Description

In Haru Ichiban, or The Wind of Spring , two apprentice gardeners compete to use this wind to their advantage to create harmonious patterns of their blossoms upon the lilypads.

Each gardener has eight flower buds numbered 1-8, with three of those buds being in hand at the start of a round. Sixteen lilypads are placed in the 5×5 pond, with one of them turned to its dark side.

Each gardener simultaneously chooses a reveals a bud, with the player with the lower number becoming the Little Gardener and the other becoming the Grand Gardener. In order:

• The Little Gardener places one of his colored blossoms on the dark lilypad.
• The Grand Gardener places one of his colored blossoms on the lilypad of his choice.
• The Little Gardener moves one lilypad to an adjacent space, possibly moving other lilypads at the same time.
• The Grand Gardener flips one unoccupied lilypad to its dark side.
• Each gardener takes a new bud.

• As soon as a gardener creates a specific pattern with blossoms of his color, he scores points: 1 point for a 2×2 square, 2 points for a horizontal or vertical row of four blossoms, 3 points for a diagonal row of four blossoms, and 5 points for a row of five blossoms. If the gardener has fewer than five points, the gardeners reset the board and start a new round with three buds of their eight; if the gardener has five or more points, the game ends and he wins!