Overview

Orchard is a solitaire card game (with multiplayer variant) in which you play cards depicting fruit trees into an overlapping grid, scoring points by stacking matching trees on top of each other. Each overlap increases the harvest value shown by dice placed on the trees. Designed by Mark Tuck. Also known as “Orchard: A 9 Card Solitaire Game.”

Components

• 18 Orchard cards (numbered for multiplayer identification)
• 15 custom Fruit dice in 3 colors (5 red Apple, 5 yellow Pear, 5 purple Plum)
• 2 Rotten Fruit tokens

Setup

1. Place dice and tokens within reach.
2. Shuffle the 18 cards. Divide them into two 9-card decks.
3. Set one deck aside (for a second game). Place the other face down as the draw deck.
4. Draw the top card and place it face up as the start of the Orchard.
5. Draw 2 cards to form your starting hand.

Turn Structure

Each turn follows 3 steps:

1. Play a card from your hand, adding it to the Orchard so that at least one tree overlaps a tree already in play. You may rotate the card 90 or 180 degrees. The fruit of any overlapping tree must match the fruit of the tree underneath (unless using a Rotten Fruit token).

2. Place dice on each overlapping tree:
   • If no die exists on the tree underneath: place a matching-color die showing 1 on the overlapping tree.
   • If a die already exists on the tree underneath: lift the die, place the card, then put the die on the new overlapping tree and increase its value:
     • 1 → 3
     • 3 → 6
     • 6 → 10
     • 10 → stays at 10
   • If no dice of the matching color remain, do not place a die.
3. Draw a card from the deck (if available) to return your hand to 2 cards.

Actions

• Play a card: Overlap at least one tree; matching fruit required.
• Rotten Fruit (2 per game): You may play a card so an overlapping tree does not match the fruit underneath. Place a Rotten Fruit token on the mismatched tree. If a die was on the tree underneath, remove it. A tree with rotten fruit cannot be overlapped later. Both tokens may be used on a single card.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

At game end, add up all dice values for your total harvest score.

Rotten Fruit penalty: Subtract 3 points for each Rotten Fruit token used.

Score	Rating
< 25	Pal-tree
25-29	Forget-apple
30-34	Satisfac-tree
35-39	Remark-apple
40-44	Tree-mendous
45-49	Plum-believable
50-54	Close to Pear-fect
55+	Almost imposs-apple!

Game ends when you play your final (9th) card, or when you cannot legally place a card.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Dice on overlapping trees max out at 10 (cannot go higher).
• Rotten Fruit tokens are limited to 2 per game total.
• A tree with rotten fruit on it cannot be overlapped by another tree.
• If you cannot legally place any card from your hand, the game ends immediately.
• Multiplayer variant: Each player has their own copy of the game. One player (“Caller”) shuffles and draws cards, announcing card numbers. All players use the same cards in the same order but build their own Orchards independently. Highest score wins; tiebreaker: fewest rotten fruit used, then most dice used.

Player Reference

Turn: Play card (overlap matching trees) → Place/upgrade dice → Draw card

Die progression: 1 → 3 → 6 → 10 (max)

Rotten Fruit: 2 per game, -3 points each, blocks future overlaps on that tree

Game length: 9 cards (8 turns after initial placement)