Gardens of the Alhambra

Gardens of the Alhambra is an abstract pattern-making game where you’re trying to claim buildings to score points. The board is set up by laying out – randomly – the building tiles, number-side up, on their small square spaces. Each player takes a garden tile and then play commences.

On your turn, you add a garden tile to the board – always adjacent to a previously-laid garden tile – and then draw a replacement, ready for your next turn. In terms of the game mechanics, that’s it! But your success or lack of it depends on where you place your tiles, and when, because the tiles have bushes on each side that match the player colours. When a building is surrounded by gardens, the player with the most bushes next to it scores the number value of the building multiplied by the number of colours around it. If two players are tied for the most bushes, they cancel each other out and the player in second place gets the points instead!

So when you place a tile, you’re not just helping yourself, but inadvertently helping others too – because all garden tiles have all colours on them. It also means that the central buildings are more valuable than buildings around the edge of the board, because the central buildings can – potentially – be multiplied by four, whereas those edge buildings will be multiplied by two at most. Corner buildings are terrible! But obviously if the game is tight, the few points they offer (multiplied by one) could be helpful.

When the last tile is placed and final building scored, the game ends. Most points wins!

Sam says

Gardens of the Alhambra is very clever in how it forces you to think. But, for me at least, it is so reactive, with a constantly changing game-state, that an hour can drag when a game feels like it should take twenty minutes. It’s a shame because there is something quite compelling about it. It just doesn’t feel like enough. I’d play it again if someone suggested it, but not with a huge amount of enthusiasm, I must confess, vastly preferring its older sibling Alhambra for its comparatively breezy pace.

Take That!

It’s not a combat game, but it certainly has a combative vibe.
Fidget Factor!

Moderate to high. The rules are simple but tile orientations are pretty much the entire game, so everyone will need to look at their options.
Brain Burn!

Each building has a tipping point where the last garden next to it decides things. Gauging what to risk and where is key – if you can force a tie between players who have more presence than you do, you can grab a huge points haul very cheaply.
Again Again!

Building tiles and garden tiles are always random. Beyond that, player decisions are the guiding force.