As a florist, you must always strive to meet your customers’ desires. If they want four blue flowers, you’d better not give them three blue flowers and one orange! Worse yet, you’re in constant competition with other florists, and are trying to use up all of your flowers before they use theirs! Will you be able to be the most successful at keeping your flowers in Bloom?
Overview
Bloom is a roll-and-write game about creating groups of flowers. Like most roll-and-write games, setup is simple: Give each player a scoresheet and a writing utensil, get out the dice, and you’re ready to play! Each round, the start player takes and rolls all 6 dice. Then, starting with the start player and moving clockwise, each player selects one of the available dice, representing a customer’s flower request. With the chosen die, the player must attempt to circle the number of flowers matching the die’s color and number, with white flowers and the white die being wild. For each flower of a different color circled or each flower missing from the desired number, the player creates an Unhappy Customer. These are recorded in the unhappy customer section on the player’s scoresheet. At the end of the round, the dice are passed to the next player, and play continues. Over the course of the game, if a player has circled all of the flowers of one color, they circle the first available bonus associated with that color. Subsequently if a player completes that color, they will get a lesser bonus. Similarly, the scoresheet is divided into 6 flowerbeds of 12 flowers each. When a player has circled all 12 flowers in a bed, they get a bonus for completing the bed, with the bonus increasing for the number of beds that player completes. The game ends when any player has completed either 3 colors of flowers or 4 flower beds. Players earn points based on their bonuses for completing colors of flowers and flowerbeds, and lose a point for each unhappy customer they marked over the course of the game. The player with the highest score wins!
Amber’s Review
“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” Lady Bird had the right idea, flowers popping up, hoping that something will come of it. After these flowers have bloomed, then there’s the hope that you can get them to the right customer, in the correct order, in the proper amount. People these days are so fickle when it comes to their bouquets, but sometimes a little change can cost you. Trying to bundle these beautiful blooms just right can be tricky, but satisfying. One fortunate element of this game, like other roll-and-writes, is Bloom is small, portable, and easy to teach. Bloom is bright and eye-catching, definitely a perk in a sea of somber, darker colors. When it comes to picking up a roll-and-write, I’d consider Bloom for the bright, cheery nature and portability!
Ethan’s Review
We’re back again with another roll-and-write game! Like many of the R&Ws we’ve reviewed in the past, Bloom is small, light, and portable. It’s quick to setup and learn, and can be enjoyed by almost anyone. I feel like this can almost be standard boilerplate for roll-and-write reviews at this point because it seems to apply to a lot of these games. Bloom is set apart by its flower gathering theme which might be attractive to some folks, though the gameplay is fairly abstract. Additionally, I like the drafting mechanic present in this game, rather than each player using a shared roll. I feel this adds some more decisions and serves to differentiate each player’s board. On the other hand, the game is still fairly light, which might be a turnoff for gamers who prefer a heavier experience. Limited scoring opportunities mean that you must be focused on completing colors of flowers and flower beds to do well, and with ending the game also correlated to these factors, it is likely the player who is able to draft the highest-numbered dice that will do best by the end of the game. Altogether though, Bloom is a fun, light, and inexpensive game, so if you don’t already have too many roll-and-write games in your arsenal, check it out!
