Description

Sprout is a cooperative adventure strategy game about restoration and landscape creation. Instead of saving a world from the threat of impending destruction, players take on the role of four characters who find an already destroyed world and bring it back to life through peaceful actions such as walking, planting, and clearing away ash. (Well…. there’s also a threat of impending destruction. More on that in a bit.)

Players take on the roles of four “lifelings”, elemental sprites with the power to create life wherever they walk. When a lifeling pawn moves across the board, they trace their path by placing hexagon tiles that match their element. (Grass, water, soil, or ice) The tiles interact and stack, creating a unique, colorful map on every playthrough. Players must hurry to cover the entire map, called “the Barren”, with these “life tiles” before the end of twelve rounds, or else they lose the game by the volcano at the center of the Barren erupting.

Complicating the strategy, four enemy characters called the “flamelings” move around the board with randomized paths determined by dice rolls. Flamelings remove (“burn away”) life tiles wherever their tokens move and can also knock out lifelings, cause explosions, and spread ash tiles (which must be removed for the players to win). Players must work together, using their actions, unique special abilities, and tile interactions to avoid, trap, and distract the flamelings, who can respawn even after being knocked out.

The randomness of the enemy’s movements, as well as the unique landscapes created by players, necessitates new strategies every playthrough. For experienced players, difficulty can be adjusted by lowering the number of rounds the players have to accomplish their goal.

This game is appropriate for players who enjoy whimsical storytelling, light role playing, ticking-clock challenges, and the satisfaction of placing the last piece of a puzzle.