How to play Plotalot
Plotalot sprung into my mind one sunny morning as I gazed out of the kitchen window at my vegetable plot. As I stood there, six glorious cabbages were being reduced to shreds by caterpillars and pigeons; attacked from all angles they didn’t stand a chance and I had to laugh. It was a lesson learnt about the value of a polytunnel. It dawned on me that this small vegetable patch, where space was limited, would be an interesting mechanism for a card game. Hours later, I had the bare bones of an idea and after just over a year, a sample of the game in my hand. The game is based on my own experiences of growing vegetables, which can be both incredibly frustrating and hugely rewarding. I hope players of all ages learn and laugh about the pitfalls and triumphs of growing their own, to the point where they take their strategies from the table to the soil. I hope you enjoy your time in the fields of Plot, just remember to protect those cabbages better than I did.
What’s the game about
Themed on the real-life trials and triumphs of growing vegetables, Plotalot invites players to the rolling fields of Plot, a patch of gloriously-green land in the English countryside. Here they'll become one of five farmers who find themselves in a bitter feud.
The fertile land is the perfect place to plant and harvest vegetables; the problem is, there isn’t enough room for everyone to make the most of it. If they’re lucky, some farmers will get the chance to dig more plots, but others will not. And if that’s not enough, there are pesky pests just waiting to be unleashed on ripe vegetables.
In this new game, players must ride out attacks from opponents and fill whatever space they have with vegetables. Protect, steal, fertilise or unleash pests; do whatever you have to do in an attempt to earn the most money from the land and be victorious.
What’s in the box?
How do you play?
Taking a turn
Players start their turn with five cards in their hand. On a turn, a player can take up to two actions:
Lay a brown plot card in front of them – this gives a player space into which they can plant vegetables
Lay a green vegetable card on a plot card – this starts to build potential points
Play or lay a red attack card on an opponent and activate the card instructions
Play a blue enhance card, either by laying on a plot or activating the card instructions
Harvest a single plot or multiple plots using one of the purple harvest cards
Discard an unwanted card into the compost heap.
Ending a turn
Once a player has taken their two actions, either through playing or discarding cards, they finish their go by picking up cards to bring their hand back to five. They pick from either of the two face down card piles in the middle of the table. One pile is vegetables cards, the other is a mix of plot, attack, enhance and harvest cards. This give players the chance to strategically balance their hand based on what they want to try and achieve on their next turn.
Harvesting
After a few turns, players will start to fill their plots. At the start of a turn, players may harvest any full plots; this does not count as an action and can be done for free. Players should add up the points indicated by the gold coins on vegetable cards, remembering to adjust the score according to any red or blue cards in play. Once calculated, a player can note their score on the score tracker pad provided. The total score will be added at the end of the game.
Ending the game
When the last card is picked up from one of the two draw stacks, the season is over. Every player gets one more turn and then the game is over.
Any vegetables still in plots after the final round are worth half and noted on the score tracker. Each player adds all the points they accumulated throughout the game from harvests to get a final individual total. It’s simple enough; the highest score wins!
Kickstarter stretch goals
Plotalot was launched on Kickstarter in May 2020 and funded in just a few days. Backers helped the game soar into reality and grabbed some exciting stretch goals along the way - all of which are now in the final copy of the game. These stretch goals added:
A two player variant of the game - we created a 20 minute two player version of the game which uses less cards and removes some of the harshest attack actions. This version is easy to set up thanks to a new ‘2’ icon in the bottom left hand corner of the cards. Two players can still play with the full deck if they want a longer game, or use this variant as a base to create their own deck.
Three card stack boards - in stretch goal two backers unlocked beautiful card stack boards which replaced small tokens. These boards are used to store the card decks around the table, keeping everything easy to see and tidy.
Two new characters - stretch goal three saw two new characters join the game, the Busy Bee and Lucky Ladybird. These helpers are blue cards, meaning they enhance a players game rather than attack others. The Busy Bee enables players to plant more in a single turn, while the Lucky Ladybird helps players peek at one of the face-down decks and plan ahead accordingly.
Four giant vegetables - with the final stretch goal we went big with bootylicious vegetables. Four veggies got a double dose of fertiliser and were recreated with super new artwork. These veggies take up more space but are worth more points so keep an eye out for them.
Game manual
If you want to learn more about the game play and the individual cards, you can read the complete manual on Issuu. Click on the link below to have a browse.
Where can I buy Plotalot
Plotalot is available via Zatu Games. The retailer ships internationally, so click on the logo to grab your copy of the game via their website.
