Flight of Pollen Cheat-Sheet

OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

In Flight of Pollen teams work together to complete levels (A-D) by pollinating flowers while they’re still open. If flowers close not pollinated, then return to Level A and start again.

As players progress through the levels the game mechanics remain unchanged, and additional elements (flowers, players, elements) are introduced.

Once all levels have been successfully completed, then the team that collects the most berries wins.

LEVEL A

Set Up

  1. PUT DOWN the ground cloth, and place other items from the box to the side of the cloth (counters, markers & ripening covers)
  2. For the first go-through, LEAVE the grey storm cards in the box
  3. Only TAKE OUT items under level A instructional card with orange banner
  4. POP out the tiles (only the ones that have orange A) and place them in random order on the ground cloth starting in column A, then blank spaces in B, then C (if needed)
  5. The frames are no longer needed in the game
  6. SHUFFLE the orange element cards and place them face down on the ground cloth in the space provided
  7. CHOOSE your teams DAY or NIGHT, taking the amount of pollinators to match the number of turns (below)

Game Mechanics

Each player represents a team DAY (brown) or NIGHT (navy blue) and has one turn per round.

For a 2-player game.

Each team has 1 turn per round

For a 3-4 player game.

Each team has 2 turns per round, whether the team consists of 1 or 2 players

5-6players

Each team has 3 turns per round, whether the team consists of 2 or 3 players

Beginning of round

Turn over an element card

  • place a SUN card at the top.  Any further sun cards are fanned out (each remains active)
  • for all other cards, follow the instructions and then place cards face up below, with the active element card on top

Once an element card has been turned over look at the active cards on the ground cloth and check whether or not your pollinators can move

  1. If you have a tick at sun strength (0, 1, 2 or 3), then read the active card on the lower pile
    NOTE. NO CARD = 0
  2. If you have a tick at wind and/or rain strength (0, 1, 2 or 3) THEN YOU CAN MOVE

Decide which flower species you will pollinate. The decision will be based on which flowers will close up at the end of current level eg houhere in level A

On your turn / moving pollen

  • Visit one tile of the chosen species and pick up pollen grains. You can use a red marker to indicate first tile visited
  • Visit another tile of the same species, drop off these pollen grains and pick up more. The amount of pollen dropped off will depend on your pollinator and is the gold number on their disc.
  • Each tile has a counting board. Using a pollen counter, add on along the gold circles the number carried
  • Continue, until all flower tiles of the same species have been visited once (one flower tile will have no pollen added, because none was dropped off).
  • Return the pollinator disc to your hand

LEVEL A pollinators (with orange backs)

One team plays, then the other. Each pollinator can only be played once in a round.

POLLINATOR TEAM MOVEMENT
BEE – NATIVE & HONEY DAY As insects they visit all the tiles of one species once in round (as shown by a half-circle on their discs)
HOVERFLY DAY Move in the same way as other insects but have three turns. Check the number of ticks on the back of their disc
MOTH/S NIGHT As insects they visit all the tiles of one species once in round (as shown by a half-circle on their discs)

End of round actions

If any of your flowers have been fully pollinated remove the counter and put down the number of ripening covers (white squares) written next to the last gold dot.

At the end of each round, if you have any active sun cards, follow the instructions on them.

NUMBER OF ACTIVE SUNS ACTION
ONE REMOVE ONE RIPENING COVER FROM EACH TILE WITH COVERS
TWO REMOVE TWO RIPENING COVERS
THREE NO ACTION

If all ripening covers are removed from a tile, turn the tile over. This reveals seeds that are carried by the wind in following rounds.

Then place new ripening covers, on any flowers that were fully pollinated this round.

Beginning the next round

The next round begins when everyone has had a turn, and repeats by turning another element card.

TYPE OF CARD ACTION
RAIN REMOVE NUMBER OF SUNS INDICATED ON CARD
WIND IF ANY OF YOUR FLOWERS HAVE BECOME SEEDS ie THE TILE HAS BEEN TURNED OVER, THE WIND CARRIES THE SEED ACROSS THE BOARD TO THE RIGHT BY THE NUMBER OF SPACES GIVEN ON THE WIND CARD

Continue further rounds until all the element cards have been turned. Level A is now complete.

Success in Level A

All flowers* that have an A only (ie houhere) have been fully pollinated

* in 2-player game, it is acceptable if all, except one flower of a species, have been fully pollinated

You are ready to add Level B, when you have successfully completed Level A

IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU COMPLETE EACH LEVEL BEFORE READING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE NEXT!!!

Level B

Set Up

  1. Shuffle the orange element cards and place them face down on the ground cloth in the space provided
  2. Only take out items under level B instructional card with turquoise banner
  3. Pop out the tiles (only the ones that have turquoise B) and place them on the ground cloth – matching both names and gender. Placement of these are important to allow the wind to carry the male pollen to the female tree.
  4. You will notice a new type of tiles, with separate males and females
TYPE OF TILE DESCRIPTION
WIND POLLINATED The males tiles are blown across the board, instantly pollinating female flowers of the same species.
INSECT POLLINATED WITH SEPARATE MALE AND FEMALE PLANTS They are pollinated by visiting the male first to pick up pollen, and then the female to drop off all the pollen collected.
  1. Add new pollinators to each team.
  2. Remember each team has only the same number of turns as in Level A. But you choose each round, which pollinator/s to play, based on strategy.

NOTE If one tile sits on top of another tile it blocks any actions of the tile underneath ie cannot be pollinated, cannot remove ripening covers

LEVEL B Pollinators (with turquoise backs)

The other team now begins all the rounds for this level

POLLINATOR MOVEMENT
GECKO (NIGHT)
  • The gecko can start anywhere on the board
  • Each turn, it can move 6 spaces up and down, left and right (not diagonally), and backwards and forwards
  • Like other pollinators it picks up and drops off pollen, but it can pollinate the same plant multiple times in one round eg going backwards and forwards between 2 plants that are close on the board
  • Once the gecko is on the board it starts future rounds from where it sits

And it may be impacted by tiles moving on the board

  • if covered by another tile it moves on top
  • If the tile they are sitting on moves, they move with it
  • If moved off the ground cloth, they cannot return

 
BUMBLE BEE

(DAY)

 Moves like all other insects. When visiting male & female only plants, insects may only visit each tile once in a round.

Rounds continue in the same way as Level A. The level is complete when all element cards have been turned.

Success in Level B

All flowers* that have an A &/or B only have been fully pollinated
* in 2-player game, it is acceptable if all, except one flower of a species, have been fully pollinated

You are ready to add Level C, when you have successfully completed Levels A & B

LEVEL C

  1. SHUFFLE the orange element cards and place them face down on the ground cloth in the space provided
    NOTE: You can increase the level of difficulty at this point (or earlier) by swapping 1 or 2 of the 0 rain/wind cards for the same number of grey storm cards
  2. Only TAKE OUT items under level C instructional card with pink banner
  3. POP out the tiles (only the ones that have pink C) and place them randomly starting in column C. Continue across D, E,F and G, then start again in A
  4. From now on a pollinator must be shown on a tile to visit it. There are navy blue images of the night time pollinators on the top of the tile, and brown images of the day time pollinators on the left.
  5. ADD all available pollinators to the teams
  6. The other team now begins all the rounds for this level

LEVEL C Pollinators (with pink backs)

Level C pollinators both pollinate (indicate in gold on the disc) and move berries (indicated in pink on the disc).

Teams will decide which one, based on strategy.

Teams want to collect as many berries as possible, but not at the expense of leaving flowers unpollinated – this could result in the level being incomplete and having to restart the game!

If a player decides to move berries, they decide which species, and then move all tiles of this species toward their team by as many spaces as the pink number on their disc. Berries are move towards their team in a northern or southern direction.

Capturing the gecko. If the gecko is on top of a berry tile, and that berry tile is moved, the gecko moves with it, enabling the day team to capture it

  • Gecko can be saved for the end of the game, scoring +2 toward final points, or
  • the day team can use it as a playing disc
POLLINATOR MOVEMENT
TUI (DAY) All birds are able to return to the first flower pollinated. This is indicated by the full circle border on the front of the disc.
BELLBIRD (DAY) Same as the tui, but are able to complete multiple turns (berries &/or seeds) depending on the weather. Indicated by the number of ticks on the back of the disc. Always read sun first and the last element read determines the number of turns eg 2 active Suns (2ticks) and 1active rain (1 tick) give one turn.
SHORT-TAILED BAT (NIGHT) Bats are great pollinators as indicated on their disc. Like the bellbird, bats may have two turns and make choices based on strategy.
GECKO (NIGHT) from Level C gecko starts to move berries as well as pollinate

Rounds continue in the same way as in Levels A & B. The level is complete when all element cards have been turned.

Success in Level C

All flowers* that have an A, B &/or C only have been fully pollinated
* in 2-player game, it is acceptable if all but one flower of a species have been fully pollinated

You are ready to add Level D, when you have successfully completed Levels A, B & C

LEVEL D

  1. START Level D in the same way that you started Level C
    NOTE: You may introduce grey storm cards, or replace ones already introduced.
    Never exceed more than 2 grey storm cards per level!
  2. TAKE OUT items under level D instructional card with blue banner
  3. POP out the tiles (only the ones that have blue D) and place them randomly starting in column D. Continue across E, F and G, then start again in A

LEVEL D SIGNIFICANT TILES

TYPE OF TILE DESCRIPTION
RATA There is one rata. Pollinators move pollen from one flower to another in the same rata tree so allowing it to (sometimes) self pollinate. (Visiting is pollinating)

LEVEL D pollinators are berry eaters only.

Rounds continue in the same way as previous Levels. The level is complete when all element cards have been turned.

Finishing the Game

All exposed flowers * must have been fully pollinated
* in 2-player game, it is acceptable if all, except one flower of a species, have been fully pollinated

IF YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED LEVELS A, B, C, & D, then:
Add up scores to determine who the winning team is:
Each berry tile+1. Captured gecko +2

Top scoring team wins