🌿 Botanik
⭐ 30/10
Players: 2
Playtime: 20–30 min
Difficulty: Light / Light–Medium
Type: logical, abstract, tile–laying
Mechanics: placing tiles on a shared register, releasing tiles by manipulating the central row, spatial puzzles, machine-building with open pipe systems, color grouping
Botanik takes you into a world where steel pipes, valves and mechanical components intertwine with delicate vines — as if technology and nature were trying to invent their own shared language. The planet Forharms is drowning in toxic fumes, and the only hope lies in the semi-organic, semi-mechanical plants engineered by the brilliant Dr. Beatrix Bury.
You and the second player build your machines by connecting pipes, opening circuits and trying to bring life back to a world where it has long since disappeared.
And what’s lovely is that Botanik can be played in two completely different ways.
It can be a competitive duel, where every tile can flip the board state upside down —
but it can just as easily become a calm, cooperative puzzle, where you both create a perfect little logical ecosystem together.
It’s a fast, elegant brain-teaser — technical but soothing.
And that moment when another plant module clicks into place always gives you that tiny spark of satisfaction.
🎯 Goal of the Game
Build the best machine you can so that:
your pipes form an open system (never a closed loop!),
as many tiles as possible connect directly to your source,
you score points for color groups (min. 3 tiles touching),
and you score for flowers connected through pipes.
🃏 How a Turn Works
Each round begins with the mech-player drawing 3 tiles. Then:
1️⃣ Choose 1 tile
from the new-tile zone.
2️⃣ Place it:
on your side of the register if it matches the central tile in color or type,
or into the central row if that’s the only legal move.
3️⃣ Check for “releases”
Changing the central tile can cut connections and release tiles — which then fall into your machine or your opponent’s.
4️⃣ Add released tiles to your machine
They must connect via pipes, cannot close the system, and the first tile must touch your source.
🧩 Why I Like This Game
✅It’s fast, satisfying and rewards clever moves.
✅It’s a logical puzzle, but not a cold one — there are emotions here.
✅The final machine looks like a tiny steampunk artwork.
✅You can play fully competitive, or fully cooperative, analysing moves together.
💀 Why It’s Not Perfect
❌It’s only for 2 players — and I’d love to show it to everyone!
🏆 How to Win (Real Tips)
Focus on colors that group easily — 3 adjacent tiles = points.
Sometimes it’s better to throw a tile into the center row than keep it yourself.
The Mechabotanist is pure gold — you can exchange it for any central tile.
Build wide and keep the pipes open so they never form a loop.
✨🧀🍞 Cheesy Joke Time 😄
Playing Botanik is endless joy for anyone whose houseplants die even when they’re supposedly “easy to care for.” Because here, in Dr. Beatrix Bury’s lab, all you need to do is connect a few pipes, add a flower at the end, and you’ve got a watering system even a ficus would envy.
And then comes the eternal question:
why is this game so insanely replayable?
Because every single time it ends the same way — you look at your machine and hear that classic plumber line echoing in your head: “Madam/Sir… who did this to you?!” XD
☕ Impressions
I love this game for its replayability, cleverness, compactness and charm. It’s quick, beautiful, and every machine you build feels completely different. It teaches in 3 minutes, and then you play for 3 hours because you keep saying: “Okay, just one more round!”
🎯 Rating
30/10 — this game truly has no end. Cosmic replayability, huge satisfaction. For me, an absolute must-have on the shelf.
Rulebook: Botanik space cowboys
