Overview

Keyflower is a competitive game for 2-6 players played over four rounds representing seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Players start with a home tile and workers in four colors (blue, red, yellow, green). Same-colored workers serve as currency for bidding on village tiles and for activating tiles to generate resources, skills, and victory points. New workers arrive each season on boats. The player whose village generates the most victory points wins.

Components

• 64 large hexagonal tiles:
  • 4 Turn order tiles
  • 6 Boat tiles
  • 6 Home tiles
  • 48 Village tiles (including 4 summer boat tiles)
• 48 skill tokens (16 anvils, 16 picks, 16 saws)
• 120 octagonal wooden resource counters (48 gold/yellow, 24 iron/black, 24 stone/green, 24 wood/brown)
• 141 wooden workers (Keyples): 48 blue, 40 green, 40 red, 13 yellow
• 6 home screens (with 12 chimney tiles)
• 12 plastic zip lock storage bags
• 1 black cloth bag

Setup

1. Place blue, red, and yellow workers in the cloth bag. Green workers stay at the side.
2. Sort resource counters and skill tokens as general supply.
3. Place home tiles face-down; each player draws one randomly. It goes in front of their screen.
4. Each player draws 8 workers randomly from the bag and places them behind their screen (hidden).
5. Sort hexagonal tiles by season. Place appropriate tiles for the current season face-up for auction; place boat tiles. Number of tiles used varies by player count.

Turn Structure

Each season, players take turns clockwise placing workers to either:

1. Bid for a village tile or turn order tile, OR
2. Utilize a village tile (activate its production/transport/upgrading ability)

Play proceeds clockwise until all players have passed. A player who has passed may take further actions if all other players haven’t also passed.

Season Flow

• Spring: Place spring village tiles for auction. New workers arrive on boats.
• Summer/Autumn: Same as spring with new season tiles added.
• Winter: Players select winter tiles from those received in setup. Place them simultaneously face-down, then reveal and shuffle. These form the final auction.

At season’s end:

• Resolve bids (highest bidders win tiles and add them to their villages).
• Boats are claimed by turn order tile winners.
• Workers and skill tiles from boats are distributed.

Actions

Bidding

• Choose a village or turn order tile to bid on.
• Place one or more workers on YOUR side of the tile.
• ALL workers used in bidding must be the SAME COLOR as any other workers already surrounding or on the tile.
• If outbid, your bid must use MORE workers than the previous highest bid. No maximum limit.
• Outbid workers can be moved elsewhere but must remain together.
• Workers cannot return behind screens.

Utilizing a Village Tile

• Place workers directly ON a tile (yours or another player’s) to activate its ability.
• Workers placed must match the color of any workers already on the tile.
• A tile can be utilized by up to 3 workers total (across all players).
• Effects include: generating resources, transporting resources, upgrading tiles, gaining skills.

Turn Order Tiles

• Bid on these separately; they determine player order for next season and which boats’ workers you receive.

Tile Placement

• Won tiles are added to your village, connected to existing tiles.
• Tiles can be upgraded (flipped) for enhanced abilities and victory points using specific resources and skills.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

At the end of Winter, score victory points from:

• Points printed on village tiles
• Upgraded tile bonuses
• Resources on tiles (as specified by tile scoring conditions)
• Workers on tiles (some tiles score for adjacent workers/resources)
• Gold can substitute for any resource for scoring purposes and is usually worth one point per gold at game end.

The player with the most victory points wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Gold can substitute for any other resource at any time, including for scoring.
• Color commitment: once a tile has workers of one color around/on it, all subsequent workers on that tile must match.
• Workers used for bidding go to the winning player; workers used for utilizing go to the tile owner at season end.
• Green workers are rarer and more valuable; they enter the game through specific mechanisms.
• Surplus village tiles not used in a season are removed from the game.
• Winter tiles are secret until simultaneously revealed.
• Transport: Resources can be moved between connected tiles using transport actions; distance limits shown on tiles.

Player Reference

Worker Color	Approximate Quantity
Blue	48
Red	40
Green	40
Yellow	13

Season	Actions
Spring	Auction + utilize
Summer	Auction + utilize + new boats
Autumn	Auction + utilize + new boats
Winter	Final auction (secret tile selection) + scoring

Key Rules	Detail
Max workers utilizing a tile	3
Color matching	Mandatory for all workers on/around a tile
Outbidding	Must use more workers, same color
Gold	Wild resource, ~1 VP each at end