About this deal
Each player starts the game with a "home" tile and an initial team of eight workers, each of which is colored red, yellow or blue. In the unusual circumstances that no player bid for the new start player tile in winter, the existing start player remains the start player for the purposes of selecting the boat tiles and then the start player marker passes to the player on the start player's left. Each player receives a starting home tile, 8 random workers behind a screen, and some winter tiles at the beginning. Yes, third level upgrades were added in Keyflower: The Merchants, and yes they are an awesome addition that adds a lot of crunch to the game.
Keyflower is an odd little game a friend of mine picked up recently and having played it quite a few times I can honestly say it's very good fun and quite clever in a few ways. Since then a half dozen games have been released sharing the same setting, artwork, and characteristic (as well as the word “Key” in the title). The game is scored over four rounds each representing a season of the year (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter). 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.Before the start of winter, each player has to select which of their tiles (at least one) will be available for auction that round. You could try placing one worker on it before upgrading in hopes that other players won’t want to send two workers (of the chosen color) to your village for that action. Therefore a player who has passed may take further actions as long as all the other players did not also pass.
If a tile is being used for the first time in a season then a player usually places one* worker onto the tile. This can be great if you’re trying to gain some workers for the next turn but if you were hoping to use the upgraded tile then it can prove challenging. A player may acquire resources, skills, additional workers and victory points by placing workers on the tiles in their own village, in other players' villages and (except in winter) on the current season's tiles being bid for. In the unlikely scenario that there are insufficient resources, workers or skill tiles of the type being generated, then the player only receives the number that is available.Boat tiles are not bid on but the player that wins the bidding on the first player tile chooses a boat first.