
- BGG rating
- 7.4
Pick a Pen Tuinen: Seizoenen
- 2–4 players
- 30 min
- 2024

2023
Rules assistance for Pick a Pen: Gardens
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 2 players

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Pick a Pen: Gardens is a board game released in 2023 for 2–4 players, 30 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Reiner Knizia and its main mechanics are Paper-and-Pencil, Hexagon Grid, and Grid Coverage.
Each turn in Pick a Pen: Gardens, the active player rolls the five colored pencils, then chooses one and marks spaces on their individual player sheet. Each other player in turn drafts a pencil and uses it. Pencils show symbols on their different sides, and the symbols on top of the chosen pencil determine what players do on their sheets. Each sheet shows bordered gardens, and on a turn, you fill in the indicated number of spaces in that color; all of those spaces must be adjacent to one another, in addition to being adjacent to everything colored previously. Your goal is to fill gardens with only a single color or with five different colors, scoring bonus points as you do so. The game ends when a player has completely colored all of their gardens or failed to color in five times. Pick a Pen: Gardens includes three difficulty levels of player sheets, with flowers and trees on sheets 2 and 3 to help you earn bonus points in different ways.
Pick a Pen: Gardens supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Pick a Pen: Gardens is 30 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Pick a Pen: Gardens for ages 8 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Pick a Pen: Gardens has a complexity rating of 1.7 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Pick a Pen: Gardens belongs to these categories: Puzzle and Farming. Its main mechanics are Paper-and-Pencil, Hexagon Grid, and Grid Coverage. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Pick a Pen: Gardens are: Reiner Knizia. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Pick a Pen: Gardens as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.