To ensure that there aren’t too many options in the later rounds, some of the tiles in Autumn and all the tiles in Winter don’t have an action and can only be bid on.

Once everyone has passed the players will take the tiles in which they have the highest bid, along with all workers on them, and discard (spend) the workers that were used in the bid. It is a brilliant game with lots of different strategies to win (and unfortunately for me, to lose) and it seems that playing Keyflower different ways two times will not result in a guaranteed win, even if the first time you do win. Any workers used on tiles in the player's home village are retained and placed behind the player's screen.If you are the first person to “hard pass” you can either a) choose to go first at a slight disadvantage in keyples, b) get the most keyples, or c) take fewer keyples but get an additional scoring tile at the end of the round. In the original game, you could take three actions on your turn: bid on a tile, use an action, or pass. The next boat that arrives in the spring brings along some able bodied workers to help in your vision. It is one of the most pleasant surprises that I've found recently in gaming, and I think it will stay in my collection for quite some time.

The tiles are six-sided so you will place them on the side facing you to indicate that it is your bid. But, I like that the final scoring tiles are determined by player selection instead of random chance.Some paths are more flexible than others but they can all pay off greatly given the right game conditions. Note that resources may only be transported along roads or, if obtained from outside the player's own village, direct to the home tile. The town building element of the game is easy to overlook at first blush, but makes up an important part of strategy and it’s one of the most satisfying elements of the game.

It's only a mild issue that doesn't hurt how fun the game is though and with at least one expansion out it's an easy game to recommend. Therefore if the initial usage is with 2 workers, not 1 worker, then the next usage will cost a minimum of three workers, a total of 5 workers. This is topped off by the fact that one currency (green) is more rare than the others and can be used even more effectively at just the right time. Keyflower even has two great expansions: The Farmers which expands the breadth of the game, essentially adding in different actions for the player to do and The Merchants which expands the depth of Keyflower by adding in new levels of upgrade and an additional element of optional recipe fulfillment.

The clever combination of worker placement and auction mechanics makes for an incredibly tense game that keeps players involved and constantly adapting throughout the whole game. Allowing players to use each others’ action spaces allows for some mild sabotage, without being too punishing for the wronged party – who gets to collect any meeples on their town at the end of a round. The player's home tiles and the transport tiles: farrier, stable and wainwright each enable the transport of resources and the upgrade of tiles. By acquiring goods (and moving them (another action) to the correct locations), players can upgrade their existing tiles to make them better - either they will have a stronger effect, they will be worth more points, or both. Now, at the end of the round, you get to keep any meeples that were played on your tiles, which can be wonderful.