Mr. Cabbagehead does not ask for much out of life. He has a nice home with a nice garden. All he wants is to be left alone to tend to that garden, to have the opportunity to compete for a Blue Ribbon in the annual garden competition, and perhaps to win the heart of Eudora Brassica who judges the competition. I can’t be sure, but I think that last bit is of lesser concern to Mr. Cabbagehead. He really just wants to be left alone.

Unfortunately for our oleracean friend, there’s a problem. Mr. Cabbagehead has neighbors. Nosy, annoying, tedious, neighbors. Neighbors who won’t leave him alone and neighbors who - worst of all - steal his vegetables. Imagine preparing, planting, and tending to a garden only to have your neighbors stop by while you’re on holiday and help themselves to the fruits (or vegetables) of your labor. Yeah, tedious doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Mr. Cabbagehead’s Garden has been a popular print-and-play for quite some time. It’s now receiving a release from LudiCreations with a few additional expansions added for good measure. It was originally conceived as a solo game though the included 2-player version is just as good. I don’t often find that I enjoy a solo game’s 2p variant, or a 2-player game’s solo mode, as much as the original but this game is an exception. I think it’s because the 2-player mode stops short of making engagement adversarial, and instead causes you to scrunch your face at your opponent and point out how tediously frustrating they’re being.

The actual planting of your garden is done through a clever spin on 3-card solitaire. Each turn you’ll draw 3 cards and plant 1 of them. The other two are discarded and determine how many neighbor tokens are flipped over. Each token corresponds to one of 4 tedious neighbors in play and after 5 turns the one with the most tokens will come steal a vegetable. Even the Mayor of Onion Town is in on this larceny so there’s no going to the veggie-cops. Three rounds of this and it’s time for Eudora herself to judge your garden.

For such a simple game, Mr. Cabbagehead’s garden is both compelling and addicting. Generally your options are wide open, though the game is peppered with moments of annoyance. You can opt for any of the 3 cards presented to you so long as you’ve taken appropriate care of your bees. You can place your vegetables anywhere in the garden you’d like though their layout will determine how well Ms. Brassica scores your plot. A number of scoring opportunities based on geometric opportunity compete with each other and with normal scoring, and of course there are those neighbors.

What makes this game so enjoyable is how lightly all these systems pressure you. The rulebook is full of allusions to how frustrated Mr. Cabbagehead gets and the systems of this simple game drive that home. Neighbors will only take one vegetable, and there’s a chance that two or more of them get so distracted in an inane conversation with each other that they forget to steal something. It’s tempting to ignore one or more of them together but if you do then sure as the sun rises that will be the round you lose your prized turnip or the carrot that ties your whole plot together.

Looking on your garden at the end is looking on something that is almost perfect. You’ll reflect on your artfully arranged turnips, your bounty of salsify, and think only of pumpkin that Sally Tommy-Oughtoos took from you. You’ll remember the one turn you didn’t have the bees necessary to plant lettuce or the time there were too many bees. You’ll make a face at your opponent over the way they messed with your plan. And then you’ll shuffle the deck and play again. There are more neighbors to grumble about, grasshoppers to manage, and a lovely brassica to romance. Mr. Cabbagehead’s Garden makes you want to chase that blue ribbon and easy to play again. It’s just those pesky neighbors who keep that prize elusive.

Mr. Cabbagehead’s Garden is currently available on Kickstarter.

Images courtesy of BeBold Gaming. LudiCreations provided a prototype for this review.

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