Sprout! 

In this game of growth and domination, compete against your fellow scientists in the Tomsanto GMO company to see whose genetically modified bean sprouts are the most virulent!

A game for 2-4 players.  

The board

• The board (garden) is an 11x11 dotted grid with planting spots at each dot and a wall beyond which sprouting cannot take place. 
• The cardinal directions are labelled (North, South, East and West as well as NE, NW, SE and SW). 
• The starting point is equidistant from the each cardinal direction for each player (e.g for a 4 player set up, 3 dots in along each of the axes)

Gameplay

The winner is the player with the most genetically modified plants on the board when there are no moves that can be taken. 

Play phases 

Each player has two phases in their turn. 

1. Sprout
2. Grow

In the sprout phase, a new shoot is fired off in any one of the cardinal directions from your existing sprouts. The distance you can sprout is determined by how many plants you already have in any one direction and whether or not there is a free planting spot in that direction. You cannot sprout beyond the wall of the garden. You must sprout the full distance that is possible in the direction you choose - no falling short. You cannot sprout into a planting spot that is already occupied. 

Once you’ve sprouted, you enter the growth phase. Choose a direction for your plants to grow. All of your plants will grow one space in that direction (as long as there is a free planting space available). 

Keep taking turns until one person can’t sprout. 

Count your plants. 

The winner is the scientist with the most plants in the garden! 

Designers 

Ben

Neil

Myles

Mush

Image credits

Grid from https://incompetech.com/graphpaper/lite/