snag a goal card before you do. Players can also “hate draft” pieces if they know you’re looking for a specific shape for your garden.
While our impulse buys are not always hits, Frosted Blooms really impressed us. The artwork, production value of the game, puzzley tile placement, and pacing of the game make this a game that will hit the table often.
You can purchase Frosted Blooms at your local game store, or online through Miniature Market today.
Highs
- Excellent artwork and components
- Goal cards give players something to chase to boost points
- Players who enjoy spatial puzzles will love this
- Ten rounds for the gameplay is perfect
Lows
- The final rounds of the game can drag if players struggle with spatial puzzles
Complexity
Time Commitment
Replayability
