How to Play Keyflower: Auctions, Workers & Village Tiles
Keyflower combines auctions and worker placement. The same colored meeples are used to bid for new village tiles and to activate tiles already in play, so every worker can become either ownership pressure or production.
Scope: base game only; Farmers and Merchants are excluded.
Each season reveals tiles for auction
Spring, summer and autumn introduce new village tiles around the shared auction area. Winter uses player-selected winter scoring tiles and a different end-game structure.
Bid with workers of one color
Start a bid by placing one or more workers beside a tile. Once a color has been used for that auction, later bids must use the same color and exceed the current worker count.
Workers can instead activate village tiles
Place workers on a tile to use its action, including tiles owned by opponents. Later activations of that tile must follow the color already established there and usually require a larger group of workers.
Produce and transport resources
Village actions generate wood, stone, iron, gold, skill tokens and workers. Resources usually sit on the tile where produced and must be transported through connected roads before they can pay an upgrade elsewhere.
Upgrade tiles for stronger actions and scoring
Pay the required resources to flip eligible village tiles to their upgraded side. Upgrades can improve production, transport or final VP value.
Winning an auction adds the tile to your village
At season end, the highest bidder takes the tile and the winning bid workers are normally unavailable as specified by the rules, while losing bidders recover their workers. Arrange acquired tiles so roads and production chains connect efficiently.
Winter finishes with final scoring
After winter auctions and activations, score village tiles, winter tiles, resources/gold where applicable and other printed end-game conditions.