This game is: Automatic, Supersonic, Hypnotic...

Local produce has always had to compete with the "Big Guys" when it comes to selling their products; although its usually cheaper and better for the environment! This week, we were asked to create some kind of game that focuses on local Ontario fruits and vegetables - specifically when they're fresh/in season. The goal of playing our game is to give people within Ontario a heightened knowledge of when they can buy fruits and vegetables locally.

They'll be even fresher than these.
Above image taken from http://amengelkoch.blogspot.ca/

The first thing we had to do before we started was decide what kind of game we wanted it to be. We played around with the idea of the four seasons on a square, with each quarter of the square representing a different season. Since it couldn't be a race-to-the-end game and we're such a fan of cards, we then tried to incorporate them somehow. Since fruits and vegetables are only fresh during certain seasons, we created decks of cards based on the four seasons. We then searched online for the Ontario's government website which shows a list of when all of Ontario's fruits and veges are in season.

The game then took a turn here, when one of the group members decided that players should be collecting the fruits/vegetables based on the current season in an attempt to collect more fruits/vegetables than other players. This then evolved into players gaining money based on the type of fruit/vegetable they collected, with all-year one's generating less money than specific seasonal ones. We also gave player's the option to trade their fruits/vegetables with each other (specifically for getting one of the various bonuses that happen end-game) or purchase a Farm. If a player owns a Farm that makes the fruit/vegetable another player has drawn, then that player gets half of what the other player would have received. A few more specific details and tweaks later, and the game was finally complete.

RULES:
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Players: 4 or more

Dominate the market in this all-out battle for farm produce domination! Compete to win the most money by growing and selling a variety of fruits and vegetables - or even trading for what you think could be the produce that rockets you to the top!

Set-up:

• Each Season Deck must be shuffled separately and placed next to their respective Season on the board.
• Each player receives $25 (each money piece is worth $5).
• The spinner is then set to “Spring.”
• Players can decide who goes first however they please.

Play:

• At the start of a players turn, the player has the option to purchase a Farm Card by flipping over a Farm Card – your first purchase costs $10 and each subsequent purchase costs $5 more (2^nd is $15, 3^rd is $20, etc.)
• Players may also trade any Farm or Produce cards with other players before beginning their turn.
• The player then flips over a card from the current Season.
• The player collects the money the card states – the rarer the card, the more money its worth. PLAYERS KEEP THE PRODUCE CARDS.
• If another player has a Farm that produces the turned over card, the player who flipped the card must pay the Farm owner half of what they would’ve received.
• After one whole round (e.g., when the first player begins their next turn), the Season changes to the next one in a clock-wise fashion.
• After all four seasons have been played through, a new year begins.
• Play ends after the end of the 5^th year.
• Players tally up all their Produce Card values and whoever has the highest value wins.
• Players must also consider the End-Game Bonuses before confirming who wins:

o   Most Vegetables: $20

o   Most Fruit: $20

o   Rock a P (2 Peaches, Pears and Plums): $25

o   Garden Salad (1 Lettuce, 1 Carrot, 1 Cucumber, 1 Onion, 1 Mushroom and 1 Tomato): $35

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The Season Tree game board.

In the end, this game became more fun than I thought it would - especially given the context of the idea. In my opinion, no one in their right mind would play a game that teaches you about when fruits and veges are in season; but I feel that the way we've structured our game keeps it hidden enough that the player doesn't necessarily know they're learning along the way. The game has a sort of Monopoly meets Mario Party vibe when it gets down to it; although one thing that player's seem to overlook is trading. This could be due to the fact that everyone is trying to get the same end game bonuses - so some form of card deck that contains random bonuses may have worked out better. The best possible thing (assuming we used a card deck) would be to shuffle the deck and select three bonus cards after the game is done. In this way, players are more likely to trade since they are unaware of what they'll need to collect a bonus when the game is over.