🌼 What is Pergola Board Game?

Pergola is a competitive Euro-style strategy game for 1-4 players, aged 10 and up, where you become a gardener crafting your own vibrant, insect-attracting paradise. Designed by Michał Gołąb Gołębiowski and Przemek Wojtkowiak, and published by Rebel Studio, it masterfully blends action drafting, tile placement, and set collection into a 45-60 minute experience that’s as visually serene as it is thoughtfully engaging.

🎯 Core Gameplay: Your Turn in the Garden

So, how do you actually play? Each of the 15 rounds is elegantly simple:

•
Pick a Tool 🧰: Choose from 4 available tools on the central action board. Each provides two specific components, like a yellow hollyhock and a lavender leaf.
•
Plant Your Pieces 🌸: Arrange your newly acquired flowers, insects, or lanterns on your personal garden board. You have unparalleled freedom in their placement, which directly influences your final score.
•
Take a Special Action ✨: Execute the action corresponding to your chosen tool’s slot on the board. This is where the magic happens@ref

🧩 The Four Key Actions: Bringing Your Garden to Life

The strategic depth emerges from mastering the four unique actions:

•
Insect Flutter 🦋: Move up to 2 ladybugs, bees, or butterflies to different areas on your board. This lets you optimize their positioning for maximum points as your garden evolves.
•
Bird Flight 🐦: Take the top leaf token from a shared pile, place it on your birdhouse, and add the insect it shows to your garden. You’ll score for the variety of colored leaves at game’s end.
•
Frog Jump 🐸: Move your frog on the shared pond board to an adjacent lilypad to claim the insect pictured there. Some lilypads feature dragonflies, which grant bonus points if you meet their conditions (e.g., having 4 magnolias).
•
Water Drip 💧: Move one of your two water drops down your personal cascade track. As they descend, they unlock bonus insects and end-game scoring opportunities.

📊 Scoring the Beauty: How Do You Win?

Victory goes to the player who most efficiently cultivates their garden for points. The myriad scoring methods are the game’s hallmark:

•
Flowers & Sets: Score for sets of different-colored hollyhocks or pairs of pink and blue buttercups.
•
Insects & Placement: Butterflies score more when placed higher on hollyhocks. Ladybugs score based on how many are grouped on a single tier of a magnolia tree. Bees require a specific number on a flower to score (1 on pink buttercups, 2 on blue, 3 on lavender).
•
Bonus Objectives: Completing honey pots (by placing bees) and activating bonuses from your cascade track and birdhouse leaves provide crucial extra points.

🖼️ Aesthetic & Production: A Visual Masterpiece

Pergola is arguably one of the most visually striking games of the year. Its components are top-tier:

•
Watercolor Artwork: Features unique, hand-painted illustrations by Karolina Kijak, evoking a genuine sense of calm and beauty.
•
Quality Components: Includes thick, chunky tiles, wooden insect tokens, and a clever Gametrayz insert for organization. The individual plastic tool pots for each player are both thematic and functional.

🤔 Is Pergola Right For You?

This game is a perfect fit for players and families who enjoy:

•
Multiplayer Solitaire: Interaction is indirect, mostly about drafting tools others might want. It’s a ”good feelings” game with no attacking or negative penalties.
•
Puzzly Optimization: The joy comes from planning, adapting, and maximizing the efficiency of your own beautiful space.
•
Accessible Depth: The rules are straightforward to learn, but mastering the intertwining scoring paths offers significant strategic depth.

However, its initial learning curve can be steep due to the many scoring systems, and players seeking high interaction or conflict might find it too peaceful.

💭 Final Thoughts: A Tranquil Oasis on the Table

Pergola isn’t just a game; it’s an experience. It successfully captures the tranquil satisfaction of nurturing growth and creating something beautiful. While it may reveal some strategic repetition after numerous plays, its breathtaking presentation, smooth pacing, and fulfilling puzzle make it a standout title for a relaxing game night. It’s a refreshing reminder that strategy games don’t need to be about conquest to be deeply compelling—sometimes, building a peaceful garden is enough.

pergola board game