Blue Orange | Photosynthesis Game (NEW) | Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2-4 Players | 60 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

A small tree casts a shadow 1 space away, a medium tree casts a shadow 2 spaces away, and a large tree casts a shadow 3 spaces away. If a tree that is equal to or smaller than the tree casting the shadow, it will not gain any sun points. If the tree is larger than the tree casting the shadow, it will still gain sun points. In the fifth line only the front yellow Small Tree will receive a Light Point as its shadow will impact the other yellow Tree. This will continue until the Sun Segment has gone around the board three times. By our maths, that’s a total of 18 rounds. There are Sun Revolution Counters numbered one, two and three, so each time the Segment passes the starting point you can reveal the next counter to alert all players which round it is. Can you judge a game by its cover? Probably not, or else many of those eurogames would be tragically bad (Caylus, I’m looking at you!). That being said, a great cover can get you to stop and take notice. That’s exactly what happened to me when I came across the cover for Photosynthesis, a new arboreal game from Blue Orange Games. It was beautiful and compelling all in one shot, and I had to know more.

I really enjoyed Photosynthesis. It’s a cute little game with a completely unique theme. I thought the use of a rotating sun was a nice touch as well. As far as gameplay is concerned it’s very lightweight and great for kids to learn. That being said it is a conflict-heavy game. It all depends on knowing your audience as well. If you do play with younger kids and they don’t do well with conflict, this either becomes a very teachable moment in their lives or the point in which they learn to hate board games. Super easy rules The recycled products used to make a board game about photosynthesis does make me really respect Blue Orange Games. I’ve been to a lot of places in Southeast Asia where plastic covers the ground as far as you can see, so it always makes me happy seeing a company try to reduce plastic. Pros: Players will then score points based on the position of the sun and their Trees. Players will score light points for each of their Trees which aren’t in the shadow of another Tree. Trees that are taller than the Trees in front of them will not be affected by their shadows. The height of a Tree will determine how large of a shadow that it will cast on other Trees. Reminder: All of the above actions, except buying, activate a space on the main board (meaning you cannot act upon it again during your turn).

Playing A Round

I love how the components of Photosynthesis are completely aligned with the game mechanics. The taller your tree, the longer shadow it casts and the more sunlight it absorbs. As the sun moves around the board it’s very easy to visualise the beams of sunlight across the board. It’s probably the most thematic abstract strategy game we own. Of course, the components also look fantastic which helps to attract players in an environment like a game group or board game café. Just by seeing the first images of Photosynthesis we knew it was a game we had to try. When it arrived, I relished the opportunity to punch out and assemble the cardboard trees that make this game look just as good, if not better, than most plastic miniatures games I’ve seen. It’s worth noting at this point that players cannot activate more than one action within the same circle on the board in one turn. For example, even if a player had all the appropriate tree sizes in their Available Area (and LPs to spend), they cannot grow a seed into a small tree and then that small tree into a medium tree on the same turn. They’d have to do that over the course of two turns… Even Miracle-Gro doesn’t work that fast.

Note: The 2 Seeds, 2 Small Trees, and 1 Medium Tree left in the available area at the end of the set up are available to plant without buying, in future rounds. Any other seeds and trees a player wishes to use from their Player Board must be bought, and then placed in the available area. Planting A Seed Board games come in all shapes and sizes and cover an unending array of themes. So having a game about growing trees isn’t really too surprising. But making such a game good is another matter. As a result, if any trees of the same or lesser height are in another tree’s shadow (including their own species of tree), that shadowed tree will not earn any LPs during this phase, because the Sun Segment does not ‘shine’ onto it. The first issue that I had with the game is that it can feel a little long at times. There are a couple of factors that play a role in this. In particular your first game is going to take some time. I attribute this to the fact that Photosynthesis features quite a few mechanics that you don’t really see in other games. This means that your first game will take more time as players adjust to these mechanics. Future games will take less time as you get used to the mechanics. The bigger problem is the fact that there is the potential for analysis paralysis. The decisions in the game are pretty simple, but the game gives you a lot of flexibility in what you choose to do. In some rounds you won’t have many light points which will limit what you can do. In other rounds you have a ton which opens up a lot of possibilities. For players that want to maximize their score there are a ton of different options to consider. If you want to analyze all of the different options it will take a long time to consider them. To make sure the game doesn’t drag on for too long though players should agree to a time limit for each turn. This will speed up the game and prevent players from having to sit around waiting for one of the players to make a decision. The only other thing to be aware of is that players can only interact with a space on the board once per round. So you can’t grow the same tree twice, or plant and grow it in the same turn.

Photosynthesis plays on the theme of trees converting light into a chemical energy for themselves, which can then be released for them to grow. Light, therefore – coming directly from the sun – is the currency in this game. The aim is to first absorb light as the sun moves across the sky. Then players need to efficiently use it in an action-selection manner, to grow their trees or scatter seeds for fresh saplings to emerge within the clustered forest landscape. Another caveat is that even some teens and adults may not like the type of economic planning and area control required in Photosynthesis. Every action takes Light Points (essentially the money in the game) and Light Points come from strategic tree placement and growth. Not only that, but players must constantly be planning ahead of the Sun rotations. Alternatively, you could start with the medium tree. Upgrade it to a large tree and then have a seed spring from it. It will go three spaces instead of two. Then you only have one more space to go to the center. Next, find the crescent-shaped sun piece and place it on the edge of the board. After each player takes a turn, they’ll score sun points depending on their tree placement. Each tree casts a “shadow” depending upon the position of the sun.