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Topiary box art

Topiary

Game ID: GID0360918
Collection Status
Description

In Topiary, players try to position their visitors on the outer edge of a beautiful topiary garden in order to give them the best view possible. Visitors can see the closest topiary sculpture to them and any behind that, in the same sight line, that are larger. You can score bonus points for visitors who see multiple topiary sculptures of the same type. Players slowly fill in the garden by adding tiles until everyone has placed all their visitors.

Year Published
2017
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 1
This page: 1
Sentiment: pos 1 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
Mentions per page
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Video 1Txqls2oMN0 Board Game Garden game_preview at 1:08 sentiment: positive
video_pk 28774 · mention_pk 148424
Board Game Garden - Topiary video thumbnail
Click to watch at 1:08 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Short playtime (~15 minutes) with 1-8 player support
  • Satisfying simultaneous drafting and layered-art mechanic
  • Color-blind-friendly color cues for layer outcomes
  • Compact, visually appealing components and box design
  • Solid solo mode and public-goal replayability
Cons
  • Prototype components may change before production
  • Layering rules can present a learning curve for new players
  • Some scoring rules can be dense without reference materials
Thematic elements
  • silkscreen color layering and art-world competition
  • 1960s silk-screen printing scene exploring pop art culture
  • procedural with emphasis on design choices and scoring
Comparison games
  • Canvas
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • card drafting — Players select cards from the center decks at the same time, enabling rapid, uninterrupted play.
  • color blending with transparent cards — Overlaid foreground and background colors produce new colors that drive scoring conditions.
  • pattern/adjacency-based scoring — Points are awarded based on color interactions, positions, and relationships to neighboring cards.
  • public goals and optional solo mode — End scoring uses public goal cards; solo mode pits you against an AI neighbor for comparison.
  • scoring of nine-card tableau with goal overlays — Each card in the 3x3 grid contributes points per its color, placement, and configured goals.
  • Simultaneous card drafting — Players select cards from the center decks at the same time, enabling rapid, uninterrupted play.
  • two-card layering into a 3x3 tableau — Each turn you place a foreground and a background card to build a layered print within a 3x3 grid.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • "simultaneous card game for 1 to eight players"
  • "the next pop art sensation of the 1960s"
  • "it's a prototype, so everything is subject to change"
  • "this is a really nice cool square box"
  • "I am excited to get into this one"
  • "the same two designers as Canvas"
  • "and it does use some similar transparent cards for some really cool layering mechanisms"
  • "simultaneously close-drafting cards"
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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