Designer: J.B. Howell (Flotilla, Reavers of Midgard)

Artist: Whitney Rader

Publisher: Kolossal Games (All Manor of Evil, Consumption: Food and Choices, Mezo, Western Legends)

Genre/Mechanisms: area control, bidding, tile drafting, tile placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Papillon is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total 11x the initial funding goal.

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: A flower-themed tile placement game that includes bidding, tile drafting, and area control.

How It Works: Over 8 rounds, players add Nectar to their gardens by adding butterflies to flowers, collecting Gnomes, and managing their gardens. Each round consists of 4 phases: Preparation, Drafting, Gardening, and Butterfly. Preparation consists of placing Caterpillars, flipping the Gnome tile of the current round, and bidding on drafting order. Then in bidding order, players each select a row or column of tiles to take. In the Gardening Phase, players place their newly acquired tiles in their gardens. And finally, in reverse bidding order, players place their Butterflies in their gardens during the Butterfly Phase. At the end of the game, the player with the most Butterflies on a stand-up flower will score the highest Nectar value on the planter. Players will score 1 Nectar for each caterpillar, 2 Nectars for each Butterfly in a closed field, and 2 Nectars per tile for each tile in their two largest closed flower patches. The player with the most Nectar wins!

Comparisons: Petricor has a similar nature theme; Arboretum, The Little Flower Shop, and Tussie Mussie are all flower-themed card games; but Barenpark, Cottage Garden, Indian Summer, and Spring Meadow are all tile placement games featuring flowers, gardens, and/or nature.

What Should I Pledge?:
$39 Garden Pledge: includes Papillon and the mini-expansion, Beyond the Meadow.
$55 Greenhouse Pledge: the Garden Pledge, plus upgraded wooden components.

Add-Ons:
$5 Custom Deck of Cards, with Papillon artwork
$5 Wooden Predator Tokens

KS Exclusives:
The Beyond the Meadow mini-expansion is a collection of the campaign’s stretch goals that will only be available post-campaign through the publisher and at conventions in limited quantity, not at retail.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $55 for the Greenhouse Pledge, $5 for the Wooden Predator Tokens, and $10 in shipping, for a total of $70.

Papillon completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, June 13th and tentatively ships in January 2020.